Sofala NSW Gold area??

G'Day

I am heading down to SA in January and should have a bit of time on the way home to swing the detector.

I read somewhere a fellow saying he would like to try around Sofala, as it looked good to him.

Is there any gold found in this general area? Is it an old mining area? Worth a look??/

Thanks, Waz

Spent some time there and hill end just recently,gave it a good go as a newbee to the area,lots and lots of bullets and plenty of private property.It rained me out after that.Some pretty big wombats too.Maybe some kind soul with a little local knowledge might help you get a start.I,m headin back down to Vic where my luck is a bit better.Didnt find a speck by the way

Try Hill End which is just down the end of the road from Sofala (literally) and has a lot of Crown Land that can be explored but be careful of open or concealed shafts. The district of Sofala is almost all private property so without an invitation you may end up in a pickle. There's a couple of spots of Crown Land in Sofala but they're encompassed by other properties. Similarly, Wattle Flat is nearby and offers some ground to detect on yet it's not known for giving up nuggets as Sofala and Hill End are. Plenty of bullets and junk metal on all 3 locations, the worst being Wattle Flat. There's a LOT of gold still locked in the shoreline of the Turon at Sofala *(some have sluiced up to 43 ounces in a single day there recently) but note that again, this is mostly private property.

Still, all three locations offer a glimpse into the past for a new prospector to the area. The reason there are so many bullets in these locations is that in the past, the Prospectors would fire off all their guns to check their powder was still dry and working. They did this weekly for nearly 30 years. Then, during the Great Depression, numerous locals hunted rabbits for fur and meat to help them through each winter when it was too cold to work the water with their hands. So you have an accumulation of ammo and spent shells going back over 100 years strewn all over the place. There's still a LOT of guns out that way in the hands of locals.

Still, between the bullets and wire and scrap from the campers in the 1950s to the 1970s, you may still get lucky if you do a little research beforehand. Bring your cameras and you won't go home empty handed.


Took this pic on Wednesday near Hill End.

Thanks for the replies.

Geez I hope my car leaves in better condition than the one in the photo


Waz

Pulled a nice 5 grammer out of the diggins at wattle flat behind the tip on my last trip. Heaps of area to explore.

Hill Ends about 50Ks from Sofala didn't know Sofala had such a long main street, Waz unfortunately almost all grd for detecting is private owned you could do the old diggings along the Turon river.
HE would be a better option for swinging but Sofala always good for some flood gold if anything.

The old timer fired there guns at dusk to WARD of would be thieves that they were armed, checking for dry powder??? bit like striking matches saying yerp that one worked.
Guns in locals hand quite the contrary a lot of land has been sold lately and is being brought by Sydneyits, on property near were i go some 500 Acres was brought by some Lebanese for the sole purpose of shooting anything that moves (mainly goats) but they have no manners and constantly fence jump to go shooting.
The locals hate the bast%$ds and i have personally had a near miss from these drop kicks, and no i hadn't fence jumped there property (have to be a bit mad to do that).
Regards
John

some damn good gold at Wattle Flat if you don't mind the crap factor. Sofala nuggets for some reason always seem to be not as bright as Hillend Gold...anyone noticed this?

MT think its hit and miss with the colour at Sofala have found main bright ones (when panning/sluicing) but 15 ks down stream at Turondale have found very dark coloured ones and very bright ones. Suspect a high copper content to be the cause of the darker ones as there are some old copper mines not too far away.
But having said that the really bright 2g one i found ealier this year was in the general location of these copper mines.
Regards
PS Could also be the inbreeding around Sofala as to why the golds not as bright. (Snap)

Well freshwater, having lived in the sofala area for the last ten years, my obsevations are that most of the so called inbreds and arseholes are generally visitors from elsewhere, cutting locks , trespassing, shooting,
most visitors seem to think the law ends when the tar road finishes..

Stevo 444 Guess you didn't read my first post in this thread you might notice i had already said what you said.
Thks for the rev up M8
I do heartily agree with your opinion, i have been a regular visitor up those ways for 20+ years now and have seen my fair bit of sh*t happen up there(when there were no gun laws) it was like the wild west blokes wandering around in camo gear with shotties shooting anything that moved, young blokes with SLR pissed as newts jumping fences shooting sheep.
Even now people still drive down the Turon river find they cant go any further and head up onto people property leaving gates open etc. One bunch of numb nuts drove thur 6 ft of water their M8 dragged the car out and commenced to drain all the oils from the car straight into the river.
So yer i know what ya saying about blow ins, and yer i read some post on forums and take them the wrong way too.
Regards
John

my club was there on the wkend, 6 separate snake encounters ,camped east of town towards the wier, sombody had to shotgun a big brown, going too close to kids,phill

actually, im just passing the warning to anybody who wants to hav a dabble in that area that there out and about in numbers, no one in my club drives around wth a shotty, i wasnt there myself any way, just passing on the warning, phill

The Big Oakey has got so much gold, its just the rangers are constantly and I mean always watching, because they have been informed of the dredging thats been happening up there, and its starting to get to populated ...

Ive found about 125 ounces in the last 5 yrs, and Ive since bought some land and built a Timber cabin out of it, no one really knows where it is Ive seen them panning, and metal detecting and then walk back to the car, with nothing ...

The gold is ...


well if I told you Id be a bloody idiot ... and Im sure you already know mate

Lived out here for years, and you can make a living out of gold prospecting in Sofala

all the best Gold diggers ... And good luck

Been going out detecting round Sofala for the past 10 years and found all the gold
True,Big Oaky has great colour if you know where to prospect. Same goes for the River itself,there are barren spots and really rich spots.
A few of my mates lived along the river for 5 years,so I got to know most of the locals along the way.
There have been a few stashes of gold sovereigns found around town over the years. There are also some areas where large diggers camps were situated,abound with trash,and most likely never been detected for coins or relics. They are on Private property.Check the history of the area,some huge Gold was found there,including a nugget at Spring Creek,so big it took 5 Chinamen to carry it.
Before you get too excited..........
The Telstra tower has been upgraded recently,so EMI from that can be bad at times for Those swinging a detector.