Ophir road bathurst

[bathurstgold]

Has anyone had any experiences with the creek on Ophir road in bathurst , is it gold rich area .

The area is between bathurst and orange not far from a new mine being opened.

 

[kuskus]

Yeah ive been to Ophir and its great, when are u doing a trip out there next?

 

[bathurstgold]

I have a property that backs into the river , but havnt been to sample the land their yet , just wanted to see what people's thoughts were .

 

[kuskus]

Well it was quite big back in the late 1800s, it was part of the gold rush through out that whole area.

Last time I was there I was with mate so drinking got in the way most of the time (they're not into prospecting like I am) but the hour we spent panning we found colour.

How long have you had the property? And when you start testing the ground, I would love to come help ya if you need it. Did you buy the property for prospecting?

 

[bathurstgold]

Nah hobby farm pretty much cattle sheep goats , few houses we rent out .
Use a lot of it for storage of our equipment and plant , so a excavator isnt far away ?

 

[kuskus]

Well I'm here and ready when ever you are lol

Just built a trommel too. 8)

 

[bathurstgold]

I may just have to leave it to my self at the moment , I don't particularly feel comfortable letting strangers into my property .

It's a messy situation when people get complacent with security

 

[kuskus]

All good mate.

Best of luck with it, I'll let ya know when I'm in the area and we can meet up on the river somewhere (public lol)

 

[stevo]

I travel the Ophir Rd quite a bit on my way to the Ophir diggings, Ive had a quick pan at the causeways every now and then but no luck yet. Which new mine are you talking about? I know theres a new gold mine going ahead out Blaney way but haven't heard about anything else nearby.

 

[bathurstgold]

Lucknow yeah , if you draw a like on a map it's not far from our place .

Kuskus it is what it is champion , tell me if you owned a property would you allow people off a online forum to just roll on up to your place ...

Not being a prick but seriously, it's quite rude of you to invite yourself .

 

[bathurstgold]

I went out there today and did a few pans between jobs , I'm getting 5-6 colours from each pan .

The main problem is im running into ALOT of magnetic black sands , how do people combat this with either panning or highbanking which I hope to do soon .

Simple as putting a magnet on your shovel or somewhere in your highbanker to catch the black sands before they clog up your high banker matts

 

[blayke]

bathurstgold firstly good job with the property haha half of us (especially us that are hours from even 1 colour in 10 pan gold) would love something like that for a backyard and welcome.

if you get a highbanker depending on what type of magnetic sand if its the heavy stuff itll catch in the highbanker and when u go to pan at the end just get a plunger magnet (or a speaker magnetic wrapped in plastic) and itll pull most of it away making it easier....havent heard of anyone using a magnet on the shovel i would think that would just clog up the shovel a bit....

good luck with it and hope you get that good stuff!

 

[bathurstgold]

How do the high banker guys deal with thick grey clay .

 

[WalnLiz]

Depends on the type of banker you use. If you run a two tiered banker with a grizzly at the back you could run two "U" channels either side of the hopper into which you could slide an aluminium plate say 100mm high with vee sections, say 500 deep, cut into the bottom for a continual water flow. This would dam the hopper section sufficiently to puddle the clay down enough to run through the cut out vees.

Alternatively you could use a forward classifier such as the ones I use in my Walbanker. That way you just scrub the clay down in the hopper as it gets pulverized by the spray bar. Clay is not a problem with this type of setup. This method still delivers full water pressure to the screens under the classifier keeping the catching section working at optimum performance.

 

[bathurstgold]

There is a large rock that only gets water when it floods , And at the bottom is slow moving water .

I followed the rock down and dug where meets the water and got a lot of clay but the pans looked good .

I have a turbo pan I was using and really had to brake down the clay in the pan , wasn't ideal method. I really need to get this highbanker business going haha classifying and panning is to time consuming , considering I have a cat 320 about 100 meters away haha :/

 

[WalnLiz]

Turbo pans are more of a speed pan, and as such don't like clay in them at all....though most pans don't like clay. High bankers make quick work of clay if set up "correctly" . Best of luck out there on that creek.

Cheers Wal.

 

[Tathradj]

Wal,
Could not agree any further.
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=8328&p=1

 

[kuskus]

Mate learn to laugh a bit, never invited myself, was just saying LOL

 

[bathurstgold]

Thanks for the advice champion ..

 

[Heatho]

There are not any historical mines along that road, though I'm sure the Macquarie River was dredged pretty hard back in the day. The Bathurst metallogenic map says it's pretty barren regarding Gold along Ophir Rd. If you're getting a few specks per pan it may be worth digging deeper.

Excavator is illegal sorry to say, even on your own land without permission for a nice dam or something.

Best of luck with it.