Gold Distribution Spreadsheet

[TTKooAu]

Hi, don't know if this has come up here before. There is a spread-sheet available at http://www.gold-prospecting-wa.com/gold-nugget-distribution.html which uses a statistical approach to predicting the probable gold in a patch.
I can't quite get my head around the 'patch' as it doesn't seem to be of any particular size. Anyway, link is there, and I found it interesting reading. Make of it what you will. TT

 

[loamer]

Thanks TT very interesting read you found - at least he is honest enough to admit straight away: "The short answer to that is no, we don't have sufficient data to prove it conclusively." It is however, a very interesting read. Patches can be funny old things - this is the reason most prospectors are now hitting their old patches with newer machines and picking up - smaller shallow gold and/or deeper smaller/bigger gold - depending on the patch. With the case of using Zipf's Law - I would actually support the conclusions based on experiencing the continued smaller and smaller and smaller nuggets being pulled out of old patches. Zipf's Law also applies the other way - find patch, change to bigger coil and find deeper and possibly bigger gold.

There is still the theory - find a patch - dig 2 feet down, 2 feet around each target. The old timers would have called that surfacing/paddocking.

 

[TTKooAu]

Thanks TT very interesting read you found - at least he is honest enough to admit straight away: "The short answer to that is no, we don't have sufficient data to prove it conclusively." It is however, a very interesting read. Patches can be funny old things - this is the reason most prospectors are now hitting their old patches with newer machines and picking up - smaller shallow gold and/or deeper smaller/bigger gold - depending on the patch. With the case of using Zipf's Law - I would actually support the conclusions based on experiencing the continued smaller and smaller and smaller nuggets being pulled out of old patches. Zipf's Law also applies the other way - find patch, change to bigger coil and find deeper and possibly bigger gold.

There is still the theory - find a patch - dig 2 feet down, 2 feet around each target. The old timers would have called that surfacing/paddocking.

Hey Loamer,
yes it is interesting. All I ask for is the chance to prove it ! lol..... keep on searching.

 

[Diggerdude]

I like to plot all mine on GISRoam , it allows you plot them on a digital map of the exact spot (within 1m) then add details etc. Makes it simple to get back to patches and work out patterns. In one spot in WA the nugget patches seemed to be randomly spread over 20km square area, but after plotting it was amazing how all were within a certain altitude 600-650m. Must have been something to sea level/glacial retreat that happened millions of years ago and brought them all to the same level. Never would have worked this out without plotting them. This rule doesn't work everywhere but certainly helped us find more gold in this area.

DD

 

[TTKooAu]

I like to plot all mine on GISRoam , it allows you plot them on a digital map of the exact spot (within 1m) then add details etc. Makes it simple to get back to patches and work out patterns. In one spot in WA the nugget patches seemed to be randomly spread over 20km square area, but after plotting it was amazing how all were within a certain altitude 600-650m. Must have been something to sea level/glacial retreat that happened millions of years ago and brought them all to the same level. Never would have worked this out without plotting them. This rule doesn't work everywhere but certainly helped us find more gold in this area.

DD

thanks diggerdude,
That is very interesting.....makes you stop and ponder the mechanics of it all. Gold is one interesting topic. My wife says I should get that interested in the garden.... bwah haw!

You know what freaks me out the most is that after all of the effort of all of mankind over the ages, and all of the looking, digging, detecting, washing... whatever.... someone calculated in 2012 that all of the gold ever found in all of the world in all of history that we know about then would only fill a box 69 feet x 69 feet x 69 feet.... approx. 174,000 tonnes....

 

[condor22]

From what I've heard, no one knows where all of the nuggets were found. If I found a big one, I certainly would keep quiet about where it was found until I'ld exhausted the patch and then only give a general location.

So given that statistical assumptions are only as good as data input, I'ld have little confidence.