Two Old blokes stuffing around in the bush

[just starting]

A thing to note with this rock is that we only found a signal in the top 1/2 inch of it and not all over the rock. The tennis balls only had ironstone in one side and the soil around the base contained a few little stones giving off signals. I also found a few pieces of quartz setting the detector off , 6 " under the earth ,close to where this big rock was ,but haven`t even looked at them yet to see what they contain. They had no rust or ironstone look to them. Come the weekend and we`ll clean these up properly and do some more crushing to see what comes out of it all.

FOZ

 

[Mike501]

Great job guys look forward to seeing what you get out of it.

 

[just starting]

A slight update on last weeks` effort .
I have crushed some of the rock ,classified it twice to get it nice and fine and separated the noisy stuff from the material with no signal in it.
Ran it through the pan and had a heap of fine silver specks ,but no gold.I also panned off all the dirt and got the same result. The rest of the material was just ironstone ,unfortunately. There is still more to be crushed ,so you never know what is in it.
Here is a pic of one of the rocks with the arrows pointing to the silver sparkling in the sun ,but i couldn`t get the camera to show the sparkle.

Today we went out to another haunt of ours and spent a few hours poking around with detectors. Plenty of water around ,so that restricted us , to a point.
All the old mines were full of water . It rained on and off all day ,but we had a fair go at it. Didn`t find anything too exciting.
Got this old small blackberry jam tube. Looks like it was rations from WW2 or the depression.

Other than that ,just the usual lead projectiles and big iron nails and a brass button. No pic ,yet. It is currently sitting in cleaning solution.

Mark got ths old cork bottle and gave it to me to clean. Unfortunately i dropped it. Sorry ,Mark .

Just kidding

I did a quick clean up and it came up alright.

It is marked as being the property of the Traders Bottle Company Ltd and has the number 4 on both the side and bottom of the bottle.

Is this a beer bottle ? What does the number 4 mean for this bottle ?

Mark also found what look like old brass hinges from something. Pics still to come.

We found a few different spots where the camps were ,so there is bound to be more stuff to find. This place would have had a thriving mining population one time. Plenty of mines and test holes. Very hard to detect with the water ,today and also the overgrown forest .
We might have better luck finding the gold the next time we go there.

FOZ

 

[Ward69]

Great work mate.

Sadly will have let you walk the bush for few weeks. Off to Manila on Tuesday. Will be watching. Good see the new 4500. Out in the field. Keep going Find you first nugget with the new detector

 

[just starting]

Oh yeah. Forgot that little detail. Just playing with the settings and learning how to drive it at the moment. The ground balancing is dead set easy. Got that down pat. Gotta use that bungee cord ,though. Gets heavy after awhile.

Mark also found this very light blackish thing that has a signal in it. It is covered in dirt ,so is being cleaned .It fits in the palm of your hand.
Could be a meteorite or some light rock.Not sure. I have a theory it might be bakelite from a kettle or old radio that was thrown in the fire and melted ,but still has something metal in it. When it is cleaned up ,i`ll assess it and if i can`t see anything or work it out ,i`ll put a blowtorch to it to see if it melts. If it doesn`t , i`ll put up a pic and ask advice.

FOZ

 

[just starting]

Spent some time crushing this rock ,tonight. At least trying to .

This is what was left of it after crushing the original rock with a signal in it and a couple of other bits that didn`t .I only found ironstone.

Then there were these 4 pieces that kept talking to the pinpointer ,so i cruished them as well and only got ironstone in 3 of them ,but the 4th one refused to be smashed. Hardly weighs anything ,but won`t break down . Under the brightest light i could find , i thought i could see gold specks in places ,but the bad light makes it difficult to see properly ,so i will leave it to clean itself for a week or so and have a look in the daylight. It is the smallest one in the photo.

This is only about 5mm long x 3mm wide. I look forward to seeing what it is. This is the rock i thought was possibly a meteorite or bakelite.Was a really odd thing to identify.

Mark found it ,so whatever it is, it`s his.

FOZ

 

[Ward69]

I bet a meteorite.

 

[just starting]

Do they melt ? That will be the next thing i do to it.

 

[just starting]

Doesn`t melt ! Came up rusty as soon as i dipped it in vinegar. More ruddy ironstone.

FOZ

 

[just starting]

I am going to shift the focus on my gold hunting area and follow a hunch.

Will do some research and try this new place .

Gotta finish renovating the house ,which i started to do last year. And cut a lot of long grass ,so bush time will be sporatic in the next few weeks.

Might put the sluice in the local creek on the weekend ,if i get time ,though .

FOZ

 

[just starting]

Don`t think it`s a meteorite ,now. I did a bit of reading and they are heavy. Gotta be to fall the the earth , i suppose.


Not much to report ,today.
It has been raining and cold and windy all weekend.
But i did go out this morning for a couple of hours on a reconnaissance mission and the spot i wanted to try was too overgrown and impossible to detect.Just down the road on the way back i spotted quartz in the scrub and stopped to have a look and ended up detecting for about an hour and a half in theon/ off rain ,but then it started to bucket down and i had to leave.Even the plethora of 4WDers and trail bikers were heading home. Gee , they were loud ,today.
In my day ,when the rain started, my riding mates and i went hard and fast in the mud. That was when the fun started. But these blokes went home. What`s wrong with you ,fella`s ?
I started detecting from the top of the hill and worked my way down about 70 yards ,so the next time i go , i`ll spend more time and try to make it to the bottom
weather permitting . Some of the quartz i saw had black in it and some not. Didn't see any tailings ,but the quartz was getting smaller the further i walked.

This is a small example of what we see quite often and usually indicates an old camp. These trees were placed in a circle of sorts and looked too good to be done by nature. Might have been a camp or possibly someone marked this area to come back to. I went over it and only got wire ,but there was plenty of quartz inside the boundary of these trees. There was a second site near this one that looked the same.The arrows indicate the direction of the downed trees.

There has been a bushfire gone through here at some stage and a few trees were uprooted. I tried this one and got a faint signal in the clay. I could onlyfind charcoal ,so this may have been what i heard. I have to go back when it`s dry and have a decent look at it.

The pinpointer is causing me grief. The `45 picks it up ,even when it`s off ,so i might have to leave it home next time. Never had this problem before ,but the interference was annoying. Even when out with Mark 2 weeks` ago , we could still hear each other`s detectors at 30 metres apart.
The autotune went to 173 , today. I thought that was pretty steep. I manually tuned it back to 90 with the gain at 11 and stabilzer at 9 . Couldn`t stick around to really test it after that. The rain set in and i was soaked.

Trying to have fun without ya` Mark. The rain is spoiling my efforts !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By the way , last weekend i had to go back to where we parked the weekend before to find the bungee that fell out of my car. Found it and used it ,today . Makes a huge difference transferring the weight from the detector to the upper body. Well worth using it.

I will report back next week ,if i get the chance to go out.

FOZ

 

[just starting]

I watched Pioneer Pauly for some inspiration ,this morning,. In the latest video , he and his mates and family are sniping a river and got plenty of gold down deep in the crevices. I`ll never do what he does, but it is interesting to watch .

 

[Ward69]

Don`t think it`s a meteorite ,now. I did a bit of reading and they are heavy. Gotta be to fall the the earth , i suppose.


Not much to report ,today.
It has been raining and cold and windy all weekend.
But i did go out this morning for a couple of hours on a reconnaissance mission and the spot i wanted to try was too overgrown and impossible to detect.Just down the road on the way back i spotted quartz in the scrub and stopped to have a look and ended up detecting for about an hour and a half in theon/ off rain ,but then it started to bucket down and i had to leave.Even the plethora of 4WDers and trail bikers were heading home. Gee , they were loud ,today.
In my day ,when the rain started, my riding mates and i went hard and fast in the mud. That was when the fun started. But these blokes went home. What`s wrong with you ,fella`s ?
I started detecting from the top of the hill and worked my way down about 70 yards ,so the next time i go , i`ll spend more time and try to make it to the bottom
weather permitting . Some of the quartz i saw had black in it and some not. Didn't see any tailings ,but the quartz was getting smaller the further i walked.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/14279/1567916376_ground.jpg

This is a small example of what we see quite often and usually indicates an old camp. These trees were placed in a circle of sorts and looked too good to be done by nature. Might have been a camp or possibly someone marked this area to come back to. I went over it and only got wire ,but there was plenty of quartz inside the boundary of these trees. There was a second site near this one that looked the same.The arrows indicate the direction of the downed trees.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/14279/1567916428_camp1.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/14279/1567916449_camp2.jpg

There has been a bushfire gone through here at some stage and a few trees were uprooted. I tried this one and got a faint signal in the clay. I could onlyfind charcoal ,so this may have been what i heard. I have to go back when it`s dry and have a decent look at it.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/14279/1567916494_tree.jpg

The pinpointer is causing me grief. The `45 picks it up ,even when it`s off ,so i might have to leave it home next time. Never had this problem before ,but the interference was annoying. Even when out with Mark 2 weeks` ago , we could still hear each other`s detectors at 30 metres apart.
The autotune went to 173 , today. I thought that was pretty steep. I manually tuned it back to 90 with the gain at 11 and stabilzer at 9 . Couldn`t stick around to really test it after that. The rain set in and i was soaked.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/14279/1567916538_road.jpg

Trying to have fun without ya` Mark. The rain is spoiling my efforts !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By the way , last weekend i had to go back to where we parked the weekend before to find the bungee that fell out of my car. Found it and used it ,today . Makes a huge difference transferring the weight from the detector to the upper body. Well worth using it.

I will report back next week ,if i get the chance to go out.

FOZ

Ha Foz. Good to see your out and walking around. Great work. Mate. I went up to La Union for weekend, was hoping to get up in the hills , will never complain about rain in Ballarat we had 20 in for Saturday and another 15 on Sunday. Flash floods, road closures. Took extra 6hrs to get back to Manila. But its still 30 here. Ended up with an infection in the right toes. Off to get so antibiotics today.

 

[Ward69]

. Learnt a very big session today. Dont walk in storm water here in Philippines The infection rates are so high. Now on antibiotics and no drinking for a couple of days. (Bullxxx). Few hours At least I had the most funniest Doctor who talk English well. Owell. Its the rainy season here. No more walking in the country side this trip. Home in 2 weeks.

 

[silver]

I'd say don't walk in the creeks here either for a while until it's fully healed..... don't want something like that getting away into our creeks here at all too.
Put your feet up for a while mate !
:fire: :fire:
:bomb:

 

[Manpa]

Ouch, not nice Ward69, look after them, toe infections can be nasty, wife has lost two toes to infections, both water borne pseudomonas infections.

 

[Mike501]

Not nice mate. :8

 

[Ward69]

Thanks all. At least its not leptospirosis , it was on my mind for a while. Here in the Philippines in the rainy season, two things to watch for. Dengue and leptospirosis.

 

[just starting]

Bad luck about the infection.

Hope it heals ,soon. Does it hurt ?

At least you won`t have to worry about stepping on rusty nails or bullets in the bush when you get back .
I went to 2 of the places we go and cleaned them all up ,today. Spent 4 hours on the ground swinging and keeping an eye on the creaking trees ,so i would get a warning before any fell on my head.

It was a sunny day with very light rain on and off and a bit of wind ,but that didn`t really bother me. Loggers are on the go and one place i tried to get into was forbidden ,so i went to the general area where you got the Chinese bowl / plate ,or whatever it was , but walked into the bush lower down the hill than we normally go. Heaps of old activity going on and plenty of places to explore.
Got nothing of significance and then went to where you got your first nugget ,but on the other side of the forest. I didn`t get much sleep last night ,so after 4 hours swinging and digging , i was knackered and hungry and went home to put the bbq on .

Hope the toes get better soon.

FOZ

 

[user 4386]

Ward69 and i went for a quick swing ,today and had a go at this big rock / boulder that started to talk to our detectors and the pinpointer ,using a small pick i have had since i was a kid when we used to chase gemstones with a club in stawell.
The rock / boulder is about 2 feet long by 1 foot wide, sitting about a foot up out of the ground and was stuck solid 1/2 way down a hill.

The rock contained quartz and ironstone and had some flower gold around the base of it in the dirt .
We used a magnet to pick up some of the ironstone after crushing it in the dolly and panning it out . I think i may have a couple of small bits of gold in the quartz that i was starting to clean up when the weather closed in and couldn`t finish .so it is now sitting in salt and vinegar to separate the quartz from the gold .if there is any there.. The rest of the rock samples we got will be cleaned up as we get time.

Ward69 has some questions to ask about it.

Here are the before and after pictures we took.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/14279/1566145990_rock1.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/14279/1566146011_rock2.jpg

Over to you, Ward69....................................................

FOZ

Lots of questions

Maybe Goldierocks. Can answer them,

The rocky outcrop, looks like secondary formed rock? The Quartz has been reformed into another rock and it was at the bottom of sea or lake and then hill was pushed up? Below the outcrop there is massive diggings about 200 to 300 meters down the hill. After breaking up some samples, tennis balls size , there is lots of iron stones with some fly specs of gold with in the iron stone. Is this call. Native gold? I can see why the oldies have left it. Lots of work smashing up the rock. With little in return.
Thanks Mark

It is alluvial gravel. cemented into conglomerate and probablyk with some ironstone cement. I see a ;lot of this on hillsides around Ararat, Stawell and other areas in central Victoria where it ios called White hills Gravel. It formed in streams, became cemented and hard, and with time the rock around it was weathered away, leaving it sitting on hilltops (or pieces rolled down the side). I usually find that the gold is fairly fine, for good geological reasons probably npt worth going into....