The hidden history of Chinese gold mining on North Coast NSW beaches

[grubstake]

An interesting backgrounder from the ABC website today:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07...idden-history-of-chinese-gold-mining/11309694

 

[Nanjim]

grubstake,

Very interesting article thanks for posting....
I think something similar was done on the beaches of northern Queensland

 

[Heatho]

Nice read.

There certainly is gold on the beaches around there, I was on holiday there early last year and was doing a bit of driving on the beach in my 4x4, had the panning gear with so decided to do a few pans of the black sand.... Got a few micro specks in each pan so it's really not worth, was just that curiosity got the better of me. The gold was so fine that it floated on the water.

 

[Anolphart]

OK, I understand how gold can accumulate in creeks and rivers but I'm blowed if I understand where you would start looking for gold on the beaches. And how did it get there when there is no river to deposit it?

As gold is pretty heavy, I would expect that it would probably be found at bedrock, which may be down pretty deep.

To get viable gold in the mid 1800s it must have been more than micro spec sized that Heatho found.

 

[grubstake]

OK, I understand how gold can accumulate in creeks and rivers but I'm blowed if I understand where you would start looking for gold on the beaches. And how did it get there when there is no river to deposit it?
As gold is pretty heavy, I would expect that it would probably be found at bedrock, which may be down pretty deep.
To get viable gold in the mid 1800s it must have been more than micro spec sized that Heatho found.

The relentless action of waves and tides, has the effect of concentrating the heaviest components of sand in the same place - it's like a natural sluicebox effect. Have a look at Heatho's excellent photo above. The areas in the foreground where there are concentrations of black sand (iron sand), are where the gold particles (if any) will be found, so prospecting is done initially by eyesight alone!

The same constant action of waves and tide moving the sharp, often crystalline particles of quartz, rock and shells around, grinds down the much softer gold into microfine particles, so beach gold typically comprises very fine, dust-like particles, much smaller than the grains of sand around them.

 

[StoneTheCrows]

There are historical photos along the boardwalk at the Entrance Beach (Central Coast NSW) of sluicing on the beach.
I think they are early 1900's photo's

Heaps of Long Toms.