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It is mate, it looks like it should be rich but like so many good looking reefs it seems it's pretty poor.

Thank you for watching, glad you enjoyed it. This is on the other side of the ridge that you walked down, way down near the creek.

It is a pretty cool mine for a small adit with no workings isn't it! It could be worth it but I'd say it's pretty low grade, I've got an SDC but did not bring it on this trip as I had my wife and kids with me, hours of detecting gets me into trouble ;-)

@ LOL 😂.. we all been there..

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Thanks for watching, glad you liked it ;-)

Hi, no Spodumene in this one, wrong geology and there is very little, if any, Lithium in this country. Lots of gold though ;-)

It seems strange doesn't it! I'd imagine there was very low grades in the stuff they took out when they dug though it so they never even bothered. You'd think they would have at least fired a shot or two along the reef just to make sure, it even looks like they'd started some shotholes there.

No it seems so much work to just stop when you have reef sitting there doesn't it! I suppose if it wasn't rich enough to be worth carting and crushing and money was tight they'd just pull the pin and go looking elsewhere. I'll be getting up to some of the NSW goldfields soon hopefully ;-)

Thank you very much, that is an unusual but very high compliment mate, I appreciate it 😁

Thanks for watching mate ;-)

True, so many reasons they may have pulled the pin, there could also be a couple of different operators over different eras who all put in a bit of work and gave up. That's amazing family history mate! So much work for no return on the mining too, at least someone with skills could always make tucker money, still true today too actually!

@billingmetals Yes, I'm sure a lot of the miners during the rushes came from non mining backgrounds. Many were caught up in the fever and wanted to give it a go. Of course, there were seasoned mining men who'd come from places such as Cornwell and California, but not the majority, I'd suspect. My own Great Grandfather had brought his family out from Scotland at about the time of the Eureka uprising. His background was one of carpentry and joinery. I gather many of the old Victorian buildings in Ballarat carry his workmanship. But he didn't come out for the carpentry, he was hoping to find gold.

@@lindsaybrown7357 I agree, I'd say, backed up by 30 years of research and reading historic newspapers, that the majority in the early days had no practical mining experience. Later though the mid 1850's on there would have been a lot of practical experience and it would have been easy enough to learn from the seasoned hands on the field. The early practical miners from Cornwell, Wales, China etc would have had a massive advantage finding good ground. It'd be interesting to find some of his work, hard to prove what he worked on probably though.

@billingmetals Toby, it's people like you who actively research archives and explore the remaining archaeology that keep the history alive. I've found myself more interested in my families history as I've gotten older, but sadly, the ones who could provide more information, are no longer with us.

@@lindsaybrown7357 Thanks mate, there are a fair few people who really put in a lot of effort to record and preserve our history. I'm in the same boat, so many old people I knew when I was younger who could have told so many stories but I never really asked them much about it.

Ha ha, it is isn't it, it really needed a good crosscut to prospect that larger reef but I'd assume low grades and poor finances put a stop to it.

@billingmetals so many reefs out there that would have been dug in vain. What's the other side like?

@@frenchys_prospecting Yes, some of the prospecting adits I've been in a several hundred meters long with really no workings at all, so much effort and money for nothing! Other side is this, th-cam.com/video/0eBuEiDbMGw/w-d-xo.html much more productive as the stope at the end goes though to the surface a long way above so they found something.

@@billingmetals awesome. Cheers Toby. I'll give it a watch right now. Just had a look. I saw this one. Another great explore

@@frenchys_prospecting Thanks mate, the amount of history still there under our feet is incredible isn't it! I recon I've got 30 years worth of videos just in Victoria!

Thanks mate, glad you liked it.

Thanks mate, it's short but it's well made. Interesting how neat it is but the further you go in the more they'd lost hope and it gets smaller and rougher!

Thanks mate, yes I've been as busy as I can be in the school holidays. Kids and I have been hunting out new spots and I'm working on my reef and other ground ;-)

@@billingmetals Make hay while the sun shines, hopefully it was rewarding for you.

@ Yes it's been fun ;-)

Thanks mate, I'd imagine they did not find the grades they needed to make it pay so they just up and left. It seems strange that they wouldn't drive along the reef for a while to test more even if there was almost no gold in it.

Thanks for watching mate, glad you enjoyed the video ;-)

I lived in Mount Burnett near Cockatoo and visited from there til we moved to Berringa, we travelled the same route! Some of them are not that safe so it was a good decision to stay out, they are mighty cool though ;-)

Yes that will work too, it's a pretty easy metal to melt and work with.

Indeed, in a couple of senses of the term! thanks mate, it's a bit hairy in there past the shaft but well worth recording.

@@billingmetals 🤣

Thanks for the comment mate, yes it is very much worth it. It's obviously good to dig in virgin ground too but cleaning out old holes is easier digging and gives you a better idea of what they were actually looking for as far as the ground on bottom goes. Keep an eye out for old bottles too ;-)

There are so many great mines that have been covered up or bulldozed over sadly. Thanks for the comment mate.

Thanks heaps for the comment, glad you liked the video ;-)

Yes there are a lot of 'makes' of quartz not directly attached to the main reef structure, parasitic, infill reefs etc, I've been told by a Geo whom I have a lot of respect for that about one in five of these will carry gold, sometimes rich gold ;-) The fools who need to damage these sites are the reason most people won't share locations, it is sad and frustrating isn't it. Thanks for watching, glad you liked it.

Thanks mate, I appreciate the comment. When you are looking at a reef with a dip (almost all of them) the side under the reef, on the dip side, is the footwall. The hanging wall is the side above the reef, the bit that hangs above you when you stope out the reef. On a reef with a really steep dip or almost straight down it's not always that obvious but an almost flat reef it's like a floor and ceiling. hope that makes sense?

I've not seen that one, sounds interesting though!

Very much so! It's on private property and under an active lease though so no detecting so far.

Yep ,they are awful in those sort of concentrations!

Thanks mate, glad you enjoyed it.

There tend to be a few differences but most out in the bush are hut site ruins yes. This one looks arranged but not set up for a fire, also no glass or metal anywhere in the immediate area. There are a lot of graves in the diggings but not normally as big or obvious as a hut site.

Thanks mate, the channel is growing pretty quickly now, I appreciate your support.

Thanks Andy, it really is awfully hot, not digging weather but fine for a detect depending on fire risk ;-)

Thanks mate. You know now you mention it they almost do look bigger! Next time I'm driving past I'll have to go and check now...

That’s a ripper 😄

@@StephenThompson-o2r Ha ha, yes, I'll let you know!

Thank you for the comment, glad you liked it. Lots more coming too, my wife has just started to help with the videos so should be able to get even more adventures on video now.

Thanks mate, glad you liked it. Adelaide Lead is a great area, lots of gold too. There are several areas I know of there with clusters of graves. It was something, maybe typhoid from memory, that wiped out a heap of diggers in the early rush there. I'd have to look it up for accurate details, been 20 years since I read up on it.

@billingmetals very interesting. You might know the location (it might be documented now but my uncle's haven't heard anything about it) but if you know the "dellar dam" then the gravesite is not far from there.

@@frenchys_prospecting There was some study on them I believe but well worth mentioning it to someone, it could be different ones too. I'm not familiar with it no but I'll have a look next time I'm over there.

@billingmetals I'm hoping to get up there in a few weeks. Nan has given me permission to detect her actual property and my cousins have recently started having a look and are pulling some reasonably nice stuff out of the top paddock. I'll let you know if I find anything about it.

@@frenchys_prospecting Nice, great country for detecting and some big gold still to be found around there. I'd love to hear how you go.

There are still a few graves to be found out there too, so much history in that area too! Bottles are always good! ;-) Just some advice though if I may, you would be better to see if a local history society would be interested rather than donating them to Sov Hill or the Gold museum (not really a gold museum now either, it's a rare trade center). After working there for 11 years sad to say they'll most probably end up in a rubbish skip unless they are of outstanding value in their eyes.

@billingmetals Thanks mate, good advice regarding donation of finds. My wifes grandad served in the AIF first world war as a field ambulance driver. He and his mate were two of the first on the scene when the Red Baron was shot down over France. I believe they helped recover Richtofen and he was given a respectful send-off. The grandad, like many of the others there, souvenired parts of the plane. In the family, there is a piece of reddish canvas fabric from one of the wings. There's also a piece of green cloth from another plane that was shot down. There's mixed minds in the family as to what should happen to these relics. I feel they should be donated, maybe to the war memorial in Canberra.

@@lindsaybrown7357 No problem, I hate to see historic items not respected or appreciated, sadly many museums do not do either. That's amazing family history! The War Memorial would indeed look after those items well if no one in the family could look after them properly or didn't want them. It seems a pity to hand them out of the family though. I wonder if they could have them on a permanent loan so they are on display but still in his descendants hands, maybe an option to look at?

@billingmetals Yes, they are in my wife's brothers hands now. There is also some albums of post cards and letters her grandad wrote when he was in France and Egypt. They complete the story. There was a write up about him (Claud Harris), in the Herald Sun, about 10 years ago.

@@lindsaybrown7357 That's fantastic family history to have, glad you appreciate them too.

Thanks mate, glad you liked it ;-)

Thanks heaps for the comment and the sub mate. 0c sounds good right now, it's 37c and dry and a chip out there at the moment, I was going digging but I recon I'll expire in the full sun!

Thanks mate, it's a nice part of the world to explore.

It really is a work of art isn't it! It's a pity the end is silted up, it would be nice to see it.

Thanks mate, they are pretty keen students!

Thanks mate, great looking ground in there!

Nice work mate, very different over there, I'll get over to the US one of these days ;-)

Thanks for watching, glad you liked it. That is a very good idea! I'm sure you'll find your perfect rich reef one day soon. Thank you, I'm heading down there this morning again too. Some of the reef here graded to 9 ounces a ton in the 1860's, my ideal is to find and work some of those sort of grades one day! It's hard to imagine digging such rich reef but it'd be fun ;-)

Thanks for the comment, glad you liked it.

It would work yes, messy but also one of the oldest techniques for breaking rock! They did that before blasting powder was available in the early days of mining. I'm sure it was used here by a few miners who couldn't afford drills or powder too.

It is malleable and fairly soft but gums up saw teeth something shocking! You can cut it with a hacksaw but it's slow and very, very hard to cut deep as it just sticks, a bit like lead. It's quite a bit harder than lead but similar in some mechanical properties.

It's a great part of the world with an incredible history. Thanks for the comment, I'll be doing a few more video's soon from Ballarat ;-)

It really is incredible isn't it, they worked so incredibly hard all their lives the old time miners!

The spud retort is a long used technique, apparently you get most of your mercury back too. Not recommended these day ;-) Mind you it's illegal to use mercury for gold recovery anyhow now, there is so much of it contaminating the goldfields still too.

There are so many reefs in the area it is a lifetime job too, did he find many decent ones?

@billingmetals I don't think he had any great finds, but he did find a run of Wolframite running north south in Ballarat. Think he had it confirmed by the Mines Department of the time. He was always poking around in the bush. I recall us all digging or exposing an large unusual rock in gravel pits back of Buninyong. Dad reckoned it was a meteorite. It was unusual in as much as it was the only rock of its type in the area. I recall, he tried to break a piece off with hammer and chisel, but didn't even make an impression on it.

@@lindsaybrown7357 Wolframite is interesting there! It occurs out at Pittong near Linton but I've not come across mention of it closer. So much potential for all sorts of interesting minerals around the district though. I wonder what happened to his invincible rock? be interesting to know what it was.

@billingmetals Interesting, I hadn't heard of the deposits at Pittong. My older brother's a resource geologist and did some mapping for a company at Pittong. I recently built an electrical pumping panel for Suvo's Pittong operations, but haven't been out that way for ages. Nowadays, stuck in Melbourne.

@@lindsaybrown7357 It's pretty interesting minerology, some rare minerals including Pittongite, the type and only locality it occurs. There is a lot of potential there for a lot more mining with the clays as well as interesting reef formations plus granite. You need to escape Melbourne, although there is gold under there too!