Elusive wash layer

[Hunting the yellow]

You spoke to a guy who hands out miners rights. Thats great is he the guy who is going ti fine a prospector on the day? ?

I know what i need to about this game mate i know dpi parks and nearly every ranger around here. Ive also seen them write tickets out and ive filled other blokes holea in so parks dont kick up a stink. Like i said think what you want but when it comes to people asking what they are allowed to do under their minera right i advise everyone check the terms of your permit. If in doubt i suggest you speak to.
Earth Resources Regulation Department of Primary Industries
Corner of Mair and Doveton Streets
BALLARAT VIC 3350
Telephone: (03) 5336 6805to

Im not having a dig at you hty people are going ti get different answers depending on who they speak to and if someone wants to write you a ticket they will refer to the rules of your miners right. Which states you must repair any damage caused during your search for minerals prior to departure.

but like I said I spoke to the guy in the dpi office in spring st Melbourne on what I can and can not do under a miners right. but like I said there's to point arguing about the matter just makes things more heated

 

[MJB]

Spike,
My understanding is similar to HTY's but if you intend to leave the hole un-manned you need to fence it so that joe-blow walking his dog cannot fall in. Maybe a simple Hi Viz orange plastic fencing from a building site is all that's needed to alert people.

Awesome hole you have dug there and can only wish to be able to do my own like that one day. A mate told me that he spent 3 days digging down to a lead and when he got there it was completely barren, pretty devastating but good exercise non the less

 

[isolation]

Forgive my ignorance, but could someone define a lead please?

 

[user 4485]

Basically its an ancient gold bearing gravel bed covered by a younger sedimentary layer. Obviously the terms shallow lead or deep lead refers to the depth of cover.
Some goldfields, like Gulgong, consist nearly entirely of lead networks. The leads at Gulgong were known as the golden octopus such is the spread of the leads throughout the area. Some of the leads can be pretty deep & the younger layer/cover can be rock formed from lava of considerable thicknesses. The oldtimers did well to get down to it in some cases & water was also a common problem at depth.

 

[G0lddigg@]

Hey isolation

A lead is a run of auriferous material concentrated like a creek or a gully. A deep lead being one that is covered by another strata like basalt or sand, loam, dirt.

So imagine a hill with a gold bearing reef thats eroding year after year and all that gold is concentrating into a well defined gully. You have yourself a lead.

Alot of the old leads where lost due to creeks and rivera moving direction over time. The old timers starting tracing these lead for the huge quantities of free gold.

Not to be confused with a gold leader whoch refera to a run of quartz in a host rock that contains specimen gold.

 

[G0lddigg@]

Basically its an ancient gold bearing gravel bed covered by a younger sedimentary layer. Obviously the terms shallow lead or deep lead refers to the depth of cover.
Some goldfields, like Gulgong, consist nearly entirely of lead networks. The leads at Gulgong were known as the golden octopus such is the spread of the leads throughout the area. Some of the leads can be pretty deep & the younger layer/cover can be rock formed from lava of considerable thicknesses. The oldtimers did well to get down to it in some cases & water was also a common problem at depth.

Too quick mate

 

[Goldtarget]

That's how you turn lead into gold

Great explanation/s gents. Some of you guys are awesome at defining things no fuss but great detail.

 

[isolation]

So would it be fair to say that as much as there are 'known' leads, you could work out where a lead is by assessing the geography of a particular area?

 

[user 4485]

By assessing the geology yes but you would need to know what your looking for & the geological history of the area.

Usually the first gold is got at or near the surface and then traced to deep leads, if such exist.
The novice who is trying to follow or to find a deep lead must fully understand that the present bed of the surface river may not, in fact seldom does, indicate the ancient watercourses long since buried either by volcanic or diluvial action, which contain the rich auriferous deposits for which he is seeking; and much judgment and considerable underground exploration are often required to decide on the true course of leads. Only by a careful consideration of all the geological surroundings can an approximate idea be obtained from surface inspection alone; and the whole probable conditions which led to the present contour of the country must be carefully taken into account.

 

[G0lddigg@]

here's an example of a shallow lead i came across during winter.

Basically water from the rounding hills all feed into this gully, the gully is gouged out over time exposing the bedrock and around 1 foot of wash layer.

It was covered with a few metres of overburden up to 5 meters depending on how deep in the gully you were. The best gold here came out of the decomposing bedrock. This is in the middle of the bush not near a creek its up around 460 metres above sea level.

 

[Jaros]

Looks like Dakota Freds old"Glory Hole" from Gold Rush.

 

[isolation]

Sorry for hijacking your post spikegold :|

Thanks for all the great replies

Ok I understand the process, and I've been looking out for that stuff. Would this below be kinda close?

Spotting this stuff in creeks and gullies I think I can do. Seeing surface signs of old creek beds higher up a hill I think I can spot too. But how would you find a hidden lead? Keep following/digging a shollow lead up? Best guess and random digging? Old maps showing old river beds? (i'm guessing there's not too many of them?)

 

[G0lddigg@]

sample streambed layer....best trick i know of without doing any damage is taking a rare earth magnet and running it along various heights.... when you hit black sand and ironstone you will know about it

re your picture above its fair to assume that if there is terrace material there now that there could be under your feet under another 30 -100 metres of overburden be another deposit. But no guarantees at all.. because creeks move, mountains move get warn down etc.

all can say is when i come across a spot like yours i dig down first an d pay attention to the colours changing.

 

[isolation]

Thanks Golddig...

The little scratch I had in that spot was as far as I went. Just a little test then backfill. I think from memory it was mostly sandy, and not black sand. But didn't dig, just scratched...No colour as far as I could see.

Keen to find a patch like spikegold and dig dig dig

 

[spikegold]

Golddigg@. So in the first pic is it where the roots end, that the wash begins?
Was it gold bearing?

 

[spikegold]

Hijack away isolation
I'm trying to get my head round it too

 

[G0lddigg@]

there would be wash layers all through this type of bank.... you're looking for an auriferous layer

 

[spikegold]

I think I get it now. Thanks.

 

[isolation]

there would be wash layers all through this type of bank.... you're looking for an auriferous layer

...but to determine that you would have to dig and test multiple layers, until you either found gold or it's geological friends?

 

[G0lddigg@]

mate 90% of the time the best gold is at the bottom......... the wash layer you want is at the bottom its usually granular and has alot of whit sand and black sands.... in the GT ironstone is the predominant indicator this with decomposed basalt or slate are winners for me.