Thanks for that Paul. What's the best size to classify down to first do you think. You blokes seem to be very good at crevicing and just thought you could give me some tips on the finer art of crevicing. I don't think i am doing any thing wrong. I do get gold, but it is always fine stuff. Maybe its just not a nuggety location?
Crevice clay question
- Thread starter backcreek
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most likely roscoe its been worked out at some point or dredged or like you said its just not nuggety. I try to work areas that have been worked in the past and read the river if you can imagine the river running and sample some spots even to see tiny bits your on the right track, in saying that sometimes you need to consider "if the really fine gold dropped out of suspension here then where did the clunkers drop out"? my favorite crevises start about two metres down where a creek widens 
but then gold is where you find it.
whee are you based roscoe?
but then gold is where you find it. whee are you based roscoe?
headbut
Paul
Mine isnt actually a crevice , but a hole we dug, but still found the clay layer with packed silt above it
TenOunce Tone
tony
Nice work Goldigg, and HB, I always go as far as I possibly can when working a crevice, this is proof of concept.
Cheers, Tone
Cheers, Tone
I am based in Cooktown. I started loaming lots of creeks in the south palmer area. Most creeks had very little in them, but i kept sampling these creeks. One day i tested this creek and found that it had lots of Fine to medium fine gold in it, this creek was head and shoulders above the rest of the creeks. Every crevice had gold in it, i dug a small gravel bar that was on a bend with a big tree on the edge. I got one gram of fine gold out of that small bar. But, i dug a long way to the bedrock expecting to get a good show, but there was nothing much at all, just clay. I puddle the clay but got bugger all out of it. The property that i had permission to prospect on has now changed hands so i am trying to get back on again.
sucks you cant go on anymore, sound like the gold was mostly float, might have come from up stream quite a bit and got pushed down.
lucky theres plenty of creeks around mate, good luck on the next one,
Roscoe said:
I spent a few days loaming , testing , exploring in a spot that had a big history in the goldrush days
( about 3000 acres in size )
I thought I might reinvent the wheel , approaching it with the idea I might find things they missed , looking for extensions to reefs , looking for rivers they worked which had been restocked by floods since their time
All to no avail ,with the measly outcome of 0.1 grams.
30,000 miners did the same spots from 1851 to 1890's or so
A few hundred guys with detectors have been through it since , taking out a few hundred ounces for their efforts
countless guys with high bankers have been through it with a fine toothed comb in the last 60 years or so
In hindsight I could have researched more before going and taken better maps that showed me exactly where AU alluvials began and ended so I didn't waste time on barren ground in between.
However , I will still go back and try to refine the art form
Persevere guys
There is still little pockets of gold sitting there in the cold wet ground waiting for us to liberate it
Work harder
Work smarter
There are days where frustration and disillusionment set in but persevere beyond it , there have been great days every now and then but tough days too .
that's gold hunting for ya
Thanks Headsup i know the feeling mate.
The main reason i started this loaming the gullies and creeks was that i was sick of wipper snipping Queensland with my GP Extreme, well it felt more like that. Me and a mate spent untold hours in these hills and gullies with no results. So i decided to loam all these gullies that came off areas that i wanted to detect. I spent 6 weeks on weekends loaming these gullies. Most of all of these Gullies had very little show in them, however one of them was full of fine to medium gold and i did get a couple of pickers in my testing. So i went back to that creek and loamed up it and found it branched about a 1/2 kilometre up. I loamed both branches and found the gold was coming from the right branch. That's as far as i got the wet season came in and then the property changed hands. As you can see i have put a lot of effort into this and i will be back to that spot for sure to finish the job. In the meantime i have other places to go up north...roscoe
The main reason i started this loaming the gullies and creeks was that i was sick of wipper snipping Queensland with my GP Extreme, well it felt more like that. Me and a mate spent untold hours in these hills and gullies with no results. So i decided to loam all these gullies that came off areas that i wanted to detect. I spent 6 weeks on weekends loaming these gullies. Most of all of these Gullies had very little show in them, however one of them was full of fine to medium gold and i did get a couple of pickers in my testing. So i went back to that creek and loamed up it and found it branched about a 1/2 kilometre up. I loamed both branches and found the gold was coming from the right branch. That's as far as i got the wet season came in and then the property changed hands. As you can see i have put a lot of effort into this and i will be back to that spot for sure to finish the job. In the meantime i have other places to go up north...roscoe
that's the ticket Roscoe - you are yet again another example of giving loaming a crack! Old Sam Cash was a very wise man. Many great source sites have been tracked back in this way. a lot of people don't bother and miss the good gold. IMO, if you simply follow the sequence of sizes of gold, you must be a better than even chance of getting to the source. We don't suffer the wet seasons like you and pretty well everything is in situ unless we get major flooding like the other year down here. I liken loaming with a pan to my loaming with a detector, the sequence is the same pretty much. If i find a run of detectable gold, i give my panning mates the nod and they do the downhill run and I go up. There is a creek near Tarnagulla Vic that has the source quartz still sitting in the creek. It has detectable gold right up to the quartz then it dies out - same with the panning results. Its not big nor a deep quartz blow but it has been consistent. The issues for us, and you I guess, is the amount of rubbish that sits in the creek. I'll detect a couple of wheat size pieces for about 15 ferrous hits. Well done and good loaming!!
I was at a gold club meeting last night and one of the wiser gentleman said to me go and get yourself Sam Cash's book if you know whats good for you. I questioned it and he said, you wont regret it and i dont tell many people that secret to success. It must be pretty freakin good. Im off to get it tomorrow
xray1982 said:
Good one xray - but its not a ticket to find gold. It does take a bit of work. He covers loaming, how to work a lode and a leader, dry loaming,rocks to look for, boring and blasting, explosives etc. Might I also suggest you try and get a copy of Ion Idriess' Prospecting for Gold. The two together are required reading in my opinion. The beauty of them is they were guides written before detectors. Old Jack Flett (cousin of the author James) from Dunolly was another one but he never wrote anything down. He used to say 'who needs a detector -I have eyes and hands.' Pretty much what old Sam and Ion are teaching us as well. Unfortunately we have lost these old diggers but we have their books. I would love to kick back with a few frothies with these blokes.
Good luck.
xray1982 said:
Hay Xray
Sam. J Cash's book was written in the 30's most probably during the depression years and it's likely prospecting was his only source of income. Unemployment reached a record high of around 30% in 1932. He wasn't a "9 to 5er" that's for sure.
He is credited with finding more than 100 gold mines in WA with his loaming system which he obviously sold off to make a living.
It's a very interesting book and as I have said before he was a better miner than he was a writer. I have had to read it twice to try and make sense of what he wrote.
I think his conclusion is the best chapter and puts it all into perspective.
Good read!
Cheers
Mick
I had to read it over a few times as well Backcreek. I had to get this old fellow to explain old measurements like penny weights etc. I grow up with the metric system. I am sure xray1982 that the older fellows on this forum could explain some old terminology, that doesn't mean i am calling any one old
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