Weld River Tas

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Dozzer

Simon-Peter Hedditch
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Aug 26, 2013
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Hi all I caught the fosicing bug while holidaying in Queensland some years ago and had a couple of trips back that way since then.After moving to NE Tas I have had 6 or 8 day trips to the Weld river over the last few years, with mixed results. In general I get between 40-60 tiny sapphires a day, but very few over that time large enough to cut. I'm am contemplating setting up a high banker in an effort to increase the throughput rate to improve my chances of getting some larger stones.

Would I be better of concentrating on the mainland( north island :p )fields?

I did have a look at the vid by Wal and Liz in witch they got some good cutters, mabe I just need to persevere?
 
I am under the impression high bankers were illegal in Tasmania. But would be happy to hear otherwise.. I to have been to the weld. A lot of good small stones but not a lot biggest seem to be 1 cm and they are rare..
 
Just received my shiny new prospecting licence in the post. Yep, point No 6 " the use of sluices and tromels and motorised pumps is not permitted. Scratch that idea then. Thanks Newbie you just saved my bum. I'll stick to the sives and the shovel and the yabby pump and the waders and the wadding boots with tungsten hard bite cleats and tweezers and bottles and geo pick and crevasing tool and crowbar and diving mask............what was I thinking I already have enough to carry.
 
No worries dozer. Now for the good news I can't confirm it but I was told by another prospector the use of a river sluice Is ok it is the use of a pump that makes it illegal. Might be worth checking with the authorities. I don't get down there much but planning to get down that way late September. I spent a couple hours there with some nice stones to show for it. Kilcrackney on flinders island sounds like the place to go topaz as big as your fist.
 
I gave Mineral Resources Tasmania a call and spoke to their prospecting/sluce expert. He was not just extremely helpfull, but a nice bloke to boot. The good oil is this, sluices are ok to use as long as they are small eg caried by one person. The use of a small water pump to feed it is also ok. The key to it in his opinion is to keep it small and fair to other prospectors, who may come after you. Don't rape the place. The big one though, is not to make a mess. Nothing will stuff this up for all prospectors, faster, in this Green dominated state, than to leave a moonscape of destruction in our wake.
With that said at some point, I will build a small sluce and gravity feed it. The thought of a noisy two stroke blairing away, destroying the serenity of the Weld river rainforest, is a bit to much for me. But I am keen to give one a go.
Bring on somer and some lower water levels. :p
 
Dozzer
That is great news. It may pay to have it in writing especially if you are going to use a small pump.

regards

Richard
 
Just concentrate on gravity feeding the little sucker to start with. The areas I like to work have lots of water and lots of fall.
 
Hi Dozzer,

The key in the Weld is to walk away from the flogged areas. That said I've done reasonably well behind the Weldborough pub, and that area was renowned for good stones years ago, but I stay away from Moorina unless after a good flood. The 2011 flood produced a huge drift of large spinel and tons of medium sapphires (large for a bottom sieve but not many top) just below the Moorina bridge. There are several other rivers in the area worth prospecting. My understanding of Tasmanian regulations is that highbankers are a bit too close for comfort. However the regulation is worded ambiguously. I think they treat a small river sluice as no different to a panning dish, however.

I still have better success with sieves than sluicing for gemstones, as the trick is finding the pockets of good wash in the first place.
 
Hi Dozzer , if your sluice is small enough , you could use 1 of those bilge pumps & battery , quiet as a mouse & will pump from 500 Galons an hour

Cheers Paul
 
headbut,

In my experience, to do well in Tas you need to walk a fair distance... always a disadvantage with pumps and battery. Also the risk of sailing too close to the wind regulation-wise. Just my opinion.
 
Yep mfdes, getting away from the floged areas is what I like to do. I,ve found that the area behind the Pub is loaded with tiny zircons and a few small blues and greens,as most of the material in that area has gone through a crusher some time ago. Down in the fossicking area near Morina I tend to get a lot of good sized topaz very few zircons and again many small blue sapphire. The better stones I have found to date have come from the areas a km either side of the falls. Corn flower blue 4.5crt uncut, almost clear banded dogtooth at 5crt uncut. These areas were all worked for tin over 100 years ago and I would imagin that the Chinese picked out the better stones as they went. But if you proses enough of the right wash from the right spots you can still find some good stones.
 
Yeah, I've never tried below the falls, and have done ok between the falls and the old ford a couple of kms above them. Other creeks have good stuff, I've got some of my best stones off Main Creek, but it's been hammered recently. The Frome has a few good stones too, but not a lot, and it can be hard work. I'm keen to try the Garibaldi area, though I hear stones are small. I'm also keen to try Lottah, both the Groom and Ransom rivers drain the right geology. For zircons and the odd pink / purple sapphire you can't go past Branxholm Creek.
This forecast rainfall might do good, over the coming weekend, if it eventuates! Anyway, have you done any gold prospecting up Mathinna way?
 
The gold bug is one I'm desperately trying to avoid catching. Spent some time plotting all the old aluvial areas and shaft locations in the Tower Hill/Mathina goldfields on some topoes but that is as far as I have gone with it. The Sapphires are what interest me the most. To date I have only spent time in the Weld river, the old fishing saying don't leave fish to find fish has kept me there so far. But going by some of your photos it's time to broaden my horizons. In all my efforts thus far I've only ever found one very small pink sapphire, I'd love to find a pink cutter. Pinks seem to be absent from all but the very bottom of the Weld. So I'll take you advice and give Branxholm Creek a run. If you are keen to give some new areas a run up this way and you would like some company, send me a post, I'm always happy to chase wild geese and you never know your luck it could prove to be worth while.
 
Mfdes, you mentioned in another post that you sometimes use a wetsuit. Have you ever used a mask and snorkel and dived some of the deeper holes? It's been playing on my mined for a couple of years now and I'm determined to give it a go this summer.
 
Hi Dozzer,

I'm hoping to be up Mathinna/Tower Hill way in December for work, which hopefully will leave me a few spare hours to fossick. I was thinking of going up either Long Gully Creek or Black Horse Gully Creek to have a look. After that I'm almost certainly up at Weldborough area 24th-27th of January (Australia Day long weekend). I usually camp or stay at Weldborough Pub with Mark and Felicity, and I could not speak more highly of them, they've been amazing as long as they've been running the place. I don't think I've ever been treated better anywhere else I've stayed, and I've stayed at a lot of places. Sadly they're selling the pub. Ok, plug over ;)

I plan to spend a day or two looking for sapphires, probably another day looking for topaz, and maybe a full day chasing gold. Would be more than happy to catch up, I'll PM you or post here when I know for certain if I'm going (a lot can happen between now and then...)

I have indeed used a mask and snorkel, and have a couple of friends who swear that they've done ok with them. However I find them impractical for a couple of reasons: often big hollows are that way because they're scoured clean during floods. Thus no good heavy wash stays behind. Moving lots of dirt underwater is difficult. In fast moving water if I want to see where the spinel layers are in the wash, I would rather use a scope. Some of those creeks run cold enough to give you an instant ice-cream headache the moment you put your head in, if you know what I mean!

M
 
M, it would be great to catch up for a day, chase some sapphires and see how you do it. PM me when your plans are set. I mostly only do day trips, 50 min drive to the Weldborough pub from home so I haven't taken advantage of the Pubs hospitality.
 
Hey dozzer and mfdes
Do the the pink sapphires down your way look like these pink stones ?
1385456233_image.jpg
 
Some do, they vary from full purple, to purplish-pink like yours, to straight pink. There's a photo of one around, I think it's at the Australian Lapidary Forums, which my fossicking buddy put up. I'll see if I can find it.
 
The one and only tiny pink I have is lighter, more a rose pink. Yours look like some stones I have seen out of Victoria?
 

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