reading map help

hi guys,
ive been looking at the google earth overlay of vic mine sites, and then looking at the same area in geovic to look where the workings are.
ive found an area with a very large ammount of mines and looks interesting there was obviously a lot of gold mined there, but geo vic shows that there were no working in the area.
does this generally mean that the reef was mined underground and that there was no shed reef gold?
meaning there is not much point detecting the area?
I know a lot of the workings weren't documented but its a long way for me to go to hope there was shed gold.
is there a "general" or rough way to work out if a particular area contained shallow gold worth detecting?

Gooday tagalt,
I have generally found that the geovic maps are NOT very accurate. Many a spots that I have been to, have many an old timers diggings, but geovic has nothing there or near there. Use it as a rough idea but go by the old books and other maps. Just my thoughts and observations on geovic....

A very hard topic to answer, their is still plenty of mines out there that are not on Google or were registed, probably most mines were quartz and some elluvial where they mined ancient rivers on the hills, and a lot of them go very deep. You are obvious looking at an area where their is no modern gold maps that show alluvial. If you are coming along way I would have 2 of 3 backup plans like pick some other area's as well, If their are diggings down below in gullys or creeks it could be a clue but the alluvial gold down there doesan't necessary mean the gold came from the reefs above, fine gold in quartz going 3-4/oz ton or more is not detectable,
their my thoughts anyway
cheers Tezz

thanks for the replys guys,
guess ill have to just get out there.
seems to be plenty of options nearby too.