Rookie Prospector, Deep Creek Advice

Hi guys, my name is Luke Tilney and I live in Wondai in the South Burnett. I've just recently have become interested in gold prospecting, mainly panning as I don't own a detector yet and have been trying my luck at Deep Creek in Gympie with next to nothing. I've spent nearly two good 6 hours days with only a couple specks to show for it and its been a little disheartening to say the least. I've been practicing my panning using tiny pieces of lead and have got them every time. I've dug all over the place a deep creek but nothing, I have no doubt there is gold there but it may be few and far between. Id love if anyone could give me some advice on where to dig or how I should go about finding it specifically at this location. I really enjoy the my time spent prospecting but it would just be nice to have a little something to show for my efforts at the end of the day. I'm only new to all of this so I apologise for asking any dumb/obvious questions.
Cheers Luke

Welcome to PA Luke Sorry i can't help you mate, im a Mexican but if you ever head down this way send me a PM and im happy to show you around a few spots. All the best :Y:

Only dumb questions are the unasked

Hey Luke,
Welcome to PA mate.

Well we have all started where you are at right now.
Some with a little beginners luck others not so lucky.
Gold is where you find it.

Some simple tips;

Always pan the inside bend of creeks and rivers
Look for gravel bars behind log jambs and large boulders down stream of the flow.

If the sand is really fine, its a sign it settled there after water reached peak flow. Look for a mix of gravel sizes for best results.

Clay is your friend; gold won't pass it, so if you find grey looking clays (decomposed shales) gold will be trapped in it. Take a sample home with you and using a drill and paint sturrer turn it into a slurry and pan it off.....you'd be surprised what you find, including quality gemstones.

Bed rock is best;

Bed rock forms the best natural sluice, crevice these using small altered srew drivers and chisles and shovels clean them out completely and pan off....great results.
Dry creek bed rock is gold!! Clean off, classify and take concentrates to a water source elsewhere....or home.

Another quick test for gold in an area is checking the moss that grows on rocks.....get a sample, clean the roots out in your pan and pan off

I hope this will put you in good stead to improving your results.

Always take home your rubbish and fill in your holes.

The more experience you gain, you will be able to pick the gold path in any creek or river as i can...it takes time and patience but you will be rewarded.

Be careful.

Cheers
Ben.

Hi luke welcome to P.A. There are lots of knowledgeable people here that will be able to answer your questions and many topics that will hep you with future prospecting.Scratch

Thanks everyone for your kind words and very knowledable advice. I'm glad to be on here and hope to be a lot more active in the near future as if been a little tied up recently. I think for the moment deep creek and 7 mile diggings will be my stomping grounds as they are both only about an hour away (yes lucky me) ?.....I found some good colour crevicing in yarraman creek at 7 mile recently and hope to go back and explore a little more when time permits!