The Minelab Success Story
Although
metal detecting as a hobby gained momentum in the USA and UK during the
1960s and 70s, it didn't become popular in Australia until the late
1970s. Unlike the overseas markets that predominated in coin and relic
hunting, Australia had superb alluvial gold fields ideally suited to
electronic prospecting. By 1980, a mini boom in metal detecting had been
experienced and the detecting of sizeable gold nuggets with a metal
detector became common place. It culminated with the "Hand of
Faith" being discovered by a metal detector at Kingower, Victoria.
It weighed 876 ounces or 27.2kg!
Virtually all metal detectors at this time were imported to Australia from the USA. Technically, it became apparent that there was an ironstone barrier beyond which metal detectors had great difficulty in penetrating. Therein lay an opportunity.
In 1985 Minelab Electronics was formed in South Australia, with the view to becoming "a centre of excellence for metal sensing technology" a "mining laboratory", or Minelab.
Minelab's
competitive advantage was created almost immediately with the drawing
together of a highly competent and innovative R&D team inspired by
the genius of Mr. Bruce Candy.
In April 1986 Minelab's first detector, the Goldseeker 15000, came off the assembly line. Within the next two years, over 8,000 Goldseeker units were sold throughout Australia. The main reason for the Goldseeker's success was its ability to handle ironstone and heavy mineralisation better than its competitors.
On-going commitment to Research and Development produced the world's first truly automatic ground tracking metal detector: the Minelab GT 16000 Ground Tracker. This first ever microprocessor driven metal detector, released in 1987, launched Minelab into international recognition and acceptance as a manufacturer of extremely innovative and high quality electronics with unique metal sensing capabilities.
The GT 16000 provided Minelab with the opportunity to penetrate international markets. It was exported to the U.K., Sweden, France, Holland, Brazil, the Philippines, New Zealand, and the U.S.A.
With its origins in gold prospecting and having some of the world's best alluvial goldfields in its backyard, Minelab forged ahead to develop new and innovative technologies.
These efforts have produced gold detectors such as the FT 16000 Fast Tracker, XT 18000, the SD range of detectors and most recently the GP Extreme with its unique MPS and DVT technology.
Minelab soon recognised that in addition to gold prospecting technology, it had the ability to develop advanced discrimination technologies for the worldwide coin and treasure hunting markets.
This led to the development of the most revolutionary coin and treasure hunting technology since VLF was introduced, called Broad Band Spectrum, or BBS. Essentially, BBS is an entirely new method of metal detection, being radically different from the traditional BFO and VLF detection methods. Instead of operating at a single frequency, BBS enables the detector to operate using 17 separate frequencies simultaneously.
Minelab's
coin detectors now include the revolutionary Explorer, Sovereign
XS-2a Pro, the underwater Excalibur, the Musketeer
Colt, Musketeer XS and Musketeer XS Pro. These machines all
incorporate advanced discrimination electronics designed to detect
valuable objects at great depths while ignoring ferrous trash.
Minelab's latest success is the new Super Detector Series. Using newly developed MPS technology, the SD Series Super Detector penetrates up to 2-4 times deeper than standard VLF detectors and eliminates the effects of mineralization. The SD Series has created a new "gold rush" around the world with more gold now being found than during the gold rush of the early 1980s.
In addition to the development of world-leading metal detection technology, Minelab employs the latest technology throughout the development and manufacturing process of each detector. Circuit boards are designed using the world's most advanced 3-dimensional modelling software and the individual components of each detector are manufactured using world class materials and processes.
The result is a world-class product in terms of performance, features, quality and reliability.