First gold in WA

[nuggetino]

It's my first trip prospecting in WA and today was my first day swinging the 4500. I was absolutely blown away to find a 2.5g nugget in around 2 hours of detecting. No GPZ 7000 required for this one. Aldi detector or keen eye sight would have found it all the same but that's half of what made it special. My first sun baker. I spent a couple hours carefully detecting the surrounds without further luck. Thought I'd share.

 

[Ramjet]

Very very nice. Hope it's the first of many nuggetino. Hood luck and good hunting.

 

[Wally69]

Geeez, luck must be on your side, a bit more dry weather and that crack in the ground may have swallowed it up never to be seen again.

What a brilliant first WA nugget

 

[Jaros]

Congrats Nuggetino-nicely rounded nuggy.

 

[Bacchus]

Great stuff mate , keep posting , got a feeling this could be the first of many

 

[nuggetino]

Thanks for the kind words fellas I'll be sure to post updates as trip goes along.

 

[Oldfella]

Nice nugget Its a great feeling isn't it. As the other blokes have said, hope that's just the beginning and you find many more.

 

[Fortune Seeker]

Well done mate. Get used to the emu eggs, W.A. is famous for them!

 

[treasure seeker]

I am the Lord of emu eggs....
I know this old timer who goes out detecting and soon as he finds one he packs up and goes home. He reckons that WA has nothing but those emu eggs, I'm starting to see his point, but I just can't help myself.

 

[nuggetino]

lol I think I understand what you mean by Emu eggs now. Spent the following day searching every which way of where I found this beauty but couldn't find his siblings. I left his home in search of a new spot and after some research I settled on an excellent looking creek bed surrounded by quartz and ironstone outcrops. I went to work on the quartz reefs and ironstone heaps but after a few hours came up stumps. Into the creek we go! Not 30 seconds later and I had a very loud signal. My first thought is this is the typical creek junk I'm used to. Nope! Out came this beauty from 4" beneath the gravel wash. Another beautiful end to the day!

A fly tries to stake claim to the big nugget! Probably not seen too many this colour I'd imagine

 

[Bacchus]

Great stuff Nuggetino

I'm guessing you are still up Leonora way , how is the soil for mineralization and are you getting much junk to go along with the nuggets ?

Cheers. , Keep em coming

 

[Richpickings]

Nice work Nuggetino. Keep it up and good fortune in your continuing search for yellow.

 

[Westaus]

Got to be happy with that, you make it look easy

 

[Wintersnake]

Nice. Have a look at the dirty little bugger rubbing his hands together.

 

[docjohnson9]

I just wish I got into prospecting a little more when I lived in WA. 8.(

 

[Redfin]

I just wish I got into prospecting a little more when I lived in WA. 8.(

Amen. I lived in Boulder / Kambalda in 1970 / 71 working in the mines. No superpit back then 8)

12 hour shifts, We used to get a half day off every 2nd Thursday and go into Kal and get a skin full of lunatic soup, then Jimmy's 2 up shed on the way back.

Then work for another 13 days as everyone was broke

 

[nuggetino]

Cheers, hope to get a few more pics up in the next couple months and some shots of this amazing landscape.

Doc,Redfin , I hope you guys get the time to take a trip back to WA and squash any regrets. Prospectors must have been tripping over nuggets back in those days.

Bacchus, the mineralization varies drastically from one place to the next. Basically iron rich red soil throughout with exposed, eroded ironstone and quartz reefs. I'm running a 17x11 DD coil on the 4500 and it runs well even in sharp timings and I can keep the gain around 11-12. I haven't tried a mono yet but I will try the 15x12 tomorrow. Some areas are full of hot rocks but I've gotten used to giving them a kick to confirm and moving along. As for junk I'm finding loads of bullets,casings and a few pull tabs in the creek just down from the nugget find. It's a good thing that nugget was my first target or I may have passed off that creek as a junk pile. Basically I spent 8 hours today carefully detecting the creek about 200m up and down from the find. Tomorrow I'll explore the possibility the gold was shed from a nearby quartz or ironstone outcrop and detect those areas to see if I can turn up any friends. Still in Leonora area, still stinking hot and still can't keep myself in the shade.

 

[Bacchus]

Been a while Nuggetino how about an update mate ,plenty of people interested in WA with winter on its way

Cheers