digging to china

[Hunting the yellow]

well me and spike gold dug some holes for water worn alluvial gold on a deep lead we wore hoping to find big gold but again we dug our holes for little reward spike gold might post the finds

just bellow is my hole we both dug separate holes to try and strike gold over a gram but only found specks in the dry blower detected everything to make sure we weren't missing any big gold but with no luck






htys invention for got to bring a gas stove so made one with star pickets and a bbq hot plate


work of art perfect at face height if you didn't see it



dog for scale spikes hole in far distance next to orange bread crate


my hole about 1.4 meters deep by 1.2 meter wide by 1.2 meter long square

and my low banker gota get legs and a spray bar etc.
didn't find any big gold low banking just a few specks

 

[Twapster]

Ok so I wanna know the difference between a high banker and a low banker now!

 

[spikegold]

Nah no photo of gold found. Gave the gold to my step mother as a gift

 

[spikegold]

Hty can you post a pic of my costean please, I didn't take any photos and the missus wants to see, cheers mate

 

[mbasko]

my hole about 1.4 meters deep by 1.2 meter wide by 1.2 meter long square

You may be better off researching & chasing shallow leads rather than deep leads.
I know around here shallow leads were recorded from surface > 5-10m deep.
Deep leads from 5m > 60m+.
At 1.4m you probably aren't going to hit much on a deep lead?

Top effort though! Wouldn't get me digging holes like that for fun!

 

[spikegold]

Bedrock was 1.4m so unsure if it was typo?
Surfacing everywhere also

 

[Tige]

Ok so I wanna know the difference between a high banker and a low banker now!

Maybe one with legs n one without :lol:

 

[Twapster]

Ok so I wanna know the difference between a high banker and a low banker now!

Maybe one with legs n one without :lol:

LOL, my beast should be called a SkyBanker then!

 

[dwt]

Have you fellows got a hand held screw auger/earth auger?
What you guys are doing is something I have many times years previous, much to the dissapointment of little gold in the pan.
Cross sectional loaming with an earth auger will dispel the myth of wether there is any 'Paydirt' beneath where your shovel first strikes the ground.
Step 1: pick your area through research, depi websites, trove.com, Mine General Surveyors Reports,
Step 2: imagine a clock face on that area, pick a tree or whatever that you can use for 12 o'clock reference, and something else to represent 6 o'clock reference point. Now mark out the rest of the clock face evenly divided in the area you are searching.
Step 3: now start boring holes from 11 o'clock to 5 o'clock, hole intervals are a personal choice, but usually keep them at about 1-1.5 meter intervals. Dry blow, highbank, or pan the bored dirt, and mark that onto your sheet.
Step 4: skip 12-6 o'clock, and go to 1-7 o'clock, by doing this you create a larger search area coverd.
Step 5: once you have found a bit of Gold, continue your intervals following the clock face, by this I mean, don't skip a number like you did with the 12-6 o'clock position.
Step 6: once you have established the run of gold using the clock face, go back through and split those intervals into half, now you will be using 1.30, 2.30, 3.30, 4.30, 5.30, and so on, these positions will shrink the area of the search thus allowing you a tighter search pattern.
Step 7: mark out on a clear piece of graph paper, and choose the richest location to "Dig to China"

I was shown this method by a close friend who used this to find an area he eventually ended up setting up a small scale mine, I've used this in creek beds with great success, it saves a lot of hard work for little reward,
Best of luck gents, keep us posted

 

[Wintersnake]

Exactly how I'd do it. Nice tutorial!

 

[Brother]

Very nice dwt, I map my creeks in the same way, it takes time but it works and is well worth the effort.

Thanks

 

[spikegold]

Good stuff dwt, thanks for the effort put in to explain.

 

[spikegold]

The ground around here is like cement so test augering by hand will be a massive job. Do ya reckon if I positioned over a shallow lead and tested the run of diggers holes by putting tops of mullock heaps through the blower, then mapping on graph paper where au was found. Would this give a fairly true indication of run of gold and where to bottom a hole between diggers holes? Thanks

 

[Oldfella]

Hi spikegold, that's a good way of identifying the run of gold. That's how I used to do it years ago before I got into detecting

 

[Colmaca]

you dig it you Fill it

 

[spikegold]

you dig it you Fill it

Of course mate, is the right thing to do. Not that hard. :|

 

[Hunting the yellow]

Have you fellows got a hand held screw auger/earth auger?
What you guys are doing is something I have many times years previous, much to the dissapointment of little gold in the pan.
Cross sectional loaming with an earth auger will dispel the myth of wether there is any 'Paydirt' beneath where your shovel first strikes the ground.
Step 1: pick your area through research, depi websites, trove.com, Mine General Surveyors Reports,
Step 2: imagine a clock face on that area, pick a tree or whatever that you can use for 12 o'clock reference, and something else to represent 6 o'clock reference point. Now mark out the rest of the clock face evenly divided in the area you are searching.
Step 3: now start boring holes from 11 o'clock to 5 o'clock, hole intervals are a personal choice, but usually keep them at about 1-1.5 meter intervals. Dry blow, highbank, or pan the bored dirt, and mark that onto your sheet.
Step 4: skip 12-6 o'clock, and go to 1-7 o'clock, by doing this you create a larger search area coverd.
Step 5: once you have found a bit of Gold, continue your intervals following the clock face, by this I mean, don't skip a number like you did with the 12-6 o'clock position.
Step 6: once you have established the run of gold using the clock face, go back through and split those intervals into half, now you will be using 1.30, 2.30, 3.30, 4.30, 5.30, and so on, these positions will shrink the area of the search thus allowing you a tighter search pattern.
Step 7: mark out on a clear piece of graph paper, and choose the richest location to "Dig to China"

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/428/1425849993_image.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/428/1425850014_image.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/428/1425850057_image.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/428/1425850078_image.jpg
I was shown this method by a close friend who used this to find an area he eventually ended up setting up a small scale mine, I've used this in creek beds with great success, it saves a lot of hard work for little reward,
Best of luck gents, keep us posted

never tried that method what's the black lines on the edges of the page ? something to mark out the hill ?

 

[Teemore]

my hole about 1.4 meters deep by 1.2 meter wide by 1.2 meter long square

A few holes like that on the south side of Blacksmith Gully Rd out of Talbot but no water .........
These obviously were't yours, however dug/digs them is just walking away.

Nice explanation on the looming method, thanks.
cheers T.

 

[Hunting the yellow]

my hole about 1.4 meters deep by 1.2 meter wide by 1.2 meter long square

A few holes like that on the south side of Blacksmith Gully Rd out of Talbot but no water .........
These obviously were't yours, however dug/digs them is just walking away.

Nice explanation on the looming method, thanks.
cheers T.

they might be t more nar just kidding I haven't been over there yet

 

[dwt]

Have you fellows got a hand held screw auger/earth auger?
What you guys are doing is something I have many times years previous, much to the dissapointment of little gold in the pan.
Cross sectional loaming with an earth auger will dispel the myth of wether there is any 'Paydirt' beneath where your shovel first strikes the ground.
Step 1: pick your area through research, depi websites, trove.com, Mine General Surveyors Reports,
Step 2: imagine a clock face on that area, pick a tree or whatever that you can use for 12 o'clock reference, and something else to represent 6 o'clock reference point. Now mark out the rest of the clock face evenly divided in the area you are searching.
Step 3: now start boring holes from 11 o'clock to 5 o'clock, hole intervals are a personal choice, but usually keep them at about 1-1.5 meter intervals. Dry blow, highbank, or pan the bored dirt, and mark that onto your sheet.
Step 4: skip 12-6 o'clock, and go to 1-7 o'clock, by doing this you create a larger search area coverd.
Step 5: once you have found a bit of Gold, continue your intervals following the clock face, by this I mean, don't skip a number like you did with the 12-6 o'clock position.
Step 6: once you have established the run of gold using the clock face, go back through and split those intervals into half, now you will be using 1.30, 2.30, 3.30, 4.30, 5.30, and so on, these positions will shrink the area of the search thus allowing you a tighter search pattern.
Step 7: mark out on a clear piece of graph paper, and choose the richest location to "Dig to China"

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/428/1425849993_image.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/428/1425850014_image.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/428/1425850057_image.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/428/1425850078_image.jpg
I was shown this method by a close friend who used this to find an area he eventually ended up setting up a small scale mine, I've used this in creek beds with great success, it saves a lot of hard work for little reward,
Best of luck gents, keep us posted

never tried that method what's the black lines on the edges of the page ? something to mark out the hill ?

Yes mate, the black lines are contour lines
I used this method not so long ago in a creek bed, it's under "WPxdwt" "in Alluvial Gold Prospecting"