Gold Detecting Newbie Questions

Firstly, apologies if this has been covered elsewhere; I did a few forum searches but couldn't see what I was looking for.

Background: A friend saw that I got a detector for Xmas and suggested I check his land out for gold. He reckons there's quartz there which I believe is an indicator that gold may be present.

My questions are:

1) Is there a standard arrangement for permission? If I found anything what would the sharing be or would that be part of the arrangement?
2) If I found a small piece of gold would my friend have a legal (or moral!) obligation to let me keep looking or could he take over the search himself?
3) I have an el cheapo Kogan detector. Is there any point looking for gold with it?
4) How can I research an area to find out if there's a chance of gold?

In the end I may take him up on his offer to detect on his land as I think it might be interesting and fun, gold or no gold. Saying that, if there's gold out there I'd rather dig it out than leave it there!

Some gold is associated with quartz but not all quartz is associated with gold.
1. Most agreements are handshake agreements & whatever terms are discussed between the parties. Different people have different ideas on whats fair or not. Some say 10-20% to landowner, some 50/50, some prefer to pay for access (say $50/day) & keep any finds.
2. Morally he probably should let you continue but is under no obligation to do so & can stop access whenever he wishes. I know of cases where people have found gold on properties & shown the landowner where/how then been refused further access. Mostly landowners think we're mad & there are better ways to make money off the land.
3. Probably not to be honest unless there were large, shallow nuggets there. Maybe get a gold pan & test any creeks & gullies first?
4. Use a state provided service like Geovic (Victoria), Minview (NSW), + research Trove etc.

I think in your case a handshake is all that would be required to however you want to split the spoils.

And yes, if he got greedy or didn't like you making a mess, he has every right to kick you off his land.

Quartz does not guarantee that there is gold there, but it is a great indicator, especially if it's in a known gold bearing area.

Good luck with the Aldi detector! I met a bloke who had an Aldi special and he was quite excited how he had found horseshoes, rusty pieces of metal, bits of wire etc etc. They were all large pieces of junk so he did get a signal. Sadly though you would have to be extremely lucky to find a nugget big enough for the Aldi detector to give you a signal, especially at any depth in the ground. I placed a 2 gram nugget on the ground and asked him to wave his machine over it ... he got nothing. I waved my GPX5000 over it and it screamed!

You can do your research by Googling whether there were any gold finds/mines in the area. There are also maps available in most detecting shops.

If that land is virgin soil then it's worth looking at. The Kogan will find alluvial gold and a little bit under ground but don't bet on it. Still worth the effort and practice makes perfect. Graduate to a Pi detector if you want to find gold and can afford one.
Check the history of the area -type in the town/suburb in google then type gold-good luck.

Thanks for taking the time to reply everyone.

I think I'll spend the time between now and the cooler weather getting to know my detector better and then take him up on his offer, agreeing with a handshake or simple written agreement.

He has been in this place for about 5 or 10 years and has no idea what investigations if any have been performed on the land. He and I both are just interested to have a dig around and see what's there. Looking through Trove I can see that the creek in his area, but not on his land, had gold discovered there in small quantities in 1904 which I guess is promising but not something I am likely to strike it rich on.

I feel that this is going to be the same as how I approach detecting in general: a fun hobby that I will probably never really make any money but may uncover some interesting finds or, at worst, be a way to spend a couple of fun hours.

Something to add...

I have a mate at work who has a Garrett AT Gold and we are planning to head over there together after Easter when the weather gets a bit cooler. No doubt he will have a better chance with his than I will with mine but still looking forward to it.

As well as learning to use my detector I am looking through a few threads on here for tips so that I'll give myself the best chance while I'm there.