Eldorado report and 101 for newbies to Reedy creek

[Goldtarget]

Hey fellow prospectors. With some time on my hands and feeling better I took the neglected toys out from the shed and headed up the highway. I put the McKirk sluice and waders in too on the off chance recent rain may have filled the tiny pools I encountered last trip. To my joy the creek was flowing! Good call.

Again I'm in the familiar territory of black sands dominating the cons so no spoils pics till later but in the two super sluice pans full of heavies I reckon there may be a gram floating around. I searched out some gravel bars and found a nice slide where the bank had given way in the not too distant past that was intersecting some hard pack. After my crevices disappointment last trip I was determined to sample up a good spot. My instincts did not disappoint.

My limited knowledge of Eldorado tells me that flood gold will be found in good amounts in the black sands and tiny gemstone areas. I put a half shovel full in from my chosen spot and Hello black sands and tiny red and green gemstones. I had around 30 colours in a few teaspoons worth of heavies. The next pan/shovel was around 10, this to me is a great place to start. The actual location was on an outside bend totally at odds with the text books, but flour gold is like that, you must look for it andtest for it or you might be shoveling for nothing. Eldorado I think can be seen as the exception rather than the rule. Here's my spot for the afternoon.

 

[Goldtarget]

I put about 20 shovels in and extracted the tennis ball size cobbles out from the hard pack. The old sight of some nice grey clay layer started coming out and hitting that contact zone between the light blonde sands and the thicker clays is a good sign. The gold does not seem to permeate the clay just sit on top. Putting too much sticky unproductive clay will strip the good stuff out again, skimming out the top few centimeters is plenty deep. Here's some pics of what it should look like in accumulation I'd you're digging the right stuff. Note how full the ribs are with heavies.

Top box ribbed matting in the low pressure/flow zone

Hog matting in bottom box.

 

[Goldtarget]

After cleaning out the Highbanker I had a huge amount of heavies. I'll get some pics up of what that looks like in a pan. These sorts of cons are best left cleaned up at home or with patience on site into a seperate large tub. It's amazing how small the gold is to extract, it often floats and is best taken in small amounts and time taken. It is easily washed over the edge of the pan for even very good panners. Other options may include a blue bowl or Miller table. You can easily end up with 100s of specks of fine gold in very heavy black sands. I have found a nice strong magnet will draw alot of the heavies out. I use ones from a computer hard drive inside a thick plastic drinking cup. This allows you to remove the magnet and let the heavies fall away without corrupting the magnets.

 

[Bacchus]

Glad to hear you are back at it , great educational post and pics . gives a bit to those who are interested but unable to get to an area like that

cheers

 

[madworld]

Nice trip report goldtarget, looks like some top weather down there for a weekend out and some colour to top it off

 

[Goldtarget]

I also (accidentally) made a mistake today. Sometimes little mishaps remind us to be more careful. At one point I heard the pump flutter and as I was a distance away it ran dry. You simply cannot underestimate the effect that a sudden interruption to flow can have. So as chance would have it I took a pic. Most systems like sluices and highbankers rely on a constant and consistant flow to allow the heavies to drop out and lights and blondes to flow of the end. Setting up and maintaining the high and low pressure zones gives the hydraulic system the best chance to seperate the good from the bad. Pretty simple.

If something interrupts that flow, a heavy surge, a rapid decline in flow or add in my case today a total loss the system fails to regulate. The result today was a huge flushing outward of the heavies toasts the tailings. Two lessons here. First check fuel levels if using a pump. Second clean up at regular intervals. Here's the pic of the sluice. Notice the black sands have dislodged and are heading out the end towards the tailings!

 

[Goldtarget]

Clearly you can see this happened a few moments after my last shovel load of gravels, any gravels that may be exiting dropped straight out of suspension and into the run. At this point I had little choice but to cleanup. Surging the system with another start up may well have flushed a large amount out. Putting a pan in under the exit of the system before shut down and reducing the flow slowly on shut down will be good measures to keep all your hard earned cons. Gradual decreases will allow the system to slow down without a dislodging surge. Heavy bodied gold is pretty damn good at sitting still but flakes and flecks will escape quickly.

 

[Goldtarget]

Make sure you take out what you took in. It's not that hard to take your rubbish home. Dogs and firearms are a no go due to being a national park. The store at Eldorado has some info if you're heading there for the first time.

If anyone had any questions I'm happy to answer them. I love this place and with nice easy access is a great destination for gold hunting. I hope some of this helps if you're heading there for the first time. I'll get some spoils pics up later in the week. Cheers.

 

[pjg100]

Hey Goldtarget,
Excellent report and tips for newbies.
When are you back out there, I called in on the way back from home. Good to see flow again.
Last weekend on the way back home there was no flow.
All I did was crevicing and still walked away with a good amount of colour.

Peter.

 

[Goldtarget]

That pic is today. I could not believe it it was so dry they must have got some half decent rain in the last week.
Next time I go I'll put up some notice, it was a last minute decision I was in the shed working out what I was going to sell but I'm having trouble letting go haha. Yesterday I was having an arvo nap I was bloody crook have been for better part of a week. Was nice to sweat a bit out.

 

[pjg100]

Yes there was some rain last weekend and during the week.
Last weekend there was a group who stayed at Kangaroos crossing with the double entrance, had a look at the creek there and they must of went to town with their gear as it was full of holes.
Spent the morning today just up creek a bit, just on the pan.
Had to leave around lunch to check in at the place I am staying at for work.
Send me a PM if you are willing to head again next weekend.

Peter.

 

[Dug]

Great stuff goldtarget

 

[Goldtarget]

I think kangaroo has seen alot of activity, I had a look around the other week it was the same, I was certainly a way down stream from there both times, certainly alot of activity right along. I sincerely doubt it for the next weekend but send me a pm if you're heading out its always a possibility.

 

[dwt]

Nice work mate
Top write up as well GT, an invaluable source of info, awesome

 

[MJB]

Nice work GT..nice work. I will get up there one day

 

[bmzgold]

Hey Gt
great report mate.
heads up on the waterflow at eldy, i was there for a week and had rain one night, the next day the creek rose about 50mm but only lasted for a couple of hours, two days latter without anymore rain, it rose again but lasted for the whole day, my guess is that it was the water that had fallen in the hills making its way down through the aquifers, the more rain in the hills the more the aquiffers are going to fill and the longer the flow will last.
would be great to catch up again if you are up this way, so will pm you my number.
Cheers
Boyd

 

[Goldtarget]

Stopped in today to find mid level creek flows.....will be that way tommorow with the sluice in a juicy recon spot around lunchtime.

 

[AtomRat]

I've got Razorback and Scrubber mats but wish I bought UR. Any tips for configurations? Does the mesh affect it much? I don't want to listen to Doc's painfully long videos again... 8)

 

[Goldtarget]

Do you mean for Eldorado or in general? I ask only because Eldorado is different from anything else I've done in vic, those heavy black sands are a killer.
Hog mats have had some decent coverage in the threads.
I saw a walbanker in action up there did a great job.
I use a combination but run a trap at the top of the Highbanker that collects well over 90%.

When there is decent flow I use a custom river sluice with small expanded over a custom mat. The McKirk sluice does a stellar job too.

The gold is so fine and the heavies so frequent you have to find a combination that may not be the one you use elsewhere.

 

[mrgold]

I went there on Sunday 24th January and I dug and panned about 50 different spots hardly any gold I got 3 small very fine dust and took a bucket oh diggings to pan hopefully there is gold in it