The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 8 letter word METAL DETECTOR
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
M
E
T
A
L
D
E
T
E
C
T
O
R
More clues leading to the result METAL DETECTOR
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "One covers the ground to get the lead and take the gold" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case one covers the ground to get the lead and take the gold = metal detector.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.