Warwick QLD Area Beginner - Dipping toes in the water; literally.

Prospecting Australia

Help Support Prospecting Australia:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Oh!Pal

Oh!Pal

Joined
Mar 25, 2023
Messages
11
Reaction score
13
Location
QLD
Hi all,
I was preparing plate-tectonics lessons for a junior high-school science class last week and had an epiphany. My daughter is an outdoors type and I'm not. But it occurred to me that fossicking might be a way to build a hobby in common. She has a ute, I have a caravan near Warwick. I've taken the plunge and splurged on a used GM1000 ($480! Win!) and a couple of panning kits, a bag of paydirt, an awning and a $10 paddling pool for the back garden to practice panning in (how to do it without knackering my back!) If I can pan in my back garden with a TV and beer, then I can meet my daughter at Warwick then drive west to a public area and sit and pan with scenery and a beer while she joins in or goes rock-hopping and such. If I get a 0.02g fleck I'll a) be happy and b) expose myself to gold fever to see whether it leads me (and hopefully us) further afield in years to come.
Are there many members or meetups between Stanthorpe, Warwick and Toowoomba? I noticed a post here for a minerals event in Warwick at the start of April and I'll try to get there.
 
Excellent Strategy Oh!Pal - Trying at home first with paydirt to teach yourself the correct panning technique - you will soon see the most efficient way to process a panful and since it is all going back in the bucket for another shot you will know how much gold to expect second and third try and will soon see if you start getting a bit careless & discarding gold .

Your approach will really build your confidence so when you are in the creek you will not be thinking - Is it me - am I throwing the gold away or is it that there isnt any in this spot.

My only suggestion is to focus on immediately upstream & downstream of rock bars up against their face & also deep cracks in any creek rocks and scrape down to their absolute bottom with a screwdriver or pick point. You are better off spending your time collecting a small amount of paydirt that nature has already concentrated up 1000x than trying to process shovelfull after shovelfull.

If you are going to any of the Warwick GPAs over Easter you sure wont be on your own !
 
Thanks guys. I got the packet of paydirt this morning and the GM1000 made all sorts of beeps and groans when I turned it on and waved it up and down. Then it gave some sort of consistent squeal over the Amazon bubble wrap, but I had to set it to position 11 - the first auto setting for it to be usable. Does it always make such a cacophany? I was also surprised that it was randomly silent on a couple of swings. It all felt very digital rather than analogue - but I liked the barchart on the display growing to the right to indicate gold. The paydirt was from an Aussie supplier ($17) who doesn't enrich the sample making it a bit of a gamble, but he was clear about this in the advert. I haven't opened the inner packet but I can see a goodly number of pretty yellow specks among the sand grains through the cellophane. I'm feeling pretty happy about my plan right now.
 
I had a happy hour figuring out Queensland Government's topographic map website today. The spider web on the bottom right is the marked creek paths at Talgai so that I could build a mental picture of the fossicking area (green arrows show general creek direction up to the high ground - dotted lines - and the yellow arrows show where the creeks run on the other side. Now I need to work out if I'm more likely to find heavies in crevices in the steep runs or the shallow ones.
 

Attachments

  • Talgai Conture Mud Map.PNG
    Talgai Conture Mud Map.PNG
    1,019.3 KB · Views: 6
To make it easier to talk about areas. I labelled 1km blocks below. Anyone else on here going to Talgai the long weekend/Easter?
 

Attachments

  • Talgai km blocks.PNG
    Talgai km blocks.PNG
    41.4 KB · Views: 2
Hi Oh!Pal,
I pm’d you tonight about your earlier message in March. Sorry I missed it. How did you go Easter?
I heard there’s a free camp ground in Karara which is meant to be pretty close to a few of the public fossicking areas. Not sure if it’s still there but it’s worth a look for future trips.
I’m still interested in a trip/trips to the Warwick area as per my pm if you’d like.
Cheers
 
Oh!Pal said:
Hi all,
I was preparing plate-tectonics lessons for a junior high-school science class last week and had an epiphany. My daughter is an outdoors type and I'm not. But it occurred to me that fossicking might be a way to build a hobby in common. She has a ute, I have a caravan near Warwick. I've taken the plunge and splurged on a used GM1000 ($480! Win!) and a couple of panning kits, a bag of paydirt, an awning and a $10 paddling pool for the back garden to practice panning in (how to do it without knackering my back!) If I can pan in my back garden with a TV and beer, then I can meet my daughter at Warwick then drive west to a public area and sit and pan with scenery and a beer while she joins in or goes rock-hopping and such. If I get a 0.02g fleck I'll a) be happy and b) expose myself to gold fever to see whether it leads me (and hopefully us) further afield in years to come.
Are there many members or meetups between Stanthorpe, Warwick and Toowoomba? I noticed a post here for a minerals event in Warwick at the start of April and I'll try to get there.
Click to expand...
My great grand father invested in and worked a goldmine at BIGHILL at Warwick until the 1910's but it's now a private small rural property. If you search TROVE newspapers there are lots of references to the mine which had shareholders. The surface discovery seems to have been very rich gold in limonite, like in ounces per shovel full but it only seems to have been a small producer as they sank the shafts. An epithermal vein deposit if I read it correctly. The mine consumed all his money which is a salient lesson for those who catch gold fever. Good luck with your venture. If I lived up that way I'd be getting a good geology map and also track the gold deposits down via the AGSO portal, which is brilliant. I am sure there will be some sort of elluvial or alluvial placer deposits that eroded from the Bighill reefs over eons.
 
Oh!Pal said:
Hi all,
I was preparing plate-tectonics lessons for a junior high-school science class last week and had an epiphany. My daughter is an outdoors type and I'm not. But it occurred to me that fossicking might be a way to build a hobby in common. She has a ute, I have a caravan near Warwick. I've taken the plunge and splurged on a used GM1000 ($480! Win!) and a couple of panning kits, a bag of paydirt, an awning and a $10 paddling pool for the back garden to practice panning in (how to do it without knackering my back!) If I can pan in my back garden with a TV and beer, then I can meet my daughter at Warwick then drive west to a public area and sit and pan with scenery and a beer while she joins in or goes rock-hopping and such. If I get a 0.02g fleck I'll a) be happy and b) expose myself to gold fever to see whether it leads me (and hopefully us) further afield in years to come.
Are there many members or meetups between Stanthorpe, Warwick and Toowoomba? I noticed a post here for a minerals event in Warwick at the start of April and I'll try to get there.
Click to expand...
I have an article I wrote on the mine(s) which I just remembered was in Pratten. You are welcome to a copy if it's of interest. I will send that to you privately but I won't attach it here. I used to teach science/maths in High School in Qld in the 70's which dates me well and truly.
 
Hairyman could you send it on to me as well please... My mate Caretakes a property on Big Hill Road and also one in Pratten . He has some diggings up the back.. I have been trying to name the mine/mines for Him , but so far it remains nameless...

LW...
 
Last edited:
Hairyman said:
I have an article I wrote on the mine(s) which I just remembered was in Pratten. You are welcome to a copy if it's of interest. I will send that to you privately but I won't attach it here. I used to teach science/maths in High School in Qld in the 70's which dates me well and truly.
Click to expand...
I’d love a copy to get a background feel for the area. That’d be a real treasure. Thank you.
 
LONEWOLF said:
Hairyman could you send it on to me as well please... My mate Caretakes a property on Big Hill Road and also one in Pratten . He has some diggings up the back.. I have been trying to name the mine/mines for Him , but so far it remains nameless...

LW..
Click to expand...
Here is the report. Sorry for the lateness - old age and all that. Hairyman.
Oh!Pal said:
I had a happy hour figuring out Queensland Government's topographic map website today. The spider web on the bottom right is the marked creek paths at Talgai so that I could build a mental picture of the fossicking area (green arrows show general creek direction up to the high ground - dotted lines - and the yellow arrows show where the creeks run on the other side. Now I need to work out if I'm more likely to find heavies in crevices in the steep runs or the shallow ones.
Click to expand...

Oh!Pal said:
Thanks mate
Click to expand...
Oh!Pal said:
Hi all,
I was preparing plate-tectonics lessons for a junior high-school science class last week and had an epiphany. My daughter is an outdoors type and I'm not. But it occurred to me that fossicking might be a way to build a hobby in common. She has a ute, I have a caravan near Warwick. I've taken the plunge and splurged on a used GM1000 ($480! Win!) and a couple of panning kits, a bag of paydirt, an awning and a $10 paddling pool for the back garden to practice panning in (how to do it without knackering my back!) If I can pan in my back garden with a TV and beer, then I can meet my daughter at Warwick then drive west to a public area and sit and pan with scenery and a beer while she joins in or goes rock-hopping and such. If I get a 0.02g fleck I'll a) be happy and b) expose myself to gold fever to see whether it leads me (and hopefully us) further afield in years to come.
Are there many members or meetups between Stanthorpe, Warwick and Toowoomba? I noticed a post here for a minerals event in Warwick at the start of April and I'll try to get there.
Click to expand...
A bit late - sorry about that. Hope it helps.
 

Attachments

  • Appendix B.pdf
    243.6 KB · Views: 9

Latest posts

Top