Placer miner in Canada planning trip to Australia

Hi Everyone & thanks to the management for the welcome. I'm a 63 year old Englishman, I was hard rock mining Cornish tin in the 1970s. 40 years in the business of restoring period buildings in the UK, France & Spain. The Spanish economy started to collapse & gold's prospects were good so in 2008 I sold everything, invested in gold & returned to mining. First in California but they outlawed dredging which took me to Canada where I have been placer mining with my wife & son for 3 years. The season is May to October so we leave for the winter. Last year we went to Belize planning to prospect the mountain rivers but that was abandoned when Guatamalan bandits started to rob tourists on the mountain trails as they flooded in to see the temples etc., because of the supposed Mayan calender predictions. We ended up staying the rest of that winter in Mexico & returned here this winter for the climate & economy but this idleness is not for me. Having survived 21/12/2012 I am starting to put a plan together for next winter & would very much like to come to Australia for any activity relating to gold. I would welcome contact with any members who think they might be interested in helping me put this together. Simply imagine all the practicalities of accomodation, transport etc., together with 'local' knowledge & you'll have an idea of my task. I've always got on well with Australians but being a pom I'm going to ask that nobody advises me of the hardships of heat, flies, spiders & snakes, I have experience. Good luck to all in their prospecting endeavors. Happy New Year. Ian

G'day Ian ... from a 'dinki di Aussie' Sounds like you've got a fair bit of experience under the belt already!

I'm guessing that the place to start is

Are you talking about Pommy winter?? That would be our summer ... so you really are going to be faced with the extreme heat. ie. the next week in most of Victoria (prime gold country) is going to be up around the 100F mark.
December, January, February are generally the hottest months of the year.

That being said, some of us are crazy enough to still sneak out detecting in the early mornings and evenings!

If you are going to travel around you will need a pretty reasonable car and a camp trailer/caravan. Purchasing 2nd hand might be cheaper than trying to rent/lease for a three or four month period. Then just re-sell once you are finished with your transport & accomodation.

Through a site like this you WILL meet up with plenty of local knowledge ... no matter what areas you are looking at.

I'm sure you will get LOTS of replies to your initial queries ... just keep in touch with the site regularly and you will be surprised at just how much help and friendship is on offer.

Hi and welcome to the forum Ian, you will definately be choosing a harder time of the year, but not impossible, your ability to travel and your comfort levels will depend greatly upon your budget, it's a big country...do some research into where you might want to be and then you will be able to perhaps get some local knowledge of on the ground conditions and opportunities from some folks here. Placer mining in Canada eh?, got any pictures to share?

Wayne.

EuropIan wrote:...... I've always got on well with Australians but being a pom I'm going to ask that nobody advises me of the hardships of heat, flies, spiders & snakes, I have experience. Good luck to all in their prospecting endeavors. Happy New Year. Ian

Hi Ian, being aussies it would be negligent of us not to reenforce the dangers at this time of year even though you asked not to sorry.

48 deg here yesterday, the normally shy native birds were coming into my caravan to get sprayed with water and to sit in a gold pan full of water not 2 feet away from me. None the less I've removed 4 dead ones this morning. The heat will kill you quicker than it does the native birds.

The other night I actually piddled on a brown snake, never saw him till I took a wizz and off he shot, again not two feet away from me.
Get bit were we are and chances are you'll die long before help can reach you.

Fly's? after eating about 4 a day you get used to the taste.

Welcome to the forum and good luck!

Hi & thanks to those who have replied. The period for my visit will be from November to April, I do appreciate that this is your summer but I lived in Spain for 10 years, mostly working outside with temperatures frequently in the high 40s, horse, black & deer flies, tiger mosquitos, scorpions & many poisonous snakes. We are nature lovers & our hobby there was to 4x4 out into the bush bringing us into contact with wildlife. (yes there are still wild places in Europe but not many) In Canada our camp is 60kms off the tarmac & 130kms from the nearest town. There we have all the flies & mozzies you can name as well as brown & grizzly bears, cougars, mountain cats & coyotes. We've lived in homes with wheels for more years than without, ask us to sit in an apartment in the centre of Sydney ..... then we'd be shying off! We'd be happy with a 4x4 & caravan & buying & reselling seems to be he answer but finding out if a Brit can own a vehicle without a fixed address is proving difficult, I'd appreciate any help or direction with this subject. I realise that Australia is a huge country, so is Canada, where to stick the pin in is not easy ... that's why I'm starting my enquiries so early. I hope that I can refine down my search by making contact with someone who has knowledge sufficient to tell me that a certain location has the potential for being a region where we could spend such a period of time, probably detecting this seems to be the most 'public' gold activity.
Thanks again.

Hello Ian

Im from Sweden and are in the process of trying to gather the same info as you are.
It seems that bying a 4x4 camper is the best way to finance a trip.
So if you find anything about the rules concerning foreigners owning vehicles in Australia
I would appreciate if you would share your findings.

Plan to go in late november to februari. I realise that its not the ideal period to visit but
its the only period of the year that fitts my workshedule.


Good luck to you