Starting New Ground Up or Down ?

[Plushy]

So i have started on some new ground for me which is an area of old diggings . The ground is a long shallow gully , fairly flat along the bottom with a small rise on each side to around 10 metres. With an old water course running down the middle . So far i have detected around the lowest point of the diggings getting a little over a gram of gold in a 15 by 15 foot area.

So do you think i should keep working the area i am in or maybe move up to the higher ground to chase the source ?

How does everyone else work there new patches ? Work around the edges chasing the source or just work outwards in sections from the gold found ? .

Thanks

James .

 

[Davent]

Where I work, the source/s are long gone, and I just pick up scraps in isolated patches.

Hope to find some new, or less worked ground this dry.
Think I will start low, and hopefully be able to follow it up.
Having said that, we worked a huge, long narrow patch from where the source was,down a gentle slope, that finished, or we lost at a creek that cut across it.

 

[aussiefarmer]

I sometimes play on a old time working of course alluvial gold 50 meters higher than the creek, its issolated from any other diggings and the old timers put plenty of test holes and trenches all around it , one shallow trench follows the hill 1 klm upstream and there is no evidence of the source ever being found.

my only explanation is the hills and creek have shifted that much that it is gone , to my knowledge there is no more gold for atleast 50 klm in any direction.
Its a mind bender when water worn rocks are all through it yet the creeks 50 mtrs lower than it.
Good luck

 

[GypsyGoldAu]

Its a mind bender when water worn rocks are all through it yet the creeks 50 mtrs lower than it.
Good luck

The term 'elevated bench' springs to mind in this circumstance...wherein a massive intrusion from below lifts and shifts the surface topography...another reason to always also look 'above' quartz reefs....finds can often times be better than 'below' the reef.

May not be the case in this instance, but does go towards explaining the conundrum.

GGA

 

[Moneybox]

If I got a gram from a 15'x15' area I would just keep working at it. I've left gold to find gold before and then wished I'd never left.

 

[Wishfull]

I am no expert by any stretch but I read somewhere that when yoy find a patch it's best to work outwards in a spiral.
Actualy when I think of it it's no different than when I was actively involved in searches in the S.E.S years ago. We would do a similar search patern then, sometimes in a spiral sometimes in a tight forward chain and gridding. Depending on circumstances.

 

[Syndyne]

Hi Plushy,

Some good info given already here.

I would also look at things like the shape and appearance of the gold. Is it sharp and 'reefy' looking, possibly from a Quartz reef source nearby or is it smooth and waterworn having most likely traveled from a good distance via an old alluvial lead or potentially washed out of a bench above as Gypsy mentioned.

Either way it will be an exciting search!
All the best and good luck.
Shauno.

 

[Plushy]

The pieces are smooth and flat . Being as the gully is so flat kinda surprised at how smooth they are . The gravel layer is only a few inches from the surface and the gravel is quite coarse not many smooth rocks in it .

I will spend an hour and work a line across the top the gully and then go back and work the patch in a large spiral . will post back as to what if anything i find

Thanks for the input everyone .