Hello from Far North Queensland

[Gold Ferret]

Hi everyone, first of all, thank you to our wonderful hosts who created this website.

I'm a 53 year old outdoors girl who is new to this forum, and new to the world of metal detecting for gold.

I just bought myself a Minelab Eureka Gold as an entry level unit to get started but plan on upgrading later once I have a few nuggets in the recovery bag to afford a professional quality detector like a GPX5000 or something. I cannot justify that expense any other way just yet.

I've been watching a lot of videos showing how to dial in the Eureka and dealing with mineralisation and discrimination issues but am keen to learn more from others who have experience with gold prospecting with Minelabs in the far North. I've also got another girlfriend of similar age who also has a Minelab XT17000 who is also keen to join me on a new prospecting venture I have spent years planning.

And while I maybe new to the world of metal detectors, I'm no newbie when it comes to finding gold and have been very successful in the past with the recovery of fine alluvial gold from our gold fields in the Far North through panning and sluicing. My profile photo is of some of the larger pieces of alluvial gold I have recovered previously in the far north. Don't ask where I got my gold because I ain't telling you, and yes, I have gold fever so get use to it and get over it.

Anyway at the moment I'm in the planning stages to go out and prospect and prove some new ground just begging to be explored. I'm also right into using the latest GPS and digital mapping technology with the latest geological data which makes me a little bit more knowledgeable and advanced than your typical hobby prospector.

So I have a good basic understanding of geology and where gold occurs and how to find it, along with the many various recovery methods of recovering gold depending on where it has been located, including strip mining of alluvial deposits and hard rock mining of reef gold. It may come as a surprise to some people but I am no stranger to running a front-end loader or a hoe, I just don't have the heavy machinery tickets but I can operate them all the same. And yes, this girl does drive a 4WD and owns her own boat. Yes, I love my fishing too

Anyway if you are someone who has some experience and can teach me a thing or two I would love to hear from you.

 

[Gregupnorth]

G'day Gold Ferett
Welcome to the forum
There is a few of us up here around FNQ and willing to help others
I my self often use old records, maps and Google to find places but would be very interested to see how you use the latest geological data
There is also a detecting club in Townsville and a group of us that often meet up at the NQ miners den in Cairns and talk gold over a coffee

Cheers Mate

 

[dam it]

Welcome to PA

 

[Macca50]

Welcome and enjoy

 

[Jaros]

Welcome to P.A. Enjoy.
Jaros

 

[Gold Ferret]

Thanks everyone for the welcome.

Greg, we will have to catch up sometime at the Miner's Den for coffee and a chat.

And can someone please tell me, I've just upgraded to premium membership, so how long does that take to go through?

Thanks.

 

[Gregupnorth]

G'day Gold Ferret
The first Cairns meet up for the year is on the 2nd April starting at 930am
Should be good

Cheers Greg

 

[Chewy]

Hi GF welcome to PA.

 

[SCROUNGER]

Welcome to PA Gold Ferret and good luck with the detecting

 

[Gold Ferret]

Thanks everyone, my prospecting partner Kristy and myself will catch up with the Cairns crew in April, so thanks Greg, I will definitely put that date in our diary.

Anyway, a bit more about us. I'm a part-time IT coordinator for a local company who provides training and certification for the onshore and offshore gas and oil drilling industry, Well Control and Blow Out Prevention certification to be more precise.

Kristy is a leading motor mechanic for a local motor dealership, so one of her main roles in our venture is to keep our vehicles running and keep us on the move. But Kristy has been brought up around gold mining operations in the far North thanks to her father who was a heavy machinery operator. So she literally also has prospecting in her blood.

Kristy was also fortunate enough to have many old maps, books and reference materials passed on by her now late father. So we are using those materials with the a ton of other digitalised data & information that I am in the process of collating on our mapping and GPS navigation systems for our new venture. But we know we still have a lot to learn about some of the places we plan on checking out and with metal detecting on different types of ground.

On that note we are both learning how to use our entry level VLF Minelab detectors at present. However we are planning to upgrade later to pulse induction Minelab detectors to handle heavy mineralisation and changing ground conditions better, once we have enough gold in in our pockets to cover the purchase costs. So we do expect a lot from our current detectors.

I am currently running a Minelab Eureka Gold with the Goldsearch 1000 coil a while Kristy is running a Minelab XT17000 with the standard coil. However we know the standard coils are not the best, so we just bought the last two Coiltek 15" Goldseeker coils available on Ebay yesterday to improve the performance of our detectors.

So this year our plan is to complete our preliminary research and get the equipment we need and to start checking out some of the popular and well known prospecting locations, but next year after we can get permission from property owners and buying a couple of motorbikes and a trailer, we plan on checking out lesser known locations and to also explore new ground. So any help with new exploration will be really appreciated.

Thanks once again for your warm welcome.

 

[Jackoau]

Welcome to PA gold ferret.

 

[Gregupnorth]

G'day Gold Ferret
Thanks for sharing a bit about your self's
You both sound like interesting people and I look forward to meeting you both
I like the bit about the old maps and stuff. It is like finding a treasure map and seeing where it leads you
I hope you do well on your adventure and have a lot of fun doing it.
Also you are right about that you are asking a lot from your current VLF detectors
But they do have there place out there where they can do really well in the right places

All the best Cheers Greg

 

[Gold Ferret]

But Greg, what was there before pulse induction metal detectors?

VLF detectors like the Eureka Gold have found a lot of gold, but getting
dialled in to the ground and keeping it that way is obviously the challenge.

See they do find deep gold..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO3BDMBqO4w

So I've been doing a fair bit of reading and watching videos to get all the
info I can find. So I'm feeling quietly confident, especially once the new
15" coil goes on it.

 

[cecc]

Welcome and have fun.

 

[The Green Wanderer]

Welcome to the forum Gold ferret, good to hear your joining us at the next meeting and thanks for sharing some of your background.
Afraid I wont be able to answer many questions you have on detectors as im mainly focused on alluvial prospecting but im sure the guys will do their best to help you along.
See you in April, dont forget to bring the camp chair.

Oh and as the NQ groups resident youngster, Welcome!
TGW

 

[Gold Ferret]

My experience with gold prospecting so far has always been in alluvial gold.
So crevassing, panning and sluicing are still options for gold recovery we may
still use if there is no detectable gold in an area known for it's gold occurrences.

I think it is never wise to put all your eggs into one basket, just the same with
having multiple places to prospect when you do a trip away. It could be stupid and
very costly move to go to just one place with one single option for gold recovery
in my opinion, so when we hit the gold fields we will be very well prepared.

I built the last sluice I used from scrap bought from the buyback shop at the local
dump and it worked. So well in fact that the sluice and the 4" (4 stroke) water pump
were stolen by a member of my own family. But now I have a lot more ideas and a
very "hands on" prospecting partner who has a workshop at her disposal. We are
also looking at building our own dry blower to also work in very dry conditions.

 

[Goldchaser]

Welcome and happy prospecting