geof_junk

It good the way gold coins can be clean quite easy as in your videos, due to the fact that they don't corrode like copper or silver coins. Both of Carol's gold coins were cleaned very easy with an ultrasonic cleaner. 

I'm starting to pull out my hair waiting for the next  post. 

"Geezer", the gardens of old residential homes have given me a few, the down-side is they are old and lost by women. The diamonds are usually small if any. I guess men don't like getting their hands dirty messing around flowers. 😀 But gold is gold and not the root of all evil. 

                          WOW and 3 of the best, are the right colour.

Red Tape and the wait is the main problem. Even if you own the land they will still make it difficult. In this case as alluvial gold is usually on the water run constructing a dam for agriculture use in the right place has allowed the owners to get detectorist to remove the heavy metal contaminates 😉(Au) with out having all the problems. Common-sense goes out the window when extreme activists put pressure on the politicians to restrict prospecting.   

You never know what a signal is till it is eliminated. One day we went prospecting a couple of hundred meters from a patch that I had found. My prospecting mate and our wives were detecting the area when my mate got a signal near a tree. After he had dug over a foot deep he said it must be the tree sap giving his VLF the signal. As he had given up I said let me test it. To keep it short I dug a 2 Oz. nugget up for him. After he let his wife have a feel of the weight he handed it back to me. I looked at him and said you found it so it's yours. Well we checked close and around the nearby trees. I got a great signal on one tree and went right around it. I thought it must be under the trunk of the tree as the strength was about even all the way round . I lifted the coil off the ground to dig but the noise got a lot louder it peaked about 2½ above the ground. What we found was that the tree had grown around a horse shoe. Totally hidden by the bark. After exposing the horse shoe, I said to my mate now it is your turn to dig it out with a smile. 🤣

This is what happens when the Country and Mining gets things wrong. After the mine was forced closed 30+  years ago by the people of Bougainville. Should download in your selected download folder.

HRL012_HRLC_Panguna_mine_report_FA.pdf

From the businesses return the tax can be reduced by costs (materials, wages, consultant fees, research  etc ) Then to reduce it further companies use the rest to expand company thereby no profit to pay tax on. 

      There was or is a section were visitors can try panning Carol had a crowd of Asian watching how fast and the gold that she got. This was in the early 1980s. What I liked was nuggets that an old timer had on display for the public that he had found with a pick and shovel. Well worth the time to visit, when we went with the Kids the entre fee was reasonable too.

One trick that might help is get a large lump as possible of the rock and tune the detector to it in the air and adjust a slight negative response then test the bedrock/slate by pumping the coil up and down on the target in Manual. If it does not respond then your hopes have been reduced. Gold being devious no guarantee give on the above.😁   

13 hours ago, DOOGY-MD said:

Ok, vote in, let's see what your thoughts are on this subject!!

My wife finds a 1908 silver half dollar within the first hour of her trying out Metal detecting, with a BH Tracker IV no less, go figure? She never went again, said it was too easy??

     Back in 1979 my wife Carol wanted a GOLD DETECTOR. I told her that they were a big "con" look at all this dredged gold we have got none of which a detector could see. Any way in 1980 being  cashed up I surrendered and got her the  latest Garrett Deepseeker ADS. To keep it brief she did not like it so I got the REJECT and had to get her the latest Whites 6000D. Carol has found a full and a ½ sovereign with it, so I'm only need to get 3 gold coins to get my pride back. If that was not enough to rub it in she found the first nugget and the first one over an ounce. Well dredging became illegal so my only method of getting gold was detecting. I managed to find a 4 Oz. shortly after her 1 Oz. and now have found in the 3 digits Oz up to date. As for the dredging I really miss it, and I keep telling her the Garretts was better than the Whites and now that Garretts have got Whites that proves it. Carol say that don't count as we both use a Minelab Detector.  Well that's the way cookie crumbles so don't laugh too hard.  

The work done to start mining

I went to Bougainville at the start of 1973 and worked there until late 1979 when we left to return home mainly for the sake of my boys to settle down for starting secondary school. I still consider it as one of my best life experience and it set me up with a great start for the rest of my life. The local people were some of the best I have ever meet.

This u-tube video shows the activity that had to be done to start a large scale mining operation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu5leDuRcUY 

The Plant construction video from BCL.

On 15th May 1989 production was brought to a halt by militant activity and the mine has remained closed since. In the 17 years prior to 1989, the mine produced concentrate containing 3 million tonnes of copper, 306 tonnes of gold and 784 tonnes of silver.

Extracts from Wikipedia

The population of Bougainville was recorded as 249,358 in the 2011 census but is estimated to now be around 300,000. Its people, Bougainvilleans, are mostly Melanesian but there are also descendants of Micronesian and Polynesian origin (mostly from the outer atolls).

History. The mine at Panguna was opened in 1972 and was majority-owned by Rio Tinto. The mine was vitally important to the economy of Papua New Guinea. The PNG national government received a 20% share of profit from the mine, of which the Bougainvilleans received 5% - 1.25% share of the total profit.

About Bougainville Copper Limited
The Company is owned approximately 53.83% by Rio Tinto Limited. The Papua New Guinea Government owns approximately 19.06% while public shareholders hold the remaining 27.11% of the share capital.

On 15th May 1989 production was brought to a halt by militant activity and the mine has remained closed since. In the 17 years prior to 1989, the mine produced concentrate containing three million tonnes of copper, 306 tonnes of gold and 784 tonnes of silver.

A decade of violent conflict
Over the years of fighting, different armed factions emerged, including the Bougainville Revolutionary Army and the Bougainville Resistance Forces. A large proportion of the population was displaced and up to 20,000 people died as a result of the conflict.

https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/decades-old-mine-in-bougainville-exacts-devastating-human-toll-report/

That's a good shot of the sharks, but I can't see the gold that you are trying to keep us all away from. ☹️

4 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

Jed & his crew back in 1936 were some tough people but even he talks of being exhausted at times and having to punch new holes in his belt. He said in the journal he had to go 3 notches and then punch in a new one so I figure that to be 4 inches off his waist. Every 8 pounds lost equalls one inch off the waist so he lost about 32 lbs. And he's not done yet.

 

My mate and I had the best detecting pick on our claim but they were nowhere as effected as the old vintage picks that we used and the Ash hardwood handle were great for leverage to break up the face were we were digging. The old timers were tough I remember my dad doing his driveway 50 ft. long and car width and 6" deep. He did it all, the mixing of the concrete by hand with a shovel (just remember he had us kids helping or hindering him). I know how keen Jed would of been, gold does that.

The old vintage pick does the job in Alluvial Ground. The old timers used the two pointy ends picks.

Wait till the BIG Mining companies get there and find ways to get around the country's weak regulations, then you will see hugh damage.  

4 hours ago, Norvic said:

I learnt many years back that taking out mining claims was a red tape time consuming pain in the butt, plus gave poachers an exact location to search, as I have not needed to go any further than simply detect for gold I ceased interest in mining claims and since only seek property owners permission in conjunction with whatever States prospecting permit/ license/rights and prospect leaving only footsteps. Our states have a nominal annual fee for such, although WA when I was last there a Miners Right was perpetual, a bonus I have found property owners are far more likely to give their permission if they know you are not likely to file claims and are not in the business of selling claims they too are tired of poachers,

GM this has worked for me for 40 plus years of serious part time gold detecting.

Ditto........   Back in the early 1980s I took out a Claim as Norvic said I notified all the lazy detectorist were it was, because we had to put a public notice in the local paper. Before this the 4 corners of the pending claim had to have a peg with a application licence N° and date. Every thing that we did (hand tools) could be done with no claim (Miner's Right), or putting a bond down for restoration of the work which was refunded because we were good guys 😇 when the claim expired. The work we did was dig down nearly 2 ft. and work our way up the slope on bedrock. The size of the work was about 25 yd. by 15 yd. We used picks to break up the soil, and spread it out on a heavy duty tarp and detected it with the smallest coil we had. Once we had enough space behind us at the digging face we back filled by dragging the detected soil on the tarp and dumping it behind us all the way as we worked to the top of the slope until we reach exposed bedrock. Any tree that was in the dig area were left with their roots not disturbed. Not only all this could of been done without a claim we were burden with other constraints like fire equipment and water supply for it.

This was the ground before we worked it back in 1982. The guy in the second photo is is Carols brother who died back in 2004.

4 hours ago, madtuna said:

By inactive mechanical claims do you mean inactive ML’s (mining lease) or EL’s (exploration lease) as in WA?

fencing is not always a viable option due to the vastness plus most are on existing s which would hinder the movement of cattle.

"may put others in danger. These should be fenced or barricade  off anyway."  has been change to .....

 "and areas that may put others in danger should be fenced or barricade  off anyway." 

meaning only dangerous areas that may injury prospectors, public, pastoral lease managers and staff as well as their stock but not Camels.😀  

Simon most of my gold rings ( and Carols ) were found at the beach. One beach in Queensland I got over 50 rings from it while on holidays. My brother in-law (now deceased) got 300+ before I went up to QLD for a holiday. He got onto the spot after some one showed him hundreds of rings they had got when a cyclone had removed most of the sand. Most of the gold rings there were 18 or 22 caret and very old and at low tide and below (Easter is one of times of extreme tides). My take of gold rings were 99% from beaches, and those that I was asked to find that the owners lost. As being a gold prospector I rarely use any discrimination and the table of ID in this post shows that a lot of junk sit in this range.

10 hours ago, schoolofhardNox said:

Real nice story. Similar to mine but just replace a picnic/amusement park with your beach part.  I was 7 when I started and never looked back. Those are some good memories that you can think fondly of forever.

I did not start when I was seven. The only detector back then was Army mine detectors and I was not big enough to use one if I even had a chance.🤪 So I feel sorry that you got addicted so early.   ☺️

I have never liked discrimination on when gold prospecting, however on a very rare occasion when ground balancing in extreme soil conditions with my OLD Garrets ADS deepseeker  I found that setting the ground balance as close as I could, I use the TR discrimination knob to set the ground balance with it. This allowed me to pick up some small nuggets that others had missed about the ½ gram mark and smaller. Now a day I think this is the effect the Hi - Low signal that iron uses. 

Local miners and exploration

  I had to give you a HaHa as your use of adjectives and description is well beyond my abilities. You brought back many smiling memories that I have experienced on the gold fields. So keep up posting yours for me and other to enjoy. Thank you.

The problems with claims is they should not restrict hand tools and detectors from inactive mechanical claims except those that will continue with work in the near future, and may put others in danger. These should be fenced or barricade  off anyway.

This post is what I really like to see on gold forums. I have been out of action lately but what a great post to come back to. Claim jumpers   Link      .....     Claim jumpers page 3 

Claim jumpers are a big problem for all. I only had one claim, luckily my partner was a local Policeman. We kept very quiet about the claim as it was only 250 meters from the end of a town lane. Before putting in for the claim, we both gridded all it over the chosen area first. It was a hand tools only claim. We had to comply with some stupid regulations, for instant if we had any motor or vehicle on the claim they required 200 Lt of water on site for fire protection ( I guess with our keenness there might have been many sparks flying off our picks etc. ). The problems of claim jumper were reduced when my mate caught a couple of guys detecting the claim. He asked them if they had permission from the owners of the claim. They said they did, that is where he said, I am one of the claim owners and you have been trespassing on my claim and an additional crime is that you lied to an officer of the police. He said let that be a lesson and tell your mate to keep clear, and let them go with a warning. Prior to our claim some illegal grading had be done over the surface area down to the shallow lead, but they left some virgin ground on the other side of it than the shallow working on the other side of the claim. This patch/claim yielded 26 ounce on the first day to me, 19 oz. before lunch and 7½ Oz after I got Carol and one of my mates after lunch to work the spot. My work mate got a 23 gm bit as well as he walked across the small area that I told him was my exclusive spot the rest was open ground. I said he could keep it as he was not gridding the area and Midas was on his side. Let get back to the topic I would not make a claim on any ground if detectors and hand tools are only to be allowed, machinery if required might might be a different story.