5 Types of Gems Often Found When Metal Detecting for Gold

by: Michael Bernzweig

Metal Detectors, given their name, are thought by many to find only metal objects.  While this is true to an extent, metal detectors can also locate a variety of other objects that occur along side metal objects.  Items like glass bottles with metal lids and clay relics inside a case with metal closures are just two examples of non metal objects that have been located with metal detectors.

A naturally occurring example of a non metal item that’s often found by metal detectors is gems.  The metal detector may be designed to search for gold, however, since a range of gemstones are known to occur within and around the gold there’s a high potential to find not only gold while out prospecting, but precious gems as well.

Some of the gems that can be found with a gold prospecting metal detector include:

Diamonds

One of the most sought after gemstones today diamonds were often found and actually discarded during the California gold rush.  The 49ers just didn’t know what they were since diamonds didn’t become popular until about 20 years later.  They thought they were quartz!  So, not only can you find diamonds in the ground with your gold prospecting metal detector, you may happen upon them when searching old tailings piles, or when metal detecting former gold rush sites.

Sapphire

Depending on where you’re searching, sapphires are another precious gem that’s often found by gold prospecting metal detectors.  Sapphires are generally thought of as blue, but they can occur in several different colors depending on what trace minerals are present including yellow, pink, grey, and black.

Rubies

Sapphires can also occur in red.  When they do, they’re called rubies.  The presence of chromium is the cause of the red tint to the sapphire.  The redder the sapphire the more valuable the ruby.

Garnet

Garnets can make beautiful gemstone jewelry when found in the right condition.  They’re often found more than gold when prospecting and, some types of garnets, including pyrope garnets, are diamond indicator minerals.  This means when you see pyrope garnets, keep searching, there’s likely diamonds nearby.

Peridot

Peridot, or Olivine, is a lovely green gemstone found near gold deposits that’s often confused with emeralds.  While peridot is fairly common, gem quality peridot is quite rare and very beautiful.

If you love gemstones and want to begin finding them yourself, getting a gold prospecting metal detector may be just the tool you need.  Then you can begin finding a variety of beautiful, and valuable, gems and as well as gold, and maybe even more!

Biography

About the author: Michael Bernzweig manages MetalDetector.com in Southborough, MA. He has written on the subject of treasure hunting and metal detecting since the mid 1980’s. He enjoys traveling with his metal detector and helping to educate others in the correct use of metal detectors in their explorations.