turning professional prospector--

Well trust me I haven't any inclination in carrying out such a feat.

There r a number of reasons why, let alone, u can work for 6 months of the year in a mining job as a FIFO
and earn an easy $150k per year without any expenses.

fuel doesn't come down in price so bank on about $2 per litre for fuel.
If u don't have a few good leases behind u then u will b pushing shite up hill to make ends meet let alone fall back on.

just because u can find gold doesn't necessary say that u will continually find gold. Its not like fishing were u can hit a spot and get a good haul of snapper or blue bone or whatever takes your culinary delight, once u remove gold it doesn't magically reappear. once its gone its gone, no more harry.
That's why a lot of eastern staters whinge coz all they find is fly shite --why coz they hammer the old spots day in day out.

if u haven't got a few pieces of basic machinery then its even harder to get good results.

set ya self up with a few thousand in the bank first and see how hard it really is.

To find good gold u need to pan --that's how the old timers done it and really nothing has changed especially if u r lookin for the leader. This method saves u a lot of time piss farting around and most importantly u must know when to call it quits..

all the best if u do venture into this profession..

regards
oneday

There's no way I would try to do it full time, it's just a hobby now. I had a go back 1994, 3 months and a little over $20,000 later and I had to go back to being a wage slave.
But don't let me put anyone off from chasing the dream. You definitely need a good bank account behind you to do it.
Just my opinion.

cheers
Cliff

Hmm,,,,,,,bignuggs, it seems you beat me to it.

Cat.

yep agree Cat--some people out there must be doing great guns and don't share their experiences..

not to worry..sorry I missed the comments

I have bigger problems in life than letting someone ruffle me feathers..
Ego--then u don't know me.

oneday

Bignuggs wrote:There's no way I would try to do it full time, it's just a hobby now.  I had a go back 1994, 3 months and a little over $20,000 later and I had to go back to being a wage slave.
But don't let me put anyone off from chasing the dream.  You definitely need a good bank account behind you to do it.
Just my opinion.

cheers
Cliff

Thort I'd add to this.  I was 50/50 with a partner, the $20,000 was just my share.  So between us, somewhere around $40,000
There are many dream chasers in this world and I'm one of them.  I wasn't going to say it, I'm thinking of doing it again next year.
I better give myself a good slapping now to knock it right out of my head  

Ray, Cliff,

I agree.

I’ve been doing this game, off ‘n on since 1983. I’ve read all the books, the diaries, the geological stuff, the histories, the text books, the theories ad nauseum to the point where I no longer read anything much at all.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – “The glory days are over” and it’s no place to make a living. I did it full time for 4 years and almost went broke. There was a lot more alluvial around back then but a far lower gold price.
There’s many many reasons for the scarcity of the stuff.

Firstly, there’s the geology. WA is a massive gold field but it’s not all “surface enrichment”.The old timers didn’t have to look hard of far to find the good spots as a lot of it was just sitting on or near the top. Us “new prospectors” are only now clearing out the dregs of what they left behind. WA’s geology is badly worn out, eroded, windswept, flooding rains, cracked by heat and generally worn flat. This is known as a peneplain and leads to major breakdown and shedding of alluvial gold from reefs or leaders, either as nuggets or fines. This is known as “primary source’ gold. The fines ( and they are often invisible to the naked eye, often sub-micrscopic) can recombine in what’s known as “secondary enrichment” to form further nuggets. These have mostly been cleaned out at the obvious places because the geology stuck out like dog’s danglers.Gone, finished. Underneath the alluvial can be an orebody that only a mining company can exploit – but not always. Often a great alluvial patch has no mineable orebody underneath it. Examples – Nannine, The Specking Patch, Keep it Dark, The Island at Cue and others.

The next is a social reason – more people out there looking.

The next is technology – better detection methods from soil sampling to metal detectors. That and vehicles and caravans that can reach outer areas and stay out there much longer than three guys with a packhorse and little water.

The next is mining companies that hold and restrict massive areas of ground that govts allow to keep people off.

The next is red tape and green tape. The paperwork that needs to be done to legally carry out TRUE prospecting is horrendous and expensive. Add to this the aboriginal issues that can cost a fortune both in money and time.

So today, as Ray says, if you want to do this for a living then you better have heaps of money to throw around and expect little or no return, along with time to waste working your bum off for no reward. I do it for laughs these days as making a living at TRUE prospecting is damn near impossible. Ask Mark Creasy, and he’s a millionaire! Now that’s an enigmatic irony if ever I heard one. He did it real tough for decades before he cracked it. He was one in a million. The rest of us are "also rans".

Any of us can swing a metal detector for a holiday. Making a quid is far harder.

Cat

must admit --if I didn't have a couple of good mechanics at my workshop continually fixing and altering my vehicle to go "prospecting" with then I would still be at home.

I have travelled some 5000 kilometres looking for new ground, and trust me we have gone to some out of the way places that no one in their right mind would go let alone take a vehicle, all to no avail.

Sure we picked up a bit of colour but my effort wouldn't have paid for the injector I done last week let alone the fuel, food, maintenance and modifications to my vehicle. Maybe we should have caught that donkey we saw at Nullagine last week and put a cart on behind it..known my luck the bloody thing would have farted and took of with all my worldly possessions, then back to square one--some of us just cant win..

One thing is for sure --to attract all the flys in the bush is to peg an SPL or any type of lease for that matter, some people r that infatuated with finding gold they will do anything, trespass and stealing are words not in there dictionary.
As Cat has mentioned this has come about due to the Mining companies and the Mines dept. guidelines and so called insurance.
I have tried to make a change or two via the Minister but to no avail especial with the term of the 40E....mind u this wasn't for me this was something for everyone...will not be doin that again, my EGO might get in the way.

I have met Mark Creasy and at least he does give u permission to prospect on his leases and yes I have told his field techs were we found gold.

The Mining company up my way that holds vasts amount of ground has a blanket NO Prospecting on there leases which I must admit seems to push everyone else into doing the wrong thing and its a pity they don't work their leases.

Cat does "rans" mean --RESEARCH AND NOTHING SHOWN.. 

Till next time

oneday

I think the metal detecting club from perth hit the known areas of Cue or Meekathara this easter for a total of just under 11grams. That was with 80 people in the group. Looking for the yellow stuff......... they did still have a great trip and social for the period.....

Hi guys,
It be a hard task to be a pro at it and sustain it for sure. I only know one couple that are fulltime permanent prospectors. They say they average over a grands worth a week and have developed quite a nice camp/building with fire place ,jarrah kitchen tops ,bathroom with shower etc, which is an inspiration to me. They have a number of leases and also use the 40e system and tips from the purple circle in the area. It can be done. I pegged an 80 hectare block a month ago, which I now have found is nearly in the middle of a company's new copper find/drill program. That alone may well be where the value is in the future. It only cost $500 to apply and $3200 per year in expenditure once granted. I will apply for at least one 40e in time for next autumn and start to make a basic humpy structure just for and outdoor type hang out area for the evening.
There is two places to get water not too far away so it will help as I did find a patch I want to pan to see if there is a leader. I have covered my costs so far this year apart from the smokes and alchohol bill. So might have to make beer and grow tobacco, should be legal to grow your own tobacco I reckon.
RW

jitteryjim wrote:I think the metal detecting club from perth hit the known areas of Cue or Meekathara this easter for a total of just under 11grams. That was with 80 people in the group. Looking for the yellow stuff......... they did still have a great trip and social for the period.....

11 grammes for 80 people,,,,,,,,,,speaks volumes that does!

SS

Cat

RogerWilco,

If you have a lease as a campsite only and just venture out swinging then a $grand a week in gold is good going. But if you're like me and others that use  dozer's etc, that's not enough to cover overheads such as fuel, servicing, oil & filters, lease rents, Shire rates, Spear chucker surveys etc and most importantly putting some aside for the inevitable machinery breakdowns. My last problem alone was gonna cost over $10,000.00 to get a broken drill bit in a broken stud out of a starter motor housing on a Cat 'dozer. (cab off, engine out, transmission out). The problem last year was a hydrostatic transmission issue. The quotes ranged from "at least $40,000.00 up to $160,000.00"!!!! I fixed it for about $300 bucks and some hard yakka but lost months of bippin time whilst fixng it.

If I wasn't a (very) old hand as a mechanic I'd have been wiped out. So you can see, "a grand a week" doesn't quite meet the requirements. Nice if you're just swinging but not if you're pushing.

SS

Cat

maybe u should donate the old girl to me Cat--good home and a couple of good mechanics up here to give it a bit of TLC..lol

regards
oneday

Cat,
Yes my intention is to do as you said and I agree with you as far as the risks involved with going to the next level. Thats a long way off for me. Just like to have a base camp and use permissions and 40E permits to spread the wings abit.
The pros I know only detect aswell. Although a couple have done very well in the past pushing their own home leases, and they are now cleaned out so they have other places to work on. Clearly a grand a week wouldn't cover much at all if you need to use machines and spend money on spear chucker surveys etc. Couple guys in the purple circle up here have machines they share just incase they get an SPL off the ground or whatever. Just little steps for me, for now. Getting better at picking ground, got a lease that's not difficult to access. always researching stuff. Just one question though. Scraping the bigger rocks off the surface just to get ya coil down better is classed as strip mining isn't it,which requires all the forementioned processes.
RW

jitteryjim wrote:I think the metal detecting club from perth hit the known areas of Cue or Meekathara this easter for a total of just under 11grams. That was with 80 people in the group. Looking for the yellow stuff......... they did still have a great trip and social for the period.....

Christ, what were they doing ? My Dad and I found 11 grams at Cue in one week in May between us, and we thought we were doing bad !  

Cheers,
Rick

Rojawilco,

"Scraping the bigger rocks off the surface just to get ya coil down better is classed as strip mining isn't it,which requires all the forementioned processes."

Roj,

The technique is known in WA as "Scrape and Detect".

If you just use a bush rake, by hand to scrape the surface rocks off, then you don't need what's known as "Programme of Works - Prospecting",,,,,,,,we just use the acronym "POW-P".

On the other hand ANYTHING other than "hand power" requires a "POW-P". Once you open that Pandora's Box, that's when the big money and the big problems can start. The POW-P paperwork is relatively easy and the DMP are very helpful here. But if there's Native Title and AHS issues it can get expensive and protracted if you don't know what you're doing.

Even dragging a small blade behind vehicle is classed as "machinery driven earthmoving" and requires a POW-P.

CAT

oneday monday wrote:maybe u should donate the old girl to me Cat--good home and a couple of good mechanics up here to give it a bit of TLC..lol

regards
oneday

Sod that mate! I've just about fixed all that needs fixing - touch wood. Damned hard work it was too! Just the belly plate can crush ya if yer in the way when it lands!!

Cat

Cat,
Thanks heaps for the clarification on that one. I cant see myself stuffing around with a garden rake to smooth the ground though, lol. And the chance of getting the Wallabies front row to drag a blade for me is pretty remote. Its just that a couple of small patches I found will surely turn up more gold if/when I get a new detector and could get the larger rocks off to the side a bit. Will be doing my research on POW-P now. That and some panning seem like logical steps for a relative beginner/wannabe prospector like me.
Cheers
RW

rogawilco wrote:Cat,
Thanks heaps for the clarification on that one. I cant see myself stuffing around with a garden rake to smooth the ground though, lol. And the chance of getting the Wallabies front row to drag a blade for me is pretty remote. Its just that a couple of small patches I found will surely turn up more gold  if/when I get a new detector and could get the larger rocks off to the side a bit. Will be doing my research on POW-P now. That and some panning seem like logical steps for a relative beginner/wannabe prospector like me.
Cheers
RW

Roja,

Just PM me if you require any help with POWs etc.

Cat

OK Cat hint taken...got my eyes on a 12G grader with rippers and scarifiers, air con and spare wheel carrier.

Would really like a blade on the front but beggars cant b choosers..

Just need to find some more color..

Ray, I could tell ya what a pair of farmers from Esperance did with their old tojo. Saves buying a grader.

at least with the price of gold hovering at $1550.00 ya gold is worth a bit more.

If anyone has some nice 10-15gram nuggets I am in the market..
please PM me.

regards
oneday

oneday monday wrote:at least with the price of gold hovering at $1550.00 ya gold is worth a bit more.

If anyone has some nice 10-15gram nuggets I am in the market..
please PM me.

regards
oneday

I have some and I'm in the market,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, at $2500.00 an ounce. Serious,,,,,,,,and cash deals only.

Cat

$2500.00 a oz, or $83.00 a gram is a bit rich is it not?

not in my league unfortunately cat..good luck

regards
oneday

headdownunder wrote:$2500.00 a oz, or $83.00 a gram is a bit rich is it not?

Not when you're running a dozer and paying for your leases it isn't. Try buying a nice, clean half ouncer in a jewellery store and see how far ya get. Besides which, half ouncers aren't that common these days and I ain't desperate for the money. So if ya want it, that's the price.