Cemented ancient river alluvial workings Bendigo

[Goldtarget]

Got a bit dark to get too busy but got a result. This amazing area due to urban creep is just beyond the town on Route to the Whipstick. The amount of material moved around here is amazing and obviously well known to the locals by the detectorist holes. In the gully there are numerous shafts sunk including a couple through the cemented upper layers down to the wash layers. A great example of early mining with a hint of gold. Will be back to dig a bit further.

Cemented gravels

Gully workings

Drive hole through cemented gravels

Side audit entry under cement

With little water and the sheer hardness is quite a feat. Up to 15 feet thick and that's what's left intact.

 

[loamer]

There was another post yesterday questioning conglomerate- the gold gravels are certainly below it. Now if you can imagine digging through this stuff with hand-tools. Bloody hell!!

 

[G0lddigg@]

I love that stuff. Ive often got tye odd bits by dry panning the sandy broken down material around cemented gravels. Get yourself an old miners pick mate they really do some damage

 

[dwt]

Awesome find Goldtarget, time to get into some old school mining mate.

 

[PipeclayJim]

Hi mate I found this document the other day it is full of information and may give some insight. I have not had a chance to read it fully but what I have seen is good.

Suggestions to prospectors

http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/94275

 

[Prospector B]

Your full of good links, thanks PipeclayJim!

 

[Creekbed]

How did you go here Prospector B

Where is the gold, Is it in the conglomerate or underneath it on a bottom or false bottom? There's a lot of conglomerate in the shoalhaven where I sometimes work but I have crushed up quite a bit and not found much colour.

good luck
Creekbed

 

[MJB]

I recently came across a similar outcrop of this conglomerate rock / cemented upper layers. There was loads of smaller chunks of it laying around so I brought a few pieces home, dollied it up and hey presto there was good colour in it. I understand from the shallow shafts sunk all over the joint that the old fellas were not real concerned with the small stuff and were after the richer wash layer about 3-4m deep. It provides me with a plan to build a rock crusher and go to town. I am not real keen at hopping down these shafts to see the wash layer and what they may have left behind but the idea is tempting

CHeers

 

[Prospector B]

MJB, what colour was the conglom? I have found some grey conglom and the soil around it is a nice red colour bit like the photos above. I haven't dollied any up yet but I'm hoping there is gold in this area.

 

[AtomRat]

I suggest you take a look at a bloke on youtube and search for "MinerorBust" as in 'miner or bust'. He does some great vids on working ancient river flows and how to get to the gold. You will need to watch a few videos to see what he is really on about.

 

[G0lddigg@]

yep Darcy Cooper makes some great movies, "a guy can really wash some rocks out here"

 

[AtomRat]

yep Darcy Cooper makes some great movies, "a guy can really wash some rocks out here"

Ahaha, yep mate, that's the one! He is mega in touch with his surroundings, kid and the diggers Great bloke

 

[MJB]

Here you go Prospector B, this is the exact piece of conglomerate I smashed up and got some good colour out of. There was as much in that handful then in a whole 20 L bucket of screened dirt I brought back plus a bit more.

Definitley worth crushing more I reckon.

Cheers,

 

[loamer]

Beware all old elevated ancient river bed dumps - the boys are on the prowl for conglomerate!! You have me convinced - I usually scan it, swear at it, drop it, and go looking for the mullock!! A few dolly pot fulls should do the trick.

 

[MJB]

Ha...you got that right Loamer. Since realising there is good colour locked up inside it and it is literally everywhere, I have started making a Rock Crusher so I can get through as much as this as possible

Cheers

 

[trashmagnet]

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/1222/1409538393_photo-0194.jpg

Here you go Prospector B, this is the exact piece of conglomerate I smashed up and got some good colour out of. There was as much in that handful then in a whole 20 L bucket of screened dirt I brought back plus a bit more.

Definitley worth crushing more I reckon.

Cheers,

hi mjb

that is braccia (spelling?) conglomerate in the pic, so if you got gold in it the source is/was not far away from where you found it.
regards trashy

 

[MJB]

Thanks Trashy,

How far is not far?? This is from the Ararat area so I think, but I may be wrong, the closest vein gold from this area is at Stawell. The old timers sunk shafts 3-4m deep through this to get to the wash layer underneath. Obviously it was not rich enough for them to worry about or it was too far to take to the stamper so they left it behind kindly for me to process

Cheers for the info, was not aware of the term Braccia.

 

[Prospector B]

Thanks MJB that is a nice piece of conglom there! I've got about 15L of dirt to process so here is to hoping there is some gold in me buckets, it's making me exited because everyone else seems to get excited about it

I'm interested too Trashy, I thought conglom was ancient rock stuck together and the gold in it is not of a primary nature. Ie it came from somewhere else, how far away are we talking?

 

[trashmagnet]

hi
we are talking about two types of gold here, the gold under the conglomerate could have come from anywhere maybe a long way away.
I was referring to the gold that you have crushed out of that conglomerate in the pic that has not travelled far, could be 100m away if it's still there.
the reason I said it's close by is because the quartz and stones in that conglomerate pic are angular and sharp which means it has not travelled far before it turned to cement making the conglomerate, which means the source of the gold is close by if it's still there.
when the inclusions are sharp the conglomerate is called breccia and have not travelled.
when the inclusions are rounded, it means they have travelled a fare way before becoming trapped in the cement and the source could be a long way away.

regards tm

 

[Prospector B]

Thanks Trashy! Good eyes there, I didn't see that the quartz was jagged.