panning blackwood

has any one explored blackwood's fine gold bearing land for new reefs or good panning areas mainly around yankee creek thanks 

G'day Mattrulz.Welcome to the forum.

    Lets just say many moons ago.(20 or so years back). Nuggety,Yankee,Frenchmans & Wild Dog Creek,are all auriferous feeders leading into the Lerderderg and have all produced very fine colour to the pan.Never got a chance to swing a coil back then cause a ranger who caught me panning at the time,told me that the Lerderderg River and the surrounding tributaries leading into the Lerderderg,were all out of bounds. (illegal to dig up dirt). Never really bothered going back ever since. Ring up the local DNRE to see if things have changed(most likely for the worst)  
One thing that's getting more on my nerves lately,is that many gold bearing districts,are classed as Historical Heritage areas and yet I'v managed to see many a new property being built within close proximity to them,over the last 25 years.But,no point in searching for a just answer to this,where the contacts of the $$$ govern supreme.     

         Cheers Kon. 

You can not prospect on the East side of Blackwood as this is now National Park Land ( all around O'Brians Crossing area) But on the West side of Blackwood you can as this is State Forest. Head out along Simmon Reef Rd and try and get down in the gullys and creeks. But with these high tempature we are having right now I would be keeping right out of the Blackwood Forest just incase of Fire. You would have no chance of getting out in time.
wombat  

I've been out West of Blackwood & scoured it not finding more than tiny tiny specks so have gone elsewhere.
Add to that the steep overgrown country & it tends to be uninviting to the best of us.

I know what you are saying Jerry. If it was me I would be looking more towards Trentham / Woodend area
wombat  

Hi Matt

Sorry I do not know Yankee Ck at all. However, I have found the Stephen Barnham publications showing Gold areas to be quite informative. I suppose the most relevant for you may be :
http://www.goldsearchaustralia.com/index.php/our-products/accessories/gold-books-maps-1/gold-books-maps-by-stephen-barnham/trentham-blackwood-gold-prospecting-guide.html
I got mine from a different detector dealer in Maryborough. Note that the Trentham-Blackwood booklet does not have "detecting" in the title - others do.

Cheers

Thanks all will probably try the west area of blackwood when weather cools down not worth the risk with all these idiots lighting fires.
I will ring around to see if u can prospect in yankee creek the trouble is some times they do not know. Let u all know how it goes thanks

Matt

I had a look at the Barnham maps and they show Yankee Ck (when near Blackwood) as feeding the Lerderderg R and forming a boundary with the Lerderderg SP. I guess if "tributaries" of Lerderderg R are out, then Yankee Ck will be out. Further north in Wombat SF I see that Yankee Ck crosses Yankee Rd near the Yankee mine. That area looks interesting, with reefs/diggings also up Snake Gully to the immediate west.

It would be worthwhile carefully looking at the Miners Right FAQ on the (Vic Gov) Energy & Resources website for :
"... List of Exempted Rivers and Streams
LIST OF RIVERS, RIVULETS, CREEKS, CHANNELS, AQUEDUCTS, LAKES, RESERVOIRS, SWAMPS, INLETS, LOUGHS and STRAITS where prospecting and fossicking is not permitted ..."

That list includes :
"... Lerderderg River Tributary of Werribee River ..."

http://www.energyandresources.vic.gov.au/earth-resources/exploration-and-mining/prospecting-and-fossicking/faqs

Cheers

Hi,

Have panned in Yankie creek with no result.
Ground looks great but no colour.

Know the area very well as my father had an Alluvial mine at Hard Hill back in late 1950/60 not that far from Yankie track.
Panning you need to to look in gavel wash (old river bed) this you will find on the side of a bank that has broken away.
The area my father was working he dug a paddock (an area your working and drop straight down) at 20ft 6 meter level
there was wash from old river bed. This was harder to work in winter due to the water table rising.
He did find gold in the wash and I suspect he threw out gold in the tailings as a nugget the size of a 50 cent piece was
found in a pile that he had cleaned previous. So the old miners did leave gold behind.

In the end the mine broke his heart as weekend trippers used to damage and steal his equipment when not around.
Mining is hard enough without these set backs.