Diggin' Deep - Australian Gold

Enter

Newbie
Mar 18, 2021
3
17
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
G'day good folk.

Todays adventure began around midday and im in the ute, i have a light weight pick, a gold pan and a bucket.
It was 30km to the destination, one that has produced very tiny and sperattic gold.
I pull in off the main drag and head up the track about 200m and pull in near an unused railway line, my objective
was to climb the hill where i once remember seeing a narrow cave inlet about a foot high and 4 meters in length to the back wall and round,
in the cave i remember seeing hard iron stone and quartz and smooth like it's been water warn.
This time i was armed.

It was bloody further than i remember but i huffed and puffed my way up there, the ground soggy from rain i finally located the narrow inlet.
I crawl in and reach for some rocks, sand stone squishing my ribs both top and bottom and grab some.
I found water warn quartz with a smokey glaze through it, big lumps of iron stone completely smooth, i found a layer of
black sand that water hadn't manage to completely eat through, grabbed a handful of loose gravel and sands for the bucket off the cave floor
and gave the floor a few solid hits with the pick which only set off sparks and smelled like a fire work.

I had dreams of finding (which i cannot excactly remember the term for) a vent, where the gas and steam and lava once flowed from the now extinct volcano.
Finding its golden heart, a vein that remains untouched, layers that are laced in 24 bloody carrots, nope, hard as guts iron stone.

Did i forget to mention this eruption, occurred beneath a former INLAND SEA...

So that in mind, new to prospecting i've managed to fumble my way into finding some gold, the videos i watch regarding rivers and sluicing, high bankers etc all entertaining,
but certainly not relevant to this part of the world.

I come down the hill and bash the samples into dust and pan em out, i find bugger all except in the black sand sample i got one tiny pin head sized dot'a'gol.
I carry a chin up mentality as i stumble around the thousands of water warn baron quartz watching the puddle settle after the pan, thinking...
Fuggit i'll just dig deep until i hit something, inch by inch...

I've spent days digging holes into these mountains, until i strike something bloody hard, i've sampled left, right and centre, i've panned out flakes of copper, sulphides up the
wahzoo, only to find a very rare speck usually it's been mostly nothing.

So i scrape off about an inch worth of dirt, sticks, mud and mostly baron water warn quartz gave it a quick whazz in the puddle,i scrape the bulk out with my hands
and panned him off... and you wouldn't believe it... 4 bloody specs.

Nah, can't be right, well if that's the small stuff, i better start diggin' deeper... Boom i hack into about another 2 inches and quickly fill the pan.
This time it had a mixture of clay and a red rusty sand-esque layer... panned this one a little less rough and got to the bottom... BAAAAMMMM!!...
A big fat zero gold show... no way, can;t be right, pan some excess and pull it back again only finding an uber tiny spec... not worth the clay and effort.

Rightio then, top layer... go next door to the previous scraping and took off its dirt, mud, sticks, leaves and quartz etc.. pan it out pretty fast, since most of
the pan was leafy, pull it back.... one piece. Not just any piece though, this was the first time i had seen a little wirey or stringy bit of gold ever and i reckon it
would have equaled up to around for or five specks... I was shocked.

It was time to head home so i threw the pan, bucket and pick in the ute to head down the track. The road was just about completely covered in water warn baron quartz down
the hill and i only must have driven 20 meters when i pull up... Nah, can't be right, i got out of the car and did another "Scraping" leaves and all and dawdul back to the puddle, pull it back
3 specks, hmmm... eyeball some more scrap'able spots, pull em back, 2 specks, 4 specks, 1 speck...

After eventually getting back on the road, not less then 1km away i pull up and do another scraping, got it home pulled back and yep, 2 specks.
Its been a long six months in the making, a lot of travelling and exploring, remembering some pieces of equipment and forgetting others, home made
whatcha'ma'callets (picutres to come) but i've really enjoyed the prospect for the shiny.

Im new here and wanna say thanks to you lot in advance as i'll be floating around reading what's good.

I'll keep you all updated as my journey evolves along with some pictures

Enter
 

OP
OP
E

Enter

Newbie
Mar 18, 2021
3
17
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Diggin' Deep - Australian Gold 2

G'day good folk.

Rightio, 3rd attempt via mobile after my laptop had 2 blue screens of death roll in... yikes.

Let's get to the gold.


My 3 year old is now asleep at mum's place and I strike off in the pouring rain.
It's 30km to my destination as i putt along and turn in onto the hillside and come across this critter

20210321_212257.jpg

I keep cruising up the hill and park, grab a bucket a pan and pick and in very very poor light, do some test panning. Any gold I may have in my pan, wasn't visible, so I had to trust the gold was still on top.
I scrape a section of quartz crystal, all water warn away from the selected area and filled a bucket, not classified.

20210321_225939.jpg

What led me to dig in this spot was a layer of soft black soil, quartz of course but underneath
Was a red layer of oxidized sand stone layer.

20210321_225307.jpg

I smashed into this layer to make sure the bucket held a good sample,
If this layer held gold it meant I would have to dig deep into this crumbling
Oxidized layer to get the gold.

20210321_225325.jpg

I am grateful to say, after crushing these red sand stone samples at home,
It held no gold, which means I can use it as bedrock and get the soft black dirt
that has shed the quarts. (Easier pickings)

20210323_155649.jpg

It was a dreary night, with my bucket full of unclassified dirt aussie dirt.
But there it is, I wrapped up around 11.30pm for the drive home, pouring rain
still and was unsure what exactly was in the bucket.

The next day I managed to pan all the dirt and to my surprise found an
Okay bit of gold.

I'm a little annoyed I can't write this on my laptop for the minute , but mobile will do.

The next few pics show the setup the samples set aside and the aussie gold.
Remember, this is gold that has shed from a volcanoe that was once under and inland sea.
Next ill show you maps and my theory on how this ocean moved and what had occurred
as the ocean waters receded approx 65 million years ago.

Good onya good people. Talk soon.

20210323_131930.jpg 20210323_154355.jpg 20210323_160700.jpg
 

OP
OP
E

Enter

Newbie
Mar 18, 2021
3
17
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Diggin Deep - Australian Gold.

Gday good folk.

This country is exceptional, Australia that is for it's gold and how dynamic it is.
The part of the state i live in has no active prospectors... at least looking locally, which is to my benefit.
I wanna give you guys a first hand look and talk about why there is gold and how it's moved.

gold pic 1.PNG

This former inland ocean was very still. The majority of the volcanic action happened under very deep water.
This ocean was very still, very little movement as evident by the #3 in the picture. Do you notice how all the ware
has created a circle of debris around the smoothed away mountain? I believe rain and weather also has taken a toll.

#2 is where i find a lot of surface gold, literally after digging deep for months on end it was on the surface.
My theory is of an underwater vent erupting/ spewing out mineral underwater in a current-less ocean bottom shooting it up and
evenly spreading across the ocean floor, the sea then receeded leaving a layer of mineralized ore compound,Gold, Barron quartz,
iron stone and lots more i couldnt tell you the names of.
I picked this spot due to it being public/crown land.

#3 is the location of permanent running water (currently in flood(which is exciting))... i have found gold in the sand, gold in the clay
and found a layer which contains gold.

Anyway, i have had few more adventures and plan to go on one tonight. Oh, i've been super creative and built a way to separate
cons, fast, using minimal water, hand powered and with damp soil, i cant wait to show you.

cheers enter
 

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