Cygnet - Lymington region?

Hi all.
I just registered, but have been reading for quite a while.

Does anyone know much about the cygnet-Lymington area?
Unfortunately most of the info on this and other Tasmanian prospecting sites generally refer to the north and west of the state.
Probably most of the gold has historically been found there I guess.

I recently purchased a GPX 4500 detector... it should arrive this week, fingers crossed...
While I wait impatiently, I've trawled through minerals resource Tasmania's site, and many others, to do a bit of research.
Worked out how to import that MRT info using kml files into Google earth.
Quite fun, just doing the research...

I've traveled around a few places, just to have a look. Many are either inaccessible, overgrown horribly, incredibly steep or on private land.
Whilst I plan on hunting around the Victorian goldfields with this detector, I'd love to find a region that may show a bit of colour closer to home.

As I said, cygnet region looks the best bet.
It looks like there was a fair bit of alluvial gold found in the region.
My main concern is the definition of alluvial gold, and reading reports of most of the gold was flour gold.
I'm guessing that it would be too fine for a detector to locate.

If anyone has tried this region, successful or otherwise, or have any other info on the region for gold prospecting/detecting, I'd greatly appreciate it if you could let me know.

My only previous experience is digging out shotgun pellets, shotgun shell casings, old bore slugs, 22 shells, rusty cans, and a really, really, REALLY deep piece of iron pipe, around Dunolly, Victoria, earlier this year.
Despite that, I think I'm addicted. It's great fun. ;-)

Thanks.

Hi Josh,
I'm very new to this forum and so new to the hobby that I am still yet to even purchase a detector. (Will be very soon though! )
This post caught my attention because I live in the Huon Valley not far from the Cygnet area.
From the research I've done there aren't a lot of gold producing areas down this way.. so it's an area I definitely intend to explore.
Hopefully someone in the know will answer your questions for both of us!

Anyway, just out of interest, are there any groups / clubs in the south of the state that you know of. Everything seems to be happening up the top!

Thommo

Hi Thommo.
Thanks for the reply, and welcome to this forum.

I've only really detected, unsuccessfully to date, within the golden triangle in victoria.
a good site for tasmania is MRT, which you've probably already seen:
http://www.mrt.tas.gov.au

they have quite a lot of info on gold regions and related historical docs that help quite a lot.

While there seems to be a bit of gold up north and on the north west coast, there is not much down south.
working, kids, etc limits the time available.

South of cygnet, at lyminton, they did have a gold rush, and it was alluvial, so I'm keen to try there.
My main concern is that the gold that was found was usually referred to as flour gold, ie very small bits I guess, and it probably wouldn't be detectable with a detector.
The second problem is that the entire area is private property.

I'm planning on calling into a few properties in the area and asking permission to detect.
Hopefully I'll have some luck. I met someone with a property down near nichols rivulet, near cygnet, that said I'm welcome to detect on her property, so I think I'll try that for starters, despite her place being a distance from the known gold regions.

re clubs/groups, I havent heard of any I'm afraid.
I havent really seen any detecting going on, apart from I guy I met down at cornellian bay in hobart, detecting the beach there for coins, with some success.
Good luck in the hunt.

Sorry for jumping in your your topic but in your opinion, is it worth diving the mouth of some of the creeks where they meet larger waterways. I'm not talking about some bearing sea gold type set up but getting access to material that others cant. I know very little about prospecting and detecting but I make that up in interest and reading as much as I can.

If i'm dreaming then please let me know. 

I'm down at Dodges Ferry, work shift work but keen to catch up with any other southerners will to share their experiences and knowledge.

aussiemasada(at)gmail.com

It looks steep in that Area

@Masada.
Never tried detecting underwater... don't have a waterproof detector.
Worth a shot though.
I'd do some research and find a creek that historically has had gold found in it, or near it upstream.
Where a creek meets a larger waterway could be problematic, as it could be hard to guess where the gold is likely to fall.
In terms of dry creekbeds, people often look near sharp bends, and obviously the lowest part of the creek, in front of or just behind large boulders, ridges, etc.
Some others look/detect the cracks between rocks.
I read an interesting article a while ago about how the original prospectors found gold, before detectors.
They'd follow creeks, panning as they went.
Once they found some colour, they'd start panning dirt from either side of the creek just upstream, plotting out where gold was found.
From that they'd get an indication of which side of the creek it was coming from, and then focus on following it up the hill, taking samples to pan as they did so, hoping to find the reef or source of the gold.

You could do that prior to getting a detector - panning that is.
And you could certainly take samples from the bottom of the creek too, and see if you can find any colour, and if so, if there seems to be a spot thats worth more effort.

@geof_junk.
Thanks for the map.
Yep, that's the region I want to explore.
Looks like we're using similar data for our maps.

Steep?
VERY VERY STEEP!
I went down there a while ago, in dry weather, and called in to a few properties to introduce myself and ask if they'd mind me detecting.
At one place, the driveway was so long and so steep I had to give up, the ute refused to go up it, the wheels just started spinning on the gravel constantly.
Not good when you're on the edge of a precipice.
The corners were so tight and hairy, I couldn't get enough of a run up.

Obviously not enough weight in the back.
Wish I had a 4wd.

Luckily a new customer of mine happens to live down in Lymington, and says I'm welcome to come down and try his place, plus he'll introduce me to a few other people on some of the more interesting sites.

Now, I just have to find time....grrr.

Many thanks Josh,

I'll do some more reading and research. Also gives me an excuse to get out on the bike for a day or overnight trip of exploring after I get some panning equipment. Need to find more time as I was looking at planning a trip north to hunt for Darwin Glass.

Cheers