Newbie Mum of keen 10yr old prospector

[Mishy73]

Hi everyone,
I'm a single Mum of a 10yr old little guy who is mad keen on panning. I used to pan in my youth, but have not really done anything in years. I bought him some pans and graded sieves a couple of years ago and we've done numerous trips to daylesford and puddled in Sailors creek, found tidbits of gold, truckloads of zircons and quartz points and a handful of small sapphires.
I'm thinking about taking him to Beechworth in the next couple of weeks for a couple of days of panning .. any suggestions for "hot spots" would be greatly appreciated. I haven't panned in the area and other than knowing reedy's creek and the woolshed by reputation for its history, have no clues where to go. I just wanted to take him somewhere different to pan, outside of our usual "stamping ground".
All/any advice would be HUGELY appreciated. Many thanks in advance

 

[the duck]

Vistoria is suffering a bit with water at the moment, i go around castlemaine area and not much water at all, hopefully someone on here will point you in the right direction, sailors creek is a great little spot maybe a little sluice would help him along a bit too
Hope you find heaps

 

[Mishy73]

Hi The Duck,
Thanks for that .. What sort of sluice would you recommend? Budget is a factor. I hope so too .. Would make his holidays!! LOL

 

[Guest]

What a cool mum.

You rock..

You may want to try Reedy Creek Eldorado.

If you decide to go ring up the local general store and ask how the water levels are.

If reference to equipment get a 10" high banker. Drop this into a large container throw in a water pump and use the same water.

If your near a creek then you have ample water.

eg

[video=480,360]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FGnOsF8h5Y[/video]

You can find these on ebay..

 

[Mishy73]

Hi Wolfau,
Thanks for the info and suggestion. I will look into it and also pop into The Miners Den and chat to the lads (it's where I got his panning equipment).
Really appreciate the advice from both yourself and The Duck.
Thank you again

 

[the duck]

E-Z SLUICE BOX, keep your eye out for a new or second hand one, they are around 50 dollars and work great

 

[Mishy73]

E-Z SLUICE BOX, keep your eye out for a new or second hand one, they are around 50 dollars and work great

Thanks The Duck .. Where should I be looking? Had a brief troll on eBay and came up well short of anything from there. I note a lot is from the US. Are there AU distributors? Haven't come across the EZ Sluice, will have another look using that search now.
I am so grateful for the direction and feedback, my little guy will be stoked it I can add to his equipment kit .. LOL .. We both have SO MUCH FUN together doing this stuff .. It's AWESOME Mumma little guy time and the fact we have brought friends along from time to time and piqued their interest into it as a hobby as well means there are times we go as a group and make an AWESOME day of it.
I'll let you know how I go with locating a sluice.
Cheers,
Mishy

 

[axeman]

G'day Mishy 73, welcome to a great forum. I see you have already got some good advice. Both you and your little fellow will have a ball when you get a sluice. Good luck
Mick

 

[Guest]

Your welcome.

You actually inspired me to buy a high banker which I wanted to do for a while.

I just made a purchase for about $450 AU. It takes 5 to 6 Business days for item to arrive

from US. I offered $300 US and they accepted. I am not a fan of anything homemade.

It takes time to get it right and you need to know what your doing.

The one I purchased was the item number 271351425082 and is in the below video.

Just type item number into ebay and it will pop up. The seller has smaller and cheaper ones as well.

With this high banker you don't need a creek with water.

Just use a bucket and water recirculates. Save your fuel money and accommodation money
for your Beechworth Trip and invest in a high banker instead

Ooops i have thrown a spanner in the works..

[video=480,360]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sbgQmI5tjY[/video]

Hope this helps.

Thanks for reading.

Joe

 

[Colmaca]

can't get any cheaper than this

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3808

I got 2 now and found gold

 

[Ben78]

Hi everyone,
I'm a single Mum of a 10yr old little guy who is mad keen on panning.

Based on the majority of responses you'd be forgiven for thinking a sluice or highbanker is a *must-have* item. Its not. You can pan for a good few hours with 20 litres of clean water and until you find yourself on a run where you want to get physical and onto the shovels a high quantity production method may not be necessary.

 

[Guest]

Hi everyone,
I'm a single Mum of a 10yr old little guy who is mad keen on panning.

Based on the majority of responses you'd be forgiven for thinking a sluice or highbanker is a *must-have* item. Its not. You can pan for a good few hours with 20 litres of clean water and until you find yourself on a run where you want to get physical and onto the shovels a high quantity production method may not be necessary.

Hi Ben, No one said its a must have item, these were purely suggestions.

 

[axeman]

I use a cresswell concentrator for testing areas and where water is scarce. I put the concentrator bucket in a 90ltr tub so any spilt water can be put back in the bucket.
Mick

 

[jethro]

If staying at Beechworth try the creek between woolshed falls & Mcfeeters crossing. If panning concentrate on cleaning out the cracks & crevices in the bedrock.
If staying at Eldorado, anywhere around kangaroo crossing will turn up some colour in the gravel from the gutters in the bottom of the creek. If you can walk a bit away from the easily accessed areas you may increase your chances.
Some words of warning, 1, it gets very hot down in the woolshed valley at this time of year as the granite tends to reflect the heat. 2 plenty of hiding places for snakes. Carry a snakebite roller bandage. 3 if crevising around kangaroo crossing you may pan up a bit of amalgam or mercury. dont let the young fella play with anything silver & heavy & put it in a seperate sucker bottle from your other gold as it will "silver"' your clean gold.

Jethro

 

[Mishy73]

Thank you so much everyone .. Hadn't thought about snakes .. Damn good point!! Having puddled in Sailors creek over summers past and not having encountered anything, it simply didn't occur to me.
Not liking the idea of amalgam or mercury either, not fun or cool stuff.
The cost of sluices I've looked at over the last 24+hrs are out of my range or won't arrive by the time we take off .. Reconsidering the old stamping ground at this point, it's safe and familiar .. And garners results in every pan, whether quartz points and zircons or a little colour or the odd sapphire. I know he will walk away chuffed.
I really like the idea of Beechworth but if it gets that hot and water is that scarce, panning is going to be hard yards methinks. We can have a puddle in our local creek too .. It's turned up a little colour before now .. But hard work for the Mumma (who gets on the shovel) .. LOL
I think I'll start saving for a sluice but we have a ball with pans and for now that is going to have to suffice, however, I think the little guy would get a real kick out of using a sluice.
Failing all else, we'll swing by Sovereign Hill and work beneath the falls .. We will colour our pans happy!!
I truly appreciate the time each of you have taken to offer advice and make great suggestions. I'm thinking Beechworth might be an Easter trip when the weather has cooled and we've had some rain (or hopefully have) and by which point I might have got that sluice. It's not a "must have" for us but if I can afford one at a reasonable price, it would be a "fun have".
Thank you once again to everyone. I'm going to get my maps out and check out the areas referenced. It's got to be reasonably accessible as the little guy will struggle otherwise. We can get more adventurous when he's a couple of years older .. He's never going to tire if it .. He's got the bug .. Been bit good to boot.
I'll keep you posted on our forray