Tassie gold seekers

[kemjak57]

Hi Tassie gold hunters. I don't know if this will be helpful or not. I have a bloke who works for me who was a 2nd gen gold miner from Tasmania. We have talked about gold a lot and he has told us a lot of his under ground mining stories. He told me today of a place which as far as I am aware is an old mining village called Ringville. He used to go camping there as a kid and he said it was not an easy place to get to. It was near a place called Williamsford and Montezuma Falls. He said that the whole area was very rich in different minerals and the creeks may be worth a look. This is only info that he has passed on and as I am from Queensland I am not aware of what the area is actually like. He is a pretty straight up fella so the info could be helpful to someone down there. Anyway I hope it is worth a look. Cheers Rick

 

[user 1769]

Hi kemjak, and others looking to get to the west coast,

The Ring River was a well known gold rush starting in 1892. I think it's got potential, with some provisos:

The water level is impossibly high (think serious whitewater) 80% of the time. The area around Ringville and Mt Read is one of the wettest spots in Tasmania, and gets between 2,000 and 3,000 mm or rain per year... on average about 200+ rain days. The scrub is thick. The slopes are 45 degrees+, and the deep lead was about 100 feet deep. Some of the creeks that historically produced the most are nowadays choked up with the overburden and tailings off the Hercules mine. Not so much the main river, as it floods often.

HOWEVER, if you catch it in summer after a dry spell and do your research as to where exactly gold was found, it could very much be worthwhile. I have tried twice last summer (both times the water was way too high), and I'm planning to head there again once the weather warms up and dries off. There was a 16-ounce nugget found in the area in the mid 1890s. BTW the area around Ringville/Montezuma was mostly silver-lead mines. The gold was mostly got higher up, and closer to Mount Read.

 

[kemjak57]

Thanks for that. He did say it was a bugger to get to. He mentioned today that where they camped as kids there was a number of levelled areas where it appeared to have been for "housing" in the rush days. Sounds like you will really work for your gold around there. Good luck for your next attempt

 

[silver]

Hi kemjak, and others looking to get to the west coast,

The Ring River was a well known gold rush starting in 1892. I think it's got potential, with some provisos:

The water level is impossibly high (think serious whitewater) 80% of the time. The area around Ringville and Mt Read is one of the wettest spots in Tasmania, and gets between 2,000 and 3,000 mm or rain per year... on average about 200+ rain days. The scrub is thick. The slopes are 45 degrees+, and the deep lead was about 100 feet deep. Some of the creeks that historically produced the most are nowadays choked up with the overburden and tailings off the Hercules mine. Not so much the main river, as it floods often.

HOWEVER, if you catch it in summer after a dry spell and do your research as to where exactly gold was found, it could very much be worthwhile. I have tried twice last summer (both times the water was way too high), and I'm planning to head there again once the weather warms up and dries off. There was a 16-ounce nugget found in the area in the mid 1890s. BTW the area around Ringville/Montezuma was mostly silver-lead mines. The gold was mostly got higher up, and closer to Mount Read.

Wow,.... Sounds like the tully of Tasmania to me(weather wise at least).

 

[user 1769]

Hi kemjak,

There was a town in there, and not just in the rush days. Williamsford was the main town servicing the Mt Read mines, and particularly the Hercules mine (multi-metal mine, mixed sulphide ores, similar to the Rosebery mine, active today), which only closed in the 80s, I think. In fact there are a couple of blocks for sale in there, or there were a few months back!

silver, yes, a bit like Tully, but without the giant boot!
The main difference is that we get our rain fairly evenly spread throughout the year, unlike the wet tropics, and the cold

 

[youngy]

Hello all im sorry to bother again but out at lisle I just seem to be getting these shiny blacky gold specs. So I was wondering if someone from the same area could post some pictures of the gold they have got from there. Sorry for annoying anyone. Cheers

 

[user 1769]

Hi youngy, I haven't come across what you describe. The Lisle gold I've seen is nice and bright. Are you sure it's gold?
I've seen gold covered in black ironstone at other locations, such as the NW, maybe there's some at Lisle also... Can you post a picture?

 

[youngy]

I cant get on the computer right now but I will try to upload it from work tomorrow if I get the time. I am sorry I am just new to this and I am having alot of trouble trying to separate anything from the black sand.

 

[Redmanti]

I cant get on the computer right now but I will try to upload it from work tomorrow if I get the time. I am sorry I am just new to this and I am having alot of trouble trying to separate anything from the black sand.

Buy a powerful magnet on Ebay for <$10. It will remove most of the black sands.

 

[youngy]

I will do mate. Thanks for the tip.

 

[user 1769]

Hi youngy,

When you pan down to a couple of spoonfuls, you can separate the gold by tapping the pan. It's kinda hard to explain, but if you have the gold on the bottom corner of the pan, and swirl water over it gently, you'll start to uncover the gold. At that point make the pan almost level, and swish water over the material as if it were waves coming up the beach. If the gold starts to pull back towards you, tap the end of the pan with your hand and the gold will move towards it.

Sorry if the explanation is confusing, it's much easier to show than to tell. If you can take the accent, this is a decent video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cbiiohp5bQ

[video=480,360]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cbiiohp5bQ[/video]

 

[youngy]

Thanks mfdes and Redmanti you both have been very helpful and I hope to be getting some gold now. I'll let you know how i go plus i bought a nice set of pans because all i had was the turbo pan and it seemed easier with the normal ones.

 

[user 1769]

Hi Youngy,

I find the Turbopan to be very good for reducing a lot of wash to a small amount of concentrate fairly quickly. I then put the cons in a bucket to pan properly later. I still find a normal pan easier to use, maybe because that's what I started with.

 

[youngy]

So does this look like gold or am I just hoping it is. I cant really tell if it is or just super fine sand.
Thanks youngy

 

[user 1769]

Hi Youngy,

I think you're just seeing light coloured heavy sands in there, possibly zircon.

Gold looks like gold, yellow, metallic and shiny. If you're not sure whether it's gold, then it probably isn't. Google panned gold and you get a few pictures that give you an idea. Very fine gold can be hard to see, but it still looks like gold.

 

[youngy]

Ok then thanks mfdes you have been very helpful and you are most probably sick of answering my dumb questions. Thanks for putting up with me.
Thanks Youngy

 

[user 1769]

Not at all, that's why this forum exists, and we all started knowing nothing.

 

[Redmanti]

Ok then thanks mfdes you have been very helpful and you are most probably sick of answering my dumb questions. Thanks for putting up with me.
Thanks Youngy

If your near Launceston go to the boat ramp at Hadspen. At the crossing there is gold in the rocks as there is an old field nearby.

Easy panning 10min from town.

Not as productive as Lisle but easy to see some colour.

 

[youngy]

Thats excellent i didn't know that, I will definatly check it out mate. It is also a bit better then taking a skyline out to lisle haha. Also I am trying to hit up a few people I know to get out on there property at lefroy which will be worth a look i think.
Is there any gold out near deloraine way.
And to mfdes i had a look again through that black sand i posted earlier and I found one tiny spec of gold (it was very yellow compaired to the other stuff).
thanks Youngy

 

[user 1769]

Hey Youngy, Lefroy is a bit hard going. There's alluvial there but hard to find. After all this rain at least the creeks will be running. Try Tobacco Creek near Lisle, near where it meets Cradle Creek, if you're out that way.
I hear there's also alluvial near Beaconsfield.