New Bendigo PMAV Branch

Posted on June 5, 2014 by Admin

New Bendigo PMAV Branch Report

What a fantastic day we had! The unveiling of our new PMAV Bendigo Branch on Saturday 24^th May, at the Notley camping ground, Whipstick, Bendigo.

This has been a very long time coming and I was overwhelmed with the amount of people who turned up for this great event.

A few PMAV members and members from my True Blue prospecting group camped out under the stars from the Friday night and some of us even hit the goldfields for a night detect. Terry Lucas managed to find 1.55 grams of gold. We then gathered back at the camp site around the fire, for a communal chat and drinks, talking about our branch and gold of course!

On the Saturday, BendigoGold (Miners Den) had a fantastic display of demo machines and other prospecting gear, on show for the public and they also provided a free BBQ too.

Dean from Double D Leather, also had a stand, displaying his control box covers and pick holders.

At midday, the BBQ was fired up and we all had a chat to future PMAV members and current members about what the Bendigo Branch could do for prospectors in the surrounding areas.

Rita Bentley, our PMAV President and Wallace Young, our Secretary, also had a talk about how important this was to Bendigo, as Bendigo was built on gold! They spoke how wonderful friendships can be built and how we have now been introduced to new prospecting areas (currently under Legislation), which would not have happened if it were not for the PMAV.

Parks Victoria also had a talk about new maps that are available of where you can and can’t prospect and there is a new App that is free to download to your smart phone, iPad etc..Very useful when out prospecting – No further internet connection is needed to access the maps, once it is downloaded. So thanks Parks Victoria for coming along to the event.

I would love to sincerely thank Rita Bentley, for getting behind me on this. Without your help, none of this would have happened. I would also like to thank Wallace Young, for all his support and all the emails and phone calls back and forwards, to get this branch off the ground.

I would also like to thank Dave Watters, Rachel Hunter from BendigoGold (Miners Den) for your wonderful displays and supplying us with a fantastic BBQ. I would like to thank Dean from Double D Leather for your display of equipment.

A big Thank You to the President Paul Scott and his wife Lynda, who represented Bendigo Gem Club and to Parks Victoria for the map information.

I would also like to thank Greckie from Golden Triangle Tours, Rohan from Nugget Finder Coils and Robert Thacker and Greg for their donations to the Bendigo Branch – We will hold some raffles soon, so stay tuned guys!

A very special Thank You to my True Blue Prospecting group – You all know who you are! If it was not for you guys, believing in me, then our Bendigo Branch would never have become possible.

Stay tuned for future prospecting outings and our next PMAV Bendigo Branch meet up will be Queens Birthday long weekend 6th^th – 9^th June at Paddys Ranges State Park, Maryborough – Follow the Old Avoca Road, then turn into Karri Track and you be at the camping ground. Two toilets, fresh water and plenty of sites for vans and tents. See you there.

Cheers

Lynnie Hindle

To find out more about the PMAV visit http://www.pmav.org.au/

12 Months of Gold with a Minelab GPX 5000

Posted on January 3, 2014 by Admin

2013 was a great year for one prospector who sent in a photo of his finds from the last 12 months. Using a Minelab GPX 5000 Metal Detector with a Rooster Booster he has found close to 14oz’s in Victorian Goldfields.

The nuggets range from 0.06g to 1.5oz using a few different coils but the best all rounder coil he found was the Minelab 11″ Commander coil.

Congratulations to the prospector and we hope 2014 is an even better year!

A Good Week!!

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Admin

I recently had a very good 3 days of detecting with my Minelab GPX 5000 Metal Detector. Starting very early one Saturday morning I headed off on the 2.5 hour drive to our ‘patch’. Upon arrival and after a quick coffee I decided to pay some more attention to the gully behind our main area of finds. I had already picked up one nugget in the bank of this gully a few weeks earlier so I wasn’t expecting to find much. To my surprise within a few minutes I had a target! Gold it was, followed by 2 more! How on earth had I missed these last time???? After clearing that area I headed up to another spot where I had picked up 6 small bits. To my amazement only a meter or so from the mini patch I had a variance in my threshold. I kicked the leaf litter away and was rewarded with a faint but definite sound. A nice deep 1 grammer! That was it for the weekend sadly……..

On Thursday that same week I had a day off and decided to head out again. My plan this time was to shift logs and sticks around. I cleared an area about 10m by 10m, turned the detector on, ground balanced and bang- a target. A 1.3gram nugget! After clearing some more with no luck I decided just to wonder, looking for sticks that had not been moved. I found a small pile of debris that had been overlooked, shifted it to one side and got a strange and confused signal. I began digging knowing it was gold….. it was a good deep target and after 10″ the sound became inverted and I got excited! Another few inches and she was out, what a ripper- 8.5 grams coated in a great red ironstone clay!

After I recovered from that dig I began walking only a few meters from the last one and got a very faint drop tone right in the open! I took a few inches off and it got a little louder. A few more inches and no more change! I was getting very excited….. after about 10″ I still could not pin point it with the tip of my 14” x 9″ Nugget Finder Coil so I began thinking of multi ounce deep dream nuggets. At 15″ I still could not pin point it so out came the Minelab PRO-FIND 25 pin pointer and found it almost right away. Another inch and it was out. I saw it lying on the pile and for a split second all I could think of was “is that it?” then I realised it was still my biggest piece ever so the happy dance begun. It weighed in at a great 16.2 grams!

So the total for the week for me was a healthy 30.8 grams- not bad for 7 nuggets.

New Metal Detectorists

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Admin

We recently had a lovely couple come into our Miners Den Melbourne Store who took the step of starting in the great hobby of metal detecting and so far they love it.

My wife and I came into the store on Wednesday to buy a Minelab X-Terra 705 metal detector with the hope of finding some little treasures here and there.

We fired it up for the first time today, went across the road into the local park and found $3 and a 1917 one penny!

Plus a few piece’s of junk but are over the moon with our first little haul.

Congratulations on the finds and we hope you have many more happy hours of detecting to come.

First Gold After BendigoGold Training Day

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Admin

A customer who had recently purchased a Minelab GPX 5000 metal detector from the BendigoGold store had great success out after completing the BendigoGold Training Day.

Using a Minelab GPX 5000 with a 12″x7″ Nugget Finder elliptical coil our customer headed out after completing his training day finding a number of gold nuggets.

He was very happy with his outing and recommends the BendigoGold training Day ‘Training session is an absolute must’

Below is an image of the nuggets he had found.

Congratulations on the great finds!

Treasure Tim heads out with the Minelab CTX 3030

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Admin

Finally got to swing a detector !!!!!

A fire had recently burnt an old site which was mined in 1860’s and 70’s which made it accessible to my coil after so many years of thick growth.

Managed alot of brass objects, a horse head locket and this cricket buckle, which is a common pattern which i’d seen before a few times.

Very happy with its condition all the same whilst in the burnt area , I noticed 4 other hut sites which I didnt have time to detect, but will hopefully return to soon before the regrowth.

It’s never too late to start Metal Detecting even at 99yrs.

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Admin

It’s never too late to begin metal detecting. Recently a 99 year old man who had lost most of his hearing came into our BrisbaneGold store with his daughter and son in law to buy a Minelab X-TERRA 305 metal detector. His age and hearing loss weren’t going to stop him from giving metal detecting a go.

We wish him the best of luck in his hunt for treasure.