Gympie and surrounds information + questions

[madmax3022]

Are there any areas for a beginner to try his hand at fossicking around gympie? From what i've read there is only a small area available and a licence is definately required. Are there any areas along the Mary river to just rock up with ace250, shovel and pan and just burn a few hours?

 

[Beer Pig]

MATE -- done recce trips around GYMPIE and looked those old gold maps gullies etc. to only find that they are now green pastures/ gullies and no creeks. I think most was full on reef gold with some rich alluvial gullies but long worked out. DEEP ck is DEEP the fossicking area.

from memory you could try the Kilkivan - yabba - Kenilworth - Jimna area as a young tacker we used to find stuff to keep you going. I am still trying to find the creek crossing in Jimna area where I saw a thumb nail slug come out of a crevice trying to get to the bottom -- but is in a state forest when you could go into it and prospect

 

[madmax3022]

Thanks, i thought gympie might be a bust... I might try to get to kilkivan sometime in the future

 

[aushunter]

Hey Max,
Get onto Mick AKA axeman. Mick hunts around that area a bit. will you be using a banker or detector?
A ex mate of mine went to the public area in Gympie and scored a 1/2 oz crystalline gold, very pretty and that was when the XT1700 first came out. I haven't been up there for yrs so I really cant comment on it to much.
Cheers
Brad....

 

[MJB]

Hi everyone,

After much campaigning I have managed to convince my brother and dad to get into prospecting. It has been a bit difficult since they are in Brisbane and I'm in SA but a couple weeks ago they went and bought a pan each and headed off to Gympie to try their luck. Well.....they must have gone to the most tourist beaten prospecting place around, deep creek I think they said and no surprise they found nothing.

To try and convince them to keep trying I wonder if any one here may be able to point them in the right direction so they can find some colour and keep them interested. Anywhere around the SE would be good really.

In an attempt to cure their gold fever I am sending up a couple little bags of my own "pay dirt" which I know has some specks in it and hopefully that should get them excited to stick with it.

Thanks for any info guys,

Cheers,
Matt

 

[axeman]

G'day MJB, Deep creek to me is a waste of time. Tell them to head out to Glendon, 38k's west of Warwick. They have a web site, (Glendon camping grounds) there's fossicking, 4WDriving and fishing, caravan and camping ground.
Mick
PS: Good luck

 

[MJB]

Thanks Mick,

Sounds like the place to go. I had a look at their web site and it looks good. I noticed its on Thanes creek and I think my brother mentioned they wanted to head there. Lets see how they go..

Cheers,
Matt

 

[Craigo]

MJB, we just got back from Glendon as our first big trip and we had an absolutely awesome time fosicking and prospecting, if you ask me the way to go out there is crevicing in the bedrock in thanes ck in the North Boundary of the Durikai area next door to Glendon. Pick a comfy spot and start picking away - it can be very rewarding!

Good Luck!!!

 

[MJB]

Thanks craigo,

Sounds like you had a good time. Is there much water around up there? or do they need to take in their own water for panning? I am heading to brisvegas in a month and I might make sure we drive back through that way on the way back and have a snoop myself.

Cheers,
Matt

 

[Craigo]

We got 38mm of rain the first night there (last Monday) in about 3hrs, she was wet pretty damn fast!! That left a couple of small pools in the creek, there is a dam next to the old puddler at the twin sisters site on Durikai which holds water. With 30+ thunderstorms prefixed for the south east this summer there will be plenty around in the coming months.

 

[MJB]

Cheers craigo,

I will let them know that there is a bit laying around. Do you have any pics of your trip there? I'm curious as to what an puddler looks like. I think I understand that they are used to break down the clay so it can then be panned or ran through a sluice. Sounds like an interesting place.

Back to the clay, what is the best method of breaking this stuff down? I got a bit in my sample bucket from Ararat and the only way I came up with was to flog my wifes kitchen strainer and push the clay through the fine mesh:lol:
Needless to say she was not happy.

Cheers,
Matt

 

[Redfin]

Our knowledgeable friend Loamer gave us a perfect pic of a puddler a while back
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=2042

and this what they looked like in operation

 

[Craigo]

The one out there is much smaller and has a tree growing out of the centre now but there's no gold in it nowadays, cleaned out years ago, it was one thing I didn't get a photo of! :-(

 

[MJB]

thanks Redfin,

that's a great pic and that link put me onto Loamers amazing group of articles with so much useful info.

Unreal..

Cheers,
Matt

 

[aushunter]

Hey Matt,
The Glendon camping area is pretty good, good amenities etc and there is plenty of the yellow stuff out there if you put in the hours.
As Craig and Mick as mentioned it is a good place to start.
On my last trip I found a 2.4gram nuggy by crevicing and a few more gram in the finer gold.
A good meeting place and the managers there are a friendly bunch.
Hope this will help
Cheers
Brad........

 

[Nailfinder]

evening all, bought myself a new detector 6 months ago and would like to team up with others who detect around Gympie. just back from a quick trip to Tibooburra with youngest son , he did well with 22 small pieces and I came a poor second with 13 .

 

[cormorant]

Hi Nailfinder , thats good work by you and your son , welcome to the forum and i doubt you will have too much trouble finding some of the like minded to detect with in your area , good luck and send some pics if you can . ps; which detector are you using ?
Cheers .

 

[Jaros]

Hi Nailfinder, I havn't been to Tibooburra yet. I nice old fella we met on a cruise to Tahiti and back in 2008 owns a few hundred thousand acres at a place called Pulgamurtie Station. We were invited out with our camper trailer but havn't made the decision yet. I think when we do our Nullabour crossing soon we will stop in for a while and have a swing. Nice to meet you mate.
Cheers

 

[Nailfinder]

Bought a GPX 5000 , first trip to Tibooburra nearly turned it into a 3 iron until a very kind man named Charlie showed me how to set it up , were to detect and what to listen for, I couldn't, thank him enough. showed my young fella the same stuff and he was away. Couldn't stop him still going after dark with his IPhone light and finding bits.

 

[odin]

Hi Nailfinder,
I am also fairly new to the hobby and would love to give Gympie a go with you.