The Dangers of Gold Prospecting!

[Dingo]

Here is a video of what not to do gold prospecting!

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/video/id-picXQ3eTrh5i8ZgmKQiwEEtz-cim98Dk/Lost-In-the-Outback

 

[Guest]

I watched it last night, not bad at all. I wont give it away. But even my son picked up the potential mistake when they were embarking on their day of prospecting. Wont see me doing that in such a vast landscape. Silly, silly...

 

[Dingo]

I think there is many things that a gold prospector can learn from this video, as we all get to complacent at times and we tend to take short cuts until things go wrong.

I hope this helps new people who want to prospect for gold in the Australian outback!

 

[davent]

Made a stupid mistake myself about 3 months ago.
Went down to a dry creek bed, about 20m from the car, didn't bother putting boots on, as it was all sand, hate sand in shoes, walked about 5m into the sand, and rolled my anckle, recurring injury, dumb as s, knew it was possible, but took the risk.....limped around for a week, ligaments were damaged about 30 years ago....

 

[Jaros]

He didn't do much right at all did he? Lucky man and family. Great work by the trackers and police.
Jaros

 

[AtomRat]

Survival skills are soo essential. He clearly had zero knowledge in any. Not even the knowledge how to make fire. At least he made it out
All I can say is learn survival.. as much as you possibly can

 

[Guest]

I love how he pinged a nugget early in the day, then continued on walking. I reckon there's a lesson in that its self :/ Maybe he should have worked that potential patch and not aimlessly walked away from the fourby and gold.

 

[Nightjar]

This was a re-enactment far removed from what actually happened in real life.
No doubt you are fans of Star Wars.

 

[Outback]

If he had dragged a chain in that type of country he could have followed the marks back .
Had a GPS go haywire once !

 

[baw1983]

Clearly not the smartest man on earth one of the luckiest though.

 

[ozziii]

Yes very lucky to survive, even if it was a little different to the re-enactment its still a bad move to wonder around without some way of knowing where you are, specially in such a wide open & uninhabited area with things that want to eat you.
& to go with no, or very little water, lucky bloke indeed.

 

[AtomRat]

I feel the bad move wasn't his wrong turn or not waiting but just no skills. I'm not a star wars or star trek fan.. I just know how to light fire from urine or make a compass from absolute minimal to find north... Everyone on this forum should know worst case scenario survival with nothing. Following plants and soil color / contour, water in that sort of desert is found in the ground under your feet and plant roots. I've traumatised my body through the years to learn survival eating and not drinking water for days etc since I was young for times when its needed as I just never know.

 

[mbasko]

The old light a fire with ya piss trick hey. I've often wondered why you would have a clear plastic bottle, clear plastic bag or some glad wrap with you in a dire situation but you wouldn't have a lighter, matches, flint or all 3 on you when out in the bush? Why would you have the minimal gear required to make a compass but not actually have a compass or GPS with you? Keep in mind we are talking about a planned prospecting trip here.
Common sense before you leave & having some basic gear that can be carried with you is the best survival tool for prospectors as you already know your heading out + should have a good idea where. It wasn't a lack of skills but a lack of common sense IMO.
As I don't use the battery pouch on my harness it contains first aid/snake bite kit, flint, lighter, PLB, compass, survival blanket, water purifying tablets among other odds & ends. I wear this all the time regardless of where I am or how close to my vehicle I might or might not be. I also carry my phone, on flight mode, which has GPS software that isn't reliant on service. In flight mode my phone will last for days if only checking position intermittently - you really shouldn't need the GPS running all the time, mark your car or other known point & use it to navigate to then check your position in relation to it intermittently if required.
When out with mates 2 way radios are a great idea too & in seriously remote areas I would even consider a satellite phone.

 

[Jaros]

The fact that they didn't have walkie talkies on a "team trip" surprised me as well as not using the knife blade as a mirror to attract the attention of the pilot or bike rider??
But he was not all there at the time.
Jaros

 

[davent]

I do a fair bit of very remote stuff, in the past fishing, in areas more 300km from the nearest help in any way shape or form. Used to do this by myself.
Have been a member of a survivalist forum, untill it was over taken by doomsday prepper type people, who might as well be star tr ekkers.
One thing that always comes up is critisism from people who wernt there, don, t know the full story. Unless you do these type of trips regularly I wouldnt be so keen to critisise the poor bloke. It is a tv show, dramatised for entertainment purposes.
As fae as im concerened, every trip I do could turn into a survival situation, and as such, I prepare accordingly. However, there have been times where I have been lazy, and gone further than I intended, or seen something that got me interested in a different direction my mate last saw me, or I have had heat exaustion, and became confused and disorentated, so many different things can happen. I carry 2 spare tyres, but what if I get 3 flats....ive had 2 in one day so far, side wall punctures, both. Even where I go now, if I just stayed put and waited for some one to come by, it could be months.....so dont be to critical, we should all prepare to a point, but things beyond our control, and silly lazy mistakes , that we all make can and do happen, we get away with them most of the time.

 

[ronniecruisin]

$140 buys you an Etrex. Mark your vehicle and you can even turn the etrex off of you want to save batteries. Turn on again and off you go back to your marked start point. Never ceases to amaze me how so many stories on the news tell of people lost and have to be found by police and volunteers. Get an Etrex. Cheap insurance.!

 

[davent]

Ok, the gps/compass helps you when your lost, but there are so many other things that can go wrong.

Do you know how to treat snake bite. What if you are bitten 2km from your car, what if your car is 10km from the bitumen, and the bitumen 200km from town?

what if you have 2 flat tyres?, a punctured radiator? A broken ankle? A heart attack?
There are so many variables and you cant be totally prepared for every thing, but some knowledge of how to fix stuff, and some 1st aid training is a must. If you are up this way, knowing how to get out of bogs is a must, and i have learned from some very tricky people some very tricky things, lol.
Ever seen an A frame for reverseing and lifting your 2 rear wheels off the ground?

 

[Jaros]

Got the Etrex 30 12 mths ago-yet to be used.!!!!

 

[lost a bit]

no hat, no water, no bush skills he should not have been out there

 

[AtomRat]

The old light a fire with ya piss trick hey. I've often wondered why you would have a clear plastic bottle, clear plastic bag or some glad wrap with you in a dire situation but you wouldn't have a lighter, matches, flint or all 3 on you when out in the bush? Why would you have the minimal gear required to make a compass but not actually have a compass or GPS with you? Keep in mind we are.....

I'm talking about survival when all your gear gets dropped down a canyon, shaft, river..etc and you are left with nothing. Items laying about in most goldfields you can and will be able to survive. My point is you shouldn't depend on your gear always on you too. Learning how to make do with what you have is certainly more the case. When you loose all your gear and you have nothing..what then. You get left like this bloke with no clue as what to do or how. Yes you can make fire with only gladwrap, clear bottle or plastic. Something very common as rubbish as we all know, ssowhen you don't have them at hand..most likely can be found. Broken glass is everywhere to light fire.. smash two quartz rocks together and create a spark. Whatever it is there's always a solution.

By compass I mean the old school trick of magnetising a bit of metal and floating it on water to point north. I just can't help but try and put the main problem over to people is they expect things to be where they are meant to be..when they are not..you need to know how to make do. Purifying water is another thing everyone should know nit just one thing about..but several solutions. Lost on a goldfield or wherever..in short time it is possible to make iodine or alum for water purifying..even chlorine. It comes down to absolute basics. Not a bark at you mbasko by the way, just going off your post. I've personally done a lot of this survival stuff before expecting it to work when needed too, just to be sure. You can lose all you gear..half of it..none of it..you never know. Keep safe guys

The bloke in the vid to me, shows common sense doesn't work. He assumed he wasnt far from the car, wasn't gonna be long etc ...expecting too much and common sense told him everything will be ok.