Anolphart
Zol Straub
On Sunday I tested my newfound knowledge and new toys er, apparatus in a large river near my home. Although I have been detecting for several years now, I knew little about panning, sluicing, crevicing and treating pruned toes caused by extended immersion. I lost my youth to panning at Hill End in Tambaroora Creek about a month ago and was lucky to strike some colour which, despite my backache, has inflamed a non quenchable thirst for more gold.
I did a lot of online research of the location of previous gold finds in my neck of the woods and which creeks were most likely to be the carriers and then into which river they fed. The next step was to find the most practical location to access the creek and/or river. There is some rugged and very hilly countryside to negotiate to get to the most optimal places, so of course youd be silly not to try the easiest places first.
My first recce to one of the smaller tributary rivers didnt produce any colour, but Im suspecting it wasnt because it isnt there but rather to me incompetence. I still believe that there is a lot of potential there and will persevere (am I starting to sound like a gold junkie yet?).
My second foray was yesterday to one of the larger rivers here in the Northern Rivers district and was more successful. My first digs did not produce anything except what may have been flour gold. There also seems to be a lot of mica in the river, but that washes off very easily so its unmistakably not gold. I tried crevicing for the first time, and was rewarded with a couple of pickers, but did not continue as I wanted to try my new, just out of the box Santas gift to me an 8 Gold Rat. The river wasnt suitable where I was for the rat, so I took it to a flowing side creek nearby that I knew ran from below two old gold mines. The first two shovel-fulls produced some colour through the rat so I thought that I try out my shiny new yabbie pump/dredge to increase productivity and reward me with riches beyond my dreams. Whooeee, thats hard yakka! Im a bit ambivalent about that device, because for all of the dredged material that came out of the same area, it didnt produce as much gold as that produced by the two shovel-fulls. Early days yet, and I will persevere, but am wondering whether the gold may be falling out of the pump and just leaving the classified dirt?
At this stage Im not sure whether I had the rat set up correctly, there was adequate water flowing (about 1 high at the flared inlet end) but its possible that the drop may not have been adequate. I have ordered a clinometer off Fleabay but will have to wait for the slow boat from China and hopefully that will indicate the proper angle.
Well the ensuing riches never happened of course, but the richness was in the form of a great day out and more knowledge learnt. Now, what do you do with pickled toes?
I did a lot of online research of the location of previous gold finds in my neck of the woods and which creeks were most likely to be the carriers and then into which river they fed. The next step was to find the most practical location to access the creek and/or river. There is some rugged and very hilly countryside to negotiate to get to the most optimal places, so of course youd be silly not to try the easiest places first.
My first recce to one of the smaller tributary rivers didnt produce any colour, but Im suspecting it wasnt because it isnt there but rather to me incompetence. I still believe that there is a lot of potential there and will persevere (am I starting to sound like a gold junkie yet?).
My second foray was yesterday to one of the larger rivers here in the Northern Rivers district and was more successful. My first digs did not produce anything except what may have been flour gold. There also seems to be a lot of mica in the river, but that washes off very easily so its unmistakably not gold. I tried crevicing for the first time, and was rewarded with a couple of pickers, but did not continue as I wanted to try my new, just out of the box Santas gift to me an 8 Gold Rat. The river wasnt suitable where I was for the rat, so I took it to a flowing side creek nearby that I knew ran from below two old gold mines. The first two shovel-fulls produced some colour through the rat so I thought that I try out my shiny new yabbie pump/dredge to increase productivity and reward me with riches beyond my dreams. Whooeee, thats hard yakka! Im a bit ambivalent about that device, because for all of the dredged material that came out of the same area, it didnt produce as much gold as that produced by the two shovel-fulls. Early days yet, and I will persevere, but am wondering whether the gold may be falling out of the pump and just leaving the classified dirt?
At this stage Im not sure whether I had the rat set up correctly, there was adequate water flowing (about 1 high at the flared inlet end) but its possible that the drop may not have been adequate. I have ordered a clinometer off Fleabay but will have to wait for the slow boat from China and hopefully that will indicate the proper angle.
Well the ensuing riches never happened of course, but the richness was in the form of a great day out and more knowledge learnt. Now, what do you do with pickled toes?
