Hi everyone,
We had been due to hold a field trip at @rgprospecting’s lease in Back Creek in April, which had to be postponed due to COVID. Since the situation is still a bit uncertain, and things could change, please RSVP here, or by email to info@pmat.org.au or phone/txt 0400.174.956 so we can get back to you if we need to cancel.
We’ve now re-scheduled the trip for early October, I hope to see many of you there!
Ron Gregory has kindly offered to host us again for a field trip at his Back Creek gold lease on Saturday the 3rd of October 2020. We will have a short General Meeting at 9:00, followed by a day of fossicking. The trip is free for members, and if you’re interested in joining up, you can do so on the day.
We will be having a raffle and activities similar to June of last year. We will have buckets of wash guaranteed to have gold, and Andrew will have his digger, so you if you’d like a bigger load for a highbanker, you can talk to him on the day.
Back Creek contains shallow historical workings and is a good location for detecting small nuggets, and a few nuggets and specimens have been found in recent times, up to close to an ounce. PMAT has been there a few times, and every times people have detected gold. There is also a large pond for panning, or in case you want to bring your highbanker.
The main meeting place will be the historic shacks on Ringswandls Road (off Back Creek Rd).
The area has a lot of historical mining works, including open-cuts, pits, trenches and shafts. If you’ll be joining us. Please be aware of where you step and understand that you enter at your own risk.
Getting there
Most of you probably know how to get to the lease. For those of you who don’t, the lease is on Back Creek Road, which starts behind the Pipers River shop (on Bridport Road). We will meet at the area of 1930s shacks on Ringsgwandls Rd (click on the link for a Google Maps image to help you get there).
In the map above, this is where the road crosses a creek marked ‘Spring Creek’, just to the NW of a pond.
Camping
Ron has invited members who want to to camp at the lease on Friday and Saturday nights. A couple of things to keep in mind:
- There is no potable water on site, please bring your own
- There will be a toilet available on site
Rules
As we’ll be working inside a current mining lease, there are some conditions to attending, please read these carefully:
- Please RSVP for this trip so we can get in touch if we have to cancel.
- All attendees will need to fill in a sign-in sheet on arrival, and sign out at the end of the trip.
- Any gold found is to be shown to Ron. There are two main reasons for this: he does not have to pay royalties on gold that he does not produce himself, and the main thing he gets for his hospitality is to find out where gold may be shedding in the lease. If you find some gold, please do the right thing and show Ron.
- The area contains abundant mining heritage. Please be respectful of this and of any lease property.
- Any areas of current workings are off-limits.
- There will be processes to follow to disinfect any shared surfaces after each use. We’ll go over them on the day, please make sure you follow them.
See you all there!!!
