Is there gold nuggets in tasmania or only panning gold?

Hi all, This is first time on here. We are newer detectors who live in tasmania. We were holidaying on the mainland and got the gold bug and purchased a GPS 4500. We hot first time luck and over 4 weeks found 11 oz in two patches found while detecting around an overnight camp spot. First time luck. We have tried around various areas in tasmania since home (5mths now) and found nothing. We cannot find much info but was told only dust in tassy and you need to pan for it. Does anybody have any suggestions?
Thanks

Hi mate and welcome to the forum.

Not sure if you've seen this thread, if not hopefully it helps.
https://golddetecting.forumotion.net/t304-info-on-tasmania-please

cheers!

You bet there's nuggets in Tassie. I've VERY recently seen some footage from inside a cave which showed sizable nuggets coming out of a quartz vein underwater... the bottom of the natural rockpool was literally littered with little nuggets (2g to approximately 15g each). Some good areas down there.

hllo traveller,was detecting down there couple of years ago while we were towing the van around doing the tourist thing[loved Tas,awsome place for campers].Only time down there I got the detector out was when we met up with a fellow prospector who also did fly fishing lessons for the casino, we went to a place called Back creek, think it was about 50 k's N.E. of Launceston, saw heaps of old gold mine sites and we picked a spot to have a go. The vegetation was so thick, spear grass and ferns waist high and we had recently been to a national park that had heaps of warning signs on agressive tiger snakes in the breeding season, so with no shin and lower leg protection I stuck to the road edge and a few clearings, only scored a 0.3g in 4 hours so it was there.
Theres quite a few spots of gold country on the west coast up above Straurn, we were too busy eating oysters to worry about the gold.I've got a mud map of a spot where this gents dad ran a pipe sluice and employed a couple of 15 year olds to help him operate it, they finished the fines in a trommel, and at the end of the day when they cleared it ,they took the gold and threw the remainder of the wash full of saphires back into the creek ,we found the entry to the track but couldnt get the van in and no room on the road to leave it so weve filed the map for next time.
With a bit of research you should get on to a few spots down there, good luck, phill

Hi, Thanks for the feedback. We will have to do more research on areas. Ive tried panning as well here in various creek areas with no colour yet, Still learning how to pan so may be will have more luck sooner rather than later. We live on the north east coast of tassy. We have tried areas along the weld river/creek may have to try again. We are not used to going detecting and finding nothing.
When we first started detecting we found the 4500 hard to operate as book with it seemed to contradict itself. We were so lucky when in WA we met 3 nice people from NSW camped who said "give us your machine and we will set it up for you, you will find gold in 5 minutes after trying these settings" Sure enough it worked and we didnt look back. When ever we camped anywhere we always detected around our campsite and almost always found something. Was rarely anywhere near where old gold mines or other fossickers were. We like to be camped many miles away from anybody else. We were also careful not to be on leases as per current mines info available.
We have kept GPS readings on all areas that we found anything including the two areas where were struck such good treasure. Will try and post photo of all nuggets from one spot. Wal

I remember reading some very extensive notes on Tassie gold areas written by a guy by the tag name patches1 on the 'Finders' forum some time ago.He apparently is the author of the Gold and Ghost books.If you go to finders and put into search something like 'Tassie gold" or Tasmanian Gold' you should be able to locate it.It is excellent reference material. Go to.....
http://www.finders.com.au/
...cheers,Trev.

Hi, not sure if this would be useful to you. Many years ago I was reading an old magazine and found a reference to gold nuggets in Tas. I dug it out and had another look. The magazine is called 'Wildlife' Australian Nature Magazine. vol.8, no.6, 1946! The article called, 'Tasmanian Tiger Hunt', was written by the late naturalist David Fleay and tells of his efforts in trying to locate and capture this animal over the summer of 1945-46. The article starts on page 186. On page 187, under the heading, 'Traps and Baits', is written : "Journeying down the corduroy pack-horse track to Jane River goldfield, along which incidentally Bob Warne once walked at night carrying nuggets to the value of 1200 (pounds)! we made our base in a slab hut, to set out day after day in different directions, prospecting." (looking for thylacine tracks)
Not sure if the Jane river area, a tribute of the Franklin, is even accessable these days. Who knows, I may even get to go have a look there myself some-time!
Dale G.
Bendigo

hi travelergold, I sent you a PM if you are still about,
cheers

Hi guys, new to this site and gold prospecting. Yep I'm from tassie too and was also wondering if there are any places down here where I could have a look around. There doesn't seem to be much information about.

hi prospector , a few places to try include doctors rocks at low tide , down west we have had limited succes around Luina on Whyte and Heazlewood rivers there,s also some good spots further down west around the other side of Savage river and towards Corrina but most you will need 4x4 with good setup or have to walk in SEND us a PM here or to starrs253@hotmail.com and we should be able to give you a few tips p.s. i,m in Penguin N/W Coast if you want to catch up one day just give us a yell Cheers Mick

hi all
my first post.. so please be gentle. I know this is an old thread but hopefully this helps someone.

Some nice nuggets are still coming out of Bell Mountain (Moina) about 45km south of Ulverstone. a few 1-3oz this year. Historically the largest 22oz and 16oz with numerous 10oz'ers. its easy to detect or pan a pea sizes one however the "best" area is under tenement, and underwater. Its been my home field for the last 20 odd years and know it better than anyone alive.

The Ring River (west coast) still has good +/-gram pickers and small nuggets in some of the crevices if you get into it when the river is down.
.
if you just want gold. and dont care if its superfine/flour gold, Williamsford just east of Rosebery is amazingly rich. Drive up to Montezuma falls and try the first bridge. The gold is literally everywhere and is shedding straight out of the Mount Reid volcanic's. most don't collect it because its small.. but 1kg of fines is worth just as much as 1kg of shotty stuff any day.

Corinna (where i work), (and play) has gold in virtually every creek and river. Its not an easy place to prospect though. Some of the bush is the most inhospitable/impenetrable i have ever seen. Im working a creek that to this day is unnamed and carries good gold. "Most" have been worked out. However some have never been explored other than magnetics images in the 1970s by Mt Lyell Co and ESSO, Placer dome etc. So if you are able bodied. the world is your oyster. 1% of Tasmania is still unexplored.


Kindest Regards
Phillip

Hi Phil around the bell mount area as there are 2 leases on there one is for metallic minerals i.e gold and the other is for gold and construction materials also and the people who have these leases do not take kindly to people fossicking on their lease , its much the same up the north east at back creek few operating up there to , as for west coast there are some great places down there, am still looking around down there when time permits , so where do you work down there as we travel that way at times for other reasons , have to call in for chat when down that way , if you can drop us any info on the bell mount area that would be much appreciated as have been researching the area for a while and some local knowledge would be great , drop us a pm mate go from there




cheers starry

Hi Starry

Yes i have met the old chap from Wilmot with the lease in Bell creek. We used to run into each other detecting from time to time years ago. I always work outside his lease. Actually i have not set foot on it since he took it out 10 years or so ago. he has the road taped off. i do hear his machinery working sometimes, im that close i guess. but i dont rat claims. The hydro have blocked the lower entrance on the way in and the homestead way in is also off limits so i go bush and follow the water race in or hook up to the wilmot river, 4-5km in from the dam wall carries good values from the lea (Frontier Resources) and bell creek
He is on Betts claim up bell creek and that was historically the richest area. 22oz 16oz multiple 10oz and lots of 1-3oz nuggets. The hot spot is in a tiny 1.5 chain x 1.5 chain approx area. the bed rock and lower wash is unlike other areas in the system. in that area is clay and lots of pyrite.Their is an old adit spalshed with pyrite just off the road (downward side) from the quarry on the hill above the workings, that isnt in any mrt reports. probable source of the pyrite but carries no gold. just down stream is "wormhole" sandstone then basalts at the branch with poverty and mosquito creek. i prospected it before he took out a claim on it. The gold is just like in the reports, flat on one side and rounded on the other like a cabochon and found embeded in sandstone at times. Their are specks in bismuth creek but not nuggety.

The cleared area on the other side towards the dam where the creeks converge was reputed to carry good values but i have never found a thing there. It is a bone dry area so Im hoping to find enough gold this winter to get a 5000 or 4500 to have another go at it. last time was a minelab xt17000 that would only pick up 1 gram + on the surface . They miscalculated the race to it i walk in on so it does not have the fall needed, it runs up hill in places... Anyway I mostly find pea sized nuggets in crevices and reworked terraces. Interestingly i have found gold embeded in silurian sandstone myself, golden with a hint of red and had a small fossil with it.. a geo i spoke to about it said the only fossils are under black bluff up the lea , It may well have been transported down from there. or it may well have fallen into one of its many cracks and cemented over apparently. I dont know a lot about what may have happened millions of years ago, i only draw conclusions from what i find today. Another area worth a look on someone's grandma's advice is the wilmot side of bell mountain, a creek that runs behind the small sand quarry on top of bell mountian (wilmot side) near the walking track to the summit. Its outside any existing tenement, easy access, and worth a look if you have a good detector.

if you need any help on the area or any documents. drop me a line.

i work at Corinna, chef, 2 jobs, 220km apart. so have vast areas to go over. amazing place too and very challenging vegetation and topography. Lots of oriental sapphire in the browns planes deep leads, Magnificent gem sapphire in Savage river. a suspected Diamond, i have a set of gemmologists tools but cant find the diamond now im home to test it, lol.. i have managed to grid whyte river to savage from the western explorer turn off to the pieman river. the C horizon from Corinna to Savage river mine and am now about to hit Mount Donaldson. a few hundred km on foot this year at a guess. no detector, just pan sampling as i go to build up a real picture. I also found decomposed granite on browns plains and serpentine where there shouldnt be any, so mapping and sampling is my way of confirming what's really out their.

have a fantastic day

Phillip

Hi Phillip, Thanks for posting such an informative and very interesting article. For any body who wants to know some info on areas around tassy you seem to be in the know. I wish I had some knowledge on geology. I do not even know what stones / rock we are lookin at in the bush. We have collected many different samples from all over aust and quite often show different people. All they want to know is 'where did you find that'. We do know where we picked up all samples. Anyway we loved your post.
Cheers travelergold

Any information about gold finds in NEtasmania around Big Hospital Creek area would be greatly appreciated .As Im thinking of going down that way over summer Metaldetecting .Any areas between Mathinna and Fingal are of interest. Cheers Marcus

Hello Marcus

My mum lives up on the blue tier, Lottah. she gets a little fine gold in the hill with tin and a few sapphires. but its not big enough to detect. And historically was only a by-product. The mathinna fingal avoca area has a distinctive run of gold bearing ground. But,i spend the vast majority of my time prospecting on the west and north/west coast And the only time i looked in that area was years ago.

If i wanted to find a bit of gold today that way i would be looking over the ridge to the west of Hospital creek Specimen hill area and its the same run as Towers Rivulet up to Mangana area. Towers was one of the first payable deposit in its day. gold was worth $3 an oz at that time. I dont know how much was recovered. But most likely 1/2 oz a week sluicing per man. I also found a little under ben Lomond behind Rossarden and none at mathinna. But again i was only a kid and didnt know anything other than some rocks looked different than others at the time. no detector etc

below is a link to the area and the old workings.
http://tinyurl.com/85psz9h
down the bottom of the page is the map and if you zoom in with the scroll bar on the bottom of it the smaller working will start to show.

This link is to the exploration and annual reports on the area held with mrt.
http://www.mrt.tas.gov.au/portal/page?_pageid=35,832417&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

the top one Towers, defiance Mining did a huge stream sediment sampling a decade ago. i cant see results in the report, but it will be around somewhere. Stuff like that saves a lot of time and effort. they are looking for the vein so normally dont care too much about whats in the creeks, other than to help them locate the lode. i havent looked to see if any of the areas are under tenement or not.

Some are important historical Tasmanian diggings. But history does not stop for any man made or government rules. so make your own i say.The Chinese where very efficient in cleaning up too so i generally stay away from them. i have not been to the creek your working but i would imagine you can see bedrock in the creek. They used to ground sluice it, then get down and sweep it out so it looks like a billiard table when they finished. we ground sluice with long toms. they didnt.. so a bit different technique and way more effective.
anyway, hopefully you get a few nuggets in the area or even an artifact is cool too.

ASX:KEN have geothermal on the area from memory, but im sure they will focus on the Royal George area and south of it.

Kindest regards
Phillip

Thanx Phil ,Your help is muchly appreciated and look forward to meeting personally some time I`ll be heading down with bigbenny shortly and will let you know how I go MARCUS

Hi guys,

In regard to the leases and tenements in the , let's say for example ,the Moina area , is it only the leased mining areas that are off limits for the weekend prospector? Or is the entire tenement area off limits?
First time on here and have not even been prospecting yet but just want to ensure I don't wander into claimed land and upset anyone.

Any info on the above or any information on an area that may be a good starting point would be appreciated.
I understand I'm not going to get the "hot spot" listing but just a gentle nudge might help.

I'm located in Devonport.

Thanks,

.

Thank you, fence jumper ,

Just found it on the Devonport library listing .

By Kerry Pink for anyone else's reference.

.

Hi guys my mate Dave and I are total newbies we want to pan for gold also looking at detecting. My main concern is keeping off others leases, I have looked at the map on mrt but i can't figure out how to find the exact boundries . Any tips for vague areas that might be worth a look would be Great
But I guess it's like a favorite secret fishing hole
Anyway a steer in the right direction would be apporeciated

hi Riverrat another area worth a look is the Winterbrook falls road south of Ulverstone. Pretty much the first creek you cross with black bluff running parallel to the road carries awesome wire gold. I presume its from the same fault Devonport mine / S&M Moina / All nations mine is on and is everywhere (Au) from the tops of the mullock heaps to the bed so been worked before but still fun and rewarding and abundant.

Know I'm responding to an old link but give it a go anyway. me and Mrs could end up there in January 2013 for a muck about. Any head ups appreciated .PM is fine
regards Phil, bloody hot in Hay NSW that time of year

Very old topic, but I seem to come across it very often when using google for research.

There have historically been plenty of gold nuggets found in Tasmania. Nuggets 1-5 ounces seem to have been pretty regular occurrences through the late half of the 19th Century, with the occasional larger nugget over 10 ounces. The two largest were 243 and 144 ounces, both from the Rocky River near Corinna.

The majority of large nuggets found in Tasmania for which there are written reports were found on the western half of the State, with occasional ones from the northeast (Beaconsfield area, Back Creek, Mangana, Lefroy).

If it's any use to anyone, I put together a list of the ones I can find contemporaneous newspaper reports for. It includes the location, year, type (nugget or specimen), and weight. You can find the list here: http://www.appleisleprospector.com/tasmanian-gold-nuggets/