mum and 5 year old son Just Starting Out from Perth WA

[G Review]

Hi All

My name is Gemma and I have a 5-year-old son Charlie. Charlie has been convincing me to start camping and is interested in finding items out in the bush area (all stem from school and going to Bush school). We found our camping equipment and purchased all items recommended for gold prospecting. Charlie got his pickaxe, digging equipment and mum has a miner's license and metal detector. We are out having some fun camping and hopefully being lucky with finding some gold pieces. We also want to take our sausage dogs on our adventures. We don't mind driving for around 5 hours so we can have a good time camping and prospecting.

Please can you advise where would be a good place to start with a very enthusiastic 5-year-old? We will at least need to find one spec of gold if we can. He's got his sun hat and fly net ready to go. Do I need to get any other licenses to go with the mine license we already have? if we do what do i need to get and how do we apply?

We are happy to take any feedback. We are just starting out and obviously not going to do this on any kind of large scale. I have tengraph access but learning how to use this with the information and videos provided.

Thank you for any help you can help us with

 

[Hippyty79]

My youngest got her miners right at 7yrs, she was proud as punch.

 

[Moneybox]

The dificult part is your location. There's no easy access to gold from Perth. You might consider getting strarted treasure hunting first simply because you can do it right near home. Most of the sandy playgrounds will give up a few coins and so will the beaches.

We moved to Cue because we used to have to travel out Kalgoolie way or north to Yalgoo or further. If you don't mind a big drive I can help you find your first bit in Cue but it won't be big. Our leases have been raided by metal detectorists for the last 40 years so there's only tiny gold left. If you just want some tips on using your detector and mapping I'm in Dianella for the weekend. PM me. Phil

 

[grubstake]

Hi Gemma - welcome to PA.

As Moneybox says above, Perth isn't well-placed for ease of access to goldfields. Moreover unlike most other states, WA doesn't have rivers or creeks where an enthusiastic child can quickly learn to dig and pan for specks and flakes.

Anyway, here's some possibly helpful local links for you:

This is the basic rules and regs stuff -
https://www.dmp.wa.gov.au/Minerals/Prospectors-fossickers-1525.aspx
I believe this local club runs an annual goldfields camping expedition, which might be a good tag-a-long trip for you and Charlie -
http://www.wcmdc.com.au/
If rocks and gemstones are also of interest to the lad, here's a couple of relevant links -
https://www.walapidaryclub.org.au/https://www.perthgemmineralshow.com/

 

[G Review]

Thank you all so much for your replies. We are happy to do a long drive. We have camping equipment so we can have an adventure at the same time. We have a 4x4 which he enjoys doing as well. my boy is a little adventurer and I want to encourage it. It looks like we need to do a longer drive.

We were looking at old mine sites, can we go to these for a scan around or is this where we need to get a 40e permit and permission? Sorry for all the questions there is so much information, I am getting a little confused. We are going to look at the clubs.

Thank you so much. I think Charlie wants to be one of snow white Dwarfs cause he keeps going hi ho it's off mining we go

 

[grubstake]

We were looking at old mine sites, can we go to these for a scan around or is this where we need to get a 40e permit and permission?

Please be aware that old mine sites are potentially very hazardous environments for children and the unwary. Close supervision would be essential at all times in such areas, of which there are many in outback WA.

 

[Moneybox]

Thank you all so much for your replies. We are happy to do a long drive. We have camping equipment so we can have an adventure at the same time. We have a 4x4 which he enjoys doing as well. my boy is a little adventurer and I want to encourage it. It looks like we need to do a longer drive.

We were looking at old mine sites, can we go to these for a scan around or is this where we need to get a 40e permit and permission? Sorry for all the questions there is so much information, I am getting a little confused. We are going to look at the clubs.

Thank you so much. I think Charlie wants to be one of snow white Dwarfs cause he keeps going hi ho it's off mining we go

Gemma, I was hoping you'd cach up here in Perth over the weekend and I could show you how to read the available prospecting areas in WA.