You might have noticed that, as the days get longer and the weather gets warmer, my posts have been getting fewer and further between. It seemed like it was high time for an update.

Some recent news: ABC Radio

The week before last I had a chance to drop into the ABC for an interview with Ryk Goddard in his Breakfast show, about the review of prospecting regulations currently on the way at Mineral Resources Tasmania. If you missed it and you’d like to have a listen, you can find it here:

Golden Triangle trip

All the signs are pointing to gold!

After spending a few days in Canberra for work, I took the opportunity to drive down to Dunolly, in the Golden Triangle of Victoria, and spent three days detecting in the area around Dunolly, Waanyarra and Moliagul. The whole area is absolutely riddled with old workings, whether it’s the masses of old pits in the gullies where the old timers chased the alluvial, or mines and surfacing along hills where they were chasing the reefs.

Dunolly was a good place to be based, as it’s in the hearth of the “nugget or nothing” country, and within 15-20 minutes drive of most of the country where large nuggets were found historically. Famous gold towns in the immediate area are Tarnagulla, Waanyarra, Dunolly, Moliagul, McIntyre, Rheola, Maryborough, Goldsborough, Inkerman…

Welcome Stranger monument

Of course I had to drop in to visit the Welcome Stranger nugget monument in Moliagul. Maybe I should really say I had to go and worship at the Welcome Stranger monument, and beseech the gods of metal detecting to grant me their favour! Near this spot, the largest gold nugget ever found was dug up by prospectors Richard Oates and John Deason in February 1869. I didn’t expect the gods of prospecting to listen, and I didn’t get any nuggets the size of Deason and Oates’ find, but I did get 14 small pieces and a decent specimen. The weather was ‘interesting’, to someone used to Tasmania. Mid to high thirties all three days. I was out detecting shortly after 6:00 in the morning, and back in the shade or exploring from my air-conditioned car by midday. Then a few more hours after it started cooling at about 6:00 pm, till it got too dark to see. You can see the nuggets below.

PMAT field trip to Back Creek

The Prospectors and Miners Association of Tasmania (PMAT) will be having its AGM and field trip at Back Creek, near Pipers River, on the 16th of January. If you’ve been thinking of joining up, there’s no better chance to do it. Only members are allowed on the field trip, but you can join up on the day.

Back Creek nuggets

Back Creek is a great location to detect gold nuggets, and I recently wrote a post about it, which has pictures of some of my Back Creek nuggets. If you want to find out more about the field trip, or you’re interested in coming, you can find the details on the PMAT website.

Merry Christmas and happy prospecting!

If you’re heading out during the summer break, then Merry Christmas, best of luck and may the gods of prospecting bestow their blessing upon thee… or not, they tend to be a fickle lot. It might not hurt to pilgrimage to Moliagul to worship on the Welcome Stranger monument after all… 🙂

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