Urban Detecting?

[Morgan82]

Just wondering if anyone ever looks a bit closer to home when detecting/prospecting?

I currently live in Ballarat (under duress) and wonder if it came about the same way my home town of Gympie did.
Gympie for example has pretty much built its CBD smack bang on top of the creek that James Nash originally found gold in and this, I imagine, was a matter of tents near diggings becoming timber shacks becoming small buildings etc etc until it became what it is today. So considering the equipment we have today I'd imagine that if there wasn't a town plonked on top of the water course that it could still produce.

(Gympie by the way may have been a big player in the qld gold rush but they are still paying for building where they did as the cbd goes under water every couple of years affecting 100s of businesses)

I don't want to start a discussion regarding permissions, laws etc as we all know what the expectation is, just more curious if areas close to home (like the small bushy creek area next to my house )are worth walking through.

 

[richo966]

my home town had rivers that had gold and sapphires in the past now one river has concrete over it and is water drain next to macas

 

[Greglz86]

My home town is a similar story. Most of the mines and mollock heaps were in town. When big w went in they dug up some old mines then filled them with concrete to build over it and the mollock heaps were used to lay the surrounding roads and streets.
My grandmother says the streets are literally paved with gold.
So if you hear of a tool swinging his detector in middle of the street. Its probabky me
Greg

 

[casper]

Last week I went to a creek 15mins from me in a minor gold region that looked promising ie good gravel bed with plenty of pink and white quartz on shallow bedrock but after 3 hours panning i concluded that the section i was working was barren. My main concern was that the creek was surrounded by large acreage housing blocks and the water although very clear had an 'unclean' odour about it. Wondering whether the houses above me where sewered or not occuppied my thoughts for much of the time i was there and truthfully i was glad to leave. I didn't get crook but i had that bilgey smell in my nostrils for days..

casper

 

[Heatho]

More for Urban Prospecting, I wonder what Manly council would say if someone set up a highbanker on Manly beach. Dunno what they would think.

Seriously, anyone tried highbanking on the East Coast beaches, would have to be gold at some of them, I think there was payable amounts near Yamba. Around the Shoalhaven maybe? Just interested, lot's of black sand on Long Reef beach and an old volcanic dyke on the headland with hard iron clayey hotrocks on the beach occasionally, might have to get a bucket full to pan out 1 day out of interest.

 

[Beagleboy]

Last week I went to a creek 15mins from me in a minor gold region that looked promising ie good gravel bed with plenty of pink and white quartz on shallow bedrock but after 3 hours panning i concluded that the section i was working was barren. My main concern was that the creek was surrounded by large acreage housing blocks and the water although very clear had an 'unclean' odour about it. Wondering whether the houses above me where sewered or not occuppied my thoughts for much of the time i was there and truthfully i was glad to leave. I didn't get crook but i had that bilgey smell in my nostrils for days..

casper

If you are from Melbourne and you are talking about Warrandyte, I find gold there all the time. The acreage homes have septic tanks but they are changing lot of areas to sewerage. Last time I was there something died around there and it did smell. We thought it was a kangaroo hit by a car.

 

[casper]

No .... Tyabb Goldfield

 

[jethro]

Morgan, If I were you I would start swinging in you're own back yard & definetly have a look at the creek.
See if you can get hold of an old geo map showing shallow alluvial workings & then try to identify landmarks & road or street names if shown and then transpose them onto a modern day topographic map.
Do a bit of research you may be surprised at what you are sitting on top of. And I would be betting that the ground within the city limits has had far less attention from gold detectors than the surrounding forests.

 

[Morgan82]

Morgan, If I were you I would start swinging in you're own back yard & definetly have a look at the creek.
See if you can get hold of an old geo map showing shallow alluvial workings & then try to identify landmarks & road or street names if shown and then transpose them onto a modern day topographic map.
Do a bit of research you may be surprised at what you are sitting on top of. And I would be betting that the ground within the city limits has had far less attention from gold detectors than the surrounding forests.

Will do, thanks for the advice. And thankyou to all involved in this thread, unfortunately some of the other forums ive been on (not prospecting orientated) don't always have the positive feel this one does so far. So thanks for not flaming a newby

 

[jethro]

Mate, to get colour today you have to look in places that possibly hundreds have overlooked. Just keep thinking outside the box, and don't get discouraged if the first theory comes up dry. Keep your eyes & mind open as you can be literally inches away from a good crevice or gold trap that has been overlooked. Its a nice feeling when a theory comes up trumps. Unfortunately the success rate for me used to be one in about five but it seems the odds are lengthening.

Jethro