Gold Found With QED

[jrbeatty]

On 9/28/2017 at 2:28 AM, mn90403 said:

JR,

As you say ... a bit thin but thanks for the followup picture with the little ones.  It makes it a bit easier to hunt around the piles!

I do have to admit that many parts of our gold country in the west has range cows.  There is evidence of them everywhere in the thick, tall brush and gullies.  One place we hunt in the mountains routinely uses sheep to graze and it can be easier to detect after they have gotten many of the big leaves out of the way.  The shepherds  don't speak any English and it has the traditional mix of dogs to protect them.  Most of this is on government land (BLM or Forrest Service) which can be claimed and you don't have to share unless you are working another person's claim.

Your area in the picture is much flatter.  From the looks of the gold it seems very old in place and would seem to 'open up' some areas I wouldn't consider holding gold ... until you find it!

What is your understanding of the gold formations there?

Mitchel

Mitchel:  The geology there is not dissimilar to much of the central Victorian goldfields and I was frankly astounded it had received little early attention (limited to very rare test holes from the 1860's) and none at all from the detecting fraternity. Being located between (but distant from) far better known goldfields probably resulted in this neglect - anyway, to answer your question, the geology is straightforward, with complications

The base rock (in common with most of the central Victorian gold provinces) is north/south oriented, vertically tilted Ordovician metasediment which was intruded by quartz veins (reefs) during an orogenic event in the upper Devonian. These are host to the gold.

The complication arises because much of the area in question was covered by glaciation during the Carboniferous/Permian epoch, which introduced rocks from hundreds of kilometres south (tillite) some possibly from Antarctica (which at the time was connected to Australia as part of the Gondwana supercontinent)

Some of this tillite may well have been gold bearing as well, hence the prospecting conundrum. All of this material (including the auriferous quartz reefs in the metasediment) was deeply eroded during the early Tertiary and distributed unevenly in watercourses and streambeds. Since that time, Quaternary erosion has left these deposits stranded above current drainage channels. It was my noticing some faint traces of these that led to the initial discovery on this small hill:

The prominent boulder is a small Permian glacial erratic.

 

 

[Northeast]

Jrbeatty - interested in providing some paid geology sessions??  

I'm sure most of what you said is English but I didn't understand much 

Serious about the education though as I know a few blokes who would be keen. 

[jrbeatty]

4 minutes ago, Northeast said:

Jrbeatty - interested in providing some paid geology sessions??  

I'm sure most of what you said is English but I didn't understand much 

Serious about the education though as I know a few blokes who would be keen. 

Sorry Northeast, didn't mean to confuse!

Geology is a passion of mine and has led me to my best finds. The best man to contact, though, is  Reg Wilson. He conducts detecting courses which includes basic geology.  

He's a member here (I believe) so you could try sending him a personal message. I don't want to appear to be advertising anything here so I'd best leave it at that.

[mn90403]

JR,

A very fine explanation that explains what you have found.  Thank you.

Bendigo is where I want to go.  I think I'm destined one of these years!  It captures my attention.

I must admit, Norvic having been there and now being north in Queensland is becoming a distraction with his pictures.

Mitchel

[jrbeatty]

11 minutes ago, mn90403 said:

JR,

A very fine explanation that explains what you have found.  Thank you.

Bendigo is where I want to go.  I think I'm destined one of these years!  It captures my attention.

I must admit, Norvic having been there and now being north in Queensland is becoming a distraction with his pictures.

Mitchel

Mitchel: Spent a lot of time detecting around Bendigo. Some of my best finds came from the Victorian "Golden Triangle" It's a bit hammered these days but, like all popular areas, will continue to reward the lateral thinkers.

[goldenoldie]

On ‎28‎/‎09‎/‎2017 at 12:57 PM, jrbeatty said:

 Some of my best finds came from the Victorian "Golden Triangle" It's a bit hammered these days but, like all popular areas, will continue to reward the lateral thinkers.

Thanks JR for your interesting results with the QED.

You mentioned an area that you had marked out and gridded then detected over with  your QED ( I assume with the 14" Elite) and it detected nuggets missed by the 5000 and 14" Elite on that same gridded area.

Therefore those hammered areas within the "Triangle" should be where the QED would shine also on missed nuggets by the GPXs and be worth your effort to try those hammered areas although the GPZs should be cleaning up as well.

[jrbeatty]

That's correct goldenoldie. The QED picked up more with the 14" Elite, but the percentage difference wouldn't have made anyone particularly rich. Remember we were detecting deep tiny bits there, and that is something the QED is extremely good at.

The same applies to the hammered areas of the "Triangle" at large, where more tiny bits are found by fossickers (on a daily basis) with all manner of detectors specialising in tiny gold.

From that point of view the "Triangle" is potentially inexhaustible. The GPZ's, SDC's etc are, as you correctly word it, "cleaning up" The QED is there too, but remember the number on the field is tiny compared to other brands. Nonetheless, posted finds are starting to appear.

Why aren't I cleaning up there as well? Because I prefer digging larger pieces.  (that's the reason I use a 14" coil and not something smaller) and the bigger pieces in the "Triangle" are very rapidly becoming extinct.

I prefer prospecting to fossicking, finding new areas, the call of the unknown with the potential of finding the big one. For this exploratory work, I find the QED to be ideal.

 

[Reg Wilson]

G'day to American (and other) prospectors.

It's a buzz and a pleasure to work with JR, a damned good prospector, and all round good bloke who really knows how to read ground.

We have had a lot of fun and quite reasonable success with our QEDs and I knew straight away when I first came across the QED that James was one guy who could make it sing. Thanks to JR you have seen the 'proof of the pudding'.

[jrbeatty]

Heck! You've got me blushing with those kind words Reg!   

Not in the same league as you though. Off topic, but for those who like gold pics, Here's the real "Proof of the pudding" and no prototypes involved!

 

 

[Jonathan Porter]

Now this is a brilliant thread which I've enjoyed immensely. Proof positive of a well run forum that encourages respect and tolerance from its impassioned readership.

JP