Recent content by mdv

If you build your HB as per Wal's configuration, 1.2m is plenty long enough for gold - straight from Wal's mouth. Wal makes his standard Walbankers at 1.5m to cover both gold and gems.

Thanks BigWave, Yes many fond memories of the old gal and her 2 sisters, and all the great Aussie crewmates who served in them. But better to see them become a dive site in accessible local waters than being towed to Korea as scrap and returned to us in the form of razor blades. :)

In my mind I am retired; in my wife's mind I should be looking for another job. Previously served 30 years in the Navy where I was overworked and perhaps underpaid. Highlight was being the commanding officer of the warship in my avatar. Then spent 10 years as a consultant to a global Defence...

I built my Miller table from what I saw on Youtube - see my photos here: https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=208671#p208671. scroll down to my post of 25 Nov 2015. You can see the hole near the top right of the table. I drilled out the top of a 1oz plastic vial which is...

I run my DIY Miller table at a very slight angle - prob about 1-2 degree. Just enough to push the fine black/blond sands but leave the flour gold in place, or at worst for flour gold to move slowly enough to catch it with a brush and push it back up into the collection hole. I also regulate...

In terms of overnight stops, you might consider: Banka Banka station - unless you prefer the 'big smoke' of Tennant Creek. Nice views from the very short walk at the back of the park. Daly Waters - the caravan park on the highway a couple km south of the Daly Waters turn-off is IMO better than...

My sampling kit comprises: small pointy nose all-metal shovel and metal hand spade (gardening variety)[/*] miners pick (one that can be used either both hands or single-handed)[/*] Garrett super sluice pan and deep-sided 1/4 inch sieve [/*] snuffer bottle[/*] 2 ft jimmy bar (for moving boulders...

I have the luxury of prospecting private property (in-law's farm) so don't have to worry about anyone else 'moving in' on my sampling areas. So I will spend one or more weekends sampling (leaving the highbanker at home). Once I have identified a suitable area from sampling, and subject to water...

As I did when I was a newbie. But now I am wiser. "Size matters" - just think about how many fly-poo specks it would take to match a 0.1g picker? 100's, possibly 1,000's?

There are no hard and fast rules for sample panning a creek - just a lot of sound principles. One important principle is that sampling should be systematic, not random. Sampling determines two things: 1) is there 'worthwhile' gold being deposited in that location; and 2) where is the highest...

All my highbanking is solo. I shovel into 4 x 10 litre buckets and then feed these through the Walbanker 1/3 bucket at a time, raking between feeds. Then stop for a short break before repeating the cycle.

Search of topics :Crevicing tools" gives these results: https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/search.php?search_id=391084561. There are more posts if you 'search by post'. :)

Welcome back mate. I missed your great stories about your gold pursuits, and look forward to their resumption. I kinda know what domestic stresses can do to you. And I find getting out there and prospecting is a great stress reliever, and in my case no matter how little gold I might find. Good...

I very much liked the short story. And to top it off, he filled in his hole - what a good chap. ;)

Now that the creek on our farm has dried up, I can get into some nice looking rockbars and holes. Unfortunately, not enough water to HB so its panning in a puddle. Took 20 pans of material out of a small rockbar drop-off for some colour but not enough to get excited. Then a single pan from a 6"...