Instruction manual
Q & A with Laurence
79Understanding your X-TERRA - Technology
Dr. Laurence Statmatescu is the inventor of VFLEX technology. He
worked as a nuclear physicist in a nuclear research institute in Romania,
then moved to Australia in 1992.
Laurence completed a PhD in Optics (lasers) gaining experience in
electronics and signal processing. He joined Minelab’s engineering team
in 1996, with the XT 18000 (the predecessor of the Eureka Gold) being
his rst project.
VFLEX technology was Laurence’s own design that he started at home as a ‘spare time’ project. He is a Senior
Technical Manager in Minelab’s engineering team and responsible for the research and development of new
metel detection tetechnologies.
Q
A
Is there a correlation between target properties when comparing the negative
TID numbers (ferrous targets) while using the Coin & Treasure Mode and the
Iron Mask numbers while using the Prospecting Mode? Are the Iron Mask
settings an extension of the Coin & Treasure Mode’s ferrous discrimination scale,
but on a more rened level?
The short answer is no. The long answer is as follows.
TID and Iron Mask have somewhat dierent purposes: TID aims at giving
each target the best ID, while Iron Mask aims at separating the ferrous and
non-ferrous targets in conditions of high mineralization. Ferrous/non-ferrous
discrimination is dicult in high mineralization conditions, where in fact
most of the gold nuggets are. Thus, the Iron Mask feature gives the user a
way to adjust where the compromise lies. In other words, the user can choose
anywhere between two extremes:
1. “I am prepared to dig each detected target, because I do not want to miss any nuggets”- In this case I
set the Iron Mask at minimum (0, All metal).
2. “I do not want to dig ferrous junk, even if I might miss some nuggets”- In this case I set the Iron Mask
at maximum (20).
Ferrous targets
Gold targets
Iron Mask adjustment
0
20
As the mineralization makes identication harder the Iron Mask sets the boundary between what it
believes to be a good or a bad target, based on both the user preference and the measurements of the
ground interference.