The Reg Wilson Gold Album

[Reg Wilson]

Steve, I now consider myself retired. I cannot draw a pension as I have too many assets, but as I only find a fraction of the gold that I used to, and any gold that I now find can be classed as a 'windfall', and as such is not subject to tax. In any case, tax on gold is only due upon sale, and only if that exceeds the tax free threshold. Prior to 1991 gold was tax free here in Australia. In 1990 the government assured the gold industry that rumors of an imminent tax were unfounded. Knowing what liars politicians are, I immediately sold all the gold I was holding and invested it in land and other things. ( Including 2 Porsche 911 Carreras and a new Harley ) Sure enough in less than 12 months we had a gold tax.

In the early eighties gold was fetching around Aus $800 per oz but slowly fell back to around $500 where it remained for some years before rising in recent times. I sold very little gold at the early high prices, because at that time I was only a part timer, but by the time we hit the Orange Roughie patch it was $660 an oz. I tried to find a buyer in Australia for the Roughie for 2 years, during which the gold price had dropped to around $500. What I received for the Roughie was even less due to an agreement which was not honored. What happened to that nugget is well documented history.

After the gold tax was introduced I paid tax on income as with any other form of business. The way the gold from the 'Unfair advantage' team was divided was and still is confidential, but the gold was sold for the highest price we could get from any given buyer at the time.

 Should the price collapse, I think a certain number of people would still seek gold, as many do not need to sell it for income, but simply enjoy the challenge of finding it.

[Reg Wilson]

Redz, while I'm waiting for the rain to stop, I'll tell you what I can about sledding.

The first sled I built was a VLF using the GT16000, but I cannot claim to have built the first one . That honor goes to Craig Hughes, one of the original Minelab team, who towed a double D coil powered by a GT15000 behind a 3 wheeled Honda at Wedderburn, at what Ian Jaques called the Telecom paddock, near the 'potato diggings.' ( Ian called it that because that's where he went to find the gold to pay his telecom bill each time it arrived ) Against all odds it found a small color, and convinced me that the idea had some merit.

The coil I used was a large mono, built by another of the original Minelab team from Adelaide Uni. His name has slipped from my memory for the moment, but he was their coil man back in those early days, and a real nice bloke. Testing it at Rokewood turned up a six ounce piece. I eventually sold that coil to Miners Den in Melbourne.

I built a PI system when the 2200d came out, using a Polaris diesel as a tow vehicle, and a big mono coil built by John-Hider Smith. The diesel was necessary because a 4 stroke played havoc with the electronics. One needed to isolate the alternator via a switch to avoid the same problem. In WA John and I experimented with a Jim Stewart double D coil, but the target response was far to slow. Mono is the way to go. I still have this set up and it can be used with any ML PI or any machine that can be fitted to a ML coil connection. I am curious to see how it will go with a QED because the QED has really fast target response. Using a ML PI, targets as small as a .22 slug are easily heard.

 Hope this has been informative, and not too far off topic.

PS maybe Steve might see fit to start a new thread. It's up to him.

[IronDigger]

I continue enjoying this thread, thanks again. To hear these stories of the old glory days of electronic prospecting is a treat.

[Redz]

Sorry didn't mean to drag off topic, just there were pictures of the sled in the album, but most of the large pieces seem to have been found by hand helds. I was just wondering if they were successful in finding some of the larger bits. I was also curious about the EMI as the off roaders here drive my detector nuts

 

[Reg Wilson]

Redz, no mate. No big bits found with the sled, but it is a great tool for eliminating a large area in a relatively short time. Diesel is the way to go as far as lack of interference is concerned. The alternator will cause interference, and that is why it must be disconnected while the detector is running. Four stroke engines are no good at all, as they need spark to run, and that causes havoc with the detector. We once tried a Faraday shield and various suppressors with no success, although VLFs are not as susceptible to engine interference as pulse induction.

[Chrisco]

When I first looked through this album about 6 months ago I swore I knew Ian's face but couldn't place it for days. Then I remembered I met him back in 1994 when he owned the Logan pub. I was rousying in the Avoca Forest shearing shed and we would walk down to the pub for a drink (I'm a strict non drinker now). I was about 19 and crazy about gold prospecting and I remember looking at the photos of nice nuggets on the pub wall and asking Ian if he did any detecting. With a quiet smile he said something like 'Yeah, a bit' but didn't elaborate. 

Ian would remember a couple of brothers who shore at that shed, Colin and Graham. Colin was a detectorer too but was tight lipped about how well he did, at least with me. 

[jrbeatty]

18 hours ago, Chrisco said:

- With a quiet smile he said something like 'Yeah, a bit' but didn't elaborate

Now you know some of his story 

Reg ran into Ian a while back, but I haven't seen him for many years.

[Clunesdigger]

On 10/11/2017 at 2:29 AM, jrbeatty said:

Many of the paddocks in that area were pegged and "pushed" in the 80's/90's. I've got some ancient VHSC videotape of such work on my MRC claim at Billy Goat Gully (Kingower) featuring John and Ian with SD 2000 prototypes:

To see the result, check out "Kingower Gold 2"  

Did anyone notice the gold auras and orbs at 1:45 seconds??

[Chrisco]

Been living in Clunes a while now Clunesdigger?