Search results

Very interesting!

This is from near Daylesford (Old Toms) - unless people where packing canons I can't see it lol. Yes could be molten lead - perhaps someone was making bullets here back in the day and this was some spillage. Assuming it is in fact lead.

Really? how would it get so deformed and nugget-like? And 29 grams seems a lot for shrapnel?

I got a Equinox 600 and as I understand it, so long as you are happy to fiddle with the settings a little, they are just as capable for gold as the nox 800. I can confirm the 600 is great at finding coins and stuff too. Seems to be the idea general purpose detector and not bad at finding gold...

Apart from the 1860 lion half penny (John Andrew And Co General Drapers issue), which is a fabulous find... I came across the strangest "nugget" ever. Is this lead? Silver? Just slag or a weirdly deformed bullet????? It weighs nearly an ounce! (29 grams). I wish it were yellow. Maybe if I paint...

I've been out in the Barry's Reef area north of Blackwood a couple of times now. No gold but plenty of rusty nails! A lot of the tracks in Wombat Forest north of Blackwood are really 4wd only, although you would probably get around a few with a 2wd with decent clearance...

... But not gold, yet! I've started to notice that anything on a -5 to -7 showing as quite deep is usually ferrous - old nails typically. Then really rusty stuff can do positive numbers if it's shallow, which is frustrating. The weirdest one is charcoal! Yes fully burnt wood from the bushfires...

Definitely chalking this up as one of if not the weirdest question topic I've seen on any forum, let alone a prospecting one! ahahaha :lol:

It is true that some gold accumulations in some quartz veins is huge - like large enough to create huge nuggets if it were to fall out through weathering. There were old mines in places like southern cross and kambalda that regularly had to post armed guards at the operating faces to guard the...

That's a great story Nightjar! I still remember the first drillhole I planned that contained visible gold - at the Vivien Mine at Agnew near Leinster - must have been a good 10 grams in size. Prickly and shiny, sticking out of a quartz vein! Glowing on an overcast day (the best gold spotting...

Haha thanks guys! The Gold Bug bit me many years ago when I worked in exploration. The fever never really goes away, it just lies dormant, like a volcano, ready to become active again at any moment. I'm sure when I first see yellow I'll need hospitalization for acute severe Gold Fever!

Went out around Blackwood today, scratched around some old workings near the Countess track. Also just tested out my new 4wd (2011 VW Amorak) which turns out to be a ripper! No gold but did detect two rusty nails and a shotgun cartridge? Can't wait to get out again, especially Nugget Creek...

Thanks for all your advice - I have a 4WD now so a bit more mobile! Actually just excited to go bush with the new wheels! But also look for gold....

So I've managed to swing the day off so I'll be swinging my detector for the first time - going to head for the Blackwood area or maybe Daylesford (Vic)! I've copied this from another post in case anyone missed it: I am a geologist and used to work in gold exploration in WA. I now live near...

I'm a noob too, this is an area I'm looking to explore too soon! I might have a 4wd by then as well

THAT TV show is so addictive tho. I was mansplaining the geology aspects to my girlfriend, also was thrilled to see Agnew in it where I used to work. I SWEAR I DID NOT BUY A detector because of it. Pinky swear

I'm not an expert on ergonomics etc, and I can imagine the swinging action of a detector could be a problem for some, but with regards to what happens when you get a target, I see a lot in the online vids that is about efficiency and speed and potentially harmful...which if you have a back issue...

This is one reason I opted for a equinox 600... Versatile but probably as capable as the 800 for gold... Also relatively cheap for getting into the hobby. A 5000 dollar detector has a lot riding on it to be worth it!

That's great to know, thanks. Yeah, looking for somewhere to get started and Daylesford area seems good, plus is only an hour's drive.

There's a lot of it in the mines and other places I've worked! :P I live near the golden triangle in Vic, but my geology experience is mostly from western Australia...