Post by LordJR on Nov 21, 2016 11:28:34 GMT 10
Hello...I'm originally from the US so if you ever meet me, I'll be the one with the North American accent down by the river or a metal detector attached to one arm and a pick ax in the other hand. While growing up in the US, my family visited the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. While there at a camp site, I came across what I later to find out was pyrite or fool's gold. I had collected up quite a bit before my uncle let me have the hard truth that I wasn't rich. Disappointed as I was, I never completely lost my gold fever. Now in Australia, I finally decided this of any place was likely one of the best places to cross being a gold prospector off my life's list.
Back in October I got a Minelab Xterra-705 Gold Pack metal detector, along with various digging tools and buckets and a few pans. I've been researching both the history of the Australia gold rush along with where are the best places to find gold here. My first mining expedition was at Ophir, NSW where the gold rush started.
That trip was a bust as far as finding gold, but I got to test out my equipment and pan for gold for the first time in a real stream. I later visited Oberon, NSW and got a few nice quartz crystals and some black sand, but still no gold.
Finally, on a recent trip to Victoria at Sovereign Hill (near Ballarat, VIC) I panned their mock up stream with an old tin miner's pan and finally got gold! I was able to prove to myself that the panning technique I had learned on YouTube actually works and found tiny gold at the bottom of my pan. A few days later I visited the Bendigo Mine, VIC and find a few more gold at the bottom of my pan from their panning setup there.
This was my haul of gold from that weekend and the gold fever as is strong as it was back in the rocky mountains or Colorado.
Looking for a closer day trip location to Sydney, I went to Oallen Ford this weekend for the first time and found the gold flower, along with some heavier fine gold pieces in the bottom of my pan. I'm looking forward to getting back out there and also making a trip down to the Golden Triangle in Victoria. I've got my Miner's Permits for both NSW and Victoria for fossicking so I should be good to go. Would really like to get a chance to explore on private lands and just get to meet other prospectors to learn from in the field.
I'm glad to finally be out there doing this and love getting out into the Australian bush.
Cheers!
Jon
Back in October I got a Minelab Xterra-705 Gold Pack metal detector, along with various digging tools and buckets and a few pans. I've been researching both the history of the Australia gold rush along with where are the best places to find gold here. My first mining expedition was at Ophir, NSW where the gold rush started.
That trip was a bust as far as finding gold, but I got to test out my equipment and pan for gold for the first time in a real stream. I later visited Oberon, NSW and got a few nice quartz crystals and some black sand, but still no gold.
Finally, on a recent trip to Victoria at Sovereign Hill (near Ballarat, VIC) I panned their mock up stream with an old tin miner's pan and finally got gold! I was able to prove to myself that the panning technique I had learned on YouTube actually works and found tiny gold at the bottom of my pan. A few days later I visited the Bendigo Mine, VIC and find a few more gold at the bottom of my pan from their panning setup there.
This was my haul of gold from that weekend and the gold fever as is strong as it was back in the rocky mountains or Colorado.
Looking for a closer day trip location to Sydney, I went to Oallen Ford this weekend for the first time and found the gold flower, along with some heavier fine gold pieces in the bottom of my pan. I'm looking forward to getting back out there and also making a trip down to the Golden Triangle in Victoria. I've got my Miner's Permits for both NSW and Victoria for fossicking so I should be good to go. Would really like to get a chance to explore on private lands and just get to meet other prospectors to learn from in the field.
I'm glad to finally be out there doing this and love getting out into the Australian bush.
Cheers!
Jon
