Panning Bendigo VIC?

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blackcat

blackcat

Joined
Aug 29, 2024
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Location
Footscray
Hello fellow prospectors !

This is my first time posting. I'm fairly new to this world and have been having a blast! Panning seems to be the perfect blend of relaxation and excitement every time.

So far I've only found some gold at Reedy and Slaty creeks and had no luck elsewhere but in a weeks time I'll be heading up to Bendigo. In another post I've seen Bendigo Creek mentioned but also seen that it's on the no go list..

Does anyone have any suggestions of creeks/areas where I could go try my luck? Doesn't have to be in Bendigo just somewhere in that region. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Also I attached a photo of my first gold i cleaned up cause why not!

Cheers
 

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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.
 
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.
 
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.
Click to expand...

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.
Click to expand...

Hi guys thanks for your help! Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, both tips were exactly what i was after.

I ended up finding some worked areas on geo anonymous that had an adjacent creek so that was the plan until I popped into the prospectors depot in Eaglehawk to grab a couple things. The bloke let me know the spot i had in mind was good but there was no water so he gave me another spot (with water) to go try. Took me most of the day to find anything more than a couple pin pricks of gold per pan but started to get some alright pieces by the end!

Thanks again I attached a photo of the gold I just finished up panning out of my concentrates. About .06 of a gram. Can't wait to get back out there.

Cheers!
 

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