Panning Bendigo VIC?

grubstake said:

Welcome to PA, blackcat. You're off to a good start with that first clean-up - here's hoping there's lots more out there waiting for you.

If I remember rightly, Bendigo Creek suffered badly from mercury clean-up residues back in the old days, so unfortunately the safest course now is to leave them undisturbed. Hopefully someone here knows of legally accessible creeks in the vicinity.

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Hawkear said:

Get a prospecting map of the goldfield you are interested in and look at any of the creeks and their smaller tributaries shown running through gold worked areas. They may not contain running water but after wet weather could have some water holes. Even look for dams and be prepared to carry samples there.
Another suggestion is to take a couple of 20L water containers, a tub and smaller sized sampling pan with you to sample ground away from readily available water. You can eke out your water supply even more if you are not fussy about reusing your dirty water. If you do find a promising source, a few sturdy buckets would allow you to take a good supply of pay dirt to a larger supply of water.
Pretty much the method used by old time loamers in finding gold reefs.

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