[J_Player]

Now lets get straight about an electrostatic field: I am talking about a volume of space that contains an electric charge that is different than the surrounding 3-dimensional space. You can call it an electrostatic field, or static electric or whatever you want. But I am referring to a volume of space that has an electic charge different than its surroundings. I am also talking about a charge that does not change noticably over a period of perhaps a minute or longer. Thus, it does not have a measurable frequency component. Having said that, we are focusing on static electric charges, not electromagnetic waves.

In the earth's atmosphere at ground level, we find an atmosphere of nitrogen and oxygen plus some other gasses in lesser amounts. Static electric fields are usually accompanied by oxygen ions, or ozone. There are other things that can cause static electric fields in the air, including ions of other gasses, electrons, and voltages created by electronic devices.
But wherever you find a static electric field, you will also find ionized gas particles in the volume of the field. No matter how slight, they are there and can be measured. The only exception is in a perfect vacum, where there are no molecules of any kind.

Ruling out a perfect vacum on the surface of the earth where LRL detectorists are seeking treasures, we could agree that the only ions to be expected floating in the air are ions of oxygen or hydrogen, or nitrogen, and maybe a few ions of other air constituents. Anybody who says there are gold ions hovering in a cloud above buried gold will soon become a laughing stock after a survey with an ion detector is made.

Nuff said