Reef or "Eluvial" Gold is in my opinion not given the attention it deserves amongst many detector operators. Finding the tell tail signs requires a different approach to hunting "Alluvial" gold nuggets within water courses. For Alluvial nuggets one mostly looks for bedrock within the range of the coil size being used. The main search zones are within only a few metres of the high flood level zone of the creeks being worked. The biggest problem with chasing these nuggets is it's very easy to clean out creek beds of these nuggets. One needs dramatic flood activity to replenish nuggets, as the floods have to be severe enough to erode usually a significant amount of soil from the streams bank to get nuggets back within the "new" detectable range for these nuggets.
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Reef or "Eluvial" gold, is best chased by "Loaming" the high flood water levels, starting from as little as a few metres above any high flood level, and thus searching in ground where only "shedding" gold has travelled. It usually hasn't travelled far from its source, hence has not necessarily worked deep down to bedrock. True "Loaming" is a technique that would require a very lengthy post to explain properly, and there is quite a few good books on the market where this method is explained in great detail. In short when working a stream for alluvial gold one often comes across sections where " Prickly" or "Specie / Reef" gold is encountered. This gold has not come down the stream but instead shed down from a nearby reef in the surrounding hillside. These locations are where the old timers used "Loaming" techniques to chase the gold up to its source. They took soil samples from around the base of the hill from where the ragged gold was found and panned them to find where the most "colours" prevailed. They repeated this along the contours up the hill until either the gold ran out or a "visible" reef was encountered. If no visible reef was found they dug down from their last sample and usually found a smaller "Stringer "reef not far below the surface. These are the "Reefs" we like to chase with the detectors as they had very little attention back in the day. Most are indicated by what looks like a "grave" and the gold soon ran out. Loaming was so successful that there is hardly a significant exposed reef left that wasn't discovered by the old timers using this method.
Pretty well all the Goldfields in NSW have both Alluvial and Eluvial gold within them. Research, especially identifying shafts, on the field you are working is a must and plotting these shafts on the GPS is your first point of call. In most cases where major reefs have been found, smaller "Stringer" reefs very often occur in close proximity. Remember that the old timers were not too interested in the spoils from reefs while "Loaming" but instead were concentrating on the bigger picture, which was the source of the gold and the "mother load". We are unfortunately not going to find many "Mother Loads" these days but the "spoils" from the old timers haste to get to the reef is more than enough to keep us satisfied and the jar rattling. A degree of fitness is also required as no longer are we working the easier river flats, but instead the sides of hills and sometimes mountains.Remember to keep hydrated as physical exercise from working some of these areas can catch some by surprise.
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Us detector people generally don't run around with a gold pan in our back pack so we tend to loam "electronically." The principal is still the same but what we do is generally use our most sensitive coil and work via contour lines up from where we find "Prickly" or "specie" gold. Most of the time the gold nearer the creek is very small as it has shed the furthest, getting larger as it gets closer to It's source. Species are the main give away and sometimes a piece of quartz may only show a speck of gold. Extreme care and concentration is required to hear some of these faint signals as we are not looking for "Screamers" in these situations. Machines like the new 6000 will certainly open up this type of detecting big time, and I'm imagining many stringer reefs will be exposed by those prepared to correctly look for them. I've found most of mine using my 5000 but recently Liz's 2300 has outgunned me.I hate saying this but unfortunately either a 4500, 5k, 6k, 7k or 2300 are a must to be successful at this type of prospecting with any sort of real consistency.
One piece of personal advice when hunting "Reef" gold is make use of your GPS and pin every piece of gold you find in an area. Not only can it give a useful map of how the gold is shedding but also shows you where to give additional attention once you have taken the obvious and easy surface gold. When I talk about "Additional attention" what I mean is, where I find a piece of "Reef" gold I go back to that spot later with a shovel and take 20cm off the surface for a couple of metres around where each nugget / specie was found. On too numerous occasions to mention there has been more gold at this new detectable depth, and generally larger pieces as well. Make sure you fill in these depressions and rake the top flat as the last thing you want is to advertise a possible find to others. Too many people find a shedded reef, take the obvious easily detected gold, and then walk away thinking they've got the lot. If only they knew what they have possibly left behind.
This thread is mainly directed at the areas I work in NSW but the principal is the same everywhere. In WA this particular "Loaming" principal is not quite as effective given the size of the ancient water courses and distance between reefs. Good luck to all who persevere and stay safe out there on those gold fields. Cheers Wal.
Thanks Wal&Liz. This post is almost at its 10th birthday, and I've read it many times, and maybe one day I'll actually get the opportunity to have a go myself. In the meantime I will continue to sate my craving and read this extremely well written piece at least once a year. Thanks again.
