Efficient use of time is one of the most important factors in succesful nugget hunting. Whatever location you hunt in, there is a certain ratio of trash targets to gold targets. In most cases, there is far more trash than gold. Let’s say that you find a spot where there are 100 trash targets to every gold target. In this case, you must dig 100 targets on average for every gold nugget you find. If you don’t know how to quickly separate and recover metal from dirt, you will either have a very long road to the gold or you may never get any gold. It depends on if you give up or if you have a partner who is a quickdraw at digging targets.

Anyhow, it’s best to know how to quickly locate, separate and recover any given target, otherwise you are losing gold taking a long time to find it.

The first phase is, you hear a target as you pass the coil over it. At this point, you need to determine where the center point of your dig should be. In order to do this accurately, you need to understand how the coil you are using works.

Mono coils are most sensitive in the very center. A conical pattern of sensitivity forms from the outside of the coil and it decreses in a cone, deeper and deeper, to the center of the coil until it runs out. Pinpointing with a Mono can be done on the side of the coil with the most sensitive areas being the 2 o’clock and 10 o’clock positions.

Unlike mono’s, dd coils pattern of sensitivity shoots straight down from the edges equally and the most sensitive part is straight down the center from top to bottom, bisecting the coil. This is why the pinpointing is done on the heal (edge of the coil facing you while in search mode) and toe (edge of the coil facing outward while in search mode).

Using a mono coil, I hear a target. I back off and approach the area of ground the target is in and find where I get the loudest signal response at the 10 or 2 o’clock position on the edge of the coil, approaching from at least two directions to pinpoint it. After narrowing it down, I then attempt to pinpoint with the coil on edge at 10 or 2 o’clock and if I hear a signal, then I have my accurate center point.

Using a DD coil, I hear a target. I back off and approach the area of ground the target is in with the toe of the coil. As soon as I hear a signal, I back off and try to find where the signal is loudest and that should be the center of my dig. Sometimes, it’s helpful to approach the signal from a couple of directions, just to be sure. After narrowing it down, I then attempt to pinpoint with the coil on edge, using the toe or heal, and if I hear a signal, then I have my accurate center point.

It’s important to dig dead center because if you don’t, you risk leaving a shallow target on the edge of a hole. I’ve seen many detectorists dig deep to bedrock for a target that was 2 inches deep on the side of their hole. I’ve made this same mistake before, especially with a big coil and until you learn to prevent it, it’s a big waste of time.

Anyhow, now that we have our center point, we can make a dig hole. I estimate the depth of the target based on signal strength and from that, I either scrape a little bit off or just start digging. I dig and periodically check the hole for a signal. Normally, if you are getting deeper, the signal will get stronger. If you dig quite a bit and your signal never gets stronger, you may want to re-check to make sure you are not just digging ground noise. It doesn’t make sense to dig really deep if your signal is not improving because that would also be a waste of time. Basically, I dig and check until I either get the signal out of the hole or reach bedrock.

If I dig the metal out of the hole, I immediately try to pinpoint the location in my tail pile with the sensitive edge of my coil. If I can’t find it, I work with the bottom of the coil and remove dirt with my boot until I can find it with my pinpoint edge. Once I find it with the pinpoint edge, I pull out my scoop and grab some dirt and run it over my coil. I use my right hand to do this as I have no ring on that hand. I continue to grab scoopfuls until I hear the target in the scoop. Once in the scoop, I just simply empty some of the material in the scoop into my left hand and run the scoop back over the coil. If the signal is still present in the scoop, I dump the extra material from my left hand so I can empty some more from the scoop, again into the left hand. If the signal disappears from the scoop, I dump all material from the scoop and put what’s in my left hand into the scoop and voila, the target is in the scoop with a minimal amount of material. I just separate it with my fingers and there it is, hopefully a gold nugget.

If I reach bedrock and the target is still in the bottom of the hole, I pinpoint the target on bedrock with the sensitive part of the coil edge. Once I’ve located the point, I then remove material from the bedrock either into my left hand or into the scoop and check as before.

Simple stuff. I’ll try and get some pictures of the process up at some point soon. Good luck!