Gold Prospecting in Australia

The climate in Japan is subtropical to subarctic zone, with a lot of rain and snow and mountainous areas. For these reasons, gold panning is mainly carried out in the torrent river.The size of the gold is flour, and a lucky person can obtain the size of 1 to 5 mm. Although rare, some people get nuggets 10 mm or more. I am an old man without physical strength and skills, so I can only get flour gold.

I dreamed of getting a nugget of 10mm or more, but I thought it was difficult in Japan and decided to look overseas.I surveyed countries that have gold prospecting tours with metal detector suitable for my physical strength.

Alaska, Canada and Australia were nominated. I chose Australia because Alaska and Canada are cold even in summer.

I traveled to Australia 30 years ago, so I planned this trip related to gold.I visited the Sovereign Hill theme park in Ballarat and Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.

I wanted to do gold prospecting around Ballarat, but I expected that the possibility of gold discovery is low because there are thousands of fan, I booked a two-day tour in Kalgoorlie.

Kalgoorlie area is a bush area near the desert and flat land, so it was suitable for prospecting with metal detector.

About 10,000 peoples lived in the gold rush era about 100 years ago. For this reason, there was a large amount of lead bullets and construction materials such as galvanized steel that respond to metal detectors.

I was lucky enough to get two small nuggets around 10mm, so this will be a memorable trip.

I am not good at communicating in English, but the tour guide was kind enough to teach me.

My physical strength is gradually declining due to aging, but I would like to visit again.

Gold panning in an artificial river in Sovereign Hill:
Many people are shaking the pan in the air to look for gold, so most people can’t find gold. Will anyone go Sovereign Hill for technical guidance? I think many children will be interested in the gold panning.

Gold
Gold used in Sovereign Hill:
It is an artificial placer gold and I think it was made with a cutting machine.

 
Drawing machine to make a gold pan.

Museum of the Goldfiels in Kalgoorlie:
This is a picture of an old gold prospector and the appearance is the same as the present people.

Museum of the Goldfiels in Kalgoorlie:
This stone was used for the construction such as paving stones, but it was a laughing story that the stone contained fine gold.

Is there anyone who builds a house using this stone? In old Japan, there were many people who spent money on things that could not be seen than good appearance. They were called cool people.

Super Pit Mine:
The size is 3.5km in length, 1.5km in width, and 600m or more in depth. A working car larger than one house is visible at the bottom. The black spots on the slopes are traces of old mines. I was impressed by the passion of the miners who dug small tunnels than the size of the Super Pit.

Gold nugget prospecting in Kalgoorlie:
There were a lot of flies and animal droppings.

 
1 cm nuggets obtained in 2 days (What is the definition of nuggets?)

There was much iron scrap and lead bullets. About 100 years ago, a town of 10,000 people was formed in this area. But now the” Broad Arrow” pub is the only building.

Perth Mint:
Gold attached to the surface of about 50 cm white stone

Perth Mint:

Gold nuggets were sold at the store: Small nuggets in the round cases were A$ 30- $ 300 and the big nuggets had no price indication.