Slaty Creek, Creswick Victoria information and questions.

[goldinbrisbane]

I got back from my first trip to Victoria in August it was amazing .
I was at creswick at slaty creek camp 1 and 2 but it was raining and had my dog with me so only did a few hours panning and sluiceing .
I found gold in every pan and I didn't did deep the creek was full of water back in August its a great place. I am heading back there next year creswick is the place to go

 

[Willsy]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Can't bloody wait. I recon I would have been caught hook line and sinker when the gold rush era was happening. Leaving the wife and heading out bush seems like a top idea!
One more question. Me and the old man are going to go halves in a Minelab Pro Gold panning kit. It comes with a 15" & 10" pan aswell at a classifier. My brother is tagging along for 1 day of our camping trip so I thought I'd get him a Minelab pan too. Should I get a 15" or 10" pan? Being a newbee I'm not aware of the benefits that each size pan may give you.

Any help appreciated
Dale

 

[Teemore]

The Minelab kit as well as the Garret kit provide everything you need to get into panning. Goldrat Highbankers also provide a range of pans and accessories to get you started, shop around at the specialist shops (Miners Den, Lucky Strike, E E Day or online) for the best deal.

The larger pan allows processing of more dirt (with panning/sluicing it's all about volume) but can get heavy with a good shovel load of dirt.

The smaller pan is most often used as a "finishing" pan once the potential pay has been reduced. Those proficient will just use the large pan all the way. The smaller pan, while not allowing the volume of the larger pans can be more user friendly over longer periods.

When checking out pans also consider a small "finishing" sluice (check out Goldrat Highbankers range), these help when you have a fair amount of original material reduced to potential gold holding "fines".

Get as much practise as you can (a few tiny slivers of painted lead) with whatever pan you use ...... become confident in your ability/equipment.

Gold is stupid (being 19times heavier than water helps) and will always settle to the bottom once washed off rocks or out of clay.

Check you "fines" carefully, a lot on newcomers expect to see "pickers" in every pan, the reality is that much of what you find will be tiny/very tiny but it will be gold and does add up over time.

Most of all enjoy what you do with family/friends.

Cheers T,

 

[MegsyB007]

Just a quick addition for camping at Slaty Creek campgrounds...
Take your own firewood in with you, because there's very little around there to collect.

Go the panning - it's one of the best places in Vic to find some gold - almost guaranteed there!
And don't dig into the banks as many others have done there - it's illegal to do so!

Big pan, small pan - doesn't matter - they both work. It's what you like using in the end that matters.
Have a turn with both and see which one you prefer, then go for it!

Best of luck to you all. Let us know how you go!

Cheers,
Megsy

 

[Dave79]

Get him a shovel and put him to work digging for ya!