Possible to find un-discoverd gold bearing areas?
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Heres a fact off one of the websites I visit:
Should be enough ground to cover for everyone
Should be enough ground to cover for everyone
gcause said:Heres a fact off one of the websites I visit:
Should be enough ground to cover for everyone
im not a metal detetorist but how many detectors and coils would it take 1 person to go over that same acre to get every piece of gold possible?
I think the metal detectors and the operator would have rusted away by the time they covered 1/1000 of that area.
StirFX said:gcause said:Heres a fact off one of the websites I visit:
Should be enough ground to cover for everyone
Thank's for these facts! Just wondering, if you know, what should I look for? Dry dirt, scrub, creeks etc...?
Heres a post I put on another forum that got repeated here once before that will give you a rough idea of what to look out for.
http://www.detectingwestaustraliangold.com/t1150-gold-bearing-country-signs
I have grabbed it off the other forum to save you having to sign-up to access it.
gcause said:Gold bearing country signs
Post by gcause on Sun Apr 08, 2012 9:02 am
Hi All,
Another newbie on another forum asked what signs to look for gold bearing country, here is the reply I gave which I thought might be useful to others.
I am a complete newbie to prospecting also but here are a few nuggets from what I have learned so far from talking to other prospectors:
1. Look for greenstone, most of the worlds biggest gold deposits occur where you find greenstone. It indicates that the rock was hot enough to create the right conditions for gold to form.
2. Look for quartz, specifically look for rose quartz. Again a good indicator that it was hot enough for gold to form. Black quartz by the way indicates there was radiation in the ground when the quartz formed so they look for that when they are mining uranium ore.
3. Look for scrubby country with short vegetation growth as that can indicate the bedrock is shallow.
4. Look for old creek beds near current creeks. The creeks will change their course over millions of years.
5. Look for gold on the bends in the creeks, specifically look for what direction the water is flowing in and then look on the banks in the bends of the creeks where the graval / sand has built up that is facing the direction of the water flow.
6. Keep an eye out for Dwarf pine trees they dont grow much beyond about a metre high. These are a good indicator that the chinese miners have been around the area as they used to bring in pine nut and chew the husks off these and spit out the seeds.
7. Think what a lump of really heavy gold would do in the area you are looking in. Gold is 19 times heavier than water. It will sink to the bottom as soon as it has the opportunity to do so. If the water is flowing really quickly in a creek look for areas where it slows down or there are eddy currents.
8. Look for ironbark the bigger, thicker and darker the black trunk of the ironbark the more likely there is an underground water source. Which was most likely an ancient creek or river in the area.
9. Look for treelines i.e. rows of trees growing by themselves in scrubby country. This again could show an ancient water course now underground.
10. Look for old diggings, specifically look for tailings piles i.e. big mounds around the old diggings. These may now be covered in grass and weeds but you will recognise them as not being natural features. The old timers didnt have access to the technology we have today so missed some of the gold in their tailings.
11. Make sure to look around tree roots as gold often gets caught up in these. Some of the biggest nuggets have been found in tree roots.
12. Gold reefs will follow a particular direction usually North to South. Try and find old maps showing the reefs for the area you are interested in.
13. Do your research, look up geo maps for the area you want to prospect in, try and get old newspaper articles for the area. Talk to the locals. Ask the department of mines for assistance.
14. In creek beds look for large rocks that have blocked the course of the water and then excavate behind these on the opposite side to the water flow as they will create eddy currents behind them where the gold can drop.
15. Look for any coloured agate in the area again this can indicate it was hot enough to create gold. The clearer the agate the better.
16. In creek beds look under the roots of grasses on the banks as these form natural riffles.
17. In creek beds look for layers of bedrock/reefs that form natural riffles across the creek and across the flow of the water. These are great for crevicing with a screwdriver or other thin metal tool to get the gold out of the crevices between the layers of rock.
18. In creek beds always look up the banks, you will usually find the water has changed its level over millions of years so the original creek bed may be half way up the bank. You will see the layers of sediment and then gravel and large rounded stone where the old creek bed used to be. Dig under the layer of stone to find the gold. Don't undermine the bank do so as it can be very dangerous.
19. Where the edge of cliffs are exposed always have a look at the layers of geology to determine the amount of top soil that you will have to dig through to get to bedrock or gravel layers.
20. It can be more productive to take buckets of soil away with you and process them at home rather than doing it on the day. This way you can take your time to process them to ensure you get the fine flour gold out of them. Make sure you take the non gold bearing material back to where you got the material from and fill in your holes with it.
21. Dig every target sound you get with your metal detector. Even junk can tell you if the old timers have been in an area and you might find some nice relics along the way.
22. Fill in your holes or the gold gods will prevent you from finding gold in the future
Others may wish to correct anything I got wrong here or add there own tips.
Hope this helps put you onto the colour soon.
Hope you and yours have a safe and very Happy Easter.
Regards,
Grant
_________________
The diggers oath: We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and defend our rights and liberties.
Hope it helps.
Loamer also has some much better info on this forum just check his posts for the thread.
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gcause said:Heres a fact off one of the websites I visit:
Should be enough ground to cover for everyone
Just to add to this, based on a WA website they say - Less than 0.5% (Less than 1/2 of one percent) of the goldfields areas in WA are prospective for nugget gold. ..... http://www.gold-prospecting-wa.com/where-to-find-gold.html
So if we use Qld as being similar that would then work out like this - 28.5M / 0.5% = 142,500 acres x 1 acre per day 142,500 / 365 = 390 years.
Take that down further to days gives you around 390 x 365 = 142,350 so if we took a stab in the dark at approx 100,000 prospectors over the years. It could leave only 42,000 acres give or take left.
That is only a mere 115 years left. So stop wasting time and get out there...
Goldtarget
(AKA OldGT)
Allot of detectorists have trouble detecting known areas. Went out and hit a piece of melted lead about 7 gram size if it was gold in one of the most heavily surfaced areas in the district yesterday. A steady stream of machines drift in every year yet that has been left. ..... The real challenge is to put that coil in exactly the right place. Or the shovel, but many give up or don't employ some sort of system to increase the odds of finding spot X consistently. But New patches are found, as for new areas well I say good luck is a big big country to decide where to put that coil or shovel. Not much has changed for the new chum, the same old methods that worked then work now.
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Westaus said:gcause said:Heres a fact off one of the websites I visit:
Should be enough ground to cover for everyone
Just to add to this, based on a WA website they say - Less than 0.5% (Less than 1/2 of one percent) of the goldfields areas in WA are prospective for nugget gold. ..... http://www.gold-prospecting-wa.com/where-to-find-gold.html
So if we use Qld as being similar that would then work out like this - 28.5M / 0.5% = 142,500 acres x 1 acre per day 142,500 / 365 = 390 years.
Take that down further to days gives you around 390 x 365 = 142,350 so if we took a stab in the dark at approx 100,000 prospectors over the years. It could leave only 42,000 acres give or take left.
That is only a mere 115 years left. So stop wasting time and get out there...
You're assuming 100,000 prospectors over the years have coordinated their efforts so as not to double over ground which as already been covered by someone else? There is a hell of a lot more ground than that to cover. There are many blind prospectors but very few explorers.
Possible to find undiscovered gold bearing areas?
Yes - happens all the time. Sometimes by pure luck, most times by hours of research,followed by hours of walking, followed by hours of testing/detecting, discounting, following-up, back to the research, consolidating test results etc etc.
It is pointless lobbing up to a new area unless you are familiar with the geology, topography, mineralogy and hydrology of an area. Add any histories of the area, no matter how obscure, then you are a better than even chance.
We are very lucky in the Golden Triangle as there is a degree of new ground,albeit small, as I could safely bet my leftie that every gully, ridge,hill, creek line, reefline etc throughout the GT has been walked over. I have about a 99.9% strike rate of finding at least some clues the old timers, or timber cutters have already been there and don't forget, timber cutters had a very good eye for gold - Timmy Raven around Dunolly springs to mind.
However, may I make a small suggestion - develop a niche on the ground you are after. Always remember the old timers had to find about an ounce a week to survive. Therefore, find areas that were uneconomical to them, chances are it could/will be economical to a modern prospector using modern detectors.
This all requires research and the majority of reporting IS NOT online - it is sitting in library reference areas, archival areas, mining department old reports, exploration companies reporting presented to mining departments, museums etc etc. Finding good and consistent gold is very hard work, very, very hard.
There is another couple of options - become a mullock heap specialist and/or a reef diggings specialist.
Just because an area 'looks' right, does not mean there is any gold. I have 100s of reports that state along the lines of - while Gully XYX was rich in gold, the surrounding gullies were devoid of gold. Usually these reports are pretty accurate.
Rest assured, wherever there has been a heavy concentration of European settlement, the areas were checked, irrespective of the state, usually the fertile areas of the southern states. That's why people are detecting further out into the scrub of WA, QLD and NSW.
Either way,good luck. As I often say, take map of Victorian goldfields, take dart, throw at map, detect there.
Yes - happens all the time. Sometimes by pure luck, most times by hours of research,followed by hours of walking, followed by hours of testing/detecting, discounting, following-up, back to the research, consolidating test results etc etc.
It is pointless lobbing up to a new area unless you are familiar with the geology, topography, mineralogy and hydrology of an area. Add any histories of the area, no matter how obscure, then you are a better than even chance.
We are very lucky in the Golden Triangle as there is a degree of new ground,albeit small, as I could safely bet my leftie that every gully, ridge,hill, creek line, reefline etc throughout the GT has been walked over. I have about a 99.9% strike rate of finding at least some clues the old timers, or timber cutters have already been there and don't forget, timber cutters had a very good eye for gold - Timmy Raven around Dunolly springs to mind.
However, may I make a small suggestion - develop a niche on the ground you are after. Always remember the old timers had to find about an ounce a week to survive. Therefore, find areas that were uneconomical to them, chances are it could/will be economical to a modern prospector using modern detectors.
This all requires research and the majority of reporting IS NOT online - it is sitting in library reference areas, archival areas, mining department old reports, exploration companies reporting presented to mining departments, museums etc etc. Finding good and consistent gold is very hard work, very, very hard.
There is another couple of options - become a mullock heap specialist and/or a reef diggings specialist.
Just because an area 'looks' right, does not mean there is any gold. I have 100s of reports that state along the lines of - while Gully XYX was rich in gold, the surrounding gullies were devoid of gold. Usually these reports are pretty accurate.
Rest assured, wherever there has been a heavy concentration of European settlement, the areas were checked, irrespective of the state, usually the fertile areas of the southern states. That's why people are detecting further out into the scrub of WA, QLD and NSW.
Either way,good luck. As I often say, take map of Victorian goldfields, take dart, throw at map, detect there.
loamer said:
Thank you so much for this information, it was a great read.
There is a copper mine in the area, that got shutdown. Maybe they found something but it wasn't reported. I'll defintley have to go down the library soon.
I wish I could take a map of the Victorian goldfields and do that... the thing that questions me is, has anyone even investigated the area for gold in the area?
gcause said:StirFX said:gcause said:Heres a fact off one of the websites I visit:
Should be enough ground to cover for everyone
Thank's for these facts! Just wondering, if you know, what should I look for? Dry dirt, scrub, creeks etc...?
Heres a post I put on another forum that got repeated here once before that will give you a rough idea of what to look out for.
http://www.detectingwestaustraliangold.com/t1150-gold-bearing-country-signs
I have grabbed it off the other forum to save you having to sign-up to access it.
gcause said:Gold bearing country signs
Post by gcause on Sun Apr 08, 2012 9:02 am
Hi All,
Another newbie on another forum asked what signs to look for gold bearing country, here is the reply I gave which I thought might be useful to others.
I am a complete newbie to prospecting also but here are a few nuggets from what I have learned so far from talking to other prospectors:
1. Look for greenstone, most of the worlds biggest gold deposits occur where you find greenstone. It indicates that the rock was hot enough to create the right conditions for gold to form.
2. Look for quartz, specifically look for rose quartz. Again a good indicator that it was hot enough for gold to form. Black quartz by the way indicates there was radiation in the ground when the quartz formed so they look for that when they are mining uranium ore.
3. Look for scrubby country with short vegetation growth as that can indicate the bedrock is shallow.
4. Look for old creek beds near current creeks. The creeks will change their course over millions of years.
5. Look for gold on the bends in the creeks, specifically look for what direction the water is flowing in and then look on the banks in the bends of the creeks where the graval / sand has built up that is facing the direction of the water flow.
6. Keep an eye out for Dwarf pine trees they dont grow much beyond about a metre high. These are a good indicator that the chinese miners have been around the area as they used to bring in pine nut and chew the husks off these and spit out the seeds.
7. Think what a lump of really heavy gold would do in the area you are looking in. Gold is 19 times heavier than water. It will sink to the bottom as soon as it has the opportunity to do so. If the water is flowing really quickly in a creek look for areas where it slows down or there are eddy currents.
8. Look for ironbark the bigger, thicker and darker the black trunk of the ironbark the more likely there is an underground water source. Which was most likely an ancient creek or river in the area.
9. Look for treelines i.e. rows of trees growing by themselves in scrubby country. This again could show an ancient water course now underground.
10. Look for old diggings, specifically look for tailings piles i.e. big mounds around the old diggings. These may now be covered in grass and weeds but you will recognise them as not being natural features. The old timers didnt have access to the technology we have today so missed some of the gold in their tailings.
11. Make sure to look around tree roots as gold often gets caught up in these. Some of the biggest nuggets have been found in tree roots.
12. Gold reefs will follow a particular direction usually North to South. Try and find old maps showing the reefs for the area you are interested in.
13. Do your research, look up geo maps for the area you want to prospect in, try and get old newspaper articles for the area. Talk to the locals. Ask the department of mines for assistance.
14. In creek beds look for large rocks that have blocked the course of the water and then excavate behind these on the opposite side to the water flow as they will create eddy currents behind them where the gold can drop.
15. Look for any coloured agate in the area again this can indicate it was hot enough to create gold. The clearer the agate the better.
16. In creek beds look under the roots of grasses on the banks as these form natural riffles.
17. In creek beds look for layers of bedrock/reefs that form natural riffles across the creek and across the flow of the water. These are great for crevicing with a screwdriver or other thin metal tool to get the gold out of the crevices between the layers of rock.
18. In creek beds always look up the banks, you will usually find the water has changed its level over millions of years so the original creek bed may be half way up the bank. You will see the layers of sediment and then gravel and large rounded stone where the old creek bed used to be. Dig under the layer of stone to find the gold. Don't undermine the bank do so as it can be very dangerous.
19. Where the edge of cliffs are exposed always have a look at the layers of geology to determine the amount of top soil that you will have to dig through to get to bedrock or gravel layers.
20. It can be more productive to take buckets of soil away with you and process them at home rather than doing it on the day. This way you can take your time to process them to ensure you get the fine flour gold out of them. Make sure you take the non gold bearing material back to where you got the material from and fill in your holes with it.
21. Dig every target sound you get with your metal detector. Even junk can tell you if the old timers have been in an area and you might find some nice relics along the way.
22. Fill in your holes or the gold gods will prevent you from finding gold in the future
Others may wish to correct anything I got wrong here or add there own tips.
Hope this helps put you onto the colour soon.
Hope you and yours have a safe and very Happy Easter.
Regards,
Grant
_________________
The diggers oath: We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and defend our rights and liberties.
Hope it helps.
This helped so much! Thank you so much for this information!
Thanks mate that's a very worthy contribution to the forum.
I might print out and put it beside Desiderata on my study wall.
Cheers
I might print out and put it beside Desiderata on my study wall.
Cheers
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