Gold and Salt lakes

Hi All,

Wondering how many of you have detected any salt lakes successfully and have any tips to offer. I am also interested in any thoughts either on the formation of nuggets in the lakes or alternatively how they are carried there from water sources. Apparently salt lakes are more prone to crystalline gold. Also are these nuggets lying on the bedrock in these lakes or are they suspended on a layer of clay ie why have they not sunk out of reach of detectors. Any experiences and thoughts would be great.

Cheers

check this site out http://www.janetsgoldnuggets.com/

Dont know anything about salt lakes, can those detecting them bring us up to date

Jeff

Gday


I have a small amount of experience with salt lake detecting, and I can say this you have to use a salt coil (anti interference) the noise will drive you nuts, as I have tried it with all types of coils.

The gold I have found has been really shiny and jagged, not that there has been much, but it appears different to the gold that you get elsewhere, its not crystalline but appears like its been in acid, well the stuff I got looked that way.

During the day you have to be careful if you are on a salt lake due to the glare, you will get more easily burnt by the sun and the reflection of the sun off the salt is hard on the eyes, also the salt can be hard on your hands and fingers if you try to dig by hand.

Also you have to take care driving on salt lakes as its easy to get really badly bogged (been there done that)

cheers

stayyerAU

The gold nuggets found under the salt layers of the Salt Lakes tends to be clean as a whistle and very beautiful... they often look as though they have been professionally cleaned in acid. As mentioned above, you need one of Coiltek's anti-interference coils (sometimes called a "salty" coil)... because, as you would expect, salt water is highly conductive and causes a lot of interference for metal detectors.

Most salt lakes giving up gold have a regular batch of nugget hunters that visit the area or actually live there full time... and I know one guy who uses an ultra-light to find meteorites* that have landed on the white salt crust (*he marks the target from the air with a GPS and returns on the ground to find it on foot later). If anyone needs one urgently, one came into the Miner's Den (NSW) last week from Coiltek.

Here's the website of a woman who does all her detecting on Salt Lakes... http://www.janetsgoldnuggets.com

The pics on her website are NOT what I am used to seeing from Salt Lakes. The nuggets I saw were all fairly large and had a flattish appearance and were very "bright".


.

Hi All
The Salt lakes are great,Detected on Goongarrie 2 months ago and Carey 4 years ago.To me Carey is the best challenge for detecting the unknown,But possibily a lot has changed since I was last on it.Leases ect.When you think about gold be it WA Vic SA qld nt tas Nsw. Gold is gravity,Thats the bottom line.We are forever chasing it from its emergence at a high point to where it wants to be ,the low point.Thats why salt lakes are so interesting.They are the end point of feeder sytems tjhat cover tens of thousands of square Kilometers.When you think about it makes sense ,catchment areas of the surrounding ground.

But walk out on Carey and you will feel insignificant.The last time I was out with Mad Jim we found a patch that incredibaly a Quad bike towing a 24 inch coil had managed to miss every piece.A local prospector called Reno from Laverton said that Carey Has a secret.Its shallow and on that rare occaision that it floods due to wave and wind action gold forever recycles to the top .

So if you want a different experience Try the salt lakes.Salt coil and follow safety procedures for exterme areas.I have never tried it with quad bikes ,towing salt coils.I have heard of 2 methods 1 is a spray pack that you sqiurt paint from the bike when you hear a signal.the other is a mechanism that drops a coloured golf balls

Wear good sunnies and remember 1 bad decision will leave your vehicle sunk to the axles.Two vehicles and take it easy and you will enjoy one of natures great spectacles and any gold you find will be a bonus
Cheers Dig

Great fellas, at least we have some idea, always wondered what the attraction was and the reason for Salt coils

Jeff

Thanks for all the informative responses guys. Certainly sounds like some of these salt lakes are worth a go. There are so many facets to gold detecting it really keeps it interesting.
I am heading off to WA goldfields on Friday for three weeks so hold thumbs for me. Going to rather look at trying to find some more out the way areas than the heavily hit patches. So think I will possibly have a go at a salt lake too.
Once again, I think this is a fantastic forum...thanks Jeff and a lot of credit also goes to those experienced folks who willingly share their knowledge.

I used a 4500 on salt lakes and had it on the coarse salt setting. The ground noise drove me crazy, the mud is not pleasent, and it is hot. After fourteen hours of work for no result I gave up.

i think for me i will give salt lakes a big miss in future.

I would suggest anyone wanting to do salt lakes get a pair of wellington boots.

Kind regards

birdman.