Metal detecting for gold nuggets is a pastime that is fairly new. The old time prospectors who searched for gold decades ago, never had any piece of equipment remotely like a metal detector. Modern technology however, has brought us this new device – the metal detector and modern prospectors are finding some signifigant gold that was previously overlooked. A detector is an electronic device, which can sense metallic objects buried in the ground. Since gold is certainly a metallic material, metal detectors can be used to find gold nuggets. In the last 20 years, detecting for nuggets has become a very fast-growing aspect of the prospecting world. Several companies have developed metal detectors specifically optimized to find nuggets. Mind you, there is no such thing as a metal detector that finds only gold and no other types of metal, but there are systems capable of distinguishing iron trash from gold in most cases, and technology continues to improve.

Out in the western gold fields, the traffic of electronic prospectors on the hills appears to be increasing every year. While a lot of factors are contributing to this, probably the biggest force attracting these new folks is the continuing increase in the price of gold. Many experts think gold is headed higher for the long term and the number of new prospectors out in the field will surely reflect this increase in the coming years.

There are many varieties of metal detectors with technologies and features designed for certain characteristics and certain types of uses. All of the technologies currently in use work by putting electrical energy into a coil which creates a magnetic field and then sensing the response of a metallic object to that magnetic field. Some are designed for hunting deep caches and treasure, others for general purpose coin and jewelry hunting, and still others for underwater or beach hunting. The type we are most interested in is those detectors designed specifically to prospect for gold nuggets.

Many folks considering the purchase of a metal detector will ask “which one is best”? This is not a simple question and the answer depends on your finances and what you intend to do with your metal detector. When considering what detector to buy it is important to consider what type of detecting you want to do. If you plan to only detect for nuggets once in a while, you probably will be most interested in a general purpose detector which can also be used for detecting coins and jewelry at schools, parks and other locations. If you intend to focus only on detecting for nuggets and have the cash, it is best to purchase a detector which is optimized for nugget detecting.

The depth at which a nugget can be detected varies quite a bit with size, density and shape of the nugget, the mineral content of the soil, the technology of the detector, the size of the coil being used and a number of other factors as well.

The world of metal detectors designed to detect nuggets is dominated by two technologies one is called VLF or induction balance, the other is called PI or pulse induction. With the VLF technology, the electric energy into the coil goes up and down as a sine wave. With PI technology, the electric energy into the coil turns on, shuts off for a brief period of time, then senses the presence of any metallic object by its magnetic field. In general, VLF technology is able to sense smaller gold and to discriminate gold from most iron trash, but it is also more sensitive to negative effects from mineralization in the ground. PI technology is able to sense large gold deeper and is much less sensitive to mineralization in the ground. Intense mineralization is common in many gold mining districts. As a result, detectors using Minelab PI technology are the ones most commonly used to find gold nuggets in many parts of the Western US.

Getting the best quality equipment isn’t cheapwhen it comes to metal detectors built for gold nuggets. The cost of a top of the line, brand new Minelab GPX4000 with the typical accessories and a few extra coils currently runs well over $4500, and that is no small chunk of change. Yet in spite of that fact, there seems to be an unending stream of new prospectors – often retirees – that are willing to shell out some significant money to get involved in this exciting pastime. A surprising number are completely new prospectors. These are guys who have never panned, sluiced or dry washed a single flake of gold previously, but are attracted to the possibility that sophisticated detector technology can help them find some trophy sized gold nuggets (I can say from experience that staring too long at photos of those trophy nuggets will give you a bad case of gold fever faster than you can imagine!).

In my mind, nugget detecting is the toughest form of individual prospecting to consistently succeed at, but the attraction of the metal detector is the fact that the yields can be very much higher – when you are successful, you can find a significant amount of gold very quickly. It takes time, however to learn those skills and gain the experience needed to be successful, so don’t expect to just hit the field and suddenly strike it rich. If you work at it, in time you will be successful.