Dollys Creek worth detecting

Do not disregard the ironstone that give off signals as a lot off gold from dollys creek was covered with it .
I have found Mercury at times when panning there years ago .

hey there...heading to the Dollys Creek area for my first ever trip with a dectector. Built a basic Pulse Induction detector over the Christmas period. Its a "Gary Pulse 1" (Chemelec). Was a good project as there are lots of bits to solder together and then make the body etc from scratch. Wont pick up tiny flakes it think but seems reasonably sensitive all the same. Finds tiney fish hooks on the beach and coins are very loud. Never know what I will find. Not sure where to go in the area but I figure I will start where there are some indications of old diggings and I will focus on difficult to reach areas.........will post any results !! (or lack of !)

Went to the Dollys Creek area today and found nothing of course. I didnt expect to by the way being my first excursion. Found bits of wire and nails etc. Was very confused as to where to go to look for those elusive bits of gold. The UTM (WGS 84) map ref for the spot I was in is 55 242781E 5817234N. South of the track that runs parralell and below Orchard track. Probably in totally the wrong area for detecting but I have to start somewhere. Not sure exactly what sort of dirt to look for that may have little nuggets. Easy to find where the quartz reefs poked out of the top of the hills but, once again, not sure this is the right sort of ground for the little nuggets that sit just below the surface. I imagine there are good detecting areas out there but the bush seems bigger in real life than on the maps thats for sure!! Any tips most, most welcome......Dave

Least your out giving it a go Dave!

hey all,

Still very, very new to all this and have another question. There are some ripper maps etc on this thread (very kind contributors me thinks)and some areas circled in yellow where gold has been found etc....how do I interpret this info. ie; do i take it that the yellow areas have been detected to death or that the whole place has been detected with gold only being found in the yellow areas?
I know there are no complete answers as to where is the best spot to detect and I have no problem not finding anything for a full day out but I really dont want to come back from a day out at Dollys creek only to write about the day on this site and have someone tell me that I was in an area that was a complete waste of time.....

Any advice??

Harro

It appears most of those maps are relating to digging with pan and sluice.
Have u been out there recently? I ask as once water is present I might have a poke about with the sluice.

Nothing is a waste of time when your out looking & having fun.
Hell I even sluiced an unthinkable river near the city for a few hours & found a needle prick speck for 4 hours lol

Havent been out there for a while but last time there was water so I expect there is more now. I am only interested in detecting though...

Ok I have now got all the geology maps showing quartz reefs and mines etc for that area..... going to head out soon and target a couple of the reefs and work slowly downhill from there...might even play around in the creek as the AT Gold is waterproof.......we will see !!!!!

Ok...

had a day out at Dollys Creek with the AT Gold. Went to the areas of 423183 & 421181 (6 fig ref MGA84). Both these areas show on the geology maps as being an quartz reef's and where mines have been dug.
Unfortunately the gold eluded me on this day !! Again !!!!

Found a shotgun pellet, air rifle slug and a little tin stud (like off a pair of jeans) oh...and a lump of chain....

Happy that I found some small trash so I think things are working OK.

Observations...Lots and lots of hot rocks that register 00, 01 0r 99 on the display...( I believe that these may be referred to as Cold Rocks..I call all rocks that beep Hot Rocks !)from previous experiments I know that if a bit of gold or lead (on its own show around 40) is next to one of these type of HR's then the display will show between 2 and 10 so I was confident that 00 meant only a HR....I could lessen the noise by GB to a HR as well......

Also the signal from these rocks is inconsistent...swing one way and a signal..swing the other and maybe nothing...change the swing 90 degrees and all but gone maybe....certainly not the consistent repeatable signal of which I am listening for.

If I got a signal but no display I would dig till the signal was strong enough to show on the display and then make a decision...

Dug up a few ironstone pieces (size of a marble) as well....

Got lots of chattering as if I was near powerlines etc and a bit puzzled by this. I was with a guy who was using a Minelab GP3000 but we stayed at leat 100m apart so I dont think it was that ...any thoughts???

Previously on this forum there is a google earth map with some large yellow circles drawn where gold has been found in the past. These sites are just south of my map ref's above. Think I will give this area a go next time as at least I know there has been success in those areas....any thoughts????

Dave

I'd say most of the marked spots are probably better for pan and sluice along the banks but always worth a try.
Didn't have your mobile one or around u causing interference?

Thanks jerryx4

Yes it certainly looks the right area for pan or sluice which is in line with the way the majority of gold was recovered in the early days. Will continue with the detector though as still to find my first bit with it. I am not frustrated though as I know that experienced detectorists sometimes go many outings with no result so I just have to keep at it. I will have another outing or two there and then maybe move onto Mt Doran.

I do learn heaps about the detector and the different ground everytime i go out though. I have heard it takes 50-100 hours to really learn your detector....I am startiting to agree.....

Dave

Its a good spot for a pan ill be there on sunday having a go . Iv had a bit of a swing with the 5000 out there and got some small nuggets but lot's of junk

Hope you have a successful pan !  I would be more than happy with even one little nugget !  Will be back there soon to have another go....

I've modded my power sluice into a highbanker so just need pump and piping then ill head up there for a day.
Would be awesome if u could snap some pics of the stream at the camp site just to get an idea of the water flow/crossing ability & terrain

Water flow is very good if you PM me your phone number ill send you a pic

Had a pan today but the water has dropped a bit and its not flowing we need some more rain . Still a nice day out in the bush

Thanks heaps for the pics !

Heading out there tomorrow with the detector....fingers crossed.....

OK... I have a plan for tomorrow and am interested in anyones thoughts.....
Location - As shown ealier on the topic, the yellow circle on the north side of Orchard track marked "Gold found"
Will focus on the tricky areas such as under logs, bushes etc. This is because the AT Gold has a small coil.
Will also focus on where trees have brought up earth as they have grown. Think I will even scrape back the mound around some trees till level with surrounding soil. This will give me a few inches deeper on untouched earth than otherwise and its real easy to do....

Will be interesting as I have experimented a lot with the AT Gold since my last outing at Dolly's and continue to learn the detector.

That's a good spot to start if you walk down the bike track you will see a nice clear spot that someone has put some work in its on the left (2 nuggets come off there two weeks ago ) have a good look and go nice and slow

Ok so no gold.....nothing new.....found little shotgun pellets, bullets, casings and trash so didn't come home empty handed ! Will be back !

I've been told it's there.
Keep on keeping on. I'll head up there with my sluice in the next few weeks see how it goes.
you take any pics up there (i have already been passed on a few )

Jerry

Good to see you are making some use of the maps,,,,,,,, you would of love it just when the fire burnt it all you could of driven down to any part of the creek.

Got any photos or Vid of the sluice in action

Back in 2004




Out of the creek



David

Nice work !!

Well there's some inspiration that its there if ever I've seen it!
No sluice pics as yet, I'll cut the hopper & mount the spraybar this weekend. Just gotta wait for the tax to arrive so I can get the pump ordered

No worries Jerry4x4,

I can take some pics of the stream near where I am next time I go out if thats what you want. Its been interesting watching the posts on this thread and others and I still say that if I am finding bullets and shotgun pellets then no one has been there before me! Next time I go out I will study the landscape much more closely and target areas that are both difficult to access and in a depression where the gold might have settled. I think the trick for me is to figure out what are old depressions versus new ones.......Its strange how you can have a lot of fun and find nothing!!!!

G,Day the hill folk,If you have found a place no one else has been to,Well done,No such place,Well that,s what I thought.Good luck out there.
Big Fella

the hill folk wrote:No worries Jerry4x4,

I can take some pics of the stream near where I am next time I go out if thats what you want. Its been interesting watching the posts on this thread and others and I still say that if I am finding bullets and shotgun pellets then no one has been there before me! Next time I go out I will study the landscape much more closely and target areas that are both difficult to access and in a depression where the gold might have settled. I think the trick for me is to figure out what are old depressions versus new ones.......Its strange how you can have a lot of fun and find nothing!!!!

Or it could be some ppl don't dig every sound ! Going on some posts in here a lot of ppl don't think its necessary to scrape their coils or dig every sound! So if you are finding lead and digging it, it's only a matter of time and you will find the ones they have left !!!  

OK so another day out with no gold......went on Friday and spent the first couple of hours in the rain which want a bother...started at GR 423174 abd headed south to the creek then headed east to about 427170 then headed north and crossed the track at 425174. Stayed on the north side of that track and headed west back to the car. About 5 hrs in total.. kept looking for likely ( probably dont know what "likely" actually is) spots that didnt look completely beaten down by other people and also searched around the base of lots of trees.. Disappointing result but reading lots of posts on this forum it can be a long long way between drinks ( would like that first drink though :-) )....Found a couple of .22 casings, bullet and one shotgun pellet so I know the detector does work....
I think I probably dont know enough about how to pick where to swing the detector....I am sure there must be gold to find still in this area of bush so I will keep having a go....
Any advice much appreciated..

Harro

May have to take a pan next time and leave the detector in the car lol