What To Look For On The Goldfields (New To Prospecting)

[SCROUNGER]

Welcome to PA RobertE. Couldn't agree more, this is a great thread loaded with top info.

 

[Davent]

Great info regarding slate meets quartz, I actually found a location, about 10km from known golsfields last week, I didnt find any gold, but I was expecting a eureka moment any minute. I only stopped because it was about 2pm, 38 deg and humidity was climbing. In other words, was just to uncomfortable, will have another look around june next year, thanks for posting.

 

[123gayil]

Hi my name is Gayil.
My partner and I are very new at prospecting ,we are waiting to do a minlab training day.
we have a minlab sdc2300 and aminlab sd2000, The past weeks, as keen and eager new punters we have gone to eg, Dunolly, castlemaine district, Grey town, Heathcote,
Inglewood ... Having fun but not much luck, having only found a tiny approx 1/2 gram in a water race in Irish towntime ...And an even a smaller one was found by a friend at Dunolly....Help any advise would be great my hands havent had so many callouses lol,,,, I thought at 50 my life was going to get easier ha,ha ...would love to hear what is the best suggestions where a newby like me will have ago,,,I have researched and done many utubes are we wasting our time at the diggings as with the more expensive machines out there have the diggings been cleaned out ....The bathroom renovations are on hold lol Looking forward to some insight....my poor hands lol thanks Gayil 8)

 

[Hoffs gold]

This was an outstanding read thank you loamer, you've put many things in to prospective for me and in doing so you've got me buzzing at 04:30 in the morning over possible new locations.
Cheers,
Hoff.

 

[SCROUNGER]

Hi my name is Gayil.
My partner and I are very new at prospecting ,we are waiting to do a minlab training day.
we have a minlab sdc2300 and aminlab sd2000, The past weeks, as keen and eager new punters we have gone to eg, Dunolly, castlemaine district, Grey town, Heathcote,
Inglewood ... Having fun but not much luck, having only found a tiny approx 1/2 gram in a water race in Irish towntime ...And an even a smaller one was found by a friend at Dunolly....Help any advise would be great my hands havent had so many callouses lol,,,, I thought at 50 my life was going to get easier ha,ha ...would love to hear what is the best suggestions where a newby like me will have ago,,,I have researched and done many utubes are we wasting our time at the diggings as with the more expensive machines out there have the diggings been cleaned out ....The bathroom renovations are on hold lol Looking forward to some insight....my poor hands lol thanks Gayil 8)

Welcome to PA,
My advice when learning and especially with the sdc IS to stick with the heavily surfaced areas and along the edges of those surfaced areas Gayil. There is plenty of very small gold left in many of these areas. Especially look for areas where there is lots of very small quartz and ironstone visible and work those areas. Other areas with the sdc are the mullock heaps. Both these areas have generally been well and truly gone over by people over the decades but there is often plenty of small gold still to be detected with the sdc.
Other than that my one piece of advice is to keep the detector plate on the ground as much as possible and to sweep it extremely slowly. Oh, by the way, a half grammer isn't a bad find, most of the gold found with the sdc's are way less than that in weight.
Good luck.

 

[cecc]

Hi Guys, just wondering if anyone knows of an old mine site near the sunshine coast which i can go to in order to walk around and see for myself the things that have been mentioned in the previous posts. I hear what you guys are saying but i have never been to an olden days site and would love to take some photos, have lunch and a walk around and get a feel for things. It goes without saying that I'm not looking for old mineshafts or abandoned company sites, but rather something more historical and of the beaten track so to speak.
Cheers

Hi, ask Yobskin he comes from sunny coast.

 

[Auski]

Thanks Loamer. Very informative, appreciate you sharing this. Cheers.

 

[Dicko]

Thanks Loamer and others who have contributed to this forum section; very informative and good reference material.

 

[madbarbi]

bit of light reading for a lazy sunday arvo.

Thanks loamer.. so much to learn and remember!

 

[jwal]

Best amount of information I have read on "where to look" yet....cheers to you for freely giving up this info - and I really enjoy reading the other contributors methods and locations of their finds.

 

[TheWolf]

Great info guys - it's extremely inspiring. I may just have to hire myself a detector the next time I head out Oberon way ... Does anyone hire them out in Sydney?
Cheers M.

 

[Luke]

Hi,
I'm trying to figure out a technique which old timers used on goldfields.Exactly at diggings.Those holes they dug apart. Obviously closer and more holes, richer the ground was, I assume.Until they found out it was rich enough to do surfacing.Did they found gold at the bottom of each hole, or they were just test holes?? If they did found gold there, does it mean there is a high possibility that between those holes could be gold still sitting untouched?
What I also noticed and I'm curious about how old-timers found a line at which gold laid? Perhaps old river bed.It's very interesting to see diggings only on a one side of a gully and of the line actual today's bottom.That explains how rivers and creeks change their course over thousands of years.

 

[Shearwater]

Really enjoyed reading this thread. Thanks Loamer for all the great info and to everyone else who has contributed.

 

[user 7222]

Just an absolute wealth of information from you guys. Thanks indeed for helping us new folks to this wonderful new hobby!

 

[Dignit]

Hi all
This topic has helped me understand the basics of what to look for on the goldfields since I started this hobby about 6 months ago. Thank you to all those who have contributed.
My thirst for knowledge has lead me to try and understand how gold is formed, particularly in the Victorian Golden Triangle where I detect.
In my search I have come across the following YouTube videos which describe the orogenic metamorphic model. I found them fascinating and hope you do to.
http://youtu.be/co8GGqzCzho
http://youtu.be/a2iEjXIUJEI
http://youtu.be/qbnjuMsL_ew
http://youtu.be/KDexpMBAs6M
http://youtu.be/RBGuaCDMPzM
Cheers Dig'n-it

 

[limpalot]

I have noticed they dug the vertical shafts down to the pay, then tunneled between the shafts along the pay , very gutsy effort.
Cheers LL

 

[user 7268]

Had to chuckle as first video I opened was at Wattle Gully. Where I grew up as a kid a shaft from Wattle Gully Mine actually ran under the property ................... if only I had know I could have just dug a hole in the back yard

 

[Dignit]

Yeah Bogger, the kids in the neighbourhood would have been real jealous of your sand pit, or should I say rock pit. I can just imagine all the kids with their plastic buckets and spades with little yellow plastic helmets on, and you acting as foreman. Come on kids ..... Put your backs in to it. Lol!
If only you knew life could have been different
Hope you enjoyed the videos.

 

[Outback]

Just pulled up and detected this spot about 50 Ks from Broken Hill in far west NSW with a 4500 back in in 2014 , got some small bits only .
We were looking for a better returns .

There is gold out there still that the old blokes may have missed !

 

[Elusive]

Very informative posts, thanks for going to such an effort Loamer, it's really appreciated.

Cheers,
Elusive