Anyone pan/fossick for gold?

GarnettFan4Life

GarnettFan4Life

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Taking my son later this year/early next year - anyone done it before/do regularly/

any advice/tips would be great

setting up a tent for a few day near a creek and old mines is the plan at this stage - hire a pan/basic stuff and take a couple metal detectors

not expecting anything big - a few flakes would be just a great experience
 
Hey mate. I've recently been getting into this myself. Working around old mines and going through the tailings can be quite productive for small stuff.

If you are panning a creek, pay attention to how it is flowing and look for things that are either blocking the flow or redirecting the flow. Then do a few test pans of those areas until you find something that looks like it might be productive.

Best time to pan a creek or river is about 2 - 3 weeks after it's been in flood.

Have you bought the metal detectors yet?
 
TAB1980 said:
Hey mate. I've recently been getting into this myself. Working around old mines and going through the tailings can be quite productive for small stuff.

If you are panning a creek, pay attention to how it is flowing and look for things that are either blocking the flow or redirecting the flow. Then do a few test pans of those areas until you find something that looks like it might be productive.

Best time to pan a creek or river is about 2 - 3 weeks after it's been in flood.

Have you bought the metal detectors yet?
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Thanks mate appreciate any advice , keep it coming!

Haven’t bought any metal detectors yet, just researching at the moment since I’ve got a few months to plan. Would be interested in either a pretty decent one for me to share with the kid or an ok one for me and a cheap/kids one for him, not sure what to go with yet
 
GarnettFan4Life said:
Thanks mate appreciate any advice , keep it coming!

Haven’t bought any metal detectors yet, just researching at the moment since I’ve got a few months to plan. Would be interested in either a pretty decent one for me to share with the kid or an ok one for me and a cheap/kids one for him, not sure what to go with yet
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I've been told the Minelab Gold Monster 1000 is the cheapest detector in the market that can tell the difference between gold and crap.

I bought myself a Vanquish Pro 540 (paid about $600 on special) before I knew this so I have spent most of my time so far digging up crap!

I have also bought myself a 50in sluice which makes panning so much more productive. I think i paid less than $200 for it.

I've watched quite a few videos on youtube of a guy called Vogus Prospecting. He's pretty knowledgeable and explains things pretty well. Pretty sure he's based around Wodonga.

Can't wait to get back up to Reedy Creek again when the weather finally improves!
 
Anaconda has a pretty good panning kit for about $80 - $100 which i recommend.

I also made a trip to Bunnings and bought myself some random crevacing tools (screwdrivers etc) because gold loves getting trapped in rock crevaces.
 
TAB1980 said:
I've been told the Minelab Gold Monster 1000 is the cheapest detector in the market that can tell the difference between gold and crap.

I bought myself a Vanquish Pro 540 (paid about $600 on special) before I knew this so I have spent most of my time so far digging up crap!

I have also bought myself a 50in sluice which makes panning so much more productive. I think i paid less than $200 for it.

I've watched quite a few videos on youtube of a guy called Vogus Prospecting. He's pretty knowledgeable and explains things pretty well. Pretty sure he's based around Wodonga.

Can't wait to get back up to Reedy Creek again when the weather finally improves!
Click to expand...

nice! thanks for the info!

I'm looking at getting up towards Orange/Ophir NSW area which was apparently the site of the first gold rush in Australia. My family comes from around Orange so when I was looking up gold and stuff recently I was shocked to find this out and surprised my Grandma or no-one ever mentioned it.

I'm looking into the state forest areas at the moment where you might need to apply for a fossicking permit and finding out where you can dig a bit and where you can't.
 
GarnettFan4Life said:
nice! thanks for the info!

I'm looking at getting up towards Orange/Ophir NSW area which was apparently the site of the first gold rush in Australia. My family comes from around Orange so when I was looking up gold and stuff recently I was shocked to find this out and surprised my Grandma or no-one ever mentioned it.

I'm looking into the state forest areas at the moment where you might need to apply for a fossicking permit and finding out where you can dig a bit and where you can't.
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Yes. I bought a Miners Right here in Vic. It's $20 for 10 years. Too cheap to run the risk of not having one.

Fun fact: (apparently) If you found a lump of gold in your backyard, you wouldn't be able to remove it without a Miner's right.
 
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TAB1980 said:
Yes. I bought a Miners Right here in Vic. It's $20 for 10 years. Too cheap to run the risk of not having one.

Fun fact: (apparently) If you found a lump of gold in your backyard, you wouldn't be able to remove it without a Miner's right.
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I work for a mining company that sells a lot of big equipment (used by the big miners) and heard a great story about one of the prospecting TV shows they had on Foxtel.......quite often when they wouldn't find any gold during filming, they would paint some rocks gold to make the show exciting and look like they found something huge! LOL
 
Matt26 said:
I work for a mining company that sells a lot of big equipment (used by the big miners) and heard a great story about one of the prospecting TV shows they had on Foxtel.......quite often when they wouldn't find any gold during filming, they would paint some rocks gold to make the show exciting and look like they found something huge! LOL
Click to expand...


GIF by ABC Network
 
Matt26 said:
I work for a mining company that sells a lot of big equipment (used by the big miners) and heard a great story about one of the prospecting TV shows they had on Foxtel.......quite often when they wouldn't find any gold during filming, they would paint some rocks gold to make the show exciting and look like they found something huge! LOL
Click to expand...

Sounds like it's straight out of the Bear Grills playbook
 
I get out and about in warmer weather. Not panning, just detecting, using a equinox 800. I've found a bunch of coins, old and new, but I've only gone into the goldfields around Ballarat 3 times, and turned up nothing, since it's been picked over heavily to the depth that my machine will penetrate. Still, I enjoy it anyway. I love getting out into the bush. I've got pans, but I just haven't stopped to use them yet.
 
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