Metal detecting is a timeless pastime that has been enjoyed by both young and old folks for years. They have come along way since the hobby first became prominent and have evolved into invaluable devices that can aid you in finding all sorts of long-lost treasures and artifacts. Metal detectors vary by design and power, so what does that mean for what you might find?
Generally, metal detectors are designed to find any item or object that conducts electricity. It does this by emitting an electromagnetic field into the ground, which triggers electric current in the buried item creating another magnetic field. The detector then detects the new magnetic field via the receiver coil, producing a sound to alert you that you’ve found something.
So what are you likely to find when you take your detector out for a hunt?
Are All Metals Detectable?
Because of the way metal detectors are designed, they can only detect things that conduct electricity. The metals that do conduct electricity and can thus be detected by your instrument. Some of the distinctive properties to look for in particular include lustrous appearance, malleability, and ductility. These metals typically fall into two broad categories.
Ferrous metals
This type of metals usually contains iron, which makes them magnetic in nature and good conductors of both heat and electricity. Some ferrous metals include cast iron, carbon steel, and mild steel. They also contain a high carbon content, which makes them prone to rust and corrosion when exposed to moisture.
They are usually the easiest to find using a metal detector due to their conductivity and magnetic properties.
Non-ferrous metals
Non-ferrous metals, on the other hand, are metals and alloys that do not contain iron. This makes them highly resistant to corrosion and also not attracted to a magnet. These are things like brass, aluminum, gold, nickel, silver, tin, copper, lead, and zinc. Besides being non-magnetic, they are also malleable and lightweight.
While ferrous metals are the most detectable metals, stainless steel often contains little iron content, which means it has little to no magnetic property. This makes it pretty challenging to detect it when using a low-frequency metal detector.
So, if you’re looking to pick up stainless steel easily, you’ll have to use a high-frequency metal detector. This will also aid you in finding most other metals that might be missed by a traditional detector.
Apart from the type, shape, and size of metal, other factors that influence how well your metal detector can pick up metal targets include the target’s orientation and how deep it sits into the ground.
Typically, the closer the metal target is from the ground surface, the stronger the magnetic field, and the better it’s detected. Also, metals buried flat are picked up much easier by your detector as the object will have a larger surface area, thus sending a stronger signal to the sensor.
Some of the most valuable non-ferrous metals can actually be quite valuable if your detector can pick them up.
Gold
Gold is one of the most sought after metals by treasure hunters. You can find gold attached to jewelry, mostly in parks, beaches, golf courses, or in places that hold events frequently and have heavy foot traffic. You can also find it in its pure form as gold nuggets by metal detecting on gold-bearing fields such as old-mining sites.
Copper
Though some prospectors don’t consider copper valuable, its sheer versatility is what gives it immense value and worth investing your time.
Copper was widely used to make coins in the past and is also used in the making of electrical items, high-end roofing, pipes, faucets, and sinks. Copper’s versatility comes from its outstanding properties, such as high conductivity, pleasant color, and being highly malleable.
It’s also more abundant than silver and gold, so you should be able to gather larger quantities than you might have expected.
Silver
While you’ll hardly encounter pure silver, you can expect to find it in jewelry and relics. Many former coins were cast in silver, and currently, these coins are worth more than the silver itself mainly due to their historical significance. So, you should be able to sell silver jewelry and coins for a profit.
Meteorite
Though not categorized as a metal, a meteorite includes varying amounts of metal compounds in its composition such as iron, nickel, and more. Nearly every collector you’ll come across will be willing to buy pieces of meteorite depending on its size, shape, weight, and origin.
Platinum
Platinum is considered a valuable metal mainly because of its superior appearance and durability. These properties make it a highly versatile metal as it’s popularly used to make durable, high-end jewelry, coins, and even as a chemical catalyst for petroleum products and oil refining.
Tungsten
This is another valuable metal you may come across while metal detecting. Its value mainly comes from its robustness and resistance to scratching. Nowadays it is used in the making of jewelry such as wedding rings and necklaces.
Other Valuable Gemstones You Can Encounter
Gemstones are usually poor electric conductors, meaning you cannot detect them directly using a metal detector. However, they occur frequently in gold-bearing fields, so there is a higher chance you’ll come across them while hunting for gold nuggets.
Some of these gemstones include:
- Diamond: This is undoubtedly one of the most sought-after gemstones. You can find diamonds in their pure form while gold hunting or even when you’re hunting for jewelry. Jewelry will often be made of gold, silver, or some other metal and that is usually what you’ll find diamonds inlaid into.
- Alexandrite: Almost as valuable as diamond, this gemstone is rare to come by but is incredibly beautiful. The color will change dependent on the lighting which makes it truly versatile. It also remarkably hard and durable, making it ideal for making expensive jewelry.
- Garnet: Often found in places with highly mineralized soils, this gemstone is also a good indicator of diamonds. This means that if you see it, there is a high chance of finding diamonds nearby as well. It is dark red in appearance and mostly used in making jewelry.
- Peridot: Also known as Olivine, this gemstone can be identified by its striking green color. This is also often found in gold-bearing fields.
- Sapphire: This gem is often blue, but the color may vary greatly depending on the minerals present in the field you’re detecting.
To effectively and efficiently find these gemstones, you’ll need to use an advanced gold detector. This detector works incredibly well in highly mineralized soils, so you’ll be able to follow some of the indicator minerals to help locate these gemstones.
Least Valuable Detectable metals
Besides precious metals and gemstones, there are other metals you may find that will fetch you a nice profit. However, due to the ever-changing market, demand for some of these metals has increased over time, making them more valuable and rare to find.
- Brass: While brass is not as valuable as gold, it still has some value. This is mainly due to the shiny appearance that makes it ideal for making locks, plumbing, gears, doorknobs, music instruments, and bearings.
- Titanium: This metal holds less value because it’s more abundantly available than most precious metals. However, its value comes mostly from properties like its high scratch-resistance, durability, and that it is incredibly lightweight. For this reason, it is often used in making aerospace parts.
- Bronze: This is a naturally occurring alloy. It has a reddish color as it contains a copper compound, and it is also more valuable than brass.
- Aluminum: This is the most abundant metal. What gives it value is its high versatility as it’s used for making airplane parts, kitchen utensils, cans, refrigerators, and many more.
- Lead: This is one of the readily available and easy to extract metals. Its value comes from its wide range of uses including car batteries, ammunition, cable sheathing, and radiation protection
- Nickel: While it’s not that valuable, nickel is undeniably one of the most versatile metals you can find. You can come across some old nickel coins while detecting, which you can resell for some profit.
You can find these metals in their pure nature as metal deposits or in mining sites. You will be able to detect their alloys using a metal detector only if they contain iron content or have magnetic properties. For instance, Cobalt or nickel alloys will set off your metal detector even if they contain no iron content.
Non-ferrous metals without magnetic properties such as aluminum, zinc, and their alloys are also detectable because of their excellent electrical conductivity.
What metals cannot be detected by a metal detector
Now that you know what you can pick up while you’re out in the field hunting, it’s also necessary to identify items that cannot be detected.
Non-detectable items are those that have very low or no magnetic permeability and poor electrical conductivity. Some of these targets include;
- Bones
- Papers
- Liquids
- Glass and glass objects
- pearls
- Wooden sculptures
- stone figures
- Plastics
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Conclusion
By knowing what your metal detector can detect helps you know what you’re likely to find. This will save you plenty of time searching and sifting through trash and will increase your chances of finding valuable items.
Besides that, you will also need to invest in a quality metal detector with advanced customization features like a discriminator function that allows you to filter out junk and less valuable metals. You may also consider one with multi-frequency capability that enables you to detect both ferrous and non-ferrous metals with ease and on different kinds of fields. If you have a budget, one of the best options with these specs is the Garret At Pro. But I’ve listed out a few more options here.
