Gold prospecting using a metal detector

[Lesgold]

Joe and I went for a walk up a dry stream bed yesterday. I had just purchased a new coil for one of my detectors and wanted to try it out. The gold was hard to find but we managed to bring home a few pieces including one sunbaker.

[Lesgold]

The creek that we had been working for the past couple of months had stopped giving us much gold so we decided that it was time to move on. Last week we had about 10 inches of rain and the creeks flooded so we decided to go back and give it one more  try. When we arrived, we noticed that the water in that creek hadn?t risen as much as we?d hoped and the gravels and rocks didn?t move around to the extent that we wanted. We decided to work the creek anyway and struggled for 9 pieces between us. Every piece came as a result of flood movement so we were pleased that there is still potential for the area in the future. We just need a big flood  before we come back. We have found some new areas to explore and can?t wait to get there in the coming weeks.

[BeeMaster2]

Les,
Have you thought about picking a fast moving area and digging a hole in the bottom of the creek so that it would naturally collect the gold nuggets? I would pick a spot just down stream of a big flat rock. Might bee worth trying.
Jim Altmiller

[Lesgold]

The theory is good Jim. That would work as we often find gold in depressions like that. A 20 ton excavator would be just what we need.🥴🥴🥴  Dig a deep hole down to bedrock, wait for the next flood and then come back to find that someone else has reaped the rewards of your effort. 😂😂😂😂 If you we?re prepared to fly out and dig the hole, I?d be more than happy to go 50/50 

[Terri Yaki]

Couldn?t you just put a traffic cone in it and claim it?

[BeeMaster2]

Les,
I thought you were working in a small creek not a river. 😆
I figured if you found the right rock and with a shovel you dig a hole under the down stream side it would tend to catch heavy material.  Just how many gold prospectors do you have working your area?

Jim Altmiller

[Lesgold]

Hi Jim,

I have attached a photo of the creek about a mile or so upstream from where we were working. This may give you some idea of the size and scope of the area we are prospecting in. Unfortunately there was no gold to be found in this section. The beautiful rock bars make superb gold traps. Prospecting is a popular hobby in Australia. Many thousands of people participate in this activity which is great to see but as a consequence, gold is becoming harder to find. I wish I started 30 years ago. It?s even more addictive than beekeeping.

[Lesgold]

It?s been a while between prospecting trips. Bad weather and family stuff has kept us away from the bush for too long. Joe and I went to a spot that we have never detected before. It?s been on the to do list for quite a while and it was good to finally make it. We walked up the creek for half a day and found nothing but pieces of rusty steel and lead shot. It was beginning to get quite depressing as the country looked promising. After turning for home, Joe finally got a nice signal and I helped him retrieve a nice piece from about 6? of water. We were finally on the board. As it was getting late, we decided to move quickly and get back to the ute. Joe and I picked up a small nugget each and we finally made it to a thin quartz reef that had given a nice signal early in the day. The 1? wide quartz vein ran across most of the creek and was under about 6? of water. I decided to walk away from it as it was going to take a bit of work to smash the quartz with a pick. The first picture shows what the vein looks like. Unfortunately the afternoon light produced a frustrating reflection that spoilt the photo. Joe started smashing the quartz  with the sharp end of the pick until a piece of gold popped out. I took a pic of the piece sitting on top of the coil. I didn?t realise at the time but another piece of gold was also removed by the pick. If you zoom into the photo, you may be able to see it about two inches to the right of the word ?Coiltek?. The detector quickly found that piece and we recovered it just after the photo was taken. Two more signals were detected in the vein but we had to walk away due to the fading light. A cold chisel and hammer will be needed to recover these pieces in a few days time. Hopefully this little vein will produce some more pieces when we take the time to chip away at it.

[Lesgold]

Joe and I went back to he quartz reef today armed with cold chisels and hammers to extract the gold from the reef. After about 20 minutes of chiselling, the first piece came out. The quartz was hard and most of it broke into small particles which was then removed from the cold water using our fingers. The first shot is an underwater picture taken with the GoPro. Getting a picture in focus was impossible due to the shallow water. The tightly packed the quartz was difficult to break up and progress was very slow. The second shot shows a couple of pieces of gold mixed with the quartz that was removed from the newly chiselled crevice.  After a couple of hours of chiselling we gave up as our gold return was poor in relation to the effort put in.  I think the remaining gold will be left for someone with a bit more patience.

[Ben Framed]

Hi Les, How deep underwater was the quartz?

[Lesgold]

Hi Phillip,

It was only about 4? but it was cold. You would need some heavy duty equipment to bust up the quartz and host rock. It?s just not worth the effort. The other issue is that it is on private property and I?m not interested in upsetting the land owner by making a mess. We had some fun and that?s what it?s all about.

[Ben Framed]

You were preceptive in what I was going to suggest.    Its very nice of the landowner to allow y'all the privilege of searching on his property.
Keep having fun!

[Lesgold]

Joe and I have been really struggling to find any gold worthy of posting lately. Today was no exception. We have been working a new area that has provided very little for out time and effort time but we have still had enjoyable outings. We went up a new creek that looked good but it was barren and did not give us any gold. It was a beautiful pace with magnificent rock bars and waterfalls. We walked upstream for about 1km but failed to detect anything of interest. We ended up spending the second half of the day on some old workings that produced a few scraps for out effort.
 

[Lesgold]

Joe and I went for a look in a creek that was famous for its gold 170 years ago. Some pretty country was encountered as we started to move upstream.

[Lesgold]

As the creek narrowed, the scenery improved and the potential for gold increased. Unfortunately, targets were scarce and we only found one small piece which was a little disappointing. At least the eye candy made the day a pleasant experience.

[Ben Framed]

Beautiful Les. Thanks!

[Kathyp]

That's beautiful.  Nice to look at when it has been so dry here!

[Lesgold]

It?s been a while since Joe and I have hit the bush for a detect. We decided to go back to a creek that had given some good results in the past and work a bit harder. There was a hole that in the creek bed that gave us some good pieces in the past and we wanted to revisit this spot as the weather has been quite dry for a month or so and the water level had dropped considerably. We dug over much of this hole and removed quite a few rocks and gravel to exposed the treasure hidden below. We managed to score 20 small pieces for our effort. Nothing of any real size but we had a great day out.

[Lesgold]

Joe and I went back to the same spot today and started moving some rocks and gravel and detected as we went. It was one small piece after another throughout the day. We had a ball. Found a few slightly better pieces but most nuggets were small. This was one of those days that we will always remember. We ended up with 74 pieces of gold that came in well over 10 grams.

[Terri Yaki]

That sounds like a great day. Congratulations.