Any point panning in a non gold area?

[Brumble-Gum]

put a few lead shots into your pan.
good practice anyway.

Don't know where to buy that sort of stuff, I feel I would need a gun license. Maybe I could use a bolt cutter to chop up a nail, I assume all metal is similar specific gravity.

Split shot sinkers in any fishing store or servo will suffice.

 

[Occasional_panner]

Yeah, you can get tiny split shot sinkers, and even smash a few up with a hammer to emulate natural gold shapes and get smaller irregular sizes etc

 

[Jaros]

Easy peasy .

 

[The Green Wanderer]

Hey geodude,
easiest way to get little bits is to grab your sinker and give it a few good whacks with a small sledge to flatten it a bit then put it in the vice and snip bits off with wire cutters or tin snips.
Take it to the creek next time your out and count the bits into your pan of gravel. Then try and end up with the same number at the end.
That should give you a good analogue of gold as lead is the closest metal in weight, all metals have different specific gravity.

Ps couldnt think of a humorous geodude reference... :lol:

Goodluck
TGW

 

[Geodude]

Some great tips about the lead, thanks! Just gotta wait for my pan kit to finally arrive, global shipping centre is taking ages :/

 

[brendomac]

Well, I decided to give a traditionally non-gold bearing creek a try on the weekend. This was in the Crookwell area, so there was some hope. Unfortunately, I didn't find any gold in the short time I fossicked.

But, I did get to give my new Angus Mackirk grub stake sluice and classifying bucket-sieve a go. They were both great and I hadn't tried either before. Loved the clean up of the Angus MacKirk, wow! Even though there was no gold in it. The classifying bucket-sieve was a great addition as mentioned by a few forum members. It was also really interesting to see what happened to the creek after the recent floods. There was debris 12 feet up in the trees, new banks, old banks gone, huge sand deposits. Crazy!

Also, while researching the area I came across a book in the archives written by a fellow that could be a relative, odds are he isn't, but you never know. In any case, the bits I did read were very interesting, covering the pioneering days he was part of, including tracking down gold, up and around the southern tablelands, snowy mountains etc. They had it tough back then!

So yeah, no gold, but a few nuggets.

 

[Geodude]

Well, I decided to give a traditionally non-gold bearing creek a try on the weekend. This was in the Crookwell area, so there was some hope. Unfortunately, I didn't find any gold in the short time I fossicked.

But, I did get to give my new Angus Mackirk grub stake sluice and classifying bucket-sieve a go. They were both great and I hadn't tried either before. Loved the clean up of the Angus MacKirk, wow! Even though there was no gold in it. The classifying bucket-sieve was a great addition as mentioned by a few forum members. It was also really interesting to see what happened to the creek after the recent floods. There was debris 12 feet up in the trees, new banks, old banks gone, huge sand deposits. Crazy!

Also, while researching the area I came across a book in the archives written by a fellow that could be a relative, odds are he isn't, but you never know. In any case, the bits I did read were very interesting, covering the pioneering days he was part of, including tracking down gold, up and around the southern tablelands, snowy mountains etc. They had it tough back then!

So yeah, no gold, but a few nuggets.

Sounds like good exploration, maybe being the first person to walk in new parts of the creek! That's about the same as my experience just yesterday. Finally got out and panned for the first time and in a non gold area, only thing I got was some iron sands, gonna start a collection of that

 

[Brother]

The Rainforest/regrowth area I work in my youtube vids is not known for Gold, there is an old Copper mine and a few old Tin mines a good few km's away and
I'm hours away from any Gold fields.
Rural Residential area.

But a quick tip that helped me I think, was to test the creeks that would run in the same direction as your local/Ish Gold bearing reefs would run!!

For me up Nth Qld (My area/ish) the reefs tend to run North/west X South/East! You get the idea.

Your local Gov mine map will also show the way!! As a lot of em will be trending the same way/ish! (Alluvial mines that is) The Theory is Sound

Look, its hit and miss, its half the fun and adventure anyway! But If you can whittle it down a bit, the sooner you will have Gold in ya pan.!!??

Is the Theory is sound enough??

That's how I started 3 years ago! Got a Small scale mine of my own now!
The best of luck!

Bro

 

[Geodude]

The Rainforest/regrowth area I work in my youtube vids is not known for Gold, there is an old Copper mine and a few old Tin mines a good few km's away and
I'm hours away from any Gold fields.
Rural Residential area.

But a quick tip that helped me I think, was to test the creeks that would run in the same direction as your local/Ish Gold bearing reefs would run!!

For me up Nth Qld (My area/ish) the reefs tend to run North/west X South/East! You get the idea.

Your local Gov mine map will also show the way!! As a lot of em will be trending the same way/ish! (Alluvial mines that is) The Theory is Sound

Look, its hit and miss, its half the fun and adventure anyway! But If you can whittle it down a bit, the sooner you will have Gold in ya pan.!!??

Is the Theory is sound enough??

That's how I started 3 years ago! Got a Small scale mine of my own now!
The best of luck!

Bro

I'll remember that one, sounds solid.

 

[Kiwi digging]

Remember not to though your lead in the creek

 

[Geodude]

Remember not to though your lead in the creek

Sad that this needs to be said. I brought a few buckets back to base anyway to go through it. No gold, got some Gypsum crystals though.

 

[brendomac]

oh well... I know the feeling, but I guess you still got to muck around with your gear at home...

 

[GaryO]

Keep us posted mate .

 

[Secret Squirrels]

Against my best judgement I've bought a gold pan kit and want to pan some random soil out on my parent's property. Being at least 100km from the nearest known gold I don't expect that, but is there anything neat I could come across? Thanks

PS. If it helps, I live in the Riverland SA

Hi Geodude,

SA is probably one of the worst states to live in for people like us, there is gold here but it is a lot harder to find than the other states. With this in mind, it pays to think outside of the box when on the hunt for the elusive yellow.

I'm not going to write war and peace (although i'ts possible on this subject), However i will place a few images below to give you an example of outside the box. I will also give 2 words (Oxbow Lakes), do some research on the subject and you may just find this to be one of the best avenues to look for alluvial's in your situation.

Hope this is of help, Cheers, Reg.

Diagram of Oxbow Lake Formation

Google earth image of oxbow lake advanced formation stage

Plenty of systems like this in your area. Hint: zoom in on G/E, mark the ancient paths the river used to take, pinpoint the deposit positions according to the oxbow theory, take samples and pan.

 

[Geodude]

Cheers Secret Squirrels, that sounds fantastic, gonna have to read up on that somewhat. Also dunno if it's important but be careful giving away your GPS Co-ordinates to your gold mines

 

[Secret Squirrels]

Cheers Secret Squirrels, that sounds fantastic, gonna have to read up on that somewhat. Also dunno if it's important but be careful giving away your GPS Co-ordinates to your gold mines

It's ok matey, anything you see on those screen shots is public knowledge