Detecting Inside Old Mines?

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Going into old mines is a very dangerous thing to do. There can be odourless toxic gasses just waiting for someone to stir them up :mad: Also there is the danger of roof collapse.

Unless you go in with very experienced people stay well clear of old mines

Look for the old mullock heaps that would be near by and detect them. There is a good chance that there may be a bit of gold still contained in them. Dont be afraid to open them up a bit and see what you can find
 
Balmain Bob said:
Going into old mines is a very dangerous thing to do. There can be odourless toxic gasses just waiting for someone to stir them up :mad: Also there is the danger of roof collapse.

Unless you go in with very experienced people stay well clear of old mines

Look for the old mullock heaps that would be near by and detect them. There is a good chance that there may be a bit of gold still contained in them. Dont be afraid to open them up a bit and see what you can find

Ok thank you! The mines are pretty hard to get into you have to shimmy crouching. Is it possible there is surface nuggets in the area ?
 
VicGoldHunter said:
Balmain Bob said:
Going into old mines is a very dangerous thing to do. There can be odourless toxic gasses just waiting for someone to stir them up :mad: Also there is the danger of roof collapse.

Unless you go in with very experienced people stay well clear of old mines

Look for the old mullock heaps that would be near by and detect them. There is a good chance that there may be a bit of gold still contained in them. Dont be afraid to open them up a bit and see what you can find

Ok thank you! The mines are pretty hard to get into you have to shimmy crouching. Is it possible there is surface nuggets in the area ?

Dont even think about it. There are guys who do this and have all the gear and still very risky. There is a very good reason these mines were abandoned - to dangerous and little return. Many of these mines have rotted timber supports no fresh air.

Stay safe stay clear we dont want to put the rescue guys at risk because there was a chance of finding a very small amount of gold

Hh
 
Nothing wrong with spending a bit of time detecting around
an old site.

Study the area closely.

What type of waste rock is around. ?

If there is a set of old tracks or rails, Along side them
as some times a piece of rich ore fell off.

The old timers could only take what they could see. And were very
good at it but they often missed a piece or two.
 
Another nice surprise was what is called a Winze.
A horizontal drive that can be hidden under a false floor
in the mine.

A sudden trip down wards for a few hundred feet into water.
Almost certainly terminal.

And because of the temperature and being charged with gas,
Non buoyant.

I think we all have spelt out the dangers in an old mine enough.

http://www.dmp.wa.gov.au/What-makes-old-mine-workings-3210.aspx

I appreciate that the Original Poster has at least asked. :Y: :Y: :Y:
 
I have done this but I must say there's just some mines you don't bother touching for a number of reasons gas rotten timbers false floors that lead to deeper flooded levels of the mine and the list go's on. but you must have a general knowledge of geology as faults are a big problem if you are to pick at the roof or walls another thing to listen for is the sound of the rock when you gently hit it with a pick it makes a VERY important sound why ?? because if it sounds like a drum there's a unseen crack behind that part of the roof/wall if you go hacking into it you could bring tons of rock down on yourself however if you hear a sound like hitting steel on steel then you are generally safe and has no cracks in the roof/walls to worry about falling down.

I would recommend you do a climbing course learn how to abseil down shafts if that is what you want to get down ?and do a confined space course
get a gas detector and fully learn how to use it tell someone where your going what time you expect to get home
if possible go with someone who is already trained in abseiling as well as CPR and confined space and has some knowledge of mining/geology and always expect the unexpected never be complacent underground. then get climbing gear hard hat extra torch first aid kit etc. etc

as for where to detect underground ? anywhere you like but just remember the old blokes put down iron rails on the floors if in adits or drives and sometimes iron bolts in timbers. I normally only detect on the walls and roof but always do the sound test first. I would suggest you take photos of where you found gold in the old mines and any minerals found with the gold. if you find if you do decide to do it as this will help you heaps in learning geology if the gold is in certain geological structures e.g. saddle reefs and will be handy in the future to you in other areas/goldfields and you have a huge advantage because back in the 1800's metal detectors did not exist so the old blokes only mined what they thought or saw that had gold in it.

here's a video I made at a shaft near Dunolly Vic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTySz5hnk4Y
 
Tathradj said:
Another nice surprise was what is called a Winze.
A horizontal drive that can be hidden under a false floor
in the mine.

A sudden trip down wards for a few hundred feet into water.
Almost certainly terminal.

And because of the temperature and being charged with gas,
Non buoyant.

I think we all have spelt out the dangers in an old mine enough.

http://www.dmp.wa.gov.au/What-makes-old-mine-workings-3210.aspx

I appreciate that the Original Poster has at least asked. :Y: :Y: :Y:

I love the winzes that's where the lowest parts of the mine are and the large amounts of co2 gas and methane gases and in most cases always flooded.
 
HoudiniHarry said:
VicGoldHunter said:
Balmain Bob said:
Going into old mines is a very dangerous thing to do. There can be odourless toxic gasses just waiting for someone to stir them up :mad: Also there is the danger of roof collapse.

Unless you go in with very experienced people stay well clear of old mines

Look for the old mullock heaps that would be near by and detect them. There is a good chance that there may be a bit of gold still contained in them. Dont be afraid to open them up a bit and see what you can find

Ok thank you! The mines are pretty hard to get into you have to shimmy crouching. Is it possible there is surface nuggets in the area ?


Stay safe stay clear we dont want to put the rescue guys at risk because there was a chance of finding a very small amount of gold

Hh

yes unless you understand basic geology and are really keen to explore the mine not just for gold but for photos of its history like I do. its in most cases not worth the risk.
 
I've worked in the natural gas industry for 15 years now performing maintenance work and break downs in gas regulator pits and line valve pits under ground, they are purpose built pits to be worked in and wear harnesses and have tripods for fall arrest, we do confined space training every 12 months as well as the rest, CPR, BA, rescue, Fire etc etc.......
I work in confined spaces most days and have no issues getting into tight confines spaces with the right equipment.

Love prospecting and exploring on my days off but for the life of me you wouldn't catch me in an old mine, simply because of the unknowns inside.
Work is predictable but old mines aren't, best advice is like others have said, best to stay out of them unless you really know what you're doing in there, by the time you realise something is not right it'll be to late to get out, a few small scraps of gold is simply not worth it.
 
"back in the 1800's metal detectors did not exist so the old blokes only mined what they thought or saw that had gold in it".

True, but they would simply put a few more tons through the crusher when in doubt, and if it came up dud would stop. They mined tons at a time, they did not crack open every handful of quartz. This bulk crushing was probably at least as sensitive as a metql detector, and commonly removed anything worth having.

While you can occasionally fluke a few specks detecting in this way (I have known it), I consider it so much less productive than alternatives. Good ore would be lost along the rail used by their hand trucks, and around their ore bins where they stored good ore for crushing. If it was a single, well-defined quartz vein not much good material would have gone onto the mine dumps as well, but if a "stockwork" of many quartz veins they had to guess a bit what was ore and what was waste, and gold ended up on the waste dumps.

It can also be more productive to work out where the vein hit surface, and detect along the parts that they did not mine at all.
 
I prefer to pick up the crumbs that have been left outside
1550534175_76cb0c16-5768-4e75-a5b3-5083c2cfe00f.jpg
 
goldierocks said:
"back in the 1800's metal detectors did not exist so the old blokes only mined what they thought or saw that had gold in it".

True, but they would simply put a few more tons through the crusher when in doubt, and if it came up dud would stop. They mined tons at a time, they did not crack open every handful of quartz. This bulk crushing was probably at least as sensitive as a metql detector, and commonly removed anything worth having.

While you can occasionally fluke a few specks detecting in this way (I have known it), I consider it so much less productive than alternatives. Good ore would be lost along the rail used by their hand trucks, and around their ore bins where they stored good ore for crushing. If it was a single, well-defined quartz vein not much good material would have gone onto the mine dumps as well, but if a "stockwork" of many quartz veins they had to guess a bit what was ore and what was waste, and gold ended up on the waste dumps.

It can also be more productive to work out where the vein hit surface, and detect along the parts that they did not mine at all.

maybe so but your wrecking history if you go pull up the old rail tracks that and the fact that there's a wood sleeper ever half a meter with nails in it that you'll also pick up and believe me by the time you have dug up bits of rusting iron off the floor for a while you soon avoid the floor of a mine as its just got too much junk in it think of old mate drunk joe who go's in there after a night on the piss and leaves tin cans everywhere on the floor they rust due to being wet and broken down by weak solutions of sulphuric acid in the water due to the sulphide minerals in the rock e.g. pyrites this breaks down the tin can into tiny bits of flaky metal witch cover the floor everywhere.
 
I had said that I did not suggest detecting in the mine. Rails were not usually left anyway, but pulled up for use at another mine - they cost. However there was usually a rail from the shaft or tunnel entrance to the ore bin (as distinct from rail that went to waste dumps) and it would often be elevated to dump into the bin from above. Ore would tumble off the trucks over the years and off the sides (it might only be raised a half a metre or so for much of its route). Detecting along the rails themselves would obviously be useless - and of course no one should pull them up (little purpose anyway).

1550547867_ore_bin.jpg


If you can work out the former location of the ore bin/crusher you can detect around it and on the route there from the mine. Old iron will always be a nuisance at mine sites.
 
Going into old mines is very dangerous. Before doing that you need to attend special training for your safety.

Moderator Edit.

Not a good idea to advertise on your first post.

Entering old mines is extremely dangerous.
 
G'day Jack thanks for the heads up but I reckon most on this forum have an inkling of the dangers, you definitely spelt out the details of the course provider. Do you have an interest in the business.

Tell us a bit about your prospecting, where, when and how so we can get an insight into the purpose of why you took the course. To me as a first post it sure looks like you are giving us the hard sell.
 
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