Where would you sample? (also listed in panning - sorry)

Hi All

Looking to see what the collective brains would say to the following

Scenario:
You are in a known alluvial gold producing area
you come across a bank cutting showing the history of the area
what strata would you focus on? above or below a? b? c? and why...
would you sample the cutting or look for features at the strata that caught you eye?
Or would you just walk on and look for totally something else?

I bumble around a bit and often ask myself this question... am i sampling the wrong strata? am I out by 12 inches and missing some potential colour?

looking forward to any and all responses

cheers

jason

I am a bit of a beginner, but i would dig down to bed rock or the bottom , and sample the lowes inch of gravels, clay etc.. but hey.. just sample everything :-)

Don't dig into the banks!!!!!!!!

I am with you Ark!

Digging into the banks will have all our access shut down permanently!

Only dig in the wet bed of the stream and not too close to the bank!

Kane

That bank doesn't look that good anyway, no wash by the look of it, between A&B and B&C looks like soil, the brown top layer looks like flood material has built up or from previous mining or both, looks like their are diggings above the bank, don't forget 10,000 years ago most creeks were 10 times wider, this creek probably has moved and worn down lower over time and any gold has long gone. But their could be flood gold.
I would look for exposed bedrock where their is a lot of gravel and sand built up, clean out the bottom of crevices, a yabby pump is good for this and see if their is any gold in the creek before digging holes because the bottom may be quite deep, you may come to a layer of clay and think this is the bottom but it could be a false bottom where there is a layer of clay covering the wash.

I agree with Ark here. Digging into the banks will shut down our great past time but it will also compromise the structure of the bank, I would look at the c strata and id loam upstream looking for changes in the vegetation or the rock formations as they can tell you a lot about the area, also remember to fill in your holes and remember that "Gold is where you find it" Happy Prospecting. Roy

If their is a detectable nugget in the bank dig it out, if their is a patch of nuggets in there dig them out, if you don't someone else will even the dogooders, gold can change people, no ones complained about JP digging in the banks even with hammer drills. Creeks are changing all the time with big floods, banks are slipping, trees falling across creeks in a flood can cause havoc, check the creek out after the next flood has gone through.

You have a valid point tezz but you know how the greens are.

Never seen a green in the bush, the greens I like are people that are trying to stop whaling and the massacre of baby fur seals in Canada and a few other important projects, the others that enter swamps to protest duck shooting are a pain in the arse. I think the greens at the moment are involved with the boat people, (more taxpayers money)
I very very rarely see other people in the bush, their might be green prospectors out there, If they see me the dog has seen them so the better run like hell.

I'm talking in a political sense, they think every detectorist is out to destroy the environment

We need a APA, Australian prospectors association like USA not just state organisations and become more powerful than the greens and fight the bureaucrats,
We have greens in the council here and they would not let me camp on my 125 acre bush property before the house was built, what sort of BS is this, I did camp anyway. I fought them for 8 months before they gave me a planing permit, and things are going to get worse.

Well they are in here watching as well! You think not?

What are they watching for? If they want to see anything tell them to get off their arse and go bush.
Anyone that is doing something illegal like using a bobcat to scrape the ground isn't going to advertise this on the forum. Anyway anything illegal said on this forum wouldn't stand up in court. They would have to be in the field taking photo's of illegal activity then report to police, honestly I don't think the police would be that interested.
People dredge in this country, most of the ones that have been court have been told to pack up and move on.
Don't be scared of the greens.

Not scared of them just don't want posts in here giving them ammunition in any stouch ! Just keep the illegal comments to a pm! You know it makes sence !

this place looks very tempting, but like the others have said do not dig,
usually comes after such a point, a curve, the curve is behind a gravel bank, there's your gold.

Greeting Strolch