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lay of the land

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Post  TheH0ward Thu Aug 05, 2010 2:02 pm

Hi all

This is my first question of what i am sure is many to come...

Ive been metal detecting for quite a while now but only new at this gold prospecting. When i hear of people saying "this looked like a likely place to detect", well i have no idea what they are meaning. So what is it that i should be looking for.... ie hills, gullys, ground content etc?
Any help would be greatly appreciated..

happy holes!

TheH0ward lay of the land Icon_smile
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Post  Rtanweb Thu Aug 05, 2010 3:14 pm

Hi H0ward,

srtart at the old diggers holes.
Scan the mallock heaps around. You probably wont find any gold in them, since it is a very obvious place to start. BUT: you will note the depth of the ground and the type of ground that the oldtimers were after. Also, following old digs you will learn how gold traveled around that specific spot.

As far as hills & gullys go, gold can be anywhere. Concetrate on the areas where there is shallow ground. By shallow i mean where ground that holds quartz and ironstone pebles is at or near the surface.

Best of Luck!

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Post  Guest Thu Aug 05, 2010 4:06 pm

look for surfacings on your maps it's a realy good start as well and detect in and around them...check to make sure that you stick to the shallow parts off the surfacing, that just means that the gold was shallow....check the colour and mixure for stones and the colour off the quartz...lot off colour is a good sign...mix off stones, slate, quartz ect
cheers
stoppsy

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lay of the land Empty Great input!

Post  TheH0ward Thu Aug 05, 2010 6:57 pm

Just home from work. Whats the first thing i do?... make coffee?? Noooo, i check the forum first and formost, hahaha.
Thank you for the input. I will certainly take note of how deep i find the quarts/pebble. All i have to go by is the maps i have showing where the diggings were. But im willing to put in the effort! I just enjoy being out and about, peace and quiet and of course the 'unexpected' finds.

Its almost 2 hours from here to go prospecting but i think i'll head up again Monday for a try.

Happy holes! TheH0ward
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Post  GoldstalkerGPX Thu Aug 05, 2010 8:09 pm

Welcome Thehoward, Ha, I do the same mate, make coffee while the old girl is warming up!!

Have a read of these two links, THIS & THIS they may help you a bit.

There are many things to keep a keen eye out for, having said that remember that goldfields all over the country are not all the same.
What fields do you head to? Ballarat would be your closest is it? I have a brother in Warrnambool so I get down that way a little bit, still don't get any fishing in whem I'm there lay of the land Icon_sad

Cheers
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Post  Guest Fri Aug 06, 2010 11:51 am

Hi Howard the guys have covered it pretty well in their posts but something i would like to throw in is when i see holes with no spoil around them i think why? usually i find that the gutter was a shallow one and ALL the dirt was taken to a source of water so for detecting i certainly would cover the line of holes very carefully. lay of the land Icon_biggrin

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Post  TheH0ward Fri Aug 06, 2010 3:55 pm

Thanks everyone

GoldstalkerGPX : My closest is Ararat, but that only beats Ballarat by 1/2 an hour. A guy I used to work with has found some small stuff there so im not disheartened by the place. Im just amazed at the history of european and chinese diggings. Also interesting to me is the ammount of junk iron around the european diggings. Who knows, i might find a relic. Found an old rusted bent up file from days gone by and my mother took it for her 'collection' of what she calls relics but i call junk, lol.

As for Warrnambool, well if im not detecting, im fishing. Its a hard call sometimes. the sun comes out and its difficult to choose between the two, considering i live along the river!

Murachu: thanks for that info also. As i said, im new to this. So does that mean the creeks there are good to detect or would they have been pretty much sourced out? Mind you, there are a few creeks and no water. About 20km out the road from there ive found a small creek with small pieces for panning (very small) so does that signify that the ground around the creek would possibly hold something?

Ok, ok, im done asking questions. Thanks for your patience.

Happy holes! <== dont get sick of me writing that, its my way of saying bye. If it were a fishing topic then id write 'tight lines' hehehe lay of the land Icon_smile
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Post  GoldstalkerGPX Fri Aug 06, 2010 5:36 pm

TheHOward, If your keen to catch up one day in Ararat give me a yell, next time I head to Warrnambool I should take my rod and the coin detector that way something should turn up.

Near the river you say, my brother lives right near the river too, not far from (the flying horse) the new brewery...mmm...beer!

Cheers
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Post  Guest Fri Aug 06, 2010 9:01 pm

Well this young fella was fishing.... you probably remember this story!!
Nothing like catching a 6 oz gold nugget fish... lay of the land Fresse

http://www.11alive.com/news/watercooler/story.aspx?storyid=119502&catid=186

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Post  TheH0ward Sat Aug 07, 2010 10:56 am

Goldstalker : maybe your brother is my neighbour, lmao

Yeah a catch up in Ararat one day would be alright. Perhaps you can give me some much needed pointers lay of the land Icon_biggrin Im heading up there tomorrow (sunday) just for a drive and a bit of a look around. Taking my housemate with me, although i wont have much time to detect anything because she will get bored fast, lol. I just want to take note of all the things everyone was telling me in the post about what to look for.


Ferrousfinder : thats a cool story, i like that one.
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Post  Guest Sun Aug 08, 2010 11:19 pm

Ho
Its pretty straightforward,in geography there was a lesson on rivers.They start at a high point and gradually get deeper and wider as they head toward the low point.In a Tully or Doug Stone map of Vic goldsfields the gold has in general has eroded from the ridges.Imagine millions of years ago quartz shafts  2 to 3 metres high that due to erosion  are on the top of the ridges.One in six of these has veins of gold ,frost cracks the rock and the gold and quartz gradually rolls down the ridge.
Things to Note
These ridges run NNW to SSE Check tully maps for tanagulla Note position of mines.
The lay or lean of the shafts of quartz was to the east.Gold and its surrounding gravels move slowly on a gentle slope but quickly of a steep slope
If a mullock is over 1 foot high you will not in general detect to where the gold is.There is probably 3 foot of topsoil below you.You can only detect toss outs that have been missed .
Check the ring of gravels around trees (this is a great indicator)when the gravels dissapear you are too deep.
Check chases
Ie Kangaroo Gully Talbot.You can tell by looking at it its too deep.The old timers where very good ,look where they have "chased" potholded up its banks.
You wont win all the time but you can improve your chances by working thru the riddle of I know where you ended up in the mullocks,butwhere did you come from.
Wa is more subtle is huge,and flater,but it still has ridges and gravity.Aim to be on the right soil 90 percent of the time.Luck can be improved if you really "Look" at our goldfields.
Cheers Dig


Last edited by Dig24crt on Tue Mar 26, 2019 7:46 pm; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : typo)

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Post  TheH0ward Mon Aug 09, 2010 9:53 am

thanks heaps Dig lay of the land Icon_biggrin
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Post  Nightjar Mon Aug 09, 2010 11:07 am

Ho,
If you venture over to WA NE goldfields a tried and proven indicator is ground backing onto granite outcrops. The shear point beteen the two is where gold began shedding millions of years ago. Because of the age of the geology gold can be found kilometres from the source, especially down long slopes.
Because the ground is relatively flat in many gold bearing area it is difficult to judge by eye which way the slope falls.
With the introduction of the GPS a worthwhile exercise is take a ground level reading (height above sea level) where you have just found gold then walk away say 200 metres then walk in a large circle around your nugget find noting levels as you go. This way you can posively identify the fall of the land.
Then you can work up and down this line.
Another indicator is many creeks that criss cross the country, mostly dry but if you observe which side the debris has collected you will know which way they run down hill.
Several examples in WA, my home is less than 100ft above sea level, if we drive to Kalgoorlie the level is approximately 1500ft.
If you drive from Sandstone to Leinster the lay of the land is progressively up hill.
Theoreticlly your fuel economy should always be better heading to the coast?

Cheers
Peter
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Post  Guest Mon Aug 09, 2010 12:42 pm

that is very smart nightjar lay of the land Icon_biggrin

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Post  Kon61gold Mon Aug 09, 2010 8:18 pm

Thanks fellas excellent replies. All of us have to reminded of these issues for we all get into a pattern and forget to look outside them.

Now where was the ridge a few million years ago? lay of the land Icon_biggrin

Jeff
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Post  Nightjar Mon Aug 09, 2010 8:29 pm

Jeff, Top of Hannan's Street, Kalgoorlie is a great place to start..... lay of the land Icon_biggrin lay of the land Icon_biggrin lay of the land Icon_biggrin lay of the land Icon_biggrin lay of the land Icon_biggrin lay of the land Icon_biggrin lay of the land Icon_cheers
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Post  TheH0ward Tue Aug 10, 2010 12:10 pm

You guys are awesome. So much help to me, thank you lay of the land Icon_biggrin
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Post  TheH0ward Tue Aug 24, 2010 4:07 pm

Well, my second trip out and all i found was an old miners pick head, old hammer head, a small buckle, a really weird horseshoe and some poor buggers house key (that he obviously lost years ago). Oh and a very very dead fox that i somehow managed to grab hold of in a creek hole...

But on the plus side... Ive spent time LOOKING. i see what 'shallow ground' is, i see the quartz rubble (coarser and finer) and also areas of slate. And im thinking i may have been tracking the ground correctly because i could see where someone had been. There were neat dig holes, in patches. I was assuming the holes were neat because the person knew what they were doing and the patches were just exactly that... patches of gold. Oh and also threw on the gumboots and walked a creek for a loooong time just to see how the creek reacted since it has finally had water through it with all this rain. Also saw the bedrock in places.

Ok, perhaps you guys are rolling your eyes but i just wanted to let you know ive been trying to remember all that you have told me and im putting in the time to understand it Smile
Maybe luck will be with me next week Smile Maybe in 5 years i'll still be finding old miners pick heads... but sadly for you guys i'll still be happy to tell you how many pick heads i got, lol.
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Post  Guest Tue Aug 24, 2010 5:07 pm

there's one thing at least your finding things that's a good start. if you just keep going you'll come across the right stuff...i come across an old buckle and a miners button on the weekend then on sunday found some gold sitting just inside a digging, that was a good feeling was 2 weeks off not finding anything...
cheers
stoppsy

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