Newbie detector - lots of junk!

[swarmski]

HI all,

I made the plunge after panning for 6 months and got a Minelab 4500. I took it up to Nundle recently for a play and it sure did live up to its Metal Detecting name! I found a LOT of junk, nails, tin, rusted items, barb wire, bullet. Dont get me wrong, i had a blast, but also left cursing how much rubbish is actually in the ground!

I did play around with the iron detect, RX gain and Stabalizer, tried the commander Mono and DD coil and also an Evo 17x13 nugget finder.

Now i obviously realise its like fishing and a chance you wont get a fish everytime when you go out....but im just curious as to what settings of methods i could improve to help me on my gold questing?

My questions are

1) Are all areas generally very junk heavy and you pretty much dig everything?

2) Any tips on the 4500 to help deal with ignoring at least some of the junk?

3) Junk lets off a BIG ping, by the end of the trip i could tell it was junk based on how it sounded (but dug anyway just in case). Does gold have a more distinct sound?

4) I realise gold is where you find it, but are there some better (kind of junk light) areas i could focus my metal detecting effort in and have better success. I travel from Sofala to Nundle, so anywhere around those!

Thanks heaps for your help for a newbie!

 

[Hawkear]

No you don’t have to dig everything. If you are working an area that proves to be junky consider switching to the DD coil, then you can use the iron reject which will allow you to sort out some of the louder trash signals. Another strategy you could use is to only dig those signals among the louder trashier which are softer.
Gold does not necessarily give off a different sounding signal, but because it is usually deeper and smaller than trash, its sound will most likely be attenuated.
Can’t help with suggestions for areas to go up that way, but maybe just try to find less trashy areas for a start or at least until you gain more experience and learn how to deal with them.
Patient working of trashy areas has often turned up some good finds.

 

[grubstake]

Hi Swarmski, welcome to PA.

You've got some excellent gear there, but it sounds to me like you need to get some solid grounding in effective detector prospecting, before constant changing of coils and settings leaves you totally confused and wrecks your enthusiasm. Nothing really beats some in-person guidance with an experienced operator who's been there, done that and can show you the ropes and how to avoid the traps for young players.

Maybe get in touch with these blokes and find out if their training days are still happening:
https://goldtour.com.au/collections/metal-detector-training

 

[Mackka]

Great advise Grubstake for everyone starting out. Cheers

 

[XLOOX]

1) Not all gold containing areas are junk heavy but most old gold mining areas are. The bigger or longer lasting the mining works were the more junk there will be. BUT even in those areas you dont have to wade into the trashiest bits- you can circle around the outside at a distance that you are comfortable with, whether thats 1 piece of junk every 1m,5m or 50m.

2) The trash is mainly closer to the surface than the gold and sadly there are 10000x more big bits of trash than big bits or gold so you CAN decide to only dig the quieter signals. You will miss any big shallow gold ( not much of that left) but since you didnt dig it you will never know that you missed it, so all good .

If you know the area is known for small gold only or has been flogged already then your chances of missing that big one are low if you decide to skip the screamers.

If you are not digging much junk though then dig everything eg if you havent had a signal in 30min and you get a screamer it is silly not to dig it.

 

[swarmski]

Hi Swarmski, welcome to PA.

You've got some excellent gear there, but it sounds to me like you need to get some solid grounding in effective detector prospecting, before constant changing of coils and settings leaves you totally confused and wrecks your enthusiasm. Nothing really beats some in-person guidance with an experienced operator who's been there, done that and can show you the ropes and how to avoid the traps for young players.

Maybe get in touch with these blokes and find out if their training days are still happening:
https://goldtour.com.au/collections/metal-detector-training

Funnily enough sent a contact to them right after this post!