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G'day fellas and ladies. Glad to join another informative group. I'm from Victoria and have been detecting since October 2017. Still clueless really. I have decided recently that I need to expand mu hunt for the elusive yellow metal. I want to learn to chase the gold by panning and trace it to a lead or source. Just detecting isn't cutting the mustard. I've had a dry spell now since Australia Day. In total since Ive began I have found just shy of half an ounce. But last 6 or 7 trips up to the GT have yielded nada. Thanks for letting me in to this group. Good luck in ya hunts and may the gold gods shine favourably upon you

Interesting as we normally see gold nugget videos from Oz. The finds remind me of what you would see in California gold country.

enjoy! Ig

Go! Dad! Cheers Ig

I don't do a lot of coin shooting, its not because I'm not interested, its because I literally live on a gold field so its actually easier for me to go find a nugget than it is to go find coins. Clermont the town I live in has a colourful past with gold being discovered here in the 1860's, so some of the coins to be had are quite old by Australian standards. Clermont also suffered from a massive flood in 1916 that killed over 60 people whilst they slept, this happened because the town had been built on the flats beside Hoods Lagoon an ancient river channel that is now a water hole, Hoods lagoon is away from the main present day water courses that flow past Clermont (the confluence of Sandy and Wolfang creeks). When both creeks get major flooding upstream (in the case of the 1916 flood it was due to a cyclone crossing the coast 300 kilometers away) the water backs up and flows out over the flats, in 1916 it backed up so far the water ended up inundating the town completely (some say 10 to 15 feet). The tragedy was further compounded because it not only happened in the middle of the night when people were in their beds asleep but also flash flooded at tremendous speed. For those interested I've included a couple of links to recent newspaper articles marking the centenary. ABC news article ABC news article 2 I have a good friend Paul who is mad on coin detecting, especially wading in the surf. He has an advantage in the surf because he looks like he's about 10 feet tall (obviously an exaggeration) so can wade deeper than most with some amazing finds for his efforts. He and I often go gold detecting together and on occasion we go on a coin shoot, the fact I had the Equinox 800 to play with was a good incentive on a 40 degree Celsius day, so out we went while it was still coolish targeting an area he had scoped out on previous occasions. The area he selected was near the banks of Hoods lagoon and was selected because the old town was once there but also more importantly the size of the gum trees told him they were old enough to have been there providing shade for people trying to escape the heat of summer. People like to lay down in the shade, they also place articles of value at the base of trees when they go for a swim, so the immediate areas around the bases of old gum trees are prime locations for coins. Paul having a play with the Equinox I have not even tried the EQ in the coin modes (other than having a bit of fun with Field mode when I was out prospecting, but that's another story) so you can consider me to be an absolute new chum, all I did was set the threshold tone to my liking and put the Tones on 50 using the Park mode. I wondered off from were Paul was digging up a 1 cent piece (he rubbed in the fact he had the first coin for the session, so it was game on). Now to be fair to Paul he did kind of "lead me" to the path of silverness and I was making him use an Xterra 705 as his CTX was back on the coast on lone to a friend. Sure enough in no time I had a sweet signal that screamed "dig me", it's funny how metal detecting for non-ferrous has a universal language even coming from my "Gold Prospecting" background. To me the signal sounded very sweet and mellow with the target ID complimenting what I was hearing, even though the dirt in Clermont is highly mineralised (it is a Gold Field after all) the Equinox 800 just purred along. My first Silver with the Equinox 800, a 1931 Shilling This coin would have been lost long after the 1916 floods but was still a decent find in my books, especially considering I'd only just turned the detector on. By this stage poor old Paul was a little distracted, I don't know who was more pumped him or me, he sure covered some territory with those stomping long legs of his as he hot footed it over when I screamed I had a silver coin. We shot the breeze for a bit, probably one of the highlights of this type of detecting with a good friend and definately more sociable than gold detecting where you have to keep miles away from each to avoid interference. Getting back to it I then pinged onto another "good" sounding target only inches away (the EQ really does makes a stand out signal on silver that's for sure), this time my second coin for the morning popped out of the ground. 1920 Six Pence I've really enjoyed being involved with the Equinox, its well outside my normal scope of detecting which I found challenging, being away from my comfort zone has helped me to grow in ways I had not expected as a long term gold specific metal detectorist. Tapping back into my roots chasing high frequency gold has also been extremely rewarding, I'm really looking forward to the coming months as others start to talk about their experiences with this brilliant detector. JP

Can't wait to get rolling with the newest Minelab..... ZEQ I will call it 'Zeke' for short and I have a feeling I will SMASH those FNQ boys when we are detecting the sides of washes... I will be able to detect them all day long now! They are in for a 'new and improved' Yank this year.... Normally when we get to the honey hole they have picked for the day, we get off the motorcycles and/or ATV and get our gear situated, That is when Dale does his mandatory calls to arms... with his detector raised high in the air----and after checking left and right .....He lets out a mighty bellow !!!!!!ATTACK!!!!!! And off we go... Now Norvic was a little more laid back than that, but I cant tell you all his secrets war cries because he is starting to listen too closely to Bada Bing and I am afraid he may institute culling in his area if I dont behave here and keep all the secrets close.. Have a blessed New Years everyone!---- Can you tell I am already starting to get psyched about going back? I cant wait. Fred I havent even been back out but i gotta go soon... I have been at the hospital on everyone of my days off trying to get my VA claim put together.

A REVIEW OF GOLD MINERALIZATION IN EASTERN AUSTRALIA A. R. WILDE May 1988 The purpose of this report is to review the different styles of mineralization encountered in Eastern Australia, their distribution and genesis, particularly in the light of discoveries which have resulted from intensive exploration in recent years, and has been compiled almost entirely on the basis of literature research. Only occurrences in the states of Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales were considered. The report is arranged by state, not because this is geologically justified but because the various state geological surveys, mines departments and mining journals are prime sources of data. https://d28rz98at9flks.cloudfront.net/14266/Rec1989_030.pdf

As I read the amazing "Reg Wilson" threads about the numerous large nuggets found in Australia I began thinking about the amazing depositional situation that created them. I have "Googled" a bit to try and find any literature on the subject, but have not found anything to satisfy my curiosity. . Can anyone recommend any papers or books that describes the creation of the Australian deposits. I understand how gold is deposited, but what is unique about the Australian situation that resulted in so much large gold?

Finally; i get to my first post, and to the one and only Reg Wilson , probably the luckiest son of a gun this side of the black stump. I`m from south oz and i use an SD2200d primarily for it`s depth on large slugs, i don`t get out that often, not anywhere near as much as i would like, that`s my lot at the moment so i`ve got to cop it. Now; to some question`s, did you guys use that 36in monster coil over most known big slug old timer diggings in vic, if you did, i think it`s pretty pointless for the rest of us to go over that same ground, as we don`t have coils anywhere near that large ,don`t you think? Do you think in the public detecting grounds in vic ,that any slugs larger than 20oz still remain in the 3-4 foot range, i don`t believe that they do, would be interested in your opinion on this.I recently tested my SD on it`s deepest setting, i cut the top of a coke can jumped in an old timers hole, measured 1 metre with tape measure, and with just a 11in dd coil picked it up easily, the sd`s were used for many years, so i would think that those big slugs at 3-4ft would of been picked up at that depth with these machines, and i believe after testing that a slug of 100oz or more could be got at upto 5ft going by the test i did, i would be keen to hear your take on all this. Was at Wedderburn recently, specifically at Queens Gully for the first time, what an impressive gully never seen one quite like it, and the old timers scored some big slugs from that gully,and i can see why, I had the 24in dd monster on, and got this clear signal, after digging a foot had to put on the 8in coil to pinpoint, then digging down another foot out came that little thingy you find on the top of a coke can to open it up. This coil picked that little piece of alumn at 20-24 in measured, which really shocked me, i don`t think the zed could do better than that on such a small piece, have you dug much small gold at this sort of depth coz that really impressed me? I probably have a 1000 questions to ask you, but i wont overwhelm you, i`m sure you have better things to do with your time( like digging up more big lumps, please Reg, leave me at least one!! ha ha ha) Post was to Reg, but if anyone else would like to chime in, go for your life!!

Just returned from my annual trip away (that's another story for another day), I've been out 3 times detecting since getting home and two of those were training sessions. Yesterday morning it was my turn to do my own thing for a few hours before the heat beat me to a pulp. A few minutes later and I had a plucky 1 gram nugget on a continuation of a spot I detected with my son Timothy back in July (got AU$800 worth off there for the session, much to the delight of his pocket book). There is a fair amount of trash and the obligatory shot gun and 22 bullets along with the added hassle of a high voltage power line, so I had to concentrate on the wide broad deeper sounding targets mixed in with the Sferic and 50 Hz noise, 3 hours of this and you find yourself needing a little lay down. This location is also problematic because it is on a slope above a straight flowing gully so the coil is opened up to even more interference dependent on where you are working on the slope. Long story short I plucked some nice gold for the effort which made the little lay down later on justifiable. Interestingly I pinged a solid 5 gram chunk in my old scrape from the 5000 days, a boomer signal for the GPZ and not that deep so can only assume the quieter running GPZ 7000 was clearly an advantage in a high EMI area. Just below it I got a nice deep warble that made my skin goose bump and sure enough 16 inches down a 13 gram slugster came to light pushing the mornings total to 23 grams of 97%-98% Clermont golden goodness. Considering I spent 2 weeks in WA this year without a piece of gold this was pure heaven especially since I have more signals to investigate over the next few days. The GPZ still continues to amaze me, if only it was lighter and more manageable so that other people could tap into its potential more fully. The weight really does detract from good detecting practices with this technology. The Super D coils really do need to be kept above saturation effect for maximum depth on the deeper pieces, the coil sweep also needs to be evenly controlled, all vital methods that are are adversely impacted upon due to too much outright weight for the average user. JP

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

I need to buy a prospecting car for WA I will be coming over sometime after the first of the year... If anyone could help me find one, I would appreciate it. Needs to be dependable,,, (and maybe armor plated if , " Culling Day".. is during the months of Jan, Feb, Mar, or April)

For those that don't know, we have a permit system here in Western Australia that lets fossickers access your large exploration tenements to metal detect for gold. Honestly I have never really liked the system because it basically lets the department sub let my lease, and no one ever fills out the form where they are obligated to tell you where the finds were ( Its very hard to find nugget patches if all the surface gold is gone). I have had over 50 people camped on that lease this year and not a single one has returned the form to notify of finds despite dig holes everywhere. Except 1 , I received a form back today from a couple of yanks , I think they were from Nevada. Reported all there finds with weights and coordinates, with a thank you note. Now that's how it should be done! I think the other 48 Aussies who were there could definitely learn a few things from the only 2 honest blokes out there. If they are members here or anyone knows a couple of Nevadans that were over here let them know they are more then welcome to come back with free access to all my tenements.

Reg Wilson is a bit of a legend in Australian detecting circles and has kept a comprehensive photo collection of his finds over 4 or 5 decades. Now everyone likes gold images and stories - and there are plenty here! I've been offered existing topics to post on, but I believe the topic deserves its own thread to do it full justice. All images are those of Reg Wilson unless otherwise attributed. The album consists of hundreds of photographs of not only gold, but many gold detecting industry characters, some of whom are no longer with us, but who all contributed in their own unique ways to the great gold chase we still enjoy today. Firstly, a bit of background. Reg first shot to international fame with the finding of this 98 ounce piece which he named the "Orange Roughie" in 1987, decades later to be fraudulently rebirthed as the "Washington Nugget" By no means his first find, Reg was already a successful detector operator and at the time was testing a prototype GT 16000 for Minelab's wizz kid engineer Bruce Candy: Photo: Australian Sun Herald L to R: Bruce Candy, the late Doug Robertson, Ian Jacques, Reg, John Hider Smith. Reg recalled: "The man standing next to Bruce Candy is the late Doug Robertson, who with his brother Bruce worked the aluvials below the famous and fabulously rich Matrix reef at McIntyres. They had an old Matilda tank with a blade attached to clear Mallee scrub. Between them they had a wealth of knowledge of the northern Victorian gold fields. (Doug's name may have been Robinson. Memory is a bit foggy)" Ian, Reg and John were prototype SD 2000 testers in Victoria, AU and were collectively known as the "Beagle Boys" a name bestowed upon them by Dave Chappel, the publican of the Railway Hotel Dunolly. On any Friday night huge nuggets, some weighing well over a hundred ounces could be seen displayed on the bar. 120oz from Longbush. Found all on its own, finder anonymous: The playing cards and US currency indicate that the nugget has just been purchased by the late "Rattlesnake" John Fickett, a US gold buyer who bought many of the big pieces back then: Ian Jacques and Reg with 44 oz 1989: Ian Jacques with his SD 2000 prototype late 80's. Real prospectors don't use bungees All for now, but at least we've made a start - - -

I have seen a bit of Aussie NQ activity on here so am reaching out! What rock type is this?! and does it mean much?!!! A new first for me this last few days with 'gold in rock'…hard rock - "t-shirt around the pick handle" type of rock! It didn't look like your standard conglomerate…but after breaking up bits there was quartz throughout….great sounds with the 7000…i'm sure i must've flung the best sounding piece of gold off into the wee of the never never with the damn pick cause another booming sound was there one swing then not the next! Picked up a couple of little speckies from the rock and just tonight dollied a few offcutts with very fine gold present, yay! The pics aren't great but show the rock on the side of a river. Have added a pic of the gold pieces i picked up last two days from the patches i'm keen to run the 19inch over (from a previous post)…i keep saying they have dried up but with persistence they pay!!! Happy days out of reception. Giddiup

crush a fist size lump of rock and pan it off of cause

I did the annual 5 and a half day drive from east oz to the Pilbara area in western Australia for 8 weeks prospecting with a friend. Floods earlier in the year scoured the creeks out and that helped, but a lack of natural fires meant many places are covered in thick spinifex giving you only about 10% of the ground to detect on. We managed 23 ounces between us, which was not brilliant considering we know a fair few places from earlier trips. But the trip, scenery, camping and people we met made the annual trip something great and I can't wait for the dry winter WA prospecting season to start each year. Some of the gold...hundreds of nuggets were sub grammers, my best was a 76 gram flatty found at about 26 inches down with the 19 coil. My favourite piece is the squashed leaf gold nugget with little pyramidal gold crystals on its surface. cheers RDD Ps. I hope to visit the US and take in the scenery/people......and detect a couple nuggets from some of your iconic goldfields one day.

Erlistoun Station has a new phone number 9031 3954. If no one is there to answer please leave a message. The new managers name is Butch Shaw. Also as of the coming Tuesday Aug 1st, an aerial muster will be taking place also utilizing ground crews in 4x4's quads, bikes and numerous other mad max look alike vehicles. Please, if on the station it is imperative for your safety and ours that we know where you are. These are not tame cows from a petting zoo, they are wild scrub cattle that will kill you. Also be aware GSDU are active on this and the surrounding station checking miners rights, permits and compliance. Two men, residents from NSW and Tas faced Leonora court today for illegal mining (on an EL without a section 40E permit) Cheers, Steve

"After 51 years in the workforce and eight months into retirement, I left Inverell in NSW on February 1 with caravan in tow. My final destination was Victoria’s Golden Triangle but the route I was taking is not recommended if you want to get there fast." Read the rest of the story here

Gold Prospecting Australia Mark Hyde is a very good guide...too bad he is ending these tours. I wish him and his wife all the best. The good news is that their Victoria sessions are still available... Mitchel, you better get signed up! fred

http://arizonaoutback.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=12697 I seen this posted on Chris G's forum. All Inclusive Tours are rare in Oz. It is not the cheapest way to hunt gold in Oz but it solves so many problems that I think it is worth the cost. I may have met Kim and Co in my travels but I do not have any experience with them...as always, do diligence is required. fred

Well boots down in Oz land, tis magic. Got a small bit to break the ice on a hard hunted patch. .3 grams but its a start. Doing a section 40 and going to point around a bit. No glamor shots :) Slow and quite for a bit while me and my mates figure out our targets. Cant describe the smell of eucalyptus in the morning from the local fires or the beauty of the bush from a long drive from Perth but it puts in in ya. Coogardie is the drop TA!

What's the good word on NursePaul in OZ? You didn't use him for Croc bait did you? Post some pictures of all the gold he has recovered from your secret spots.

Gday Guys n Gals, I thought i would retell this story from my page a few weeks ago as it still blows my mind that it happened :). Bob a lovely gentlemen from Northern California came across to Western Australia for a once in a lifetime adventure that he had been dreaming about for many decades. He wanted to prospect in the red dirt and flew across for 3 weeks with his next door neighbour Fred and a 7000 and a modded GP extreme(not the ideal detector unfortunately). After arriving he spent a few days doing an in class prospecting course which enabled him to use the company that was running the courses leases around town. Unfortunately Fred and himself didnt have much luck swinging there detectors and it reached the last day before they were heading back home the next day. For the entire 3 weeks i tried to get him to join me on a tag along tour(free of charge as my wife is american and i didnt want him going home empty handed) to some better ground but he persisted on his own until the last day where he finally gave in and decided to join me in a different area that i had access too. The guys only had a few hours before having to drive back to town before nightfall and in the last hour of the day and in fact his last hour detecting in Australia he managed to ping a fantastic 18 gram speci with approx 12 grams of gold in it! Unfortunately Fred who had never detected before this trip and using the GP extreme didnt find anything but Bob went home with a nice little chunk and in his words "at least my neighbours wont laugh at me now!" statement :) Made my day and i believe the gold gods rewarded him for his days & weeks of swinging that 7000 around Australia. Steve Congrats to bob who joined me on a one day tag along for his last day of a three week prospecting trip from America, three weeks he hadn't found a thing by himself with his 7000. Last hour of his last day detecting and he pulls out an 18 gram specie with approx 10-12 grams of gold! Absolutely made my day ! Well done bob ! Goes to show a little local knowledge goes a long way! ✋✋✋✋Nugget in the Hand Prospecting✋✋✋✋✋✋?