Gday
Its always worth a scratch around old diggings and over the years I have found some nice gold doing just that, one time I found 3 1/2 ozs of specimens around an old mine shaft in about 15 mins of getting there, but as already mentioned you must take care around them as shaft entrances can be hidden by overburden, holes with false bottoms and so on, any hole with a mounds of dirt or rocks around it can indicate a shaft so best keep to the outside as a few nuggets are not worth your life if the thing caves in.
Many of these holes are a hundred years old or more so if you have a look at many shafts you can see that the the top of the shaft can be undercut by water and erosion and getting too close to the edge can make it cave in, also its easy to slip on the loose rubble and then take the express elevator to the bottom of the shaft, could be a death sentence if you are on your own and reach the bottom with broken legs and other injuries, also many people over the years have thrown trash down the old open shafts, and also snakes and other animals end up down there as well, so even if you are not hurt there are other things that might injure or kill you.
I walked right up to an open shaft some years back, the area had been scraped and the hole was open right on the surface, so I could have easily walked right into it if it was dark or I was not paying attention to where I was going, I mounded branches and things around it to warn others of it being there, someone had obviously scraped the overburden away from around it probably to process it but not bothered to push anything down into it, I have also found sheets of tin covering shaft entrances as well, but these will also rust away and be easily broken through if you walk on to them.
Keep to the outside of any hole or mound, mine shafts are better stayed away from unless you are experienced or geared up to enter them and know what you are doing, and also have someone else there to help you out should there be any problems.
cheers
stayyerAU
