Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
Latest activity
Members
Registered members
Current visitors
Charts
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Gold Prospecting
Metal Detecting for Gold
Did Goldfield X Produce Detectable Gold? What Is A "Goldfield"?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Help Support Prospecting Australia:
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Message
<blockquote data-quote="XLOOX" data-source="post: 603776" data-attributes="member: 16174"><p><em> "It's one thing to read up on the historical production of goldfields and see how much gold they produced overall, but it's trickier to determine if the gold produced was of a detectable size (and depth)."</em></p><p></p><p>Any Goldfield will have registered mines on it. If you can determine the age of the mines then that helps as far as depth goes in that any mine registered before WW2 almost certainly was found by surface sampling as exploratory drilling for gold based on geomag anomalies etc wasnt widespread until 1950s & beyond. Even when loaming the early diggers didnt generally dig beyond 2ft whilst prospecting new areas as it is a mugs game digging deep holes on spec. </p><p></p><p>Once they found gold at the surface level then sure they would go down until they found the source / bedrock but the point is that they found gold at the surface first. Anywhere there was alluvial gold is worth a shot but dont ignore reef based mines. It might have been a reef surface outcrop that hadnt shed yet and the surrounds are barren or it might have shed hundreds of meters in which case some might still be there for the taking.</p><p></p><p>Of course once one surface find had been chased underground and a reef found then other miners would sink shafts without any surface tell, just hoping to intersect it outside the original miners lease. But even so there had to be an initial surface find to kick off all that digging so look for the oldest mine in a cluster.</p><p></p><p>As far as whether the gold size was big enough to be metal detectable that is trickier. Trove is your best source, you want to look at the first few years of news on a given goldfield as even if it was originally alluvial/elluvial later on it may well have moved to underground reef mining. </p><p></p><p>Giveaway names like Nuggety Gully also help<img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="XLOOX, post: 603776, member: 16174"] [i] "It's one thing to read up on the historical production of goldfields and see how much gold they produced overall, but it's trickier to determine if the gold produced was of a detectable size (and depth)."[/i] Any Goldfield will have registered mines on it. If you can determine the age of the mines then that helps as far as depth goes in that any mine registered before WW2 almost certainly was found by surface sampling as exploratory drilling for gold based on geomag anomalies etc wasnt widespread until 1950s & beyond. Even when loaming the early diggers didnt generally dig beyond 2ft whilst prospecting new areas as it is a mugs game digging deep holes on spec. Once they found gold at the surface level then sure they would go down until they found the source / bedrock but the point is that they found gold at the surface first. Anywhere there was alluvial gold is worth a shot but dont ignore reef based mines. It might have been a reef surface outcrop that hadnt shed yet and the surrounds are barren or it might have shed hundreds of meters in which case some might still be there for the taking. Of course once one surface find had been chased underground and a reef found then other miners would sink shafts without any surface tell, just hoping to intersect it outside the original miners lease. But even so there had to be an initial surface find to kick off all that digging so look for the oldest mine in a cluster. As far as whether the gold size was big enough to be metal detectable that is trickier. Trove is your best source, you want to look at the first few years of news on a given goldfield as even if it was originally alluvial/elluvial later on it may well have moved to underground reef mining. Giveaway names like Nuggety Gully also help:) [/QUOTE]
Verification
Post reply
Gold Prospecting
Metal Detecting for Gold
Did Goldfield X Produce Detectable Gold? What Is A "Goldfield"?
Top