new area

Hi, just got back yesterday from quick prospecting trip with my old man. We were in an area that has interesting geology, but is well away from any known gold areas and hasn't even had much of a looksee from the old-timers.

I was hopeful (as you must be) but not at all optimistic that we would find anything - in fact I was 99% sure we wouldn't. Anyway Dad found a 1 g solid on the morning of the third day so we were pretty stoked The spot looked really good and like there should have been/must have been more there - but 2 days solid work each after that we couldn't add any more.

Still mulling over it.

No old-timer's rubbish, only about half a dozen lead slugs between us over about 9 person days detecting, and the ground isn't pegged.

Stingray

When you say well away from known gold areas, do you mean mines ? or do you mean you were in a location that's not known to produce gold nuggets, I.E Bunbury.... or say Exmouth...

If your old man picked up a grammer, its got to have come from somewhere, probably worth spending more time in the area and see if anymore turn up, perhaps it's deep ground ?

anyhoo Good luck out there :)

Hi Johno, thanks for the encouragement!

It's not quite Bunbury, but it is 10's of k's away from the nearest old mine that produced a bit of gold, but no record of any nuggets or rich cap. Its not on any discernible 'line'. Most if not all of what I would call 'known' areas have at least an EL on it.

Its difficult trying to work out the ground as there are no old workings, scrapes or dig holes anywhere to give you a clue where to start. It has both very shallow and deep ground. Greenstone/granite contact zone, a few quartz reefs, some were nicely stained and almost like those that I have seen carrying gold in the Pilbara, then smaller laterite capped hills down on the lower slopes/flats, ironstone wash, and creeks. All up pretty good looking ground.

We found the bit on a shallow washy slope, on the side of a small laterite capped hill over weathered schist. We were stoked to find that first bit as it proved there was nuggety gold there and secondly we had a particular type of ground we could focus on relative to the hills etc. The nugget was about 2 inches down under a nice 'small' quartz/ironstone wash, over shallow patches of almost white powdery schist, that went into a creek with a wide washy bank and defined channel with some great looking bars. About 25 m up the gentle slope was a lovely looking outcrop of sugar quartz, and some ironstone outcrop next to it. Sounds good eh? Well it looked good, bloody perfect in fact. It was screaming gold. Looked like it had to have come from the quartz/ironstone outcrop, or the laterite above it, and there should have been nuggets trapped in that schist. Obviously we effectively gridded the area were Dad found the bit, did the creek, etc. Then most of the likely creeks, sheds off quartz, ironstone wash, you name it but nothing to follow up.

When you are there you run out of ideas and hence stream pretty quick. But after you leave you start thinking and wondering. I know I could find some small gold elsewhere putting in the same effort, but it is these more left field areas that have potential to produce a proper 'virgin patch' with some big gold, or a real reef.

Maybe it came from the contact zone further up in the hills, or maybe its all old gold from the laterite? I don't know anything about looking for gold in laterite, never done it till last week, so would appreciate any tips/info someone might share.

Apologies for the ramble, but maybe its got you thinking, and even a little fired up to have a go at some actual prospecting. Good luck to you if you do!

Cheers
Stingray

I'm camped at Glendon camping area 30km west of Warwick in Queensland. The property is open to fossicking and prospecting and a guy runs gold fossicking tours here. It's got lots of shallow diggings but almost no quartz. I think if you walked over the same ground in WA you'd just move on. I really have no idea where to start. I've looked at some of the mines and they are the same, just a few little bits of quartz lying around perhaps one every two meters around the shaft but it's hard to find any nearby. The iron stone and grey soil is nasty stuff. In some patches it goes off like our hot rocks, you dig but in the end there's no target. All the soil makes a signal as you pass it over the coil. It's hilly country with lots of gullies with vertical shale traps, mostly scraped clean. I'm looking at a new area in the morning and if no good I'll just move on.

Moneybox wrote:I'm camped at Glendon camping area 30km west of Warwick in Queensland. The property is open to fossicking and prospecting and a guy runs gold fossicking tours here. It's got lots of shallow diggings but almost no quartz. I think if you walked over the same ground in WA you'd just move on. I really have no idea where to start. I've looked at some of the mines and they are the same, just a few little bits of quartz lying around perhaps one every two meters around the shaft but it's hard to find any nearby. The iron stone and grey soil is nasty stuff. In some patches it goes off like our hot rocks, you dig but in the end there's no target. All the soil makes a signal as you pass it over the coil. It's hilly country with lots of gullies with vertical shale traps, mostly scraped clean. I'm looking at a new area in the morning and if no good I'll just move on.

Try crevicing the dry gullies out there mate, take the dirt down to the dam and wash it

Stingray wrote:Hi Johno, thanks for the encouragement!

It's not quite Bunbury, but it is 10's of k's away from the nearest old mine that produced a bit of gold, but no record of any nuggets or rich cap. Its not on any discernible 'line'. Most if not all of what I would call 'known' areas have at least an EL on it.

Its difficult trying to work out the ground as there are no old workings, scrapes or dig holes anywhere to give you a clue where to start.   It has both very shallow and deep ground. Greenstone/granite contact zone, a few quartz reefs, some were nicely stained and almost like those that I have seen carrying gold in the Pilbara, then smaller laterite capped hills down on the lower slopes/flats, ironstone wash, and creeks. All up pretty good looking ground.

We found the bit on a shallow washy slope, on the side of a small laterite capped hill over weathered schist. We were stoked to find that first bit as it proved there was nuggety gold there and secondly we had a particular type of ground we could focus on relative to the hills etc. The nugget was about 2 inches down under a nice 'small' quartz/ironstone wash, over shallow patches of almost white powdery schist, that went into a creek with a wide washy bank and defined channel with some great looking bars. About 25 m up the gentle slope was a lovely looking outcrop of sugar quartz, and some ironstone outcrop next to it. Sounds good eh? Well it looked good, bloody perfect in fact. It was screaming gold. Looked like it had to have come from the quartz/ironstone outcrop, or the laterite above it, and there should have been nuggets trapped in that schist. Obviously we effectively gridded the area were Dad found the bit, did the creek, etc. Then most of the likely creeks, sheds off quartz, ironstone wash, you name it but nothing to follow up.

When you are there you run out of ideas and hence stream pretty quick. But after you leave you start thinking and wondering. I know I could find some small gold elsewhere putting in the same effort, but it is these more left field areas that have potential to produce a proper 'virgin patch' with some big gold, or a real reef.

Maybe it came from the contact zone further up in the hills, or maybe its all old gold from the laterite? I don't know anything about looking for gold in laterite, never done it till last week, so would appreciate any tips/info someone might share.

Apologies for the ramble, but maybe its got you thinking, and even a little fired up to have a go at some actual prospecting. Good luck to you if you do!

Cheers
Stingray

I've found loaming the top layer of laterized material the best way to pin point the source. Dig holes in a grid pattern around the nugget you found. About 2-300mm deep into the hard material, smash it up and pan it. Where ever you get the most colors dig deeper and wider into the hard stuff.

Tkinggold wrote:

Moneybox wrote:I'm camped at Glendon camping area 30km west of Warwick in Queensland. The property is open to fossicking and prospecting and a guy runs gold fossicking tours here. It's got lots of shallow diggings but almost no quartz. I think if you walked over the same ground in WA you'd just move on. I really have no idea where to start. I've looked at some of the mines and they are the same, just a few little bits of quartz lying around perhaps one every two meters around the shaft but it's hard to find any nearby. The iron stone and grey soil is nasty stuff. In some patches it goes off like our hot rocks, you dig but in the end there's no target. All the soil makes a signal as you pass it over the coil. It's hilly country with lots of gullies with vertical shale traps, mostly scraped clean. I'm looking at a new area in the morning and if no good I'll just move on.

Try crevicing the dry gullies out there mate, take the dirt down to the dam and wash it

Yeah thanks for that. There's been a lot of activity in those many crevices but I flew over with the detector but left the pan and sieves at home. Perhaps we'll get to drop in again it's only a few thousand Km's up the road

Hi Thinggold, thanks for the tip mate, sounds like you have done it before. In your experience is the lateritic gold more likely to have formed in-situ (grown there) or is it old alluvial/elluvial that has cemented in the laterite as it formed? I would have thought it is the latter?

Good luck out there Phil and Sandra!

Cheers
Stingray

Stingray wrote:Hi Thinggold, thanks for the tip mate, sounds like you have done it before. In your experience is the lateritic gold more likely to have formed in-situ (grown there) or is it old alluvial/elluvial that has cemented in the laterite as it formed? I would have thought it is the latter?

Good luck out there Phil and Sandra!

Cheers
Stingray

The material itself is a bit of both, some weathered from the surrounding hills, some from the rock underneath. But the gold has generally come from very close in my experience.
As the water table has risen and fallen over time, so has the chemical make up. The sulphides etc in the rock create highly acidic conditions which dissolve the gold and other minerals leaving a leached zone ( the really white powdery rock ) and super enrich the laterites and cap rock above. This is the stuff I target, not necessarily a reef, but enriched patches in the cap rock where the gold has reformed. This is why crystalline nuggets are common in laterites, because they have regrown insitu.

This link has a bit of reading with a few pics that help explain supergene enrichment. The paleo channel type is more common around Kalgoorlie. But the laterite type is common all around WA.

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Hi Tkinggold, thank you very much for taking the time to respond, it is very useful insight and much appreciated. Thanks also for the paper, I look forward to reading it.

Cheers
Stingray