Drake, Tooloom, Tabulam Region NSW information and questions

[Creekfossicker]

Going to tooloom falls for the first time for a camp over Xmas any one ever been there any thing around the edges of the water or in the bush. Any tips well appreciated

 

[Creekfossicker]

Going to tooloom falls for the first time ever at Xmas has anyone been there give me some ideas, as walks, fossicking, fishing yabbies out there. Any info on tooloom falls please much appreciated

 

[LONEWOLF]

The name 'Tooloom' comes from an Aboriginal Word meaning Head Lice. ...Lol..... anyhow Most of the Area around there is a National Park....Be careful where you are boundary wise and Don't remove anything from the Park.... In the area are State Forests (Fossicking License Required) that have been known to have a few Goodies .... Lots of old Gold Mines in the area too .. I think you could still pan some Gold from most of the creeks in the area if your lucky. ..and a few Copper/Silver Mines to the South near Drake... Nice spot for a Camp.... and stay away from Timbarra Gold Field and the river as they are Toxic after the Timbarra Gold Mine Cyanide fiasco....

LoneWolf...

 

[Atx]

Hi sam im in kyogle for a while keen to do some scratch if you read this post

 

[Atx]

hi again
went out to drake yesterday in state forest but no idea where i was going found 1 stream think it was called sandy creek ? not sure
but no where could i find to swing the detector all thick bush and hills
no sign of any diggings or mines
could someone plz point me in the right direction around this area as i spent all day driving around state forest.
this terrain is unlike the pilabra in west oz
so i need some help in northern nsw
there must be some old diggings some where but couldnt find any
thankz

 

[LONEWOLF]

Here is a bit of a map to help you out.... Not all mines are on this map and not all mines are Gold Mines... It will be hard to find a spot for a swing around there tho... Try any of the creeks on Paddy's Flat Road...

LW...

 

[Atx]

Thank you very very much will go again tomorrow. Will post on yellow fingers xed

 

[LONEWOLF]

The Purple area is the Timbarra Gold Mine... A Toxic area after the Cyanide Dams burst, and spilt into the Timbarra River...


LW...

 

[Timbuck]

Hi everyone.

I recently gained access to a property east of tooloom as my best mate brought it ??. It a 1500acres and through a few talks around the bush telly and the history of the area the mention of gold came up.
As he has 3 young teen boys who love watching the American gold shows , I have a detector and panning gear the boys where keen for me to come out and find the mother load with them.
The place has multiple creeks and gullies the first day we played around and eventually panned a speck. It was a pretty cool moment and to see the sparkle in the boys eye's the first ever time they saw gold. Bloody brilliant and a moment for all of us to remember. The one down side to this.... They are 16 , 15 and 15 twins and being typical farm boys driving everything since they could walk. The farm owns D6 dozers, and 32 tonne excavators and truck......hahaha.
So the speck of gold fever hit and around the bush telly that night where long winded tails of how they could dig there own natural sluice and a massive honey hole to catch the gold in flood times Hahahaaa and then go diving and dig it out with the 200hp portable irrigation pump up in the shed. LOL. Boys will be boys.......I do like there enthusiasm......BUT this ain't a TV show fella's. Haha......but we can apply for a miner permit.......yes yes yes. Let's do that LOL.
Easy guys lets just find a couple of specks first before we start digging to China hahaha.

Next morning at the crack of dawn we all sat around the fire siping our morning dhilma , and the fever hit agian.
What about up the back ??? Do you think there is gold up there ???
My reply ....YES.
How do you know that ?
Well that particular creek is mentioned in the book " forgotten country" and I have found a few very old articles stating that there was gold in that creek but was deemed " not payable"
Not Payable ?? What's that ?
Well over at tooloom they where getting many many OZ per pan.....make this creek only had 1oz..... They only wanted the cream so everyone went to tooloom and left that particular creek.
Cool , can we go today , can we can we can we......?
Not today I've got to go back to work...but let's organise it.

Fast forward to today and a few weeks ago we did it. We went as far as we could on bikes and then hiked a few kms through very dense bush and found the creek. Then we hiked up the creek for another few kms swinging the detector the whole way but found nothing but hot rocks. I was kind of hopeing to find relics of some sort just to give us an idea that someone was there at least.

I'm no geologist at all and really have no clue what I'm looking at but the creek changes quite a lot and there are area's that are loamy sand and other " rock bars" area's that cross the creek at 90' that are made from what looks like some type of black shale ??? Almost like coal but in thin layers ????
This happens multiple times in the small section of creek we explored. Also littering the creek there is Quartz and a lot of iron stone and occasionally there where sections my ATgold couldn't handle the mineralisation and it just went crazy.

As we got up from the flat valley base and started to climb a little we came across the area in the pics. On the outside of the cuts there was this perfect white clay layer ??? Sitting on top of the black shale type rock. It was quite high mineralisation on the detector. So I dug a few samples to take home. I panned those out and found nothing. But in my defence , we just dug it out with a machete and filled 2 drink bottles with the paydirt. Haha.

All in all we want to do another hike and this time we want to go right to the top where the creek starts. It just fun taking the kids up there and exploring. TV show do work , as they already talking about taking paydirt samples at intervals up the creek to see where or if the gold starts or stops etc.

So if you guys any idea's or sugestions about the types of rock or clay in the pics , we would be very interested and apresiated the help.

The boys like the honey hole we found in one of the pics...... Little 2ft dry waterfall into a 5ft deep hole below it. I dug down through the silt and clay and it's the same black slate bottom. So maybe , just maybe there might be a few specks in there when we clean it out. Hahaha.

Cheers

Tim

 

[Jaros]

Oh well, Gold is where you find it. Sounds like you are all on a great adventure. Good luck.

 

[RM Outback]

Hit the nail on the head Jaros enjoy the adventure, can't help with the mineral ID. You've found gold just in the searching something else to explain to the boys around the fire. Sounds like a good work out just following the creeks at a minimum you'll all have fond memories to recall the adventures :Y:

 

[Ship of fools]

Looks like a little piece of paradise!
You can use the AT to find the mineral rich areas for panning.
Matt T

 

[Timbuck]

Thanks guys and yes sure was fun. Got the next 50 years to play around out there

I agree matt. It is something I learnt when panning and is quite accurate.
Whilst traversing up the creek there was an occasional spot on the exit of the inside of the bends that the ATgold got a lot of minerlisation and went nuts. That will be the first type of spot we will try and pan out to see if we can find and specks.

Question about the clay layer ??????????????

As it is very fine structure to it , would I be correct to assume the gold ( if any ) would reach the clay and stop ??? Or would it travel though it to the bed rock ????
Only one way to find I guess haha. Start digging , it is where you find it

Cheers

Tim

 

[Heatho]

Here's a bit more info on the local gold up there too, one of the worlds finest crystalline gold nuggets came from that area.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=23288

 

[Ballina1]

Hi All
I have been in Ballina for a few years and have been missing access to Central West NSW which I frequented when I lived in Sydney. While I know a lot about the Central West area (Sofala, Hill End, Windeyer, Hargraves, Gulgong, Oberon, Stuart Town) I would say my gold success is been "developing". I like crevassing as crevices sometimes offer a nice surprise. Have used Minelab Eureka Gold but have now bought an SDC2300. Sadly, I live too far away from chunky gold to do day trips. Nundle is a favourite but is 6 hours away. Spent some time around Drake and was successful finding two flakes in 3 visits. Hmmm. I am yet to develop local knowledge. I camp solo with a swag but when accompanied by Mrs we use our Kimberley Kamper. Apart from Nundle we have travelled to Darwin via Central QLD, and back via Red Centre, Oodnadatta Track, Flinders Ranges as well as Mudgee area (Hill End mostly) and a few trips to Nundle. Approached Lismore Gem Club at the their recent Gemfest but did not get a sense of any interesting in gold from those I chatted with.
I am keen to go to Tibooburra but not alone. I posted that I would like to see who in Northern Rivers area would like to start a bit of a club so we could go places camping and golding. No interest from locals so far. Still interested in doing this.
Please let me know if there are any groups around Northern Rivers that have an interest in gold fossicking or detecting or if you are interested.

 

[LONEWOLF]

Pretty Gully....

LW....

 

[Ballina1]

Thanks LW. Might give it a go when the weather warms.

 

[Ballina1]

Went to area between Tooloom Falls and Tabulum today. Tooloom Falls a good spot to camp. One toilet. Nice scenery. Good swimming in summer. Went to Paddy's Flat. Creviced and processed about 6 buckets of hard won sand through sluice for 5 fly specs. Also detected western side of bridge on north side where boulders exposed up on the bench where track runs. Plenty of bits of rusty wire. Tried to access Pretty Gully and thought I had identified a designated road on Google Earth that leads to the gully to east of crossing. Nope. All gates, many locked. Gully itself is difficult to access due to heavy rainforest and other vegetation. Really wanted to go to Billy May's Point but seems to be private property with gate and fence. Can't win a trick in this area. I would really appreciate some help and guidance as it is really the only gold location accessible for day trips from Ballina.

 

[Ballina1]

Drove out to Tooloom Falls recently. Nice place to camp. Drove down to Billy May's Point but seemed to be private property and was fenced. Area near bridge over Tooloom Crk was no good. Paddy's Flat rewarded me with about 8 minute fly specs for a few hours work. Probably won't go out to Drake, Tabulum, Tooloom area again.

 

[Possum Ck1]

Hi Ballina / Hi all, I'm in Byron Hinterland, have just joined this forum. I bought a Gold Monster 1000 last year and been panning dirt from the local creek for a bit of practice. Was planning on going to the Drake area myself. Sounds like I'd better not jack in the day job just yet then?! Give us a shout if you're still looking for someone to go exploring with. There must still be some there somewhere right?