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  1. We are on the bottom of Aust. Main Land these are today forecast for North-West Victoria. 238 Km from Mildura to Swan Hill via Ouyen. By the way 47°C is 116.6 °F 🥵
  2. Found this map on another site https://www.prospectingaustralia.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?id=28424&p=7 It was in relation to Vistors to Australia not being aware of our large distance here.
  3. Adam, The next time you go prospecting or fishing just stay at home. https://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/story/6495003/mining-company-explores-tuena-for-large-gold-deposits/
  4. They're releasing some new land that should have some gold! https://www.australianmining.com.au/news/victoria-braces-for-another-gold-rush-with-land-release/
  5. Well we finally got thru obligatory rehab work, and we dryblowing work. Drove the backhoe to the next area and decided to scrape a little while we were there... Glory be!!! 10grams right off. Most were in the dirt above the cap. Did a repeat the second day with 16grams? Got most of the gear ready to go... piddling today...enjoyed Sunday with a couple of mates. Getting my camper all ready to go bush... I repaired some tears and old loose seams yesterday with a Speedy Stitcher... handy tool to have if you ever have to sew canvas....works like a charm Built a new battery/propane housing frame on the tongue so I can boondock with 2 propane and 2 deep cycle batteries on hand. Also got a Yagi antenna from Trent that should give me Internet... that will be crazy out where I’m going... I already took the water trailer with 250 gallons down day before yesterday. Hopefully this area will keep producing well for us. Picture of me below shows how I love dryblowing.
  6. A Minelab dealer down Geelong way put up the below post about an Aussie company starting to make GPZ coils. Interesting timing, wonder if the Russian guys have forced Minelabs hand to allow a local 3rd party to make coils. Here is the link to the facebook page https://www.facebook.com/luckystrikegold/ Not looking to start a fight here, just sharing info. I don't care what coils everyone wants to run lol Lucky Strike Gold Brand new GPZ coil coming soon! ? There is a rumour in the wind that an Australian company will soon be making GPZ 7000 coils. At present there are only Russian made after market coils being made, so hold off and bag yourself a genuine Aussie made one. They will be cheaper than the Russian coils and, as always, very well made.
  7. It seems they are still finding a few little nuggets out there Paul. I doubt they will let you detect there but maybe you can go near? http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/gold-fever-in-wa-as-miner-digs-up-big-nuggets-20171102-gzdgmf.html What say the Prospectors already over there? Mitchel
  8. New story thread.... Leaving for OZ around May 4th this year-- Can't reveal the details because it is super secret this year.... But hope to be upload some better video this year--- I have been searching for the simplest way to use a camera while in the field... I haven't found any yet that are that simple, most ways i have tried become so time consuming that they interfere with my fun and relaxation!!! ANd my TAsk mAster dont like it when i am ... "fkn around!" If he sees too many videos or pictures he will scold me... Maybe a selfie, "follow me" cheapie drone----- I could hang a piece of bait meat on it for the flies while it is hovering near me,,,LOLOL This is Jan 20th and I will be traveling to LA on Feb 3rd ..for my last 3 months of "work" Carry on !
  9. It seems that Yalgoo Shire wants prospectors so they have some land to let you detect on. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-01/gold-prospecting-lease-for-novice-fossickers-pegged-by-council/11370030
  10. Between the bad experience with the X-Coil and our general inability to learn the geology of WA gold finding, we've run up the white flag. Frankly, without the help of Paul and Trent we really wouldn't have made it this far. Most people have no real appreciation for how vast and roadless it is out here in WA. When you pop into a market in a tiny town of 600 and they have on offer Kangaroo tail by the kilo, you've really reached the limits of habitation. On the day we met Dave, we drove over 300k and saw 4 other vehicles and a bunch of dead roo's on the side of the road. There are dry water courses that are marked for the depth during severe rain. All Ute's have snorkel intakes and some raised exhaust tailpipes. Otherwise there's no water except in towns and the flies are inescapable. I can't imagine how we would have survived without the gazebo and insect net panels, especially for cooking or relaxing. It is an adventure and I can't say I would be satisfied if I hadn't given it an honest try. I'd always wonder what might have been. We'll be packing up camp Yank tomorrow then a flight out of Perth on Wed. I'll be happy to get home, but that 110 degrees in sunny Yuma is going to be a drag. While I've been away we got a new family member, a bouncing baby "GoldenDoodle" coincidently named "Aussie" in my absence. I'll have my work cut out for me with dog training for awhile. Talking with Trent he suggests I fall on my sword with Minelab and send them the whole unadulterated mess and ask for help. Perhaps they'll view it as an intellectual challenge or chalk it off as a Yank not smart enough to leave well enough alone. Either way, all I've got right now is a poorly designed boat anchor or an odd conversation piece We'll see. We'll catch you on the other side of the world next week.
  11. My how things have changed ? https://streaming.britishpathe.com/hls-vod/MEDIA-4/archive/BCM6/2014-07-07T112551Z_1_LVA7938RY0N5P64BJN28M3DG6MCB_RTRWNEV_F_AUSTRALIA-PROSPECTORS-USE-ELECTRONIC-DETECTORS-TO-FIND-GOLD.MP4.m3u8?fbclid=IwAR1cKC1x1tqxLKOe1gl1PlYIcvLlTMUjJNC9WIvw9p3w1DHcCBnwymeffU4
  12. This month in 1979 I bought my first metal detector a Bounty Hunter RB7, took me almost 3 years of pure frustration to get my first nugget,(pic below) after many 100s of hours, I know now I sure went over heaps of detectable gold, and still do, but not the heaps I went over then,...…...I hope...……... Below is some photos, I wish to share with DP members to celebrate, unfortunately I did not take many photos, straight into the crusher smelted down and off to the mint, have scanned what I could find from the old "shoe boxes". Plus a couple of recent ones, the specimen last is highly magnified, gold in limestone, and although no weight is probably the most valued by me, not just because it was my first piece (found with that RB7), but because of its uniqueness. Consider myself very privileged to live in this era, it has enriched my life not just in its monetary value, but given a challenge and still does that I suspect has no equal. MN I`ve gone and done it and not even close to the 30th of February.
  13. Condor and his trip/notes was the inspiration of my post. He too realized the easy gold is gone, but we go for the Adventure too. Thanks Condor for sparking my old memories. At least you can say.."I did it". Spring 2006 three buddies/I decided it was time to quit talking about it and just do "Australia" with a detector for gold. With many details left out, but a quick overview. Yes I made it home (America) and am alive. The venomous snakes, iguanas (4 foot poisonous lizard), attacking kangaroos, wild goats and monster sized spiders/centipedes could not stand up against the rancid ripe odor of an un-bathed light skinned Yankee running across the dehydrated desert flats with detector in hand. I just returned from an enjoyable 1st time trip to Western Australia and the richly red iron soils of the Outback areas of known golden fields Kalgoorlie/Leanora. Even though I caught some serious plane crud on the 16 hour flight from LAX to Sydney, AU. and it lasted hard the 1st week and a half before I got a little better...I still managed to have fun. The Outback is one of a beautiful and secluded primitive place this mother earth allows us to play with many sites, sounds and wonders to gather and ponder in the mind. I would love to return some day, but would do things a little more different and be set up for gold hunting more for the serious BUSH and not be seen for a week at a time. Most areas we detected had been hunted really hard (just like here in the US such as Rye Patch, NV.) and we would find the crumbs that others missed do to their lack of detector knowledge and skill. We did manage to find an occasional small site that was off the beaten path and get a few nuggets. The Minelab GP-3500 with a Commander 15” MONO elliptical coil ran flawlessly and found most of my nuggets. In fact all 4 of us were using GP-3500’s and were amazed at how well they ran in the much heard of highly mineralized Australian soil. I did manage to find 4 small patches that produced the majority of my gold.. In no way do I base the success of this trip on recovered gold, but as usual, I hoped for and expected more. Of the 4 detectorists (including myself), we found approx 110 nuggets and one 5 oz specimen. I managed 62 of those nuggets and the specimen. To give you a weight total, we had a combined wt of approx. 4 ounces and then the 5 ounce specimen. Of the 4 ounces of gold nuggets we all found, my total wt was just over 64 grams (2 ounces) for the 62 nuggets, so you get an idea of the size with an average of my nuggets being around 1 gram each. The largest nugget (not including the specimen) was 3.9 gram and there were 2 of those found. Yes I was hoping for a few larger nuggets and even expected that we each could find a 1/4 oz'er but that never happened. Does that mean the trip was a bust? Most certainly not and I assure you, it was an amazing trip that I'll fondly remember for the rest of my life. Moral of the story to add to Condors trip. Over 10+ years ago, 4 good American nugget hunters with the newest detector technologies did not find what we had expected and hoped for in the gold category. 4 of us Americans did something most dream about but never do and we'll remember the Australian Outback...and those girls wearing pasties, for the rest of our lives. I always wondered if there was a nugget under one of those pasties? Maybe go back some day to check. Thanks for caring. Gerry in Idaho Gerry's Detectors www.gerrysdetectors.com
  14. I'm late getting out week 4, but unfortunately there wasn't much to report. We've had wind, then some wind & rain, then some really fine days. We lost a day here and there between weather, then the meeting with Dave on the X-Coil. We had 2 long days at the very southern end of the lease and did a great deal of exploring. We found a few crumbs. Dennis actually found 12 nuggets that weighed a total of 1.2 grams. It was enough to keep us busy and always thinking we were one coil swing away from a really good strike. We just couldn't get that coil over the big stuff. I'm using our backup GPX5000 with the 14X9 Coiltek Elite coil while I'm waiting for my Patch Lead to be completed. I was amazed at how quiet that machine can be. I cranked up the RX and cranked down the Stabilizer just so I could hear some noise. I found 3 tiny crumbs, 1 of them in one of my own boot scrapes from last week. Clearly, the 5000 can find tiny gold. My Patch Lead is delayed for another week, apparently one of the 5-pin connecter screws twisted off during reassembly. I'm satisfied I'm not missing much if anything with the 5000, but I really want to get that 17" X-Coil in motion. We're making our move to a new lease tomorrow so we've got a full day of packing and hauling Camp Yank. The flies remain a constant distraction during midday. I bring out the bug hood the minute one dive bombs my eyes or nose. They are persistent little buggers, Dennis is a lot more tolerant. Paul made it back safe and sound. He's chomping at the bit to get some of this $1400 an oz gold out of the ground. Their backhoe is up and running again, so good things should start happening soon for their team. Sorry for the short and relatively uneventful report. Maybe next week, it's all about the possibilities not the probabilities that keeps us swinging those detectors.
  15. I didn't go deep enough when I was there! https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/when-you-see-it-you-can-t-mistake-it-the-comeback-of-victorian-gold-20190620-p51zne.html
  16. In FNQ Australia, there are a number of properties you can go on & detect for gold. Most places are pay to detect & are well set up for camping with designated areas set aside for metal detecting, if you are fortunate enough to have access to private leases & cattle stations with gold bearing country even better again. Up until today, I had access to one of these private cattle stations to prospect on. Unfortunately I no longer have access, this is due to the fact there are still people doing the wrong thing while on these properties. The rubbish left behind at camp sites and open detector holes for cattle to break legs in is out of control. On top of that you got fence jumpers & poachers running a muck too. This is causing huge issues for for graziers forcing them to close the gates to everyone & in most cases getting access now, is nearly impossible. I can't express in words how disappointing this is for us guys & girls who are doing the right thing, only to be told you can't detect at your favourite spot anymore because of w#%kers ruining it for everyone. So the quest for a new spot starts again.... Take only gold and memories & leave only foot prints. So we will all have somewhere to look for gold in the future!
  17. Looks like instability in the Persian Gulf has had one positive outcome with gold topping AU$2000 for the first time. Certainly will run higher but may need to consolidate first. Traders taking profits may also push it down:
  18. Week 3 started off a little slow. It rained for 2 days, then a day of sun, then a 3rd day of rain. You just can't drive the Aussie tracks when they're wet. The camp held up well in the rain, no significant leaks. Fortunately, I brought audio books and a Kindle so we kept entertained. All the clouds put our power grid to the test. We had to use Paul's generator a couple times to top off the battery. I'm including a photo of our power grid, looks like a soup sandwich. We're running about 200 watts of flexible solar panels into a 100amp hr Li-Ion battery. With full sun running only the outback refrigerator, our battery stays fully charged. At night with charging our equipment we drop about 1/4 of battery capacity. We should have thought more about charging compatibility, as it stands we need 110AC for the laptop and 2way radios, cigarette lighter plugs for lights and USB for phones and GPS. What a mess trying to keep it all functioning. I had to rewire our cigarette lighter outlet bank, the wires fried somewhere along the line. I'm ordering a backup tonight. We took the time to go into town and do laundry and take hot showers at the Caravan Park. I ran my clothes through twice, I think the Aussie red dirt may be permanent on some of my stuff. We've been out doing real prospecting looking for new patches along the "line of strike". We've been off the beaten path and as a precaution punch in the GPS coordinates of the truck. Like Daniel Boone, I've never been lost, though a might bewildered a few times. Just when I think I'm in unexplored territory, I find and old timer's campsite or dry-blower tailngs where he sampled the same zone. Our only luck has been a few crumbs off old dry-blower zones. Modern mechanized prospectors have often run a dozer over the old timer's tailings and scraped things to bedrock. If there is some of original caprock left, we have a better chance of finding something. Paul has been off on a frolic of his own. We don't expect to see him for another week, in the meantime Trent sold the caravan Paul was using. Paul is homeless, I hope he doesn't repo his pop-up trailer that we're using. Trent is thinking about moving our half of Camp Yank about 60k to the south to detect a new area said to have good gold. It will be a challenge dividing up the campsite necessities and we'll miss nightly entertainment of Paul's crazy stories. Sunset from Downunder. That's all for now.
  19. Tough sledding out here in WA. We've put in a lot of miles exploring along the "line of strike" gold producing zone. We generally start from old Drill Site roads or old pushes and do a 1/4 mile up and back grid along the likely areas. The few we're finding are where weathering has exposed deeper ground on the old pushes, plus the Z 7000 can find tiny gold the original detectors missed. They didn't miss much based on our return so far. Our hearts were thumping yesterday when I got a deep low tone way down in the caprock. Luckily Nurse Paul was nearby and brought over the jackhammer. Paul put in a yeoman's effort on the hammer, Dennis and I traded off digging out the hole. We waved over the hole with everything we had, GPX, GPZ and 2300, and with the exception of the 2300 it all sounded good, but it just never improved even after we were down over a foot. Finally even the 2300 was giving us a signal and we gave up for the evening. Paul went back this morning and finally pulled out some kind of hot rock, the story is much more detailed, but that's the jist. No doubt Paul has his version of events. The weather has turned nasty, threatening rain and gusty winds. Camp Yank took some damage from the wind, turned over the prep table for cooking. Pots, pans, plates and everything associated got dumped into the dirt. Paul cleaned it up considerably, but I think he left some soap on my dinner plate, cuz I'm feeling a bit puny this morning. We have the gazebo anchored on each end with an ATV to keep it from blowing away. Dennis gold photo is his cumulative, mine shows this weeks finds only. It's just a matter of time till we hit a big one. Flies continue to be a menace, they just don't quit. They're having a tough time today with these gusty winds, but they'll find a way.
  20. A couple of days ago I pulled the trigger on a solo trip to Australia, Melbourne and Victoria to be exact. I have the Visa. I have a Miner's Right. I'll be there from Thursday morning 8:30AM the 9th of May thru Thursday morning the 30th of May which will make for 20 days of detecting. It says the highs will be in the high 60s and lows in the 50s. The sun will rise about 7:30 and set about 5. There seems to be a fair amount of rain for the month. I've been reading Fred's books. He has one of Doug Stone's which is the Gold Atlas of Victoria. There are also many online resources and several of you here have some great suggestions for me. My itinerary is open for some nugget prospecting days and a couple of beach days. My tentative plan would be to get off the plane, rent a vehicle and head to Bendigo area for a motel and then be ready for a hunt the next day. I might even be up for a hunt the day I arrive ... possibly at a beach. I'm sure I'll be meeting up with some of the forum members when I'm there so let's just see what happens. Mitchel
  21. We're still getting dialed in for the WA conditions. In many places we can run the GPZ on High Yield, Difficult, with a Sens between 10 and 15. We've hit some old patches that have been scraped, then trying to venture out around them to see if the patch might continue. These places have been detected pretty well, all have dig holes scattered through them. We've had some minor success, I hit a 3 gram piece right off the go, from there it's been nothing but tiddler scraps. Surprisingly small pieces that Difficult mode sings out on them. All very shallow though. The weather is crazy. Cold mornings needing a hoodie, then warming up to weather more suitable for shorts. We've seen a few 'roos and a couple Emus, other than that it's just flies and more flies. We've tried some cream they use for the horses, seems to last an hour or so then the flies are back with a vengeance. The quit just before sundown and don't come back till it starts to warm up in the morning. Just part of the challenge. Our totals to date. Dennis had a couple day headstart, but I'm trying to catch up.
  22. G'day everybody, Just thought I would start a thread on making your own gold maps to better your chances at striking it rich or at least finding a bit of gold. If this topic has already been done before please let me know & I'll remove it. I can't find anything specific on making your maps on the forum. So what are the things available for us to use in making custom gold maps? Geological maps, topographical maps, books such as Ghost & gold series, Department of mining websites, google earth etc...there is plenty of resources that we can use. I live in sunny north QLD Australia, so any info I can share with you will be based on what we have available in our QLD. Every state in Australia has its own mining department along with (rules and regulations) that differ from state to state. Department of Mines & Energy in QLD is the website I use to gather a lot of information, so far it has paid out very well in some areas. In particular small isolated gold occurrences. I often look around the fringes of existing gold fields looking for potential gold locations especially along fault lines with historical gold workings. The more remote the area the better, as there are fewer chances of modern detectors having worked the area in recent years. To get the ball rolling I thought I would just post a couple of pics of areas I have researched & marked out where I've found gold & see where it leads us.
  23. Most are aware of the goldfields of Western Australia and Victoria but there are more throughout Australia. NSW and QLD also have their fair share of gold and I was lucky enough to be able to spend a few days up in NSW with some friends. We only managed a few days detecting ( I still had to squeeze in some business commitments as well as some well needed down time) but I still came away with just under 1/2 an oz. It's beautiful country and well worth a visit if you get a chance.
  24. We started our journey on Sunday from PHX to SFO. First leg was no problem. At SFO things deteriorated. After arrival the airline departure board showed 1 Sydney departure logically in the international terminal 2 hrs hence. We made our way to the international terminal and settled in for a wait. I checked the departure board several times, only one Sydney departure showing a minor delay. At boarding time our boarding passes were rejected, wrong flight. They really couldn't help us with why there was only one Sydney flight and we weren't on it. We scurried back up to the main terminal, one Sydney flight now boarding, but upon closer examination a different flight number. There was no help desk to be seen so in desperation I Googled our flight number. Google said terminal A, and we were in terminal G. Again checked the departure board, one Sydney flight showing, not ours. We discovered that terminal A was a long way from here, after a mad dash we discovered that not only was terminal A way over there, it required leaving the secured terminal and going through security again. Yep, the security queue was clogged with the unwashed masses and the chances of us making the flight dwindled to nil. Oh no. So we went to look for the Qantas desk to try and fix our problem. No luck, Qantas has windows open from 6:00pm to 10:00pm. So I called Qantas and got an English as a Second Language(ESL) clerk, barely intelligible given airport noise and accent. Basically she told me I was F'd and that our entire ticket would be cancelled, no refund. I knew better than to argue at this point and called our booking agent Orbitz. Again, ESL but a sincere effort to help. After some long hold time we discovered that Qantas was closed for the night, but that they would work on it. I booked a $300.00 hotel room for the night and went out to catch the shuttle. The hotel clerk assured me the shuttle would pick us up at 12:52. At 1:25 I surrendered, the hotel said they would reimburse me for a cab. Next day, Orbitz came through and re-booked our flight for the same time, same terminal A. I asked about our baggage, "can't help you there", take it up with the Qantas counter at 6:00pm. First in line at Qantas 6:00pm they told me that our baggage was downstairs and would be re-tagged and put on the flight. Are you sure? Indeed, when you get to the gate you can check with them. Of course the gate assured us that naturally our baggage was on the flight. NOT. Well we caught the flight and I found that economy seats are, well economical. I had a middle seat for a 15 hr flight. My row mates were tolerable, but the aisle seat went to sleep and I hated to be an ugly American and wake him up just to stretch my legs. At about the 10 hr mark, I couldn't resist and woke him up. He was pleasant enough about the whole thing. Curiously, the young lady next me boarded very last and arrived in sweaty dither. She later told me that the Departure board showed only one Sydney flight, the same one I encountered the day before, and that she discovered the mistake in time to sprint through the terminal and security was very kind to move her to the head of the line, just in time to make final boarding. She was much younger, fitter and prettier than me, so she pulled it off in time. We arrived Sydney and went to claim our baggage to clear customs for our continuation flight to Perth. Surprise, no baggage. We went to the claims desk to make all the necessary notifications and almost missed our connection to Perth sans baggage. To make a long story tolerable, we're in Perth with 3 of 4 bags. 3 arrived at the hotel last night, the 4th won't arrived until after we make our flight to Meekatharra. Qantas assures us the 4th bag will get couriered out to us verily. Naturally, that bag has Dennis's detector in it. I guess he can dig targets for me and Paul in the meantime. So, the journey begins... Stay tuned for our misadventures in the Summer of OZ. I'm typing at 5:00 am local, suffering from jet lag. Hopefully Steve will edit as necessary.
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