Metal detecting in a flooded mine pit

[Vampyre]

I'm an avid scuba diver. Ive been thinking of picking up a metal detector to use while diving the local lakes. However some of the best diving in my area are the flooded open pit mines. Will a metal detector just go bat crazy in the mine pits?

Thanks!

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

why would a metal detector go "bat crazy" in a flooded mine pit reservoir, verses any other sort of lake? Are you asking this because you're wondering if the material they mined (prior to making a lake out of the pit) might have some sort of mineral or metal that throws off the machine? If so, I guess it would depend on what they mined from the location. But off the top of my head, there should be no mineral (even if they mined for gold, for instance) that would stop a detector from working in any soil anywhere (both under the water, and above ground). Oh sure, some soils are worse than others (more mineralized), but barring jet black sand, you can usually find a detector to ground balance (if not automatically too for a lot of today's machines) to just about anywhere. The fact of it being underwater now, has no bearing on whether or not the machine works. I mean, you can simply try the shores of the lake too, and that's the soil composition of what's immediately adjacent, underwater. The adding of the fresh water isn't going to change that.

Even if they mined some type of metal (copper, gold, silver, etc...) from the location, you have to remember that it's trace particles that are processed out of tons and tons of soil. Ie.: there's no "copper nuggets" or "gold nuggets", etc... there. It's in powder form in trace amounts per the tons of soil, that is processed. So even soils that produce metals, do not preclude someone from metal detecting those soils. It simply means they're going to be a slightly mineralized soil.

And as far as what you're looking for, has this become a modern swimming lake? I mean, what are you going to be looking for, underwater, to begin with?

 

[Vampyre]

Thanks for the response tom.

They mined taconite which is a form of iron ore. I was thinking that any detector would be constantly going off in the pits.

Id be looking for stuff boaters dropped and anything else that might be down there. Mosley interested in looking for stuff in the local lakes as something to keep me interested in going to the local lakes. Ive dived them tons of times and just looking for something else to do but look at the weeds and mud lol. Going to hit up a few of the "beaches" that these lakes have where people hang out and play in the water and stuff.

I'm looking at getting the sea hunter II or a sand shark.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

The iron ore mining shouldn't have any bearing on whether or not a metal detector works there. I bet it's a highly mineralized part of the state or mountains though, if the soil type was of the material that lends itself to having enough iron content to be worthy of being mined and processed. So for example, you certainly wouldn't be able to use an all-metal TR, in some of those continental divide states, d/t the mineral content of the soil. But the advent of today's ground tracking, ground balance, etc... allows us to work in most soils. If the soil is real nasty, you'll have to turn your sens. down, move the coil slower, etc...

I can't say much on the specifics of the garret and sand-shark you're looking at. Someone else may chime in with specifics on those.

As for the objects you're looking for, find out where the swimming is mostly going on (like if there's specifically zoned swimming portions of the beach, that is separated out with marked buoys, so that boats don't enter in, and swimmers don't swim beyond, etc... I've heard of some guys doing extremely well in those marked-off swim specific zones, because cold waters are the *perfect* recipe for jewelry losses (as they shrink fingers, and people are frolicking around).

But if your lake is primarily fishing only, and too mucky to attract swimmers, then you're not going to have those juicy swim zones. Just depends.

 

[Vampyre]

The swimming areas you described are spot on to what I'm thinking of :-) Show up at the crack of dawn before to many people get out there I'm thinking.

Im going try and find a used MD and see what happens or what I can find.