Next level of gold detecting?

[AussieChris]

I bought one from this travelling salesman...

Then opened up the unit to see inside...

 

[Jaros]

Yes it was amazing what came out of Enchanted Springs TX. The dimpled golf ball, the wringer on the early washing machines, the incandescent globe, the
hills hoist,,,,,,OH SHUDDUP JAROS it isn't 1st April.

 

[Pro-oz]

I gave up watching it!

 

[RM Outback]

On the strength of comments I haven't watched it and most likely won't. Anyway while we're on the subject I'm waiting for a kid's cartoon with a prospecting theme that's way out there in terms of equipment just like the jettsons with their mobile phones . I won't get to use any of it but my grand kids might ower: :Y: and we all loved a good cartoon.

 

[bigdog]

If it worked he would not have to sell them he would be finding to much gold B/S ALERT. Hope he doesn't sell one to the wrong person he might go missing.

 

[Goldpick]

You get what you pay for from Alibaba, wouldn't even pay $50 for one.

Coming from the exact same company that produces counterfeit Fisher/Teknetics/Garrett detectors.

 

[Dron]

It can however, be useful in providing subsurface mapping of potential gem-bearing pockets, or "vugs."

Hmmm interesting .... has got my brain ticking over ...

I wonder if you could hire one of these portable GPR systems and take it to a shallow quartz crystal fields to look for Vugs:

Probably you would not make your money back on the hire fees though ...

According to this page it has been used with 'varying success' for opal mining:

Because precious opal occurs in well-defined stratigraphic and structural traps, geophysical surveys using magnetic, resistivity, shallow seismic and ground penetrating radar have been used with varying success. Recently it was discovered that the opal level and opals themselves are slightly radioactive and gamma ray logging of drill holes can provide evidence for the presence of precious opal, even if the drill hole was a near-miss and failed to bring opal fragments to the surface.

Seems to me like most opal mines would be too deep for this sort of technology though ...

What happened to that guy who was looking for a project for his engineering thesis?

 

[Ded Driver]

seems there are some GPR units out there with extreme depth capability.
quote "GPR can reach depths of up to 100 feet (30 meters) in low conductivity materials such as dry sand or granite. Moist clays, shale, and other high conductivity materials, may attenuate or absorb GPR signals, greatly decreasing the depth of penetration to 3 feet (1 meter) or less."
some interesting info on this site
https://geomodel.com/methods/ground-penetrating-radar/
I imagine they are expensive

 

[Dron]

From this document: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.595.8958&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Between 1986 and 1990, the Department trialed electrical resistivity (Schlumberger
soundings), electromagnetic (TEM), (Leys, 1987 and 1990), seismic reflection, and
ground penetrating radar (Leys and Palmer, 1987) techniques in the Lightning
Ridge area.
The result of these trials showed that a small (25 metre), coincident loop transient
EM (TEM) survey resolved the electrical structure of the opal bearing environment,
(Leys, 1990 and figure 4). Seismic methods were not pursued further due to the
high cost of processing, while instrumental problems plagued the evaluation of the
GPR unit (Leys and Palmer, 1987).

Tonnes of info on using GPR to look for Gems in here:

https://www.gia.edu/doc/Applications-of-Geophysics-in-Gemstone-Exploration

As noted earlier, most economic gemstone
deposits presently are found at the surface or within
a few meters to tens of meters of the surface.
Examples include various alluvial deposits (where
diamonds, rubies, sapphires, spinels, and many
other gems are found), silica-rich sedimentary or
volcanic rocks (such as some opal deposits in
Australia and Mexico, respectively), pegmatite
dikes (where quartz, beryl [figure 11], tourmaline,
and a variety of rare gems are found), and lampro-
phyre (ultramafic) dikes (such as Yogo Gulch,
Montana, where sapphires are found). Each of these
deposit types may, if conditions are appropriate, be
amenable to exploration using georadar or, in some
cases, other geophysical tools.

 

[user 4485]

GPR shouldn't be confused with these shonky handheld "devices". The handheld devices mostly contain nothing electronically that could even do anything remotely like claimed & are little more than dowsing rods with some LED lights + dials etc.
GPR is expensive.
GPR has some learning to undertake in order to be able to interpret what it's telling you. Might be over a lot of us mug punters heads? Although I believe it's getting better & has been introduced into hybrid detectors with Minelab as a partner - don't get excited $30k minimum to purchase ATM.
IMO GPR would be limited in use here in Australia due to our clays & mineralised grounds. Think about the limitations posted above then think about our mineral bearing areas.

 

[Dron]

GPR shouldn't be confused with these shonky handheld "devices". The handheld devices mostly contain nothing electronically that could even do anything remotely like claimed & are little more than dowsing rods with some LED lights + dials etc.

I agree 100%. Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread, but Goldierocks post just got me wondering about the applications of GPR for gem fossicking so I went down a bit of a research rabbithole.

GPR has some learning to undertake in order to be able to interpret what it's telling you. Might be over a lot of us mug punters heads? Although I believe it's getting better & has been introduced into hybrid detectors with Minelab as a partner - don't get excited $30k minimum to purchase ATM..

The article I posted above was from 1997 and talks about the great advances the technology has made in the last 5 years ... so I wonder what the technology is like now 20 years on? If someone could come up with an inexpensive, portable GPR with enough resolution to map shallow crystal gem fields that would be awesome ... I imagine GPR would be game changing for opal miners at Lightning Ridge, I mean who would care about spending $30,000 if you could find $100,000 worth of opal?

Here's one that's handheld and connects to an Ipad - albeit it's for scanning concrete, and I have no idea what the price is, but when you consider that our current method of fossicking for gems involves picking a (near) random spot in a known gem location and digging a hole, surely there SHOULD be something better ...

 

[XIV]

I made it to 3 minutes, that's enough for me

 

[user 4386]

From this document: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.595.8958&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Between 1986 and 1990, the Department trialed electrical resistivity (Schlumberger
soundings), electromagnetic (TEM), (Leys, 1987 and 1990), seismic reflection, and
ground penetrating radar (Leys and Palmer, 1987) techniques in the Lightning
Ridge area.
The result of these trials showed that a small (25 metre), coincident loop transient
EM (TEM) survey resolved the electrical structure of the opal bearing environment,
(Leys, 1990 and figure 4). Seismic methods were not pursued further due to the
high cost of processing, while instrumental problems plagued the evaluation of the
GPR unit (Leys and Palmer, 1987).

Tonnes of info on using GPR to look for Gems in here:

https://www.gia.edu/doc/Applications-of-Geophysics-in-Gemstone-Exploration

As noted earlier, most economic gemstone
deposits presently are found at the surface or within
a few meters to tens of meters of the surface.
Examples include various alluvial deposits (where
diamonds, rubies, sapphires, spinels, and many
other gems are found), silica-rich sedimentary or
volcanic rocks (such as some opal deposits in
Australia and Mexico, respectively), pegmatite
dikes (where quartz, beryl [figure 11], tourmaline,
and a variety of rare gems are found), and lampro-
phyre (ultramafic) dikes (such as Yogo Gulch,
Montana, where sapphires are found). Each of these
deposit types may, if conditions are appropriate, be
amenable to exploration using georadar or, in some
cases, other geophysical tools.

There might be situations where it could be used. However keep in mind that it cannot detect the gems, it can only tell you if there is a subsurface cavity such as might be lined with crystals. So you would have to have such a situation in a gemfield, and understand the geology well, for it to have application in gem prospecting. There are such gemfields, but in most of Australia such situations are rare (I cannot think of such a situation for sapphires or zircon here, and we lack significant emerald or ruby fields, almost none in eastern Australia). These tend to be alluvial, or do not project into open cavities but are part of the rock in which they occur. It would work better with quartz gems and topaz, perhaps tourmaline and the occasional zircon occurrence, since we do take them from cavities and they are relatively common. But most of our gems are alluvial, unlike the ruby fields of Burma or the emerald fields of Columbia. But of course you cannot distinguish a cavity containing gems from any other cavity simply formed by weathering of the rocks, which will be scores more abundant.

It also could not distinguish potch from precious opal (but opal tends to occur with potch, so it could help you zero in as to where to focus).

 

[Eski]

so first he pushes woody mods now this. these jokers don't usually get better in time...

what is his claim to fame anyway?

 

[bigdog]

No clam to fame just a attention seeker. Just google attention seeker its him to a tee.