Account open 2016

[Au dave]

Trip 1 2018

Hi all .. well start of a new year - start of a new season. Had an old mate stay over for a few days with the plan of prospecting/detecting and a bit of fishing.
1035 16-01-18
Hit the crk ( 1N ) at the same spot as last time with great expectations due to my last picker and his detector in hand. For some reason the crk gods decided to frown at our presence within their realm, and after digging 8 X 20gal buckets before lunch, panning the cons from zook produced only 8 flypoop specks . No idea why, as I was finishing off the crevice from previous; maybe the colour was on the d/s side of the "riffle" - I didn't dig from there this time. After lunch we did a bit of a 'recce' to try find the mine here, tree cover is thick in some spots so GPS kept telling us we had passed it ( d/s then u/s and vice versa) and frustration got the better of us after 1 1/2 hrs scambling thru waist to chest high scrub on a 30 - 40 deg angle.
Went back to dig site to pack up gear and headed d/s about 60 M to where I saw a set of rock bars and small waterfall 90deg to crk flow (trying to find track last trip) and processed 5 more buckets thru zook, result - zilch. More work to do on this new section as we only hit the first bar at the waterfall head and the section was on the outside of the bend. After panning out I noticed a flat section in the bush above the crk and the "hillside" looked steeper than the incline either side, so decided to have a quick look.
Turns out that I think I have found tailings from the other mine and after scrambling up 45 deg and about 30 M in elevation there looks to be a flat bottomed V shape cut into the hill. Looking back to the creek, I could only just see my mate (and hear him) 40 - 50 metres below me even though he was maybe 10 - 15 M away longitudinally.
I'm gonna hit this new spot (in crk) over the next few trips and do a more in depth investigation of the hill spot plus testing. I haven't given up on the other spot u/s either as the gold seemed to drop off instantly, also there is colour in the feeder crk also. We didn't use the detector as ground scrub was very thick but possibly might be usable on some sections of the tailings. Headed off home about 1730 absolutely smashed from climbing, digging and climbing. Pics: Feeding zook
Panning cons (and telling him to put camera down
Heavy pans all....

 

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[Au dave]

Trip 2

Wow .. its been nearly 2 months since my last update. Sorry all but there is not much to report but I have had the chance to get out once ( early Feb ) and it took me a week before I could pan the cons.
I hit the small waterfall section that we found last trip and cleaned out 1/2 of the lowest of 4 bars that cut across the crk, the bar/crevice went down about 2 1/2' and was about 4' long. I had the zook set on the same bar so couldn't clean the remaining 3' out but shovelling straight in made life 'easier'. As it was a late start I only ran about 8 buckets thru but clean up shows promise, there was Haematite chunks in tbe pans up to 1/4" in size and heaps of Ironstone. I wasted a bit of time building a platform and dam for the zook so soon ran out of light, but I can dig the next section u/s and feed straight in before moving. Haven't weighed up yet its still sitting in the pan.Hopefully will get out there in the next couple of weeks and get some more... the new job is eating more hours that what was originally specified... but its money in the pocket, and working in a craft brewery has its perks.. lol
Heavy pans all

 

[Au dave]

Hi all.
HAPPY NEW YEAR Treasurenetters. Well just a wrap up for 2018, yes its been a while since I posted as life has been pretty hetic. Only got the chance to get out twice last year for a total take of 0.28 gm. Both trips were to my little creek slighty downstream from the 90 deg bend I had found the inflow seasonal crk, I have still got plenty of work to do at this spot when I can find the time and seeing how quickly the coolroom empties at work it will be a few weeks before I get the chance. I did get a new sluice during the year for low flow (6 inch Goldrat sluice with Dream mat fitted) and did use it to test losses from the 'garbzook' - which was 1 speck after 6 buckets.
Last year was the driest on record (200 yrs) for my area and most waterways are dry or only a few puddles and sofar this year the heat and dry is already hitting hard. Thats all I can update on at the moment but I wish you all the very best for 2019 ... heavy pans all.

 

[mytimetoshine]

take advantage of that record low water. Maybe bedrock that hasnt been exposed for years

 

[Au dave]

take advantage of that record low water. Maybe bedrock that hasnt been exposed for years

I have every intention of getting out on a couple of spots on my bucket list that will be dry - just got to get free time, I should get clearance from the eye surgeon to go digging the end of next week and by the end of Jan the brewery (work) will have caught up with orders and restocking... so Feb is in the plan, hopefully there won't be any fires start up in the meantime further sucking hours from my calendar...lol