Is it "where you find it" (gold)

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I often hear the old expression "gold is where you find it", and slavish belief in this can waste a lot of time and reduce your chances of success to zero.

For a prospector that is only true at the level of "halfway up that hill opposite" or "in the roots of that big tree".
It is completely false at the level of "anywhere on the alluvial flat versus on the hillside", "on young alluvial clays in a valley", "in this area of Jurassic sandstone or granite" versus "on that Archean greenstone or Ordovician slate".

This is why it is important to have some idea of where gold is restricted to, and where in such areas it is more likely to occur. For example, it is 99.99% certain that you will not get a speck of gold prospecting in the Otway Ranges in Victoria or on most of the ranges of South Gippsland or on the basalt lava plains of south-central Victoria or on Mallee sand dunes.

Likewise, even in the correct rocks (eg Ordovician rocks of central Victoria). you will have ten times the success rate in complex folded rocks than in those not folded, or in areas where quartz float is common - but 99% sure that you won't find it over granite. Except over the very few granites of a certain age that can occur (which make up only perhaps 5% of Victorian granites). However success can be very good over granites of north Queensland, but still ten times better over certain types of those granites. So it is not just areas where it might be or areas where it will not be, but areas with great chances of success versus areas with limited chances of success - probabilities. And as a general rule, areas where dozens of quartz reefs (veins) were worked will have a greater chance of success than an area where only Starving Fred got only 5 oz out of a thin qiartz vein at the head of one gully (but nowhere else).

Likewise on alluvial flats, gold may be 99% confined to old mine dumps, whereas further up the hillside it may be almost everywhere in the soil.

So take care with slavishly accepting this old adage - the first prospectors did not know any of these differences and had to "suck it and see" - hundreds of thousands of prospectors, 150 years, and advances in geological understanding since have made it possible to hugely increase your chances of success with a little geological understanding. This adage will still be true, but only at the level of "halfway up that hillside" or "next to that big tree" once you have chosen the right area - so do your research when choosing an area before you begin.
 
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A leaseholder and full time prospector aquaintance of mine believes that gold can travel up to 35 ks in the right conditions.
I personally find this a bit of a stretch.
However in my own experience i would suggest it can easily travel 2ks. Keeping in mind it's had millions of yrs to do so.

It's where you find it, within that 2 or so kilometers of the source.
 
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A leaseholder and full time prospector aquaintance of mine believes that gold can travel up to 35 ks in the right conditions.
I personally find this a bit of a stretch.
However in my own experience i would suggest it can easily travel 2ks. Keeping in mind it's had millions of yrs to do so.

It's where you find it, within that 2 or so kilometers.
I have a highly reliable case at it being economic 25 km downstream from source (Eldorado). as very fine gold. But in general 400 m for very coarse gold, less than half that for big nuggets, a couple of km max for any economic gold in general (with the rare exception).

The old timers often mistakenly thought it travelled further because reefs in much of Victoria strike north-south and palaeodrainages ran north-south, so they were being constantly replenished by new gold coming from reefs on either side of their valleys.


1677633454817.png
 
We agree then, 35 ks is possible in the right conditions.
Possibly yes - the above map is 25 km over the unmineralized granite from Beechworth to Eldorado. Very fine gold by the time it reaches 25 km, but economic nevertheless.
 
I often hear the old expression "gold is where you find it", and slavish belief in this can waste a lot of time and reduce your chances of success to zero.

For a prospector that is only true at the level of "halfway up that hill opposite" or "in the roots of that big tree".
It is completely false at the level of "anywhere on the alluvial flat versus on the hillside", "on young alluvial clays in a valley", "in this area of Jurassic sandstone or granite" versus "on that Archean greenstone or Ordovician slate".

This is why it is important to have some idea of where gold is restricted to, and where in such areas it is more likely to occur. For example, it is 99.99% certain that you will not get a speck of gold prospecting in the Otway Ranges in Victoria or on most of the ranges of South Gippsland or on the basalt lava plains of south-central Victoria or on Mallee sand dunes.

Likewise, even in the correct rocks (eg Ordovician rocks of central Victoria). you will have ten times the success rate in complex folded rocks than in those not folded, or in areas where quartz float is common - but 99% sure that you won't find it over granite. Except over the very few granites of a certain age that can occur (which make up only perhaps 5% of Victorian granites). However success can be very good over granites of north Queensland, but still ten times better over certain types of those granites. So it is not just areas where it might be or areas where it will not be, but areas with great chances of success versus areas with limited chances of success - probabilities. And as a general rule, areas where dozens of quartz rees (veins) were worked will have a greater chance of success than an area where only Starving Fred got only 5 oz out of a thin qiartz vein at the head of one gully (but nowhere else).

Likewise on alluvial flats, gold may be 99% confined to old mine dumps, whereas further up the hillside it may be almost everywhere in the soil.

So take care with slavishly accepting this old adage - the first prospectors did not know any of these differences and had to "suck it and see" - hundreds of thousands of prospectors, 150 years, and advances in geological understanding since have made it possible to hugely increase your chances of success with a little geological understanding. This adage will still be true, but only at the level of "halfway up that hillside" or "next to that big tree" once you have chosen the right area - so do your research when choosing an area before you begin.
Precisely why research is key.

Watch some videos about how to use GeoVic or similar mapping tools and stay out of trouble.
 

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