Help this rookie!

Hi all,

Looking for some advice from anyone. I found a little picker in a side gully, that only flows with the rain. It was only around 150mm deep in the gravel, with at least another 200mm to get to bedrock. I have searched upstream, in all the spots where gold should collect, and have found nothing :argh:
The picker is not very well worn at all.
Any advice from all you experts would be awesome!!
Thanks.

Were you detecting or test panning
Either way. Keep looking. There is bound to be more gold there
Just got to find that pocket of bedrock that hopefully will be holding gold.
Good luck
Cheers Banjo

Hey Banjo, I was panning. I've been through 6 x 20lt buckets and only found that piece. Any chance it has come from uphill??

Yes a good chance. Especially if it was not very water warn.
Could be shedding from above.
Only to get one picker from six buckets
Maybe not much there.
Keep test panning or run a detector over the ground above the creek

How steep and narrow is the gully?

Copy that Banjo. Anything to look for in particular??

Hey Water, it's reasonably steep on the right(looking upstream) and not so much on the left. Not very narrow, I.e. easy enough to walk up.

Did the buckets of material you panned all come from the steep or from where it flattens out and from various depths? Eg top 50-100mm?

Test pan, test pan and then test pan some more.

Here is a YouTube video that could help you narrow down where the gold could be shedding from.
[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/cTR_3dtkt6A[/video]

Hey Hippy,
That was an awesome video!!
Really helpful, and I will definitely incorporate the info gathered.
Most of the material I took was within 15m of the original piece of gold found, from 3 dropoffs in the bedrock. And took everything from those holes. Also did around 5 test pans further upstream, which yielded nothing.
I'm only a beginner, so I feel I might be missing something.
Also the gravel is really different to other areas I've panned, kinda flat and round like skimming stone, and purplish in colour. Occasional pieces of Quartz.
Thanks again.

No worries bottom_feeder
His other videos are worth a watch also.
Youtube help me alot when I was starting out

You have not mentioned whether this gully is in a known gold location.

Are there old mines in the slopes above the gully, or is this virgin country?

Also, are there any signs of previous workings in the gully?

Reason I ask is that I am currently working two gullies that fit broadly into that which you have described.
Normally dry gullies that would, at the moment, probably yield more Murray Cod than Gold.

The surrounding area, in both instances and on both sides, is dotted with old mining activity.

The gullies (currently creeks) have been heavily worked, and there are piles of dredge spoil everywhere (some of it not so old).

Working the actual bed of each gully has proved fairly disappointing, but parts other than the bed have yielded promising results.

Hi Geehi, it is in a known gold yielding area, but there are no mines or evidence of any workings around that the gully.
I'm going back out soon, so I'll try some some test pans further up stream and see how I go with that.