detecting around braidwood/mongarlowe/oallen ford/yalwal

im interested to know if anyone has detected around braidwood/mongarlowe/oallen ford/yalwal with any luck?

I havnt done that area but have had some good luck out back of Mogo.

Jack0gold wrote:I havnt done that area but have had some good luck out back of Mogo.

was that on private land?

A couple of small nuggets just out of Braidwood but on private property as much of the area is.
Yawal? crap city! not a thing...the good gold would be at the bottom of the dam.

If you head south from mogo, just on the edge of town theres a right hand turn, Its been many years since i was there, had a brand new GP Extreme. Its state forest out the back of mogo and there are miles of old workings there. I remember a short drive up that road then another right turn into the forest, Down a dirt track for about a k or so and your there.

thanks Jack0gold i'll check it out sometime.

The best areas worth exploring in that region are mostly privately owned (ie towards Captains Flat) but the South has nothing on the West (eg Bathurst & surrounding districts) when it comes to nuggets. Yes, smaller nuggets have been won there in the past but the area is probably better suited to sluice operations due to the smaller gold... especially Oallen which is popular with the many prospecting clubs for panning. The best gold is deeper down in the ground, just as it is out west of Sydney, only the gold is a little smaller and less prolific to the South (until you get down to Victoria)... which is probably why so many people head West because the same amount of effort usually results in larger bits. The Shoalhaven River (to the South) is almost entirely gold bearing although most of the riverfront property is owned by various people. On the areas you can get to with minimal fuss, the gold is really quite fine and not at all nuggety. Some people refer to the gold there as Mustard Gold because it's as fine as mustard powder and can blow out of your pan like powder if it dries. There's a lot of work involved in getting it and it sours a few opinions of club members when they head there to pan unless they get onto a good property.

To the old timers, any gold was good gold. They pretty much covered the entire east coast looking for gold in the mid-to-late 1800s. There was a lot of lost lives to the South at times of flooding and the lighter, loosely-packed soil was more prone to cave-in. The gold mines towards the Snowy Mountains were more likely to be in Granite etc which was much more sturdy but harder to get into. The heavy and constant rain we've had lately makes it hard to be able to dig anywhere practical at the moment. There's likely to be a few relatively unexplored areas closer to the ACT just a couple of kms to the east of Cooma. They won gold there but moved north before covering the area properly and a few farms now dot the region. I'm sure the farmers would allow the odd panner and sluicer if you asked.

thanks nero very informative although not quite what i was hoping to hear...
the reply i was after is "yeah i've detected all those areas and found nuggets big as golf balls".hahaha
followed by "the locals are heaps friendly and they dont mind people swinging detectors on their private land in fact heres the phone numbers of some properties that i've found some decent size nuggets on".
hahaha wishful thinking!!!

Hi Adxom, I have seen a 30 oz nugget from Nerriga but have not been there.

Some suggestions that may help.
See link below and do some research on the "Digs" database and on the "six viewer" mapping site after you get some spots from the publications and EL reports off digs.

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/109775/nerriga-gold-deposits.pdf

Tributer

Get yourself a copy of Jack Lange's video 'Nugget Finding Secrets,Part 2'.In it you'll see Jack pull some good nuggets in the Shoalhaven River area not too far from Oallen Ford. One of the nuggets is a multi ouncer.His secret was to do the research and access private property.Cheers, Trev.
P.s. in fact all his videos are fantastic and I.ve picked up many fundamentals and very useful information from them .I highly recommend them to any novice prospector if you are serious about learning prospecting,

would that be the same fellow who broke his hip getting thrown over a fence for ignoring repeated trespass warnings recently?
if it is, it's sort of common knowledge that he plants his nuggets for the camera. unless we're talking about someone else of course.

Nugget Meister wrote:would that be the same fellow who broke his hip getting thrown over a fence for ignoring repeated trespass warnings recently?
if it is, it's sort of common knowledge that he plants his nuggets for the camera. unless we're talking about someone else of course.

nearly as bad as posting a picture of someone else with thier huge nugget and your "nuggetmiester not for reproduction" water mark all over it leaving everyone with the impression it's yours!

thanks for the info guys this is a great forum!
can anyone tell me if the Boorowa river is gold bearing?

I have been detecting,Prospecting and panning in the Braidwood, Araluen, Majors Creek region on and off for the past 28 years and yes there is gold there, it is mostly fine gold. The good stuff is down about 300 foot beneath the basalt cap and there is truckloads of it.
I worked one paticular erosion channel on a hillside for quite a while and got good hackly gold out of the grass roots and deeper rivulet channels and from beneath some large granit boulders. That spot is about 3 kays North East of the town centre (Majors Creek)on private property. I suggest you get permission, although I never did locate the owner but always left a note on the gate stating where I was and what I was doing. My legs won't let me go down into the gully now. You might have to dodge a few bulls and plenty of redbelly blacks. I reckon there is a snake every 3 or 4 metres. Aside from that it is a great spot,plenty of bush and you will likely get a couple of river dragons watching you from overhanging rocks while you dish the creek.

Adrian SS

thanks adrian i'll check it out.

Did you ever check out the Majors Creek and Mogo areas? Surely there were big nuggets just lying around!!