What to look for - how do we find the best spot?

Hi All
In the triangle(and probably in other areas) Trees are a great indicator of the depth of ground you are walking on.That circle of gravel around the base of trees has been dragged from the bottom by tree growth.In general if you can see the gravels you are on ideal ground depth for detecting,you will note as you go downhill the gravels disappear as the ground becomes deeper.
Cheers Dig

Thanks, Dig.... That's a very good tip.

A lot of the old-timers used to watch for plants which were partial to the enriched soil from hidden mulloch heaps.
Shrubs that didn't belong in the area or seemed out of place often hi-lit a hidden mulloch heap.
They also watched for trees which grew "straight" and upright ... rather than spread out and crooked... because that often indicated water at their base.


Cheers,

Marco

"trees which grew "straight" and upright ... rather than spread out and crooked... because that often indicated water at their base."

Hi nero_design.
A silly newbee question:
Is it better to investigate straight growing trees of crocked growing trees?
I am trying to work out a system of where and how to find likely areas to prospect in. Any help or indication is greatly appreciated.

Regards
Frank

To tell you the truth, I'm not absolutely certain which trees are to be considered. But since most water courses today are based on (or located near) ancient flows, it makes sense that old river beds might be revealed through observation of the surrounding trees. Someone needing water might also find them useful.

Hi jeff, well i reckon nearly 90% of my gold comes from studying other operators and seeing where they go wrong, and nearly all including myself have a few bad habbits. The most obvious is the common (lazy) "not looking under bushes" habit, Also scanning inside the collars in shallow workings, and pushing through the most overgrown scrub in my choice of areas......It can be amazing how much just these few things can really up your nugget count. oh! and it doesnt hurt to rake a few thickly overgrown mullock heaps either....... I will pick a say 40ft square area of diggings and clear the loose branches logs etc then rake the crap outta it all in one go, then have a smoko before very slowly detecting the cleared area with at least 3 seperate sized coils. "IE" 18"mono/14"mono then mop up with a little CT joey 10" elip mono.. this method can yeild gold nearly 80% of the time especially if the mullock heaps are very overgrown................................ Last word,, please dont forget to re-spread the rakings and fill your holes to help cover your tracks and also re-habitate the lovely bush we all love so dearly.......... pete

Hi frank,, one way to easily find a hidden tirtuary lead on a slope or hillside is to have a look at all the taller older looking trees if any exist and in particular note which ones are not just tall but more importantly have the fattest widest trunks, this indicates that these trees are on the best water in the area. now look for others in the area that look the same "ie" fattest trunks, and you will see a clear view of them strung in a line which indicates the run of the hidden tirtuary lead or run....... hope this helps........ pete

If you know of a spot that has produced large nuggets then remove all the trash.
I have a number of spots in NSW that have produced good nuggets but are LOADED with scrap metal.How many times have you removed a big nail and found a good nugget under or slightly beside it?
Big trash masks good targets.We have now cleaned out numerous spots of all rubbish,so that when we get the latest machines,we can return and listen for those faint signals.
Its funny that when you properly detect an area and remove the rubbish,the best nuggets seem to be the last ones to be dug up.

I know of an incident where a big (Maori) guy rented a GP Extreme, went to the NSW Goldfields, returned with a horseshoe in his hand and slapped it down on the front counter of the Prospecting supply shop that rented him the detector. He looked pretty angry and was swearing and cursing about how he'd spent a few hundred dollars on the rental and "all [he'd] found for his trouble was this stupid ****ing horsehoe".

Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a 5 and a half ounce nugget with no inclusions. He said that if he hadn't dug the horseshoe, he wouldn't have detected the nugget sitting just underneath it. It's not an old, unsubstantiated tale either... I've spoken to both of the sales persons who were present when the guy came into the store. They don't "talk up" their stories either.