Hi everyone,
Ron Gregory has kindly invited us again to hold our AGM on his lease in Back Creek, on Saturday the 18th of February 2023. Our AGM will begin at 9:00, followed by a day of fossicking. Memberships are due at the start of the year, so this is your best chance to make yourself current. Please mind that there is very little phone reception at Back Creek, so it will be cash only.
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 time people have detected gold. There is also a large pond for panning, or in case you want to bring your highbanker.
In addition to the AGM, we will have some merchandise, a raffle, and bags of wash for sale.
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 .
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:
- No arrivals before 1:00 pm on Friday unless by prior arrangement with Ron
- No-one to remain on site past 1:00 pm on Sunday unless by prior arrangement with Ron
- There is no potable water on site, so please bring your own
- There is now a flushing toilet and water for washing (non-potable)
Important points
As we’ll be working inside a current mining lease, there are some conditions to attending, please read these carefully:
- All attendees will need to fill in a sign-in sheet on arrival, and sign out at the end of the trip.
- All attendees will have to complete an indemnity form on arrival, acknowledging the risks of accessing an area of current and historical mining works, and absolving the leaseholders of liability
- All gold found is to be reported to Ron, no matter the size. Please abide by this condition, it is critical if we want to be allowed back. Ron will explain the detail on the day. Any gold you find up to 5 g is yours to keep. If you find more than 5g of gold, the balance has to be purchased from Ron if you wish to keep it: it is still considered production from the mine, and royalties have to be paid from it.
- There will be no access to excavator pits at any time, for any reason, except during supervised events at Ron’s discretion.
- 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 some areas taped off. Please respect these when on site.
See you all there!!!
