Alluvial dig hole's?

[lost a bit]

Just wondering when you come across digging's and mullock heaps around the hole, are the areas in between these holes virgin ground that wasn't dug or have they been dug and refilled when other holes were dug next to them, I hope this makes some kind of sense.

cheers lab

 

[TenOunce Tone]

I would think it would be virgin ground, I dont think the Old timers cared to fill in the holes they made, hence so many of them around the place

 

[Guest]

G'day Lab - I've been thinking about this since Saturday. Still can't find any info on why they dug the shallow ground like that but I reckon as they followed the leads they sampled (which would be the smaller ones) until they found ground rich enough to be "payable". Once they found it they dug out the larger holes. Still don't know why there doesn't appear to be any logical sequence to it other than they were in a rush to get what they could. In my opinion the ground in between could still have some nice, reasonably shallow gold as what info I can get says that when they did find these areas they worked frantically to find the next "payable" hole overlooking some spots & leaving smaller nuggets/gold behind in the "rush". I wonder if the Chinese had been there would they have "strip mined" the whole area? Also read some info that not only is it worth detecting these areas but also around the edges of them as sometimes they just followed ahead & didn't stray too far off where they thought the rich lead was running leaving areas behind.
Hopefully someone with more experience will post something as I'm curious about this now too having seen a few similar spots.

 

[Redmanti]

I would just dig in the same hole. Have a look to see where the wash layers are, the overburden and if there is any clay. The old timers often are just going for the wash layer.

 

[backcreek]

Hay Lost a bit,

It depends on the depth of the hole.
In the area I work there are quite a few shafts up to 12m deep.
The old boys dug down till they hit bedrock then followed the bedrock with drives taking all the material they dug out and either washed it in the river or ground sluiced it with water supplied from races.
For the size of the shafts there is a surprising lack of tailings so I think most of it was washed in the river.
I think this is why there is so much fine gold in the river as they were only interested in the quick easy gold and the fine stuff got away.
Cheers
Mick

 

[Diggerdude]

They would bell out the bottom of their holes aswell by about a meter witch is what gives you about two meters between the holes in a lot of places. They didn't get it all though and there would still be some in between. The most successful method I have seen is to clear out the old hole to bedrock as the old timers did then use a kanga hammer to smash out about 2-300mm of the bedrock where gold has made its way in to the cracks. The old fellas didn't have jack hammers so often didn't bother.

DD

 

[backcreek]

Hay DD,

I don't think I'd advise anyone to climb into an old shaft and start banging it about with a kanga. If you were not careful it would most probably be the last thing you ever did.

Cheers
Mick

 

[Guest]

Can't legally use a kanga hammer in NSW but it'd be good if you could in some spots
These diggings are quite shallow - maybe a metre or so deep & some are little more than depressions. They also vary in width, some up to about 3m & the smaller depressions only about 1m. The mullock heaps appear to match the size hole so I don't know how they were processing it but have read it was course gold + some nuggets around the general area. It was shallow here & reports say as little as 3" deep in places.
The leads appear to be from a few hundred metres long to possibly several km's in spots & where the ground hasn't been levelled out is like a moonscape of assorted random holes. Like Backcreek in his area I think they may have been chasing the quick gold, digging the smaller holes to sample until one showed what they considered payable amounts then concentrated on it & so on.
Its only a theory though but if correct could mean some good gold still there? Need to do some sampling to prove/disprove it?
A recirculating highbanker may be the go if it sampled ok + continue detecting.

 

[Diggerdude]

Hay DD,

I don't think I'd advise anyone to climb into an old shaft and start banging it about with a kanga. If you were not careful it would most probably be the last thing you ever did.

Cheers
Mick

I will remember to add a safety disclaimer next time to not do anything retarded.

In most areas the whole idea is illegal anyhow, as they are historic and your not allowed to disturb them.
In NSW your not allowed to dig more than 1 meter deep and elsewhere any hole over 1.5m must be benched/shored.

DD

 

[Redmanti]

Most diggings I work are about 1m deep. Don't take any risks and like Digger says dig up anything in historic sites. There are plenty of sites out there.

The ones I work are in state forest where the loggers pretty much demolish everything in the way. I mean everything is demolished but nature will regenerate in just a few years.

Many plantation forests just level the diggings with rippers.

 

[lost a bit]

the area I am talking about is on private land and some of the diggings have been filled in and ploughed for oats, so in saying that does this mean they aren't protected ( this ploughing occurred many years ago ) or are all old digging now protected.

 

[Redmanti]

Not protected. Has to be a designated Historic area usually with a sign on it.

Your clear to dig away.

 

[lost a bit]

Can't legally use a kanga hammer in NSW but it'd be good if you could in some spots
These diggings are quite shallow - maybe a metre or so deep & some are little more than depressions. They also vary in width, some up to about 3m & the smaller depressions only about 1m. The mullock heaps appear to match the size hole so I don't know how they were processing it but have read it was course gold + some nuggets around the general area. It was shallow here & reports say as little as 3" deep in places.
The leads appear to be from a few hundred metres long to possibly several km's in spots & where the ground hasn't been levelled out is like a moonscape of assorted random holes. Like Backcreek in his area I think they may have been chasing the quick gold, digging the smaller holes to sample until one showed what they considered payable amounts then concentrated on it & so on.
Its only a theory though but if correct could mean some good gold still there? Need to do some sampling to prove/disprove it?
A recirculating highbanker may be the go if it sampled ok + continue detecting.

well mbasko i'll organize the backhoe if you get the washing gear. .
but it is good to know that we could in theory wash the old holes and maybe dig new ones.

 

[Guest]

I found a hand operated backhoe we could use

:lol:

Seriously though I reckon some time spent sampling out there could be well worth it.

 

[godigger]

Hi In this area around Glenreagh I find the small diggings are on the slopes of the hills (mountains) and could be a number of them close together I think this is because there was gold found by panned along the creeks and were it was richer there thinking was it came down from the slopes of the hills higher up, slowly braking up and washed down with rain and wind so I think it was a lot of guess work. Just a bit of warning if you come across were a shaft was it will properly only look like a depression in the ground thats because over time twigs, grass and leaves have put a top on it. Meany a horse has gone down theres holes when they walked on to them so walk lightly
Noel

 

[Guest]

so I think it was a lot of guess work.
Noel

Maybe some guess work & luck but don't discount the oldtimers techniques. A lot of them were very cluey & knew more about geology etc. than most of us. The sampling, loaming, costeaning etc. they carried out wasn't about guess work so much but using them, or combinations of them, lead the oldtimers to the gold sources i.e lodes/reefs. They knew what they were doing.
We have the disadvantage of a lot of areas having already been "discovered" but we also have the advantage of being able to get some knowledge of their techniques & we have better technology i.e. detectors. We just need to work out the who/how/why of what they left & establish whether its worth our time to continue in these old areas or just move on. They are always worth a try I reckon.
P.s the oldtimers didn't always find the source either. I know of one major goldfield where the mother lode was never found. It was mainly mined for alluvial gold in ancient river bed shallow/deep leads & surface nuggets found but never was a major source found. Some reef mining has occurred but none to date explain the amount of historical gold obtained from the leads. Of course it may have long petered out & what was mined/found was the remnants of the mother lode or it could still be out there somewhere. Could drive you mad wondering & searching :lol:

 

[The Green Wanderer]

Bear in mind also that some of these diggings may have been very inaccessable and only shown low grade ore in the 19th century are much easier to access today and may still have a few ounces of gold in them.
They would have been abandoned at the time that they were found as the cost of getting to and from the mine outweighed any profit from 19th century gold prices. So in theory it could be worth re-working them to a safe depth.
Legislation in qld is max 2m deep on soil, max 0.5m in watercourses. Still 2m would see me needing a ladder or rope to get out of probly, im only 5'10''.

 

[jimnyjerry]

Still 2m would see me needing a ladder or rope to get out of probly, im only 5'10''.

Cut a series of ledges (steps) in a side wall and you can get out and in. Works for me