Patch Finding Techniques?

[Roscoe]

Just thought i would try to open a discussion on patch finding techniques. I personally don't have a set technique, but would be very interested in hearing about other peoples ideas, techniques, coil choices etc.

 

[ZlatoZaMene]

I just go to areas where gold has been found before and hunt the outer areas surrounding the old time workings...I hunt fairly fast and with a large coil. I dig all targets until I find my first piece. At this point Everything slows down....coils change and I dig all targets to see if I am on to a patch. If I find a number of nuggets...I scan the area with at least three different size coils....in every direction....

 

[Roscoe]

Thanks Zlato... You must be up late over their mate? Do you Zig Zag your way around the area when patch finding? What size nugget would you pick up on average as your first piece? One thing that seems to be a common saying amongst prospectors is that "The little ones can lead you to the big ones"?

 

[trashmagnet]

there seems to be two ways of finding a patch....the safe way and the dangerous way,

safe way
lots of research and doing the hard yards your self

dangerous way
sit on top of a hill and watch others prospecting, then move in when you think they have found something 8) :lol:

 

[Roscoe]

ha..ha I have heard from others that people out there do that.? Somehow i don't think you would be to popular.

 

[Guest]

there seems to be two ways of finding a patch....the safe way and the dangerous way,

safe way
lots of research and doing the hard yards your self

dangerous way
sit on top of a hill and watch others prospecting, then move in when you think they have found something 8) :lol:

lol - I thank having a beer with you around a campfire will be an experience in itself.

 

[Guest]

I just go to areas where gold has been found before and hunt the outer areas surrounding the old time workings...I hunt fairly fast and with a large coil. I dig all targets until I find my first piece. At this point Everything slows down....coils change and I dig all targets to see if I am on to a patch. If I find a number of nuggets...I scan the area with at least three different size coils....in every direction....

Best way...

 

[Drbean]

I generally go down hill from diggings and look for
barren ground .I find if nothing grows on it its either
Highly mg or clay or lots of water path.
Current patch I've been working has yielded over 200
pieces .
Further down hill so far inc six pieces on sunday for a total
Of 22 all up at this area both have no growth on them.half acre areas.
Weird thing I think someone's been watching me on a hill hmmmm.

 

[Shane]

there seems to be two ways of finding a patch....the safe way and the dangerous way,

safe way
lots of research and doing the hard yards your self

dangerous way
sit on top of a hill and watch others prospecting, then move in when you think they have found something 8) :lol:

Its called "OPN"
"Other Prospector Navigation" 8)

Also known by the variations of OBN and OHN for boating and hunting.

Why do you think GPS tracking devices are so popular??

 

[ZlatoZaMene]

It seems to work for me...but I forgot to mention...it's a pain finding that first one that may lead to others. In my area, there is a lot of junk.lead bullets, iron trash..literally hundreds of pieces before I can be lucky enough to find that little beauty. As far as size...it could be a bitty one or a multi-grammer. At the end of the day I am just happy I found one. Cause than I slow way down and kill the area with different size coils. In my area I start of with a smaller coil..usually a 11' mono R than work my way up to my largest a 20 NG R. I have to admit..I love patches...but dang tough when your looking for another...mental challenge for me....lol.

 

[Roscoe]

Thanks DRBean and Zlatozamene, I have a lot of country to cover and appreciate your comments. Interesting about the barren ground DRBean that makes sense. It must be a good feeling to find a patch.

James Venture Mulligan in the 1870's couldn't understand how people were so quick at finding his prospects. One of the men in his party was checking over the horses and noticed that one of the horse shoes was marked purposely, someone had slipped in one night and marked it. So all they had to do was follow that horse with the odd marked shoe. He had the men replace the shoes on that horse immediately, so they were doing it back then.

 

[Drbean]

Mate its the areas people don't go is where you find
a patch .The minute people see diggings they go oh
must be gold there as did the 1000 people before them
Last year I pulled 14 grams whilst looking at 4 car loads
of detectors going over diggings 400 mtrs away.
DWT calls it hour glass effect , gold path is similar.
Just because there's no gold in 100 mtrs doesn't mean
the next 100 mtrs isn't rich .always dig down if you hit gravel
at 2 / 4 inches your closer to the gold . Dr

 

[Rege-PA]

DWT calls it hour glass effect , gold path is similar.
Just because there's no gold in 100 mtrs doesn't mean
the next 100 mtrs isn't rich .always dig down if you hit gravel
at 2 / 4 inches your closer to the gold . Dr

Good advice but may I suggest using a GPS to stay at the same elevation while traveling away from a known patch, vein could out crop on another hill at same elevation.

 

[Pete_&_Rie]

Thats a good trick Rege and one that i personally use also.

My patch hunts start at home hittin the research, both online and Geological mapping.
First thing i do is find out what geological setting the gold to that given area is found associated with.
Next i'm lookin for contact and shear zones where two or more of them now known rock types abut each other
and are visible at the surface, next is a quick online Tenement check to see if the ground is available to prospect
on and if not i get the tenement owners details while there..
Only once ive done this preliminary work i look online to search for any company records that may cover the area and
see if those reports have any useful drill Logs and hand drawn mapping showing past mining activity and Alluvial finds etc.
I know this all sounds a bit tedious and a load of extra work but believe me, it pays in the end if your seeking Ounces not grams from any given area..

A quick look at the Google areal images covering the ground and at the same time upload coords for prospective areas
onto my Garmin, and im ready to hit it hard..

On the ground - Once im at the drop-zone a quick walk n reci of the area while slurpin a cold brew down
then im into it
I always patch hunt with a smallish coil like my trusty 11" Mono, the theory behind using such a small coil
and not a 24x12 or drag coil is simple, we want to find ANY gold at all, right down to the 0.01 crumbs, its all
about verifying that the area holds ANY gold inc Fine stuff not just massive Bonanza's but Any gold.
Once ive hit that first tiddler i am 100% sure im in a nuggety Auriferous area and then the full onslaught begins.
Every coil and setting combo and even hotter/colder/wetter/dryer over the same ground gets the goods sorted..

Pete

 

[slowflow]

Pete that is some list, thanks for the info as it all helps.

 

[Pete_&_Rie]

Pete that is some list, thanks for the info as it all helps.

Cheers SF
And the funny thing is that after a while its just like riding a bike, ya never forget and its on Auto pilot

 

[Roscoe]

Some great information and food for thought on patch finding, thanks.

 

[nuggetino]

thanks for the advice given here it's definitely more than I do when searching for new patches. I did find a 0.33 gram nugget in an undetected gully in SA recently. Was a throw out from one of 3 shallow diggings I

 

[GoldCheddar2005]

i ve been exploring online for a bit. sorry about the sickness of my bad joke, after reading a geological paper on the sediments in my area some and came across a term refering to white granite. which is commonly found here.

commonly found on stone kitchen benches. and out near Mt Hector

 

[Pete_&_Rie]

I bet that stuff slabs up real nice