Keen follower ... now a member

Hi all,

I have been following this forum with great interest since catching 'gold fever' at the beginning of the year. A particular thanks to WalnLiz for stoking this interest through their most enjoyable youtube videos.

My introduction to prospecting took place about 30 years ago when I was engaged to my wife, who is from Tuena - 1860's gold mining town. I still remember my first gold panning back then in a small creek that passes their shearing shed, and coming away with a just a small bit of fine gold (< 0.1gm). Since then, I had been back to Tuena many times, but never with the intention of chasing the yellow - more into going shooting with the lads, or chasing a rainbow trout.

Interest in gold prospecting came around again when I was pondering my approach to semi-retirement and I read about that big nugget find in Vic late last year. Thought I might try out my luck. Hired a GPX5000 and spent the best part of 3 weeks going over many kilometres of my in-laws two properties - I found lots and lots of iron junk (including prospecting implements and other small artefacts from the 1860's), plenty of bullets and cartridge cases, and plenty of hot rock ... but alas, no gold in 'them thar hills'! I did, however, have some luck panning - finding just enough colour each time to bring me back the following day. I have returned there almost every weekend since Feb, camping by the shearing shed and exploring every bit of the 8km of gold-bearing creek that runs through one property. With every outing plus a hell of a lot of background reading, I am probably now past the 'absolute novice' stage but I still have much learning to do ... I am confident this forum will assist in this regard.

I prospect purely for the enjoyment of it ... the serenity of being the only person within kilometres, and some truly beautiful country (except for the excessive amount of Yass tussock grass ... hmmmm). Certainly not doing it for monetary stakes as my yield to-date (totalling 3.5 gm) equates to a labour rate of about $2 an hour. I have seen with my own eyes some of the larger nuggets that have been taken by locals out of the Tuena Creek ... but prefer to prospect the several gold-bearing creeks that run through the in-laws' property which have not been prospected since the 1860's. There are plenty of diggings along the creeks, but I doubt the Chinese left much behind ... so I am hunting deposits of flood gold for the most part I guess. I live in hope... notwithstanding that hope is not a very sound strategy or plan.

All the best,

Martin

Great intro Martin! All the best with your "hopeful endeavours" . Sounds like you will have success though - good potential area + plenty of research.

Welcome Martin,

I'm glad you finally hit that register button, it sounds like you're well acquainted with the forum going ons . I look forward to sharing your prospecting experience and I hope someday your perseverance rewards you with some nice colour.

Cheers,
Nugget

Welcome to the forum Martin, I'm sure that with a little perseverance your tally of a few grams will soon reach a few ounces. I hope the forum gives you much information and becomes a great research tool for your prospecting adventures. Glad to hear you got some enjoyment out of the vids.

Look forward to hearing about your adventures, and hope to catch up one day on Tuena Creek itself. Best of luck and may some pickers find their way into your pan.

Cheers Wal.

Gday and welcome Martin, glad to have you with us
Regards Bill

Great story. Great intro.
Best of luck.
Look forward to reading more of your adventure.


Rod

Hi All,

Thanks for the warm welcome.

Just to show that the 1860's (Chinese?) gold diggers did not get it all, the attached image shows some (very) small pickers most of which were drawn out of a single small (15cm) longitudinal crevice smack in the middle of an old dig. Largest one is a paltry 0.25g and total is 0.93g. If you are wondering how a longitudinal crevice (sometimes under flowing water) could hold gold, this one had a near-perfect little gold-trap in its floor which probably held these little pickers for thousands of years. Took a fair bit of gouging with a spoon to get to them after my sample pan threw up the first one.

Still looking for their 'brothers and sisters'.

G'day Martin, nice pickers, I'm sure there's more of those in the creek,
probably bigger ones too. You have got a great area to prospect in, hope
it gives up some more for you.

Nice little pickers there Martin, I'm sure It's only a matter of time before some of their bigger brothers show themselves in your pan. Keep at it mate,

Cheers Wal,

well done, all gold is good gold, hope you find heaps

Welcome aboard Martin,

Lovely pieces of the yellow stuff mate.

Cheers

C&L

Looking good mdv !

Great story, Martin. Hope to see you at Tuena one day.

Just a couple of years late on the reply there guys, photo still looks like they came out yesterday

Wally69 said:

Just a couple of years late on the reply there guys, photo still looks like they came out yesterday

Click to expand...

I saw that,... and by then DrDuck had joined in already,... but I do like the photo, albeit a little late for a reply(ha).

Should have paid more attention, but it was a good intro, anyway!

We'll just sneak quietly away from here now DrDuck,... after all, the past is the past(must just say that, "I still liked that photo a lot though").

I was wondering why my introductory post of June 2013 suddenly reappeared as a new post in 2015. No matter gents, I got a chuckle out of this little episode and the belated 'well dones".

I guess I am partly to blame by posting a link to an old post - I'll try not to do that again.

Sad to say I can't show any more recent photos with lots more pickers as I haven't enjoyed that sort of success recently. It's all been fine stuff of late but I keep trying to find some larger bits like the 2.63g nugget below (on the left) which my wife's late grandfather found somewhere on the family farm many years ago. Unfortunately, nobody in the family has any idea which part of the 3000 acres or 8 km of creek it came from.

That's going to be a lot of walking mdv.

Thanks for the early morning inspiration just what I needed prior to hitting the road for the hills.