Prospecting pressure in the GT.

I have been busy researching suitable areas to attack in the GT when I get down there in a couple of weeks and have come across a bit of an anomaly. I was under the impression that the whole area has been done to death by thousands of detectorists over the last 20 years and the chances of finding anything half decent was very slim. Two things are making me rethink this impression, the first is that everyone seems to be finding plenty of trash, including bullets and other non ferrous metals which I would have assumed others would have already removed if they had swung a detector over them. The second thing is that I have zoomed in with google earth on most of the gold areas of the GT and am yet to see even one car.

I know the google earth photos may have been taken in the middle of Summer or the middle of Winter when conditions are not ideal for prospecting but to not see even one car is a bit of a surprise. It also makes the Greenie's argument of prospectors wrecking the environment in the GT seem a bit ridiculous.

There is plenty of gold out there Magilla. And plenty of trash - both ferrous and non ferrous. The amount of lead that is dug shows how poorly it has been gone over. It is an IMMENSE area and you could have 1000 detectorists out there every day for 20 years and it still wouldn't all be covered - especially if it is slowly, methodically and thoroughly covered with EVERY target dug.

Also, much of the lead that is in these areas wouldn't have been put there in the past 20 years as many of the areas are National Park around Bendigo so no shooting. So that means even in the past 20 years they haven't been detected all that thoroughly.

What it does tell us though is that the old blokes who went over these areas several times did a fairly bloody good job. The descriptions of how much gold was there in the 1850s Vs how much gold is there now is testament to their work.

Good luck :Y:

I am seeing more and more prospectors in the field every trip, i counted 50 at Creswick last weekend.

Nah its totally flogged out theres not one bit left .
And anyone who doesnt agree can private msg me the location of where they reckon theres some left , so i can go and check for unicorns ]

aussiefarmer said:

Nah its totally flogged out theres not one bit left .
And anyone who doesnt agree can private msg me the location of where they reckon theres some left , so i can go and check for unicorns ]

Click to expand...

JGold would say otherwise mate...

https://www.youtube.com/user/jmowgrass/videos

Hmmm lets have a think about this
1: Average bloke not a whole lot of experience detecting, young family, not much time to have a thorough look around- call him the weekend warrior, this guy would account for a lot of the detectorists seen on the fields.
2: Junked out areas- lets be honest no one likes walking around in those junked out spots where it's hard to get 1 step without an overload
3: Dead branches- these buggers are everwhere
4: sheer size- Imagine grabbing a handfull of 5c coins, closing your eyes, spinning around and throwing them as you spin. Now cover the fallen coins with 6" of hardpack, leaf litter, tussock grass, branches, junk and blackberries oh and click your fingers and magically turn those coins into small odd shaped nuggets that give faint responses- I think you get the point.
4.5: you come home with 60 shot pellets for a few days detecting, oh so you've managed to find half a cartridge of 1 gun shot, nevermind the other hundreds of gunshots worth of pellets yet in your mind you've written the area off because you found no yella
5: extreme temps, rain, cold- probably in reality the fields have only 7-8 months out of the year where a full day detecting could be done comfortably

The more I detect the more I realize the mind game is half the battle, keeping positive is a big part in prospecting for me.
Keep the mind positive and realise it's a numbers game. Become intimate with your detector and try and learn something each trip.
Think of how hard the old timers had it when you're thinking of chucking it in for the day to go back to your comfy caravan and put in another hour behind your detector.
My 2c
Reeko

My confidence is growing, maybe I will need a bigger truck.

Lol, all in good fun, :lol: :lol: :lol:

Ridge Runner said:

Lol, all in good fun, :lol: :lol: :lol:

Click to expand...

Yes John, it is all in good fun, being retired and having no debts means I can enjoy a bit of prospecting without the pressure of having to pay for my hobby with gold.

Yep, same here, I am glad the "I Must" find days are over, :Y:

I am not sure which is best the find or the anticipation while digging it up

Agree with you AF, there's no gold left down here in the ex Golden Triangle where I find nuggets fuggets
All the old lead/rusty iron has been planted to convince you otherwise. It's just tourism dollars.
Better skip our patches junk yards and try FNQ or WA.

Gubment should open the nat parks for 50 yrs so everyone can pull out all the toxic lead and the parks could be proper pristine into the future then. 8) :rainbow: ]

There are still places in the GT that have not had a lot of attention. You just have to find them.
We spent a good few hours lost driving along dirt roads trying to get to a place I wanted to try on the way to Maryborough, had to give up when it was getting late.
Finally found the place on the drive back from Maryborough and spent about 2 hours detecting close to the dirt access road because we were in a 2 wheel drive car.
We could only detect in relatively small area of the old diggings along a gully (75 x75 m2 ? ), we dug a few targets mostly trash but surprisingly did not see any signs of recent detector activity at all.

You guy's are full of shite ]
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=361575#p361575
Say no more :Y:

I've been at this caper for a couple of years now & while I'll admit I only get out a couple of times a year I'm amazed at how few detectorists I meet/see.
I can only count six people I've seen or met while I've been out.
As I said we only get out a couple of times a year but it's always for four or five days at a time & we drive the caravan to the area we are searching so I generally put in 12 hour days = lots of hours.
Perhaps I'm going to the wrong spots & that's why there's nobody there. Lol.........that could explain my lack of success.
Rob.

There are still plenty of spots out there and there is still lots of gold to be found. I often see people out with detectors but I dont see a whole lot actually knowing what they are doing. If you research an area, stick to that area, swing low and slow, work the ground thoroughly, you will be successful.

To many attack the goldfields like its a race jumping from one spot to another. It takes time to work an area properly.

Most importantly, hit the area with a positive attitude. It helps a lot more than you realise.

Its still out there .My last find was not more then 3 foot from someone elses old hole then another piece 2 foot from that .Theres lots of bush to cover think about coil sizes compared to ground size . the previos prospector was most likely in to much of a hurry .AS HE DIDNT FILL HIS HOLES.

Hopefully he only got junk