Gold replenished at Oallen Ford...

[WalnLiz]

The last major weather event has seen a huge amount of flooding throughout the whole of the Southern Tablelands of NSW with Oallen Forde being right amongst it. The new bridge which has a guard rail height of over 6 metres above river level was completely flooded to the point where the whole bridge went under causing significant damage. The torrent scoured the downstream gravels and rocks depositing much of them downstream a distance of more than a kilometer and replacing them with rocks and gravels from the same distance upstream. On a recent visit I was amazed at how many new channels were created and how much new bedrock has been exposed. On testing some of these areas it was not uncommon to have between 50 and 80 specks of gold in every pan ...and those amounts soon add up to lift ones spirits.

The bedrock bars further downstream were found to be even richer and these bars produce some nice gold species though most are in the sub gram range. For the newcomers wanting a location to hone some basic skills when it comes to panning for gold this location is well worth putting on your to do list. For the more experienced prospectors wishing to better identify gold fallout principles and determining exact "Gold Line" drop out zones, then these last floods have opened up some very easy to follow lines of gold, saving a huge amount of pot luck guessing.

The Forde is what I regard as an area where volume panning is the way to go and a gram a day is very achievable for those who put in a few good hours with a large pan or river sluice. The area is also a friendly haven for meeting fellow prospectors and advice flows freely to all who ask. Its a great family oriented location where mum dad and the kids can go frolic in the outdoors getting their dose of vitamin D from the sunshine and not a tablet from the local chemist. Good luck to those that venture and may the gold shine brightly in your jar....Cheers Wal.

Here is a link that may be of help for those new to panning....the vid was shot at the Forde.

 

[phantomnosepicker]

Ive heard you found gold at the meeting of queanbeyan and molongolo rivers... would it be worth a shot

 

[Ubutey45]

The last major weather event has seen a huge amount of flooding throughout the whole of the Southern Tablelands of NSW with Oallen Forde being right amongst it. The new bridge which has a guard rail height of over 6 metres above river level was completely flooded to the point where the whole bridge went under causing significant damage. The torrent scoured the downstream gravels and rocks depositing much of them downstream a distance of more than a kilometer and replacing them with rocks and gravels from the same distance upstream. On a recent visit I was amazed at how many new channels were created and how much new bedrock has been exposed. On testing some of these areas it was not uncommon to have between 50 and 80 specks of gold in every pan ...and those amounts soon add up to lift ones spirits.

The bedrock bars further downstream were found to be even richer and these bars produce some nice gold species though most are in the sub gram range. For the newcomers wanting a location to hone some basic skills when it comes to panning for gold this location is well worth putting on your to do list. For the more experienced prospectors wishing to better identify gold fallout principles and determining exact "Gold Line" drop out zones, then these last floods have opened up some very easy to follow lines of gold, saving a huge amount of pot luck guessing.

The Forde is what I regard as an area where volume panning is the way to go and a gram a day is very achievable for those who put in a few good hours with a large pan or river sluice. The area is also a friendly haven for meeting fellow prospectors and advice flows freely to all who ask. Its a great family oriented location where mum dad and the kids can go frolic in the outdoors getting their dose of vitamin D from the sunshine and not a tablet from the local chemist. Good luck to those that venture and may the gold shine brightly in your jar....Cheers Wal.

Here is a link that may be of help for those new to panning....the vid was shot at the Forde.

Great vid wal if you keep up that quality you’ll end up being hired for the big production movies on the gold coast

 

[WalnLiz]

Most of our vids were done some time ago and we only do a few these days...filmed with Greg, "the Gypsys" on Ozzy Gold hunters but when we found out the behind the scenes crap that goes into these reality TV shows we stopped them from using the footage they took of us. Don't believe everything you see on these shows...especially the finds, but in saying that some can be entertaining....Cheers Wal.

 

[WalnLiz]

oh while Ive got your attention....Ive heard you found gold at the meeting of queanbeyan and molongolo rivers... would it be worth a shot

Gold there but mostly fine and mostly in the Queanbeyan river....better gold up in the Badger gold field.

 

[Gregyem]

The last major weather event has seen a huge amount of flooding throughout the whole of the Southern Tablelands of NSW with Oallen Forde being right amongst it. The new bridge which has a guard rail height of over 6 metres above river level was completely flooded to the point where the whole bridge went under causing significant damage. The torrent scoured the downstream gravels and rocks depositing much of them downstream a distance of more than a kilometer and replacing them with rocks and gravels from the same distance upstream. On a recent visit I was amazed at how many new channels were created and how much new bedrock has been exposed. On testing some of these areas it was not uncommon to have between 50 and 80 specks of gold in every pan ...and those amounts soon add up to lift ones spirits.

The bedrock bars further downstream were found to be even richer and these bars produce some nice gold species though most are in the sub gram range. For the newcomers wanting a location to hone some basic skills when it comes to panning for gold this location is well worth putting on your to do list. For the more experienced prospectors wishing to better identify gold fallout principles and determining exact "Gold Line" drop out zones, then these last floods have opened up some very easy to follow lines of gold, saving a huge amount of pot luck guessing.

The Forde is what I regard as an area where volume panning is the way to go and a gram a day is very achievable for those who put in a few good hours with a large pan or river sluice. The area is also a friendly haven for meeting fellow prospectors and advice flows freely to all who ask. Its a great family oriented location where mum dad and the kids can go frolic in the outdoors getting their dose of vitamin D from the sunshine and not a tablet from the local chemist. Good luck to those that venture and may the gold shine brightly in your jar....Cheers Wal.

Here is a link that may be of help for those new to panning....the vid was shot at the Forde.

Het Wal, I had a squiz at Minview to get my bearings on this place. Might be a nice Spring trip for me and the Missus. The terrain and geology looks amazing along that ridge draining to the Shoalhaven R. But I digress. I don't see any State forests in the vicinity of the ford. Does that mean one seeks out the local property owners seeking panning permission or is this one of those public access to a river type situations, or is it a common like at Hill End or should I stop guessing and let you answer the question?
Cheers
Greg

 

[WalnLiz]

Het Wal, I had a squiz at Minview to get my bearings on this place. Might be a nice Spring trip for me and the Missus. The terrain and geology looks amazing along that ridge draining to the Shoalhaven R. But I digress. I don't see any State forests in the vicinity of the ford. Does that mean one seeks out the local property owners seeking panning permission or is this one of those public access to a river type situations, or is it a common like at Hill End or should I stop guessing and let you answer the question?
Cheers
Greg

Crown Land Greg....no permission required just rock up to the bridge...go up or downstream and have a great day out with the fellow prospectors...you will definitely go home with gold and I'd be surprised if the area doesn't spike enough interest for you to return on many occasions. Good luck out there mate...Cheers Wal.

 

[Windar]

Hmm so about 1.5 hours from Canberra right? Might have to see if I can sneak off when we head over for Christmas with the inLaws....

 

[WalnLiz]

Hmm so about 1.5 hours from Canberra right? Might have to see if I can sneak off when we head over for Christmas with the inLaws....

Xmas is a great time out there as the water temp makes swimming and sniping also a drawcard...good luck.

 

[Windar]

WalnLiz
Just wanted to say thanks for the panning video above. So well explained and I will make sure I de-liquify before I wash over the top of the pan from now on so hopefully get some more flour gold!
Great work on your contributions!
Cheers

 

[WalnLiz]

There's many ways of panning Craig and this method has served me well over the past 50 years in the hobby. Hope it was of some help for you. Cheers Wal.

 

[Ros&Rod]

There's many ways of panning Craig and this method has served me well over the past 50 years in the hobby. Hope it was of some help for you. Cheers Wal.

Hi Wal,
A big thank you from us as well for both the update on Oallen and the video. We had a dabble at Oallen earlier in the year with very limited knowledge and success. Looking forward to having another go when we get back from our travels up north - in other words when the weather starts to warm up.
Cheers Ros

 

[WalnLiz]

Hi Wal,
A big thank you from us as well for both the update on Oallen and the video. We had a dabble at Oallen earlier in the year with very limited knowledge and success. Looking forward to having another go when we get back from our travels up north - in other words when the weather starts to warm up.
Cheers Ros

A lot has changed since the last flood and most bedrock sections have now been replenished with a good amount of gold, especially the newly eroded areas.

 

[Skip]

Fossicking at Oallen as (Wal has pointed out,) volume = gold. The gold is very fine, flour gold in places. If you decide to use a river sluce I'd recommend one that can capture the fine stuff. I like to classify the material down in a bucket, then gently scoop it through the river sluce.
Skip

 

[Ros&Rod]

Fossicking at Oallen as (Wal has pointed out,) volume = gold. The gold is very fine, flour gold in places. If you decide to use a river sluce I'd recommend one that can capture the fine stuff. I like to classify the material down in a bucket, then gently scoop it through the river sluce.
Skip

Yes, our first trip was very exploratory. Had a look at Stuart Crossing first but couldn’t get across. Then went to Oallen Ford. The river was flowing well so mostly observed how it flowed. Had a bit of a dig in a couple of spots classifying material and panning.
Very slow going so totally agree with you Skip that to be successful at this location you need to be able to process a lot more material. We have purchased a sluice and gathered a few more tools for our next attempt.
Wal’s video was very useful as far as looking for opportunities further up the bank.
Hope the weather begins to improve soon for those living around this region.
Ros

 

[WalnLiz]

Yes, our first trip was very exploratory. Had a look at Stuart Crossing first but couldn’t get across. Then went to Oallen Ford. The river was flowing well so mostly observed how it flowed. Had a bit of a dig in a couple of spots classifying material and panning.
Very slow going so totally agree with you Skip that to be successful at this location you need to be able to process a lot more material. We have purchased a sluice and gathered a few more tools for our next attempt.
Wal’s video was very useful as far as looking for opportunities further up the bank.
Hope the weather begins to improve soon for those living around this region.
Ros

The last flood certainly moved a lot of fine gold around and your best bet is concentrate on newly exposed bedrock sections. The flood dropped the gold in distinct "Gold Lines". My advice is to dig a narrow channel perpendicular to the water flow and test pan every couple of feet....you will soon find the spot where the gold numbers are the highest. Once you have determined this then dig from that spot parallel to the flow to follow the line. In most cases these lines are only a couple of feet wide.

 

[Ros&Rod]

The last flood certainly moved a lot of fine gold around and your best bet is concentrate on newly exposed bedrock sections. The flood dropped the gold in distinct "Gold Lines". My advice is to dig a narrow channel perpendicular to the water flow and test pan every couple of feet....you will soon find the spot where the gold numbers are the highest. Once you have determined this then dig from that spot parallel to the flow to follow the line. In most cases these lines are only a couple of feet wide.

Wal thank you for your generous advice. It will probably be at least a couple of months before we get back but keen to have another go. It’s such a beautiful spot! Will let a friend know who is not far away and has been to Oallen a couple of times before. Currently having a look around the Hodgkinson Goldfields in Nth Queensland.

 

[WalnLiz]

Wal thank you for your generous advice. It will probably be at least a couple of months before we get back but keen to have another go. It’s such a beautiful spot! Will let a friend know who is not far away and has been to Oallen a couple of times before. Currently having a look around the Hodgkinson Goldfields in Nth Queensland.

Enjoy sunny QLD and good luck up there...very cold down here at the moment...

 

[Mike678]

Lot of people camp at Oallen over Christmas .Not a good time to go . Kids on mini bikes etc. I packed up and left .

 

[Ros&Rod]

Enjoy sunny QLD and good luck up there...very cold down here at the moment...

Thanks Wal. Cooler than usual here as well but we’re definitely not complaining….
Hi Mike, sorry that your trip to Oallen didn’t work out. We don’t enjoy crowds either and are lucky enough to be able to avoid public holidays and weekends.