The proton magnetometers, also known as the proton precession magnetometers, are among the most widely used instruments for magnetometry surveys owing to their high detection resolution, which is about 0.01 nT. As the economically attractive ferromagnetic deposits generate a magnetic field anomaly which exceeds 100 nT, this resolution is not needed for detecting such large signals. The recently introduced magneto-inductive technology has led to the development of a low-cost magnetometer that can measure the ground magnetic field up to a resolution of around 10 nT. These magnetometers are inexpensive, come in a very small size, and are lightweight compared to the more common magnetometers such as proton precession type. In this research, a low-cost magneto-inductive sensor and a highly precise proton magnetometer are simultaneously utilized on the same profiles on the Galali iron ore deposit in the northwest of Iran. The discrepancy of two measurements is less than 400 nT, often less than 100 nT, while the total magnetic changes on this anomaly are around 7500 nT, which is 11 times bigger than the maximum difference between two measurements. In addition, the value of the regression coefficient between the two measurements for all profiles is more than 0.97. Also, the slope of the fitted line for two measurements for all profiles is close to one. These results demonstrate the applicability of the new low-cost magneto-inductive sensor for magnetic prospecting.
