SDC2300 And Hotrocks

Just curious if anyone else has picked up a hotrock using the SDC?

Purred along nicely in even the toughest ground but had one signal off pretty sharp. The rest of them around it from the mullock didn't even squeak. I'm yet to crush it but its not a type of rock I would associate with hosting gold.

In hindsight I should of split it in two, and I might yet do that.

Any thoughts or experiences appreciated :Y:

OldGT,
This wasn't found with an SDC but it would have.
Clear distinct signal, however not like your case this host is associated with gold. This gold was completely covered with ironstone and jumped out of my hand to latch onto the magnet. Was going to give it the flick but brought it back to the camp and picked at it revealing what can be seen here.
Never discard a hotrock without thoroughly investigating.

Yep picked up plenty of hot rocks with the SDC, and just about every one has kinder surprised me with a little nug :Y: . Same with little bits of quartz. Very rarely just mineralization but it does happen. The tracking ability of the little blue beauty is amazing.

Cheers and good luck

Me too I've picked up a few hot rocks over the years only found gold in one though.

Cheers for the replies gents, good to know, I suspected it was not immune just unlikely.

Here is a pic, it looks solely like the country rock the mineralized quartz has veined in, who knows, might get lucky yet.

I've had a few spots where the SDC picked up heaps of "hotrocks". These rocks were a type of basalt. They were usually a rusty red/brown/black on the outside & metallic/grey on the inside. PI's (Minelab & QED) in general have struggled in those specific areas so it wasn't limited to the SDC. I did find however that you could somewhat dumb down the signal from most of the rocks but still get a bit brighter signal on real metallic targets by using the SDC salt timings. From memory I think salt 2 was the best?
Outside of those areas I did pick up an occasional hotrock but it wasn't common with the SDC. Nearly any rock that gave a good consistent signal contained gold & I've had ironstone specimens that were magnetic too.
The method I used was to give anything that gave a signal a whack with the pick to break it up. If it's a hotrock the signal will dissipate or disappear but if it contains gold a clear signal will remain in at least one piece of the rock.
Some will balk at using that method not wanting to break a specimen up but I've managed to still keep some specimen pieces by doing that. Keep in mind it will likely only be a small bit of gold anyway if your unsure whether it's a hotrock or not & no gold is visible so breaking it up a bit won't usually do too much apart from isolate a specific piece that has gold in it.

Some threads of interest:
https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/938-hot-rock-gold-or-both/
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=17150 - this one shows before & after of Nightjar's piece

Awesome advice mate. erfect:

We have some areas where we simply can't swing the SDC. The SDC loves hotrocks so it's better to switch to the 4500 and the 14" Elite. The 4500 with the 12"x8" NF is hopeless on the hotrocks too. We know there's small gold there but it's not worth the pain of digging all the hotrocks.

MBasko

What about bald hill (I think that is what it is called) at Hill End
It may be the hill at the top of the old mine
A little bit south west of the camping ground (The one in town)

That hill seems to be full of hot rocks
It seems like every square metre is covered with these little rocks that make the sdc go off like it hit a coke can.

Have you detected that hill.

Yeah around the back of Bald Hill is one area they can be pretty bad in places. Have read they suspect Bald Hill is an extinct volcano which would explain the basalt type rocks but haven't read anything that 100% confirms it. The old timers thought they'd find a diamond pipe in there but never did.
Not a lot you can do there with the SDC but try the salt settings to try & dumb them down a bit.
If you persevere through the hot rocks & rubbish there is some gold around there though. After awhile you get pretty good at ID'ing the rocks & kicking them out of the way but it's not an area I can spend too long at.
The gold there seems to be associated with the problematic rocks not in them, if that makes sense.

Well I got it crushed last night...no joy.

Before I made it pannable size I split it into 10 or so pieces. The first split showed a definite response on one half, and not so much on the other. As it got broken up further the signals drifted off but if you held every piece in your hand and waved it close to the coil it would sound off strongly.

Thanks for all the help, definitely learnt from the input.

This one showing much more promise. :bomb:

The SDC does not like Basalt i have heard.
Though seems to be less responsive to Hot Rocks that effect other detectors like the GPX series & 7000.

Has any member here used the after market coils from Coiltek for the SDC?
How did the performance compare to the standard Minelab coil?

In general or with hotrocks? I have the 10x5 and 14x9.

Gday all got out today for the first time for weeks had my 11inch gold extreme on first time I have used it and found these smallest bit went .11 and bigger specie 1.38 I reckon about .4/5 of gold in it nothing to deep maybe 4/5 inches tops I do think the 14/9 and the 11 inch round are on a par but the 11inch swings smoother both great choices either one cheers Muk.

Swinging & digging said:

The SDC does not like Basalt i have heard.
Though seems to be less responsive to Hot Rocks that effect other detectors like the GPX series & 7000.

Has any member here used the after market coils from Coiltek for the SDC?
How did the performance compare to the standard Minelab coil?

Click to expand...

In my experience the SDC is no more affected by problematic basalt than any other brand or model of PI detector. Not all basalt type rocks are problematic either.

I've never found aftermarket coils to fix or improve on issues with basalt, ironstone or other hotrocks on any PI's & would be surprised if the Coiltek SDC coils did - if that's what you're asking.
They are just a part of detecting in some areas unfortunately.

Nic coloured gold there , MUK. erfect:

Also forgot to add that plenty of hot rocks wherei go I find that if your not sure about a signal or not ground balance beside signal then go over it but dont touch it with the coil if still not sure back off your sensitivity a bit and do the same also if you have a little test piece put it down beside the signal do the same and Im sure you will pick the different sound helps me out heaps also if you a digging and not sure if it is ground noise or not as long as its repeatable from different directions keep going as sometimes ground noise wont turn into a good signal for quite sometime Ive have dug 6/8 inches before I was sure of a target happens a lot in very hot ground and there is plenty of that in the Pilbara cheers Muk.