black sand tracking ??

1637........Google: whites gmt black sand tracking. Click on "Using the GMT to find black sand paystreaks" There are some postings there that should help you a little maybe(?)

Good luck.
 

I look for iron while prospecting with a detector never had much luck with black sands but nails, bolts, car parts things like that I have had luck finding gold associated with.
 

Black sand makes prospecting with vlf harder not easier.

Concentrations of it don't mean more gold it means lack of depth and masking of signals.

For one thing the term "black sand function" used in regard to the GMT is a myth.

There is no "black sand function' switch or button There is the fe3o4 reading it just shows the ferrous nature of the ground you are over.

So, yes it does show when there is higher iron in the ground.. not necessarily black sand. So basically it doesn't tell you crap.

You could start plotting the reading on paper and come up with a streak map..how long will that take..if you've never done it how do you know its working/accurate?

When the guy who designed the GMT moved on to Fisher and helped with the GB pro..he kept the ground grab button. The fe3o4 reading was switched over to the ground phase reading. Showing what the ground was reading vs the current ground balance reading..when they are off from each other. You are not ground balanced.

Think about what that tells you about following black sand in ground with constantly changing mineralization.

I hunted a lot with the analog GM4 that was the model before the GMT (full digital) used a GMT for years. I did all kinds of tests on black sand. making it mask small gold trying to"follow' the fe3o4 readings in a usable way.

It's all hype and not productive.

You will be better served and less frustrated trying to find gold with it. vs trying to follow and make sense of black sand. that happens to be very common pretty much anywhere. Regardless of the presence of gold.

Honesty at this point due to new tech and machines. I would go for a minelab gold monster over the GMT.
 

1637 said:
just ordered a whites gmt.it has black sand tracking,does anyone use this with any detector?just in river beds or anywhere?
thanks brad
Click to expand...


I have a Whites TreasurePro, which is a decent mid-range detector. Not designed for prospecting. Bought it many years ago before getting into prospecting. I've experimented with the idea of using it to find spots with higher amounts of magnetite than surrounding area. Works ok in places without much ferromagnetic garbage. Of course, magnetite is only one indicator WRT gold. Personally, I think that there are other ways to find gold that are more effective. ...not that I have a huge amount of experience.

Caveat here is that there needs to be a pretty big difference between high concentration and low concentration. The detector has an auto-magic feature that attempts to filter out background noise that might be caused by iron oxides and other ferromagnetic material in the soil, so I've had to experiment with different settings.

Areas with high concentrations of magnetite (in my experience) manifest as signal that is initially localized to a small spot similar to what you might get with swiping over a small bit of ferromagnetic material. Often times, detector doesn't initially identify the target as being iron. However, signal will be identified as iron as you dig/get closer. As you get "closer" to target (according to detector) and attempt to pinpoint target, it's location will appear to drift around as you move soil. Drift can be laterally, depth, or some combination.

Can't promise that you will see similar results, of course. Sounds like your detector is set up to specifically to look for iron oxides in soil. My approach is decidedly more redneck.
 

Last edited:
Brad, I used the GMT Black Sand tracking with fantastic results. As Geologist Chris Ralph points out on one of his instructional Youtube videos, it all depends on the particular area. So far all the areas I have been to in Southern California, especially the Goler Gulch area (N.W. Mojave Desert), the higher the iron reading the greater the gold everytime. Used to go there twice monthly all 12 months for 5 years straight (also had a claim there) With the GMT I found a reading of 83 and above you were in the gold. I know use a Geometrics Proton Magentometer to track the black sand. Good luck and do your own testing far as the connection between black sand concentration and gold in your area.
 

Seden said:
Brad, I used the GMT Black Sand tracking with fantastic results. As Geologist Chris Ralph points out on one of his instructional Youtube videos, it all depends on the particular area. So far all the areas I have been to in Southern California, especially the Goler Gulch area (N.W. Mojave Desert), the higher the iron reading the greater the gold everytime. Used to go there twice monthly all 12 months for 5 years straight (also had a claim there) With the GMT I found a reading of 83 and above you were in the gold. I know use a Geometrics Proton Magentometer to track the black sand. Good luck and do your own testing far as the connection between black sand concentration and gold in your area.
Click to expand...

Interesting considering Chris says pretty much the opposite in his book. follow.jpg
 

Goldwasher said:
Interesting considering Chris says pretty much the opposite in his book. View attachment 1782043
Click to expand...

Yep, Hogwash. :tongue3:

Chris Ralph knows his stuff. He's one of those rare folks who has an excellent mining education and owns productive mines yet still gets out and successfully metal detects and drywashes. If Chris says Hogwash you can take it to the bank.

Where I live there is heavy black sand in every wash. Wanna guess what isn't in every wash where I live? - Gold.

Black sand and quartz are found in pretty much every mineralized area on earth. Wanna guess what isn't in every mineralized area on earth? - Gold.

If you want to find gold you've got to look for gold.

If you look for black sand and quartz float you will find black sand and quartz. It's easy to be successful at finding black sand. Quartz is the most abundant mineral on earth.

Gold? - that stuff is rare. And that's a good thing otherwise it wouldn't be very valuable.
We like rare valuable gold! :thumbsup:

Heavy Pans
 

I should of mentioned that both of the areas I spoke of were known gold bearing Ancient River Deposits which lend themselves nicely to tracing the good gold areas by black sand concentrations as I have done over the past 20+ years.
 

Last edited:
1637 said:
Just ordered a whites gmt, it has black sand tracking.
Does anyone use this with any detector? Just in river beds or anywhere?

Thanks,
Brad
Click to expand...



Brad,

It worked well for me in Indiana finding paystreaks in creeks. I could always find recently deposited flood Gold along the black sand deposits.
Out here in Arizona detecting alluvial/placer deposits in the high desert I don't bother to use that feature as it would be a waste of time.

I love my GMT and have found gold during club events in the same ground that Minelab Gold Monster users overlooked........ Just Sayin'
Probably because I've used my GMT for so many years and know how to adjust the settings for maximum recovery in all soil types and conditions.
The factory presets (initial recommended settings) are good enough to get you started but fine tuning will get you more gold.

My advice for you is to study the instruction manual and DVD thoroughly when you get your machine and use it every chance you get.
The more you use it the more familiar you will become with the settings and features.

The Gold Monster is a great machine for those whom are technically challenged or new to the activity or just want a simpler to use unit.
It will definitely find Gold that some other detectors miss. At 45-khz it is similar in detection capability to the 48-khz GMT

Go for the Gold
GG~
 

Last edited:
IMG_20191223_150048.jpgso i got this gmt but its been to cold and wet,i really looking forword to using it,there is always black sand with the gold that i find drywashering in the area i go thanks the the help
 

The gold bug has a follow the black sand program. Jeff Williams has a video on it.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Detecting gold nuggets in europe ?

⬅️ Previous Thread

Gold nuggets

Next Thread ➡️

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)

Latest Discussions

Back
Top