Is it worth the expence

Hi everyone
  I live near the Warwick gold fields and I'm trying to work out if i should spend several thousand dollars on a detector. The property i have access to has a lot of gravelly quartz and other rocks just under the ground .
There is also a lot of rusty looking quartz on one area of it .
 Does anyone think it maybe worth buying a detector ?
Or is there other signs to look for before committing to the purchase.

TheBrickie

Hi "TheBrickie" and welcome to the site mate. If I was you I would think about hiring a detector for a day or two and try the ground. That way you will know if there is any gold in the area without the big lay out of a detector. Make sure you dig every target, that way you will know what is under the dirt.. Hire either a GPX4500/5000 or an SDC2300. Both are made by Minelab and both good machines. Or one other way is to see if anyone on here lives in or near Warwick Qld who is willing to come and test it for you.
wombat

G'day Brickie ,

There is a Prospecting shop near Brisbane . The staff know the area well .

Like wombat says , hiring a dedicated Gold machine & spending some time using it

would probably be a good suggestion if you are unsure about spending the bucks + if there is

any Gold

Brickie,
Have you carried out any testing in the gullies with a pan? That would be a good way to initially determine if the ground feeding your gullies is gold bearing.
Given the lack of water there most of the time it may pay to cart a few buckets of carefully collected samples to the nearest dam and pan them off.

G'day Brickie. Welcome to the forum.

All good valid points. I would do a research check for the district/locality you're in, as to whether or not, the area you intend searching on, has had some gold history behind it in the past & or the type of gold found/produced.  Secondly, visually check/scan the area you intend prospecting over, for any tell tale signs of gold working activity. Thirdly & as bicter says, do some soil testing, (loaming with a pan), on/over ground, in line or adjacent, any quartz outcrop/quartz load, leading into a gully, checking for any signs of colour.

Cheers Kon.

Thank you all for the help and advice .
Sounds like i'm off to find a pan
And to find Dr Google to work out what else your talk about maybe

Brickie,
Sent you an MP

I dont think i can reply to PMs yet

Hi guys
Thank you for the advice
I have now got some training booking in and will update how things go

Darrell

G'day Brickie ,

Good luck with it , just a bit of advice , keep the info on where you have access to yourself

Hi guys
My first day of detecting was a blast .
Found 2 projectiles , 3 shot gun pellets and a couple of pieces of iron .
Even though nothing of huge valve was found we did learn a lot about that signs to look for and the history of the area .
Was a great day out