Post by gibbo on Nov 9, 2009 19:51:07 GMT 10
Hi
I returned from my Inverell trip last week and I thought I would tell members how I went.
We left last Monday morning and arrived at Nundle about 1.30 pm. I set up the tent and thought I would try my luck at finding a bit of gold, I only had about 2 hours digging amongst the rocks and crevices on the Peel River before my daughter and the other half got sick of waiting. I used my Rotopan to collect concentrates and filled up about 1/3 of a 20 litre bucket.
I didn't search around for any specific areas because of time constraints and just pulled up at the nearest fossicking area along the Peel. I would like to spend at least a couple of days at Nundle next time and explore the place a bit better.
The next morning we set off for Inverell, we arrived at 7 Oaks about lunchtime and after setting up camp I got stuck into the search of Sapphires etc until sunset. The next day I was up at sunrise and fossicked until sunset.
We left for home on Thursday morning, but I would have liked to stay a bit longer.
I panned through the concentrates on and off over the weekend and ended up with about 20 specks of gold. They were only tiny specks about the size of table salt, but it was my first time panning gold so I was happy to at least see some colour.
At Inverell I ended up with over 100 sapphires for a total weight of 137 carats. The largest was 13.5 carats and about 1 dozen at over 1 carat.
I have a picture of them that was taken on a mobile phone and will paste it below. I don't have the lighting, loupes or experience to judge what is worth cutting, so I have sent them to Lamberts in Thailand and requested them to cut "eye clean" with a few inclusions. I will have to wait and see what I end up with when the stones are returned, I will post pics of the cut stones upon receiving them back.
I returned from my Inverell trip last week and I thought I would tell members how I went.
We left last Monday morning and arrived at Nundle about 1.30 pm. I set up the tent and thought I would try my luck at finding a bit of gold, I only had about 2 hours digging amongst the rocks and crevices on the Peel River before my daughter and the other half got sick of waiting. I used my Rotopan to collect concentrates and filled up about 1/3 of a 20 litre bucket.
I didn't search around for any specific areas because of time constraints and just pulled up at the nearest fossicking area along the Peel. I would like to spend at least a couple of days at Nundle next time and explore the place a bit better.
The next morning we set off for Inverell, we arrived at 7 Oaks about lunchtime and after setting up camp I got stuck into the search of Sapphires etc until sunset. The next day I was up at sunrise and fossicked until sunset.
We left for home on Thursday morning, but I would have liked to stay a bit longer.
I panned through the concentrates on and off over the weekend and ended up with about 20 specks of gold. They were only tiny specks about the size of table salt, but it was my first time panning gold so I was happy to at least see some colour.
At Inverell I ended up with over 100 sapphires for a total weight of 137 carats. The largest was 13.5 carats and about 1 dozen at over 1 carat.
I have a picture of them that was taken on a mobile phone and will paste it below. I don't have the lighting, loupes or experience to judge what is worth cutting, so I have sent them to Lamberts in Thailand and requested them to cut "eye clean" with a few inclusions. I will have to wait and see what I end up with when the stones are returned, I will post pics of the cut stones upon receiving them back.
