G'day, I mentioned some time back I was heading to W.A. for my first W.A. gold detecting trip. I generally do all my gold/relic detecting in, and adjacent to, the Golden Triangle Victoria. For anyone interested here is a link showing photos including the first W.A. nugget, 20.59 grams, 2/3rdOz Troy, I found, legally, on Hampton Hill Station, being North of Kalgoorlie.I found it less than 100 metres from my 10 day tent base camp in the first 20 minutes of day one.... Some 40 nuggets in excess of 140 grams were found over 10 days. No doubt there are travelling Grey Nomads interested in varying their travelling itineries and possibly supplementing their costs with gold and relic hunting....the exercise and the quiet locations alone, are worth the effort......

There are 31 grams to the Ounce Troy currently worth about Au$1,400 Oz. or Au$45 gram.....

http://golddetecting.4umer.net/t19091-just-returned-from-darren-kamps-succes

A W.A. Miners right is required, $25 for life. You can apply with Copy of Drivers Licence -Proof of Identity to W.A. Dept of Mines, and they will post it to you as they did for me. Get one before the cash strapped W.A. Gov't increases its fees more in line with the Victorian Miners Right which is currently $31.30 for 2 years or $87.70 for 10 years....available from Energy & Earth Resources Victoria and you can apply on line.

An excellent W.A. Resource is the free Private Site: Gold Prospecting in Western Australia  www.gold-prospecting-wa.com    which provides their free eNews ,   Gold_Prospecting_eNews@goldprospecting-wa.com    which gives the essential information you require to legally prospect in W.A. without looking over your shoulder and risking confiscation of all your equipment if you are where you should not be...Topics: How to use Tengraph to find W.A. Gold Prospecting Targets. Section 40E Permits which shows you how to apply to prospect legally on already Granted Exploration Leases in W.A....Free Download of Geomaps from W.A. Dept of Mines..

I have found since leaving home base Port Lincoln January 2010 in our Jayco rig that fishing, and gold/relic detecting has providing fantastic variance to our regular sight seeing adventures....good luck........remember the old timers slogan : where gold be, is where gold be........that should make it a lot easier for you all..lol...trust this post whets your appetite......Hoo Roo

-- Edited by Golddetectornomad on Tuesday 24th of June 2014 11:08:51 AM

 Thanks Golddetectornomad, A vey good read a some really great Photo;s Good luck with your future hunting 

Good report GTN, interesting finds and great photo's also.

Thanks for the thread.

Well done Golddetectornomad, 

I too have been recently bitten by the fossicking bug and purchased a cheap second hand detector to give it a go.

We are in Golden Square (Bendigo) at the moment and have been told that the entire "goldfields" area has been picked dry over the decades ... Did you have any success when here?

I'm hoping to try around a few creeks when out fishing.

Cheers - Weg

G'day Weg, when you consider the thousands of acres that are available to us prospectors by way of State Forests or National Parks here in Victoria and more particularly the Bendigo environs, and detector coils are sized generally from 8" diameter through to the muscle building 25" coils, how could anyone genuinely make the statement every piece of ground has been covered by a coil, and completely been picked dry.....? unless of course they don't want you to try/compete.......every time we have decent rains more ground is exposed that wasn't previously exposed one way or the other, particularly the creeks and edges of the mullock heaps...

Without knowing the detector you have purchased, my advice is, if you want to really have some detecting fun and be put onto likely grounds I would consider hiring a top of the line Minelab GPX 4500 or the current 5000,which I have, for a day.
I have no affiliation with Bendigo Gold World however the blokes there are really friendly, knowledgeable and more to the point basically honest blokes I found, Tim, Shane or Prospector Pete who would set up the hire detector for you, show you the rudiments, and likely put you onto reasonable goldfield ground in The Whipstick Goldfield Bendigo, adjacent to their detector supplies shop at 109 Watson Street White Hills Bendigo Ph: 03 54484140....they can also do a Victorian Miners Right for you if you don't already have one.... Prospector Pete could find gold on Wimbledon tennis court I reckon...I've been out in The Whipsticks with him several times and he has found gold every time I've been with him......have a look at his photos in the shop holding huge chunks of gold will make your eyes water!.......lots of gold info, maps etc available also...

If you just want to have quiet time in potential goldfield areas and test your own detector.....you could take the Neilborough Eaglehawk Rd Eaglehawk, and continue to Scotsman Rd, turn into Scotsman Rd ,about 3 kms and old goldfield mullock heaps,around Sandfly Reef on the left....you can detect both sides of Scotsman Rd...it should be in your Navman GPS....very interesting to see all the old diggings with many open mines still in that area, so be careful....if you hit Loesser Rd you have gone too far......
.....I've lived in most States and Bendigo is one of my most favourite City's in Australia.....it has everything and you can still find ample parking in the Shopping areas...the incredible wealth back in the 1850's on gave it fantastic buildings, and infrastructure and you can still go down into the Deborah Working Gold mine....just follow where all the talking trams go to....
Good luck!.....

-- Edited by Golddetectornomad on Saturday 28th of June 2014 11:20:16 PM

-- Edited by Golddetectornomad on Saturday 28th of June 2014 11:22:12 PM

Thanks mate, appreciate the comments and the details too.

my detector is only a cheapee ... I like the idea of fossicking and luckily for me, so does Deb and as she is a local, she has a few areas she wants to explore too.

ill call in and see the guys at bendigo gold as suggested, I'm very interested in local knowledge and Debs uncle has a full kit of the best gear and regularly tries his hand at fossicking around the area, in particular the Marybourough area with all his maps and he has his own notes etc and been quite successful.

I look forward to posting up here my successes same day and I hope you keep up the good work and all the best to you too.

cheers - weg

That's Great Gold finger....your comments have just heightened the sense that we would like to give this a go.

The idea of hiring hadn't occurred to me ..but will be well considered tho.

Where I live there are old goldfields all around...plus we have the biggest open cut gold mine in the southern hemisphere (Cadia Gold Mine)...and I have a 4WD drive....so there are plenty of spots about the district that I could check out.

Cheers  Keith

ST391GQ wrote:

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Where I live there are old goldfields all around...plus we have the biggest open cut gold mine in the southern hemisphere (Cadia Gold Mine)...

Cheers  Keith

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Not quite Keith....from http://www.superpit.com.au

Welcome to the Super Pit

OK..Ive just been edjumacated again....AND....the tour guides out there at Cadia probably need to get their hands off it hey.....

Cheers  Keith