bladesmith said:
I'd suggest you start a thread in the Introduce Yourself section, mate - more people will see it and you won't derail this very valuable thread.
What To Look For On The Goldfields (New To Prospecting)
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Help Support Prospecting Australia:
I'd suggest you start a thread in the Introduce Yourself section, mate - more people will see it and you won't derail this very valuable thread.
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Awesome info for rookies
thanks for sharing your knowledge.
:Y:
ickshovel:
thanks for sharing your knowledge.
:Y:
ickshovel:
Hi from another Newbie. I live in the Bendigo region and bought a cheap Minelab Go-Find 66 because my 11yo will also be using it and didn't want him destroying a high-end model!
We've had a play around a few areas and have found junk pieces to keep him keen (like fake Chinese coins which are just lucky charms), but no gold as yet. Three questions:
1) Any good areas that may be more likely to find gold within 10km of Bendigo - even a tiny find would be awesome for the lad (my plan is finding them myself, act cool and let him think he found it )
2) With the two rocks I assumed are hot rocks, how to I know for sure that is what they are and not containing any gold? The two of note have a iron-like look so just assumed hot rocks. We have kept them anyway.
3) I found the Go Find 66 referred to on a website as a Treasure Finder, more expensive Minelab detectors listed as Gold Detectors. Hoping that's not a bad sign!!
Sorry if these questions have been covered already or stupid.
We've had a play around a few areas and have found junk pieces to keep him keen (like fake Chinese coins which are just lucky charms), but no gold as yet. Three questions:
1) Any good areas that may be more likely to find gold within 10km of Bendigo - even a tiny find would be awesome for the lad (my plan is finding them myself, act cool and let him think he found it
) 2) With the two rocks I assumed are hot rocks, how to I know for sure that is what they are and not containing any gold? The two of note have a iron-like look so just assumed hot rocks. We have kept them anyway.
3) I found the Go Find 66 referred to on a website as a Treasure Finder, more expensive Minelab detectors listed as Gold Detectors. Hoping that's not a bad sign!!
Sorry if these questions have been covered already or stupid.
goodaye GCV, the answer is yes,that is a bad sign/fact.GoldCentralVic said:Hi from another Newbie. I live in the Bendigo region and bought a cheap Minelab Go-Find 66 because my 11yo will also be using it and didn't want him destroying a high-end model!
We've had a play around a few areas and have found junk pieces to keep him keen (like fake Chinese coins which are just lucky charms), but no gold as yet. Three questions:
1) Any good areas that may be more likely to find gold within 10km of Bendigo - even a tiny find would be awesome for the lad (my plan is finding them myself, act cool and let him think he found it
2) With the two rocks I assumed are hot rocks, how to I know for sure that is what they are and not containing any gold? The two of note have a iron-like look so just assumed hot rocks. We have kept them anyway.
3) I found the Go Find 66 referred to on a website as a Treasure Finder, more expensive Minelab detectors listed as Gold Detectors. Hoping that's not a bad sign!!
Sorry if these questions have been covered already or stupid.
The Go-Find is a coin relic detector.
If you plonk the Go-find on a nugget it will find it, but its not going to be able to deal with med-high mineralisation when searching for gold in typical gold-fields.
Have a read up on the difference between a VLF vs a PI machine, & treasure/coin/relic machines vs more dedicated gold detectors.
Have a read here; https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=515186#p515186
& then go thru the threads on different detectors here, as well as the General Discussion, & you will soon get your head around what you want & need .... & budget
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That sure is some excellent information, as a newby to detecting I appreciate all the help. Cheers
loamer said:
Thanks Loamer for this great post. It's great to see people with a lot of experience sharing it for the benefit of others.
GoldCentralVic said:Hi from another Newbie. I live in the Bendigo region and bought a cheap Minelab Go-Find 66 because my 11yo will also be using it and didn't want him destroying a high-end model!
We've had a play around a few areas and have found junk pieces to keep him keen (like fake Chinese coins which are just lucky charms), but no gold as yet. Three questions:
1) Any good areas that may be more likely to find gold within 10km of Bendigo - even a tiny find would be awesome for the lad (my plan is finding them myself, act cool and let him think he found it
2) With the two rocks I assumed are hot rocks, how to I know for sure that is what they are and not containing any gold? The two of note have a iron-like look so just assumed hot rocks. We have kept them anyway.
3) I found the Go Find 66 referred to on a website as a Treasure Finder, more expensive Minelab detectors listed as Gold Detectors. Hoping that's not a bad sign!!
Sorry if these questions have been covered already or stupid.
GM1000 & Go-Find 66 for the kid. New to the game, keen to join others when things go back to normal.
Hey GoldCentralVic, sounds like you're in a similar place to me. I'm in Bendigo, have a GM1000, and take my 9yo daughter with me. She sometimes swings a modified (shortened) X-Terra around, but is happy just pottering around with me. On one occasion she found an old bottle dump and came across a great undamaged glass bottle stopper.
Regarding your questions:
1. Pick up any one of the Tully series of map books from Bendigo Miners Den. They show where all the old mining spots were, so that you can get in amongst the mullock heaps. That's where the GM1000 will work best. Yes, there'll be a lot of crap to dig up, but that's part of the fun. Another option is Victorian Online Gold Maps (have a look on Facebook); he does online prospecting maps that work via Google maps, so you can navigate to the location, add notes, etc. Alternatively, just drive along any of the tracks in Whipstick and look for mullock heaps.
2. Break them open. Sometimes people do find gold inside them.
3. As others have said, the Go-Find won't find gold. But that's why you've got the GM1000.
More than happy to meet up somewhere down the track. I'm still learning myself so I probably can't impart any sage advice.
As a newbie, what Loamer has shared here is a valuable resource that is well written & presented. Just reading this one topic makes a person feel less of a doofus heading out. Reading this gives you a far better understanding of how to read the areas.
Many thanks for being kind enough to share this.
Many thanks for being kind enough to share this.
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Hi guys Im another newbie to this forum I bought an SDC2300 earlier this year and have been out a dozen or so times. Ive found it to be a very user friendly machine to use and have found some interesting things, and some very small pieces of gold. I see others upgrading there machines with the coiltek coils,Im doing a bit in and around the pine trees and find Im not getting the depth through the pine needles will a bigger coil help me out?
Dezzasgold said:
A lot of people use a rake first in those conditions. Welcome to the forum.
Cheers
Doug
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GoldCentralVic said:
Did you hear about the Mum and Dad who went swinging at Clermont with a GPX 5000 and GPZ 7000?
They found nothing but they left their two daughters back at the car.
The girls had a Go Find 66 and picked up a beautiful 3 gram nugget with it.
sawdan
Dan Sawyer
Isn't it funny that we hope to find targets in new areas that the old timers might have missed, but that's never the way it goes.
All the advice I have had is go over what's been gone over before for hundreds of years.
I find myself looking up at virgin gullies laden with quartz just wondering....
All the advice I have had is go over what's been gone over before for hundreds of years.
I find myself looking up at virgin gullies laden with quartz just wondering....
sawdan said:
Trying these areas is how you find patches. I know someone who ONLY detects virgin areas but obv still within producing goldfields. He has found some nice 5oz+ pieces but also spends many many days finding nothing.
I do the polar opposite and most of the time go over already worked gullies etc with the sdc.
I dont have enough patience to wander around day after day finding nothing, but I know the payoff could well be worth it.
Another option which could be faster and allow you to tick off more virgin ground would be to take some loaming samples.
If there are indications (even only a speck or 2) in a virgin gully, at least you can confirm there is gold there.
No gold from your samples...then move on to the next one.
I will be soon testing a few places, bulk sampling with the dryblower, as a means of telling me whether I should detect there or not. Spending an hr or two testing could save me tons of hrs detecting for nothing.
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I'd stop wondering & give them a go. That's prospecting.sawdan said:
The advice you've been given is to stick to fossicking over known diggings.
Nothing wrong with fossicking but without prospecting, new diggings or gold areas would never have been found.
Give those gullies a go. You'll never know otherwise. The diggings will still be there waiting to be picked over again. :Y:
Not sure where these "virgin" gullies are - certainly none in central Victoria. You are competing with many tens of thousands of former old-timers who scoured the hills. You are also competing with people who had no environmental constraints and who could use large volumes of water and simply wash ground downstream not worrying about the consequences, and who in many cases cleared the hills of timber for mining (since grown back - today's forests were bare hillsides of the past in many goldfields). Lack of old diggings is not virgin ground, nor is it unprospected, it is simply ground where then old-timers did not concentrate their efforts because they found there was little gold there. They were very efficient. Keep in mind that they were shifting huge volumes of ground to sluice, modern recreational prospectors mostly only shift bucket-loads, and the resulting gold recovery tends to be proprtional to that.mbasko said:
I am not being negative but you should look at ground as it would have been 150 years ago, not as it is now. There are still remnant areas with good gold, still nuggets to be found. But the chances of entire gullies and streams that were not well-tested is negligible. However people who had to find an ounce per week minimum to survive knew mostly what they were doing - but would leave ground with lesser yields unworked - but then came the 1890s depression, then the 1930s depression, leaving ever lower-grade gold behind. The sort of areas missed are in small areas of ground too far from water, ground that had mullock from adjacent areas thrown on top of it, and unsluiced hillsides (as distinct from gullies) where coarse gold and nuggets can remain. And gold remaining behind in already sluiced gravel, or in small volumes of wash thrown on dumps as mullock when it was actually gold-bearing. However untested "virgin" gullies are extremely unlikely to be found.
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Goldierock's while you're technically correct sometimes you have a tendency to be overly technical with your advice/interpretations on what essentially is hobby fossicking/prospecting. We are but laymen & as such use layman's terms + phrases. We are not striving to be technically correct at every turn!
I enjoy your posts but keep in mind we are not anal Geologists writing technical papers here.
As hobbyists what we consider new or virgin ground may have obviously been prospected or even moderately worked previously but if there are no apparent signs of a concentrated work effort then for all intents & purposes this could be seen as "new or virgin" ground. While not technically correct it may be correct in regards to using modern technology like metal detectors.
Obviously goldfields ground that has never been explored or prospected at all would be very rare but IMO does exist, obviously not the gullies off extensively worked areas that would have received at least some attention.
Sawdan
Follow your "virgin" gullies up. If you find a test hole or three all the better - shows you're on the right track. If the old timers thought to check it out it would've been for good reason.
What they might have considered to be not payable back then might be very worthwhile to the hobby detectorist now!
Loamers sums it up well here: https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=27737#p27737
"Look at areas around but not on the diggings"!
There's been many instances that I know of where the old timers missed rich areas with test holes by metres. One example in NSW is a series of test holes running up a slight slope from a rich creek. The test holes are sparsely spaced & appear to have not delivered anything in payable amounts to the old timers, hence no extensive workings. Above those holes & running near parallel to them a patch was found with metal detectors. I know of several multi ounce pieces that have come out of there & several more in the half to one ounce range + numerous bits still coming out today from subgram to multi gram size. Even though the area had been previously prospected/tested I'd consider that patch "new or virgin" ground as it was left relatively unworked but very payable in today's terms as a hobbyist.
Another area, where ounces have come out, was dismissed in a modern Exploration report as only delivering "a few specs" in only some of the samples. Pieces found with metal detectors here have ranged from subgram to ounce plus. There are also very sparse old timers test holes meandering through the gullies (these aren't apparent until you walk the area). Again previously explored/prospected but overlooked ground delivering reasonable results to the modern day detectorist. "Virgin or new" ground? Maybe not in the true technical sense but using metal detectors it may well deliver where others have passed it over.
I enjoy your posts but keep in mind we are not anal Geologists writing technical papers here.
As hobbyists what we consider new or virgin ground may have obviously been prospected or even moderately worked previously but if there are no apparent signs of a concentrated work effort then for all intents & purposes this could be seen as "new or virgin" ground. While not technically correct it may be correct in regards to using modern technology like metal detectors.
Obviously goldfields ground that has never been explored or prospected at all would be very rare but IMO does exist, obviously not the gullies off extensively worked areas that would have received at least some attention.
Sawdan
Follow your "virgin" gullies up. If you find a test hole or three all the better - shows you're on the right track. If the old timers thought to check it out it would've been for good reason.
What they might have considered to be not payable back then might be very worthwhile to the hobby detectorist now!
Loamers sums it up well here: https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=27737#p27737
"Look at areas around but not on the diggings"!
There's been many instances that I know of where the old timers missed rich areas with test holes by metres. One example in NSW is a series of test holes running up a slight slope from a rich creek. The test holes are sparsely spaced & appear to have not delivered anything in payable amounts to the old timers, hence no extensive workings. Above those holes & running near parallel to them a patch was found with metal detectors. I know of several multi ounce pieces that have come out of there & several more in the half to one ounce range + numerous bits still coming out today from subgram to multi gram size. Even though the area had been previously prospected/tested I'd consider that patch "new or virgin" ground as it was left relatively unworked but very payable in today's terms as a hobbyist.
Another area, where ounces have come out, was dismissed in a modern Exploration report as only delivering "a few specs" in only some of the samples. Pieces found with metal detectors here have ranged from subgram to ounce plus. There are also very sparse old timers test holes meandering through the gullies (these aren't apparent until you walk the area). Again previously explored/prospected but overlooked ground delivering reasonable results to the modern day detectorist. "Virgin or new" ground? Maybe not in the true technical sense but using metal detectors it may well deliver where others have passed it over.
sawdan
Dan Sawyer
Thanks guys - all your comments have great merit :beer:
mbasko said:
Of course. "I find myself looking up at virgin gullies laden with quartz just wondering...." "Give those gullies a go". This was started by a newbie, not someone already experienced. The reference was to gullies so I assumed the reference was mainly to alluvial prospecting, but I tried to suggest good places to look (such as hillslopes adjacent to worked gullies) , while recognising that all good alluvial ground has been gone over to some degree. Because I knew it was recreational (we anal geologists just find big mines, companies rarely pay to look for nuggets, which are mostly a recreational pursuit - which I follow). No decent modern exploration report talks about specs, we use analyses. Not sure what you are disagreeing about.
