The Prospectors and Miners Association of Tasmania had a field trip to Back Creek on the 8th of June 2019, hosted by leaseholder Ron Gregory.
This was our second official field trip to his Back Creek lease, and Ron went out of his way to help us. We had some firsts in this trip, and the first PMAT raffle and first hire of portable toilets for an event were among the highlights.
PMAT meeting at the Back Creek lease.
We congregated at 9:00 am at the historic huts for a general meeting, and Ron gave us an introduction to the property and the rules for the field trip. Andrew volunteered his excavator to provide scoops of gold wash to raise funds for the Association.
The morning was spent wandering around, metal detecting, panning and highbanking. By lunchtime the first few nuggets were making an appearance.
Panning some wash
Highbanking
Some of the morning’s nuggets
We congregated back at the huts at lunchtime for the raffle. Prizes included 1 hr slots to exclusively detect an area of freshly leveled wash thanks to Andrew and Ron, a discount voucher courtesy of Allgoods in Launceston, and several bags of kindling courtesy of 2EASY Kindling.
Raffle winners who won exclusive rights to detect a fresh bed of wash were all able to find a piece of gold, some for the first time.
Leveling a fresh bed of wash
Detecting the newly laid bed
There’s a target in the bank!
All in all it was a fantastically successful weekend, thanks especially to the efforts of Andrew with his excavator, and Ron, whose generosity and hospitality are becoming legendary.
Thanks Ron!
P.S.: A quick reminder that, if you wish to visit the Back Creek lease at any time other than during an official PMAT trip, you can only do so by prior arrangement with Ron.
Happy prospecting!