Creek tumbling underground

[Tricky Dick]

Hi there,
I've come across some local creeks in gold bearing areas where the creek doesn't really cross areas of bedrock for the gold to accumulate. I've tried heading up into the hills to avoid the low lying meandering creeks snaking over deep sand. Up in the hills (like the Ada River in Gippsland) the creek often runs both above and below the ground with the water tumbling over fairly large rocks. At times the creek can disappear and can be heard well below the surface (up to 5-6 feet).

There are the odd gravel collection areas below drops and behind tree stumps, but I haven't had success yet in panning with no show of colour.

Do you think it's worth pursuing, or should I abandon these areas and look for more likely areas with exposed bedrock?

Your advice would be gratefully appreciated!

Cheers
TD

 

[AtomRat]

There is gold about but you may have to get in there a bit more and put in a few hours or days until you hit some decent color. Try to keep it close access to the road for starters so you dont wreck yourself from walking to far every time. Once you start to hit some specks, make your way upstream and see if there is an increase in the yield in the pan.

There are some nice gemstones in those gravel collections.

In stead of digging out behind rocks, stumps and inside bends, dig down straight in the middle of the creek, no where special, and dig to 1 foot. Sample the gravel under that first foot and see if theres color. What you are looking for is a change under the pebbles like hitting a flood layer ( greyish and twigs ) or even better, hitting a nice 'snotty' clay ( white or creamy yellow brown in your area ).

Be careful of those underground streams and paths the creeks cut, they can be an awesome ankle trap if you are not careful, and never try to dig down to the underground steam, work at the exposed areas. The reason I say dont attempt to dig down, I did it, and got the scare of my life when my shovel broke through the soil and fell out of my hand to drop down 3 meters and then taken away into the fast moving water. I would hate to be stuck under a mountain with no way out.

I am from Launching Place, I can possibly come out for a trip or two and see if I can help find some color.

When you make 10 posts on the forum, you can PM me your number if you like

 

[20x]

There is gold about but you may have to get in there a bit more and put in a few hours or days until you hit some decent color. Try to keep it close access to the road for starters so you dont wreck yourself from walking to far every time. Once you start to hit some specks, make your way upstream and see if there is an increase in the yield in the pan.

There are some nice gemstones in those gravel collections.

In stead of digging out behind rocks, stumps and inside bends, dig down straight in the middle of the creek, no where special, and dig to 1 foot. Sample the gravel under that first foot and see if theres color. What you are looking for is a change under the pebbles like hitting a flood layer ( greyish and twigs ) or even better, hitting a nice 'snotty' clay ( white or creamy yellow brown in your area ).

Be careful of those underground streams and paths the creeks cut, they can be an awesome ankle trap if you are not careful, and never try to dig down to the underground steam, work at the exposed areas. The reason I say dont attempt to dig down, I did it, and got the scare of my life when my shovel broke through the soil and fell out of my hand to drop down 3 meters and then taken away into the fast moving water. I would hate to be stuck under a mountain with no way out.

I am from Launching Place, I can possibly come out for a trip or two and see if I can help find some color.

When you make 10 posts on the forum, you can PM me your number if you like

i actually lived in launching place for a few months years back ey..never thought of gold then but...i remember being taken for a drive looking for fishing spots and i do remember seeing a spot where the river was exiting a hole in the mountain...interesting

 

[AtomRat]

Yeah, theres a few around the area here, the places im talking about are more kirth kiln, shiprock falls, and big pats
Launch is still boring and empty