Life in the bush and prospecting for gold

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Australia is famed for its amazingly rich natural resources - gold in particular. It had long been my ambition to go prospecting in Australia. Whilst it is possible to simply head off into the wide outback with a metal detector and lots of optimism, we were lucky enough to be linked up to two of Australia's top gold prospectors.

Looking for gold involves several key steps. The first is understanding the geology. Gold is not just found anywhere, but is concentrated in certain geographical locations by the geology, topography and depositional/erosional processes. It can either be found embedded in the host rock (primary) or in the sedimentary detritus that results from erosional processes, transportation and segregation of the gold from its host rock. In the past, all of my prospecting had been done on alluvial material in or near to streams and rivers. The Western Australian outback is for most part exceedingly flat, arid and lacking in fluvial erosional features. The gold that we would be searching for would be either in the bedrock or in the immediate vicinity of an auriferous exposure.

When panning in a river, water is used to pan or sluice the gold out of the sediment. In the outback there is no water so the gold needs to be separated by other methods. The old-timers used to use the wind to blow the dust clean and leave the gold behind. This involved dropping a bucket-full of gravel into a pan repeatedly and letting the wind blow the dust away. It was hard work and very slow. We were to be using the latest metal detectors.

M&C do not follow the crowd, for over 30 years they have been seeking out new deposits and then working them quietly. This process takes time because the pockets of gold are small, remote and are often worked out very quickly.

M had explained to me at then outset that we would be working in a virgin area with no proven gold but with good geology. Much of our time would be spent systematically scanning the bush with a metal detector in the hope of finding a rich deposit or 'patch'. He explained that there were no guarantees that we would find gold but by the same token the areas would not have been 'hammered' by hundreds of people before us and would not contain junk metal that would have to be dug out in the hope that it may be gold.

M&C provided us with a couple of Minelab detectors - a 4500 and a 5000. These are the top performing machines. They also provided a short pick for excavating.

Other essential bush equipment comprised: UHF walkie-talkies, GPS units, fly net, water bottle, stout boots, high factor sun-cream and a sunhat. Spare batteries for the UHF and GPS were also essential.

I learned the hard way that if batteries are not charged one can either lose a day's prospecting or even worse, get lost.

Although we had been warned about snakes, spiders and all sorts of things that bite, sting, scratch etc, we quickly discovered that the biggest danger in the bush is the heat and getting lost. The bush is so vast and so disorientating that getting lost is incredibly easy. One can be standing 50metres from the camp or from a white vehicle and not see it. Both Hazel and I had to depend on our GPS to get us back to camp and to the 4x4 on many occasions.

The daily routine was to awake to the wonderful dawn chorus of birdsong which normally started around 04.30H by 5.30H the sun rose and we had got the camp fire revived and burning brightly. M&C had tea and would be ready to head off by 07.00H Some days we would walk out from camp to a particular area where we would fan out. Other days we travelled in M's 4x4 to less accessible areas.

In the evenings we would pull the chairs around the camp fire and open a beer or bottle of wine. Dinner would be prepared and all cooking was done on the open camp fire. Some of the meat had been reared and slaughtered on the nearby sheep station (8km away). M&C were highly skilled at producing really tasty meals using only three blackened cooking utensils - an old kettle, a pan with a lid and a frying pan. We ate well and normally rounded the evening off with a glass of port. Sitting under starry skies, we could see the Southern Cross and millions of stars, the milky way crossed the sky from north to south like a fluorescing stream of light. We saw numerous meteorites streak and burn across the sky. On even broke into tungsten-bright fragments which burst into an expanding array before fading and falling to earth. These were magical and memorable evenings.

Toilet and washing arrangements had to be simple. When nature called, one simply headed off into the bush with a pick, dug a hole in the shallow surface gravel and squatted. A neat backfilling action left little evidence of the scene of crime. Taking a shower was less easy. We had been given a 'Solar Shower' to use, It comprised a black plastic bag with a filler at one end and a flexible tube connected to a valve and spray rose at the other. The idea was to fill this with water, hang it in a tree or other high place and let the sun heat the water. We hung the shower on the Pajero roof rack and placed a doormat under the shower to avoid creating a red muddy puddle. Hazel managed to use it a couple of times whilst the men-folk were out prospecting. This was brave as there was no screen, curtain or vanity cover.

Most days we spoke to the station on the UHF band and they invited us to come in and have a shower and dinner one evening. This was an offer that we accepted and turned out to be quite an adventure. We offered to cook a chicken curry for dinner and C did most of the work with Hazel assisting. M was asked if he would bone a side of beef and a half cow was placed on the kitchen table. I assisted with the boning. The beef was then cut into steaks, bagged and labelled. The animal had been raised on the station dispatched 10 days earlier and now cut up into prime steaks. The pork we'd had a few nights before had also been produced this way.

M&C had a very good relationship with the station-holders and we were made very welcome. I guess that they rarely see guests and enjoyed the social contact. We were introduced to the dogs, the goats and the two orphaned joeys in the back garden. We got an unique insight into life on a remote station.

We also came into contact with the outback wildlife. We saw a large number of kangaroos, feral goats, some emu (including young), various birds and also two very large and impressive black eagles.

During our time in the bush I walked over 50kms. From Monday to Thursday we did not find a single speck of gold but on Friday M&C took us to a patch that they had discovered some weeks earlier. It had produced tens of ounces of nuggets but was limited in size. It had already been scanned with detectors but they knew that it still had further areas which had not been scanned. It was a 45 minute drive away and was accessed by a very deviated route through the bush.

Almost from the moment we arrived we were onto the gold. The trick was to scan under the bushes and shrubs in areas that may previously have been missed. T quickly got a small nugget and a while later a 14.7gm nugget. Hazel had to wait a while longer for her first one and then a second. It was well into the afternoon before I found my one and only 2gm nugget. We'd put in the work, put in the mileage and were happy to see a modest result. There were times when I wondered if there was any gold in this barren, parched landscape. Now I knew there was but that it hid itself well.

As M had originally said, he can go months and find no gold, then get onto a bonanza. He could not guarantee us gold. On the basis that we had only been in the bush for a week, the result was good. Besides, the outback experience far exceeded our expectations and was worth far more than some pieces of gold.

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Comments

[Ryan]

Something different
Chris and Hazel, How exciting! You've been having an amazing experience and it's great to be able to read about it. I look forward to hearing more of your stories on all this when you get home. Safe travelling. R.