Jack and Jill's WA Gold Prospecting Adventure

Hi All,

This may be a bit of a long post but thought I would share the first two parts blog story of recent customers who took a trip to WA on a gold prospecting adventure. It's great to see some great finds coming out of WA. I'll post up the next three parts soon.

Part One:
Have you ever considered a gold prospecting trip to outback Western Australia?

Not sure what to expect? Where to go? What to take? Is there any gold still to be found?

We have been asked to share our diary of day to day life on the goldfields over this winter. We plan to remain anonymous, and have chosen the “nom de plumes” Jack and Jill. This seems appropriate as we have “climbed up the hill” many times each week in search of any remaining nuggets scattered amongst the ironstone and quartz rocks which typify the WA goldfields.

Now, to go back to the start of this adventure! With caravan and 4 wheel drive loaded, and high expectations, we crossed the border into South Australia and camped at a roadside stop for the first night. For Jill, much of the first day was spent mentally confirming that nothing necessary was left behind. Yes, Miners’ Rights, maps, medication, water containers, detector spares, tools, tyre repair kit, and various replacement parts for the vehicle, were all present. Jack’s thoughts were centred around the comparative cost of diesel this year, and which days we would have a tail wind, to reduce fuel consumption. Generally speaking, the increase proved to be only marginal. The top price we paid was $1.94 at Belladonia.

Due to the abundance of wild life – kangaroos, wombats, emus, and camels, we chose to drive only in daylight hours, and by the third night, were almost to the WA border. As usual, fruit and vegetables, honey, nuts, polystyrene boxes and seeds could not be taken into WA, and this year, car mats were inspected for grass seeds, as well!

The fourth night’s roadside camp was between Norseman and Kalgoorlie, and by the fifth night we were on the goldfields, a few hundred kilometres north of Kalgoorlie. One of the first things we noticed was that not all of WA’s wildflowers wait for spring – some were already flowering in May.

The only minor hiccup for the trip was Jack leaving the water buckets at a service station in Kalgoorlie after removing them from the van boot, to use the hose and replenish the water supply. This would not have been worthy of note, except that the outback town en route had neither buckets, nor replacement cassette toilet chemicals, which had been stored in the buckets.

With much anticipation, the Minelab GPX 5000 metal detectors were set up, and our gold prospecting holiday had begun. The first day proved fruitless for Jill, but Jack could boast of two small pieces weighing in total .7 gram. It was encouraging however, to meet up with a friend who had been swinging his metal detector in the area for a couple of weeks, and had been quite successful – yes, there is still gold to be found in WA.

By the way, he mentioned that we were the first people he had spoken to for two weeks.

We will keep you up to date, as the trip unfolds. Hopefully, the “big one” that we all dream about, will be part of the next installment.

Part Two
Hello again from Jack and Jill in WA. As we look back through the diary it is great to be able to assure you that, no matter how many prospectors come and go around the old mining centres, no one gets all the gold!

When we last wrote, we had just set up our first camp, and spent a few hours swinging the detectors. Jill was still to unearth her first nugget.

This was not the first visit to this site, and we were quite surprised how many more small nuggets could be retrieved now with the latest Minelab GPX 5000 metal detectors. Over the years we have traded up each time a new machine was released. We have never been disappointed in the upgrade and have always been able to find enough gold to cover the changeover cost. However, we know that not everyone has the same experience – there are so many factors influencing success – learning to master your detector, the amount of time you spend on the goldfields, using an appropriate coil for the situation, recognizing potential auriferous ground, and an element of sheer good luck! For us, each day produced something yellow, with the best daily tally being 25 “sub grammers” and a 6 gram nugget for Jill being the best find for that location. Incidentally, our friend camping in the same area dug down 35 cm for a half ounce piece we had missed amongst some of the small bits.

Adding to the enjoyment of our winter excursions has always been the outback scenery, and, at the second camping place, we decided to visit an advertised nature reserve, boasting outback accommodation in an old shed. However a severely eroded creek crossing presented a challenge Jack was not prepared to risk, even in a 4 wheel drive vehicle. “Plan B” soon presented itself as we explored various tracks, and came across a couple of old mineshafts and the remnants of an early miner’s camp, consisting of a fireplace and the usual paraphernalia left lying around. The surrounding area, with its gentle slopes, liberally scattered with quartz and ironstone rocks, looked likely ground for alluvial nuggets, and we decided to “swing the coil” for an hour before returning to the caravan. Except for the deep shafts, there was no evidence of gold having been found on these hills, so we were quite excited when Jill snagged a .2 gram piece in the first 10 minutes.

Although small and insignificant, it fuelled our enthusiasm, and Jack headed for the nearby creek and was soon rewarded with a number of nuggets in and around the gutter, including a 1 gram piece sitting exposed on a rock bar in the middle of the dry creek bed. Jill continued to work across the slope, regularly turning up small nuggets. The best find for the day weighed 4 grams.

This was indeed a memorable occasion!


Hillside Nuggets


A Miners Camp Site

Good Luck and Happy Prospecting

Gold Digger Dave

another beautiful day on the WA goldfields

Cheers Dave

Pete

well done hope you get some more
bluedog

awesome trip report! glad you had a good trip,

sam

It wasn't Dave's trip it was a customer of his guys

Good stuff Dave. How's "Prospector Pete"? Hope you're all fighting fit in Bendigo

Robert

Thanks everyone. We're all going great over here even Prospector Pete! The Vic goldfields are still coming up with some great nuggets too!