Find Gold and fund yourself around Oz

Aren't coke cans worth half a cent at the scrap metal buyers?
Only 300 cans to a litre. Less than a million cans to lap Oz. Now there' value.
Cheers

worth 10cents each here in SA

yep..i end up needing to eat the bait to fight off starvation....you'd be right in syaing that i dont catch too much...love fishing but

Actually have a forum or whatever added to this site is not as silly as it sounds.

I have looked at the gold sites and they appear not to be as busy as this site.

I also reckon that if a straw poll was held we would find quite a number of our existing members and visitors would be interested.

David and Michelle, what do you think?

Regards Bob

>At a minimum I'd be thinking about one of the pulse induction
>units from Minelabs or similar - probably a second hand 4000 model
>or ifthe ash reserves stretch that far - one of their newer 4500
>models.

Like all of Minelab's PI detectors: seriously overpriced and the word on the street is that the GP4000 (Minelab's first attempt at doing it all digitally is a poor performer).

A secondhand SD2100 (with $300 of mods) or an SD2200 for about $1k and $1k5 respectively or a Garrett Infinium ($2400 new) will find gold for you... _providing_ you're prepared to put in the research time and the time on the ground.

Like most things in life... buying expensive tools does not guarantee success - hard work and perseverance usually will.

I'd say... there is a one to two year apprenticeship in the gold detecting game?

Mike Harding

Thats why i like to compare it to fishing - you need the right gear 9probabally more so than fishing) but even that wont catch you fish if you dont know the good spots or how to catch them.

for most people its cheaper to go to the shop any buy your fish........... but same as prospecting.. thats not the point

Agree with Mike Harding - if the cash reserves are strapped then the older PI Minelabs will still find gold in experienced hands.

However if you can afford it - then get the later models - they are finding gold in places the older ones have already found some.

Theres a supposedly new machine comming from a new source that could / might be een better than the PI Minelabs.

There are indeed problems with the latest 4500 model minelabs - they are subject of a recall by the company for repairs and not everyones happy with the results after repairs.

Those who have good ones seem to be doing OK...

I'm in the undecided camp - I believe teyare way overpriced.......but gold is at over $1100 Aus an ounch - 6 ounces will cover the cost of good new & modern equipment.

People should only spend what they can afford to lose IMHO.

The comparison to fishing is very apt - you can have all the right equipment bur if you don't know how to use it or where or when - you'll still come home fishless.

If your travelling from interstate - then here in WA - you'll need a $25 miners right from dept mines, which lasts a lifetime.

Researching where to look for gold is the time consuming part and can be done before leaving home thru books libraries - the internet and google earth of course.

In WA theres a plethora of places worth a look forthose doing the big lap around the block...from Goldfields around Kal - right up thru the Pilbara and even the Kimberlies.

Yes a gold fossickers form here would probably be a good idea!

Cheers

Interesting comparison Flywest, but tell me how much time you need to invest to get the payback? First to become proficient in using the gear, then to actually find the 6 ounces.

I guess if your time isn't worth anything........ but that may not be what you told an employer, even if that was you.

I know that both may be interesting past times though. I actually found that fossicking wasn't bad fun when you are finding stones. When can I get back to it now? LOL

John,

The answer is "it all depends" - & "how long is a piece of string".

Some people learn faster than others.
Some invest more time & $ into researching their places to detect
Some invest more time & $ into learning a few shortcuts from those more experienced (e.g. they might go on a tag along tour to get help from someone more experienced - they might buy vids and dvds showing how too etc).

A lot of these things can speed up the learning curve...while others are patient to work it out themselves - I guess it depends how valuable your time is too you.

I know may great fly fishers who are self taught - while many paid me good $ to learn fast and improve quickly because their times too valuable to them to "waste" (poor choice of word I know - no time spent fishing is wasted) on self teaching by trial and error.

I've heard it said that it takes a couple years, to get any good at it and develope a feel for finding the color. Learning the idiosyncrasies of your own machine, learning to discriminate trash from targets worth digging.

Life is a learning process John - your located in Victoria andthe Victorian Golden Triangle has in the past and still does produce good results for a few - even today.

One thing I did learn about fishing is- that it pays to transport yourself to a place fo good fishstocks of the type your targetting.

Same with Gold - proven gold fields are a good place to start - so is tracking down old and out of print books/records about past gold discoveries, as a clue where to start.

Then there are a few (just like fishing - particularly some new chums) who just have plain dumb luck and find a big nugget when they get outta the car to pee.

Something to consider, not ALL the gold in the last 20 or so years claimed to have been found by detectors was.

Because of the Gold Stealing Squad and Gold forensics that can place gold to almost any source these days by the other trace minerals present (almost a dna or finger print if you will) its really really hard for employers to steal gold from commercial mines these days and get away with it.

Even if you do manage to do it - you have to 'legitimise' your ownership....before you can sell it without suspicion.

Enter the detector and quite a few "struck it rich" stories from yesteryear...of miraculous finds with the new detector, which probably represented manufactured nuggets with a lifetimes worth of gold dust accumulation from retired goldmining employees - like those who cleaned the dusts from the trap on their washing machine waste and shower waiste when they wore brylcream to work in their hair each day and washed the gold dust out in the shower at home each night for 50 years!

Those enterprising individuals stole very little each day over long periods of time - but little bits build up and eventually if you want to sell it to top up the super for retirement - you have to legitimise it's ownership, come up with a way to account for your posession of same.

Detectors were I believe responsible for a rash of manufactured nuggets in the early days - and so called miraculous finds.

Not everyone put a little gold dust in their socks each day either.

I remember a tail from a old mate worked in the gold stealing squad outta Kal back in the day...

One enterprising guy who drive ore trucks to the battery each day came up with a good scheme.

He had a pegged lease, off the main road to the battery, and on weekends etc would work it as an open cut with his front end loader. It wasn't a great show - but he did crush a bit of pre andget some gold -not really enough to be viable buta good hobby all the same.

Turns out he would push up a lot of low grade dirt into a pile on the weekend.

During the week - wile driving the truck to the battery, he would take a detour to his lease - tip half the high grade ore he was transporting into a separate pile and top off the truck with his pile of low grade ore using his Front end loader - then high tail it to the battery - claiming he had a flat tyre etc to account for being a tad late.

He did this for some years before comming unstuck.

he would blend the mineshigh grade ore with his own lowgrade andtruck it in occasionally for crushing, making it look - as tho - he was slowly working his way towards better grades of ore from his own show.

Hisplan - wasto keep crushing slghtly more and more of the companys ore until his crushing records showed he was onto good ore in his own show - then sell the show to someone for a large profit.

If he hadn't been caught - it mightta worked too!

Theres all types out there in this world - especially with Gold it pays to believe only half what you read and none of what you here!

My particvular interest is in thehistoric books - with crushing records etc from old and no longer viable mines of the past - they can give an indication of rich areas to prospect for alluvial deposits, if you know your geology.

For me it is a life long learning quest - something i got addicted too when a kid prospecting for semi precious gems with my ol grandfather, around WA.

To anyone else they were a piece a rock - but gradfather used to make each one "special" by helping me to find them and explaining about what they really were etc.

Today its something I'd like to share wth my kids, before they get too old to care.

At this particular juncture - they just think I'm nuts! ;o)

Cheers