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Hi All,
Been gold detecting now for a year now and haven't found much gold, looking to gain some knowledge.
I went to Dunolly and stay there for 5 days no luck in finding gold.Ive been to Inglewood 3 times no gold.
3 trips up to kingower one piece of gold but small. 2 trips to painsville no gold. Today went to tarnagulla no gold.
Some advice on area to look for when searching for good spot to gold detect. I find a lot of areas I go to seems to be a lot of clay like slate
are these good places to be gold detecting or am I wasting time in these areas?
 
Hi and welcome mate
someone will jump on and i am sure will give you some advice soon
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Howdy Gecko270,

Jeez, dont tell me that 269 members have used Gecko before you?

Yer well its easy enough to get despondent at times and start having doubts about yourself or your machine but you have to remember that whilst youre detecting in proven gold fields, thousands upon thousands have been there before you with the same aspirations as you (and the rest of us) have. People do get lucky, and the more hours you do the luckier you become.
 
You said you found a piece at Kingower.. my advice would be to go back there to the exact spot you found that bit and spend a while looking around and working out 1.how you think it got there 2. Remember the ground and what it looks like so you can find familiar ground at other spots. 3. Maybe keep working harder at and around that particular spot with different coils and settings until you are satisfied you have found it all.
Gaz
 
Hi Gecko, what research are you doing? Have you purchased some gold maps?
It really depends on the detector you are using and your experience.

I would visit Coiltek in Maryborough and purchase some training and some maps.
Gold is out there but you need to get experience with your detector and walk over it.

Good luck
 
GaryO said:
You said you found a piece at Kingower.. my advice would be to go back there to the exact spot you found that bit and spend a while looking around and working out 1.how you think it got there 2. Remember the ground and what it looks like so you can find familiar ground at other spots. 3. Maybe keep working harder at and around that particular spot with different coils and settings until you are satisfied you have found it all.
Gaz

^This

I have often found more gold near a single piece after carefully scanning the area with various coil sizes and settings. Definitely a good sign the ground hasn't been worked too thorough by other detectorists. In addition a good map of the goldfields such as Doug Stone or Tully maps would be worth having so you know where the shallow (detectable surface workings) are. You can then branch out from there knowing you're in the ball park.
 
Spot on .. finding 1 single piece is a bonus and shouldnt be taken lightly as that piece can usualy produce more or at the least provide 1st hand knowledge of the ground it was found in, which isnt something you can read. By all means read as much as possible but never forget the hands on memories.
Remember the soil, deepth , whether in a gully , a flat , near workings and in what direction. . It all helps unlock the next piece .
Gaz :cool:
 
I have a gpx 5000 using different range of coils detech coil 15x10 a evolution 12 mono and 14 x 9 evolution, started with 11 mono commander. After finding my first piece of gold my kingower I did go back and spent a whole going over area but no more gold there, the area it was found is constantly hit by metal detectors. I have many maps john tully and doug stone and have been a great help. The ground in that part of kingower has been different to all other places ive detected not much slate there. My setting on detector I find are correct as I constantly get shotgun lead, and one piece of gold I found weighting .06 of a gram.
 
Practice on either some small gold or lead shop. This will help you fine tune your detector. Have the gold/ lead at different depths and listen to the tone. 5f you have not got gold fly fishing lead will do as these will be the same sound as gold (gold and lead are very close on the periodic table) Use different weights. Then all you need to do is research and walk over it. Another good tip would be join a club and these guys will help. Monthly outings all helps your experience.
 
Sounds like you have the theory down pat and it's really just a matter of swinging over a piece. The triangle is hit and miss like any popular goldfield. You can look further afield from the common haunts and improve your chances of finding a patch or look for signs of newly exposed ground. Areas having been washed out by rain, or burnt by fire etc. Also signs of earth moving. Roadsides which have been graded or dozed in recent times also reveal deeper nuggets. I once found a number of small nuggets near the roadside just out of Wedderburn after a grader had recently been through. I know prospectors in WA who have had a huge amount of success detecting only the edges of graded roads. Ofcourse you'll also get a bunch of trash but in the richest gold areas it's worth it. Also detect where others typically can't be bothered. Challenging/undulating terrain and dense vegetation sees less action by the casual detectorist and it's also more difficult to overlap swings to work these places efficiently hence more gold is missed.
 
Thanks for the good advice. Is gold ever found on hillsides as I was told you will only find gold in gullies. I was detecting along side a hill side where gold had been found in the gully below and fellow detector told you never find gold on the hillside. My thought were you can as gold could be trap on the way down.
 
Absolutely there is gold to be found on hillsides! If you're finding coarse nuggets (eluvial) in the gully below there's a chance that gold may be won from a reef on a nearby hillside or fault. Water worn nuggets (alluvial) found in gullies may have been deposited there from many miles away and such the surrounding hillsides may be barren. There are many old timer diggings on steep hillsides if you take note. Researching the mining history of the area will tell the story.
 
Larger nuggets-2 to 3 ounces which I found were 700 m apart.One was in the side a hole in a gully,the other had been dug out of a reef and lying next to the hole.Only large nuggets which I found and were in this one area. Found a half oncer at Wedderburn but not much else.It had been hammered back in the 80,s and the best parts were bulldozed on private leases.Got in just in time and spent a couple of hours on a promising site but when I went back it had already been bulldozed.8 oz nuggets were found on the other side of the track.I also found half once nuggets on a hill 50 meters apart,one next to a hole and the other in ground that had been scraped over.Sadly these larger nuggets are mostly all gone now and you have a better chance if you have a deep seeking detector with a large coil and concentrate 50% of your time in more virgin areas in goldfields. WA offers much more scope than Vic to find a larger nugget but I doubt any finds would pay for petrol,and you need two FWD,s with winches to be safe,and a fancy satellite phone.
 
Thanks for the reply. So you it a waste of time in victoria goldfields as been hammered by detector for many years now. I did met a fellow in kingower on one of my trip he had the hpz 7000 he was from webberburn and hadnt found in over twelve months there.
 
Not true.
Still much gold to be found in Vic with large gold coming out regularly, most of it just not in magazines or on forums.

I wouldn't concider ground hammered until you've hammerd it yourself.
The key is research, the right equipment, knowing how to use that equipment, the right attitude and time.

As for WA, the above is also true as it is for any gold field in Aust, but you don't need two 4x4's with winches, you can only drive one at a time, though I do agree with a sat phone.

You can not just find petrol money, you can fund a damn good lifestyle. You get out of it what you put into it.
 
Has anyone been to Kara Kara national park gold detecting? Has anyone found nuggets there? Was looking to go there and try detecting, can anyone give some info on the area would be a great help. Best regards to all.
 

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