Prospecting in Western Australia

Hello everyone!  I get so many messages from members (West aussies and eastern staters) who are planning on doing West Australian prospecting trips and want to know where to start. Sadly all these trips have been postponed this year so I thought it would be a good time for everyone to get there research and planning in to make sure they are super prepared for when we are all free! 

Now this blog isn’t just for the Easterners planning a 2 week trip to WA, it will be suitable for any one. Even for the Kalgoorlie people who are planning on heading out over the weekend, or all our Perth/Mandurah members who are hoping to squeeze a sneaky trip up to the goldfields. 

I am also very aware that Western Australia is a big state, I don’t have time to cover the Kimberly and Pilbara in this lesson so we will be concentrating on the Kalgoorlie goldfields and the Murchison. We will eventually get around to the top end of the west!

This blog is just a good starting point. If you have any questions feel free to send us a message. If you want to become a member to receive lessons like this fortnightly plus a lot more click the “sign up” button! 

Miners right

In Western Australia it is illegal to commence any sort of prospecting activities with out a miners right.
 
Why – 
As I said before you cannot commence any sort of prospecting with out a miner’s right. A miners right allows you to conduct the following activities in WA (Quoted from the DMIRS website) -

• Prospect for minerals (including gold)

• Conduct geological mapping and tests for minerals

• Undertake limited sampling using hand held equipment and to remove samples up to 20 kilograms

• Mark out mining tenements

• Fossick for rocks and gemstones

• Take water and camp for the purposes of prospecting

Your miners right does not authorize these activities on private or reserved land. Now that you have a miners right you may pass over these areas to gain access to crown land for the purpose of prospecting.

How –
Miner’s rights can be obtained at the Department of mine, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) in East Perth or at any Mining Registrations office. To find your closest Mining Registrations office simply head to the DMIRS website and have a look at the list. Miner’s rights are only $25 and can (hopefully) be a great investment. Make sure you bring your ID because you will need this to prove your identity.


Important notes –
It is very important that you do let station owners and pastoralist’s know that you will be passing through there land as they could be mustering, shooting, fencing etc. It’s also compulsory to comply with the following when passing through their land (Quoted from the DMIRS website) –

• Take all necessary steps to prevent fire, damage to trees or other property; and damage to any other property or livestock by the presence of dogs, the discharge of firearms, the use of vehicles or otherwise

• Cause as little inconvenience as possible and comply with reasonable pastoralist’s requests when passing and re-passing

• Restrict the numbers or passes and re-passes to the minimum necessary for the purpose of mining on or marking out other land

• Make good any damage caused to improvements or livestock

Local contacts 

WA is a big prospecting state and there are a few businesses/people around that are good to know for when you’re in the state. If you guys know of anymore please feel free to post in the group! 
 - Natural Gold Nuggets and Jewellery - https://naturalgoldnuggets.com.au/ These guys buy and sell gold in Kalgoorlie. If you go in tell Richard we said hey! 
- Finders Keepers Kalgoorlie -  https://www.finderskeepersgold.com/  for all your prospecting needs! Tell matt we said hello!
- Reeds Prospecting in Perth - https://www.reedsprospecting.com.au/ for all your prospecting needs in Perth 
- Mines Department, they are normally extremely helpful! http://dmp.wa.gov.au/
- The Sandstone pub is one of my faves! Tell Donna and Scruff we said hey! 
- Blackranges cafe in Sandstone - Delicious food! Tell Fi and Macky we said hello. 
- If you’re looking for food in Kalgoorlie, I love Paddy’s for dinner and Montys for breakfast. 
- Pirates prospecting tours Leonora - https://www.facebook.com/groups/163960434169884/ Greg is in the group so just shout out and he will help! There tours are great. 
- The Happy Prospector app is a useful source if you are new to the WA goldfields. Just have a look in your App Store. 

Obviously a lot of these places are closed now but will re open after this has all passed. 

Choosing a general area 

So first of all you have to decide which general area you would like to try! WA is a big area with a lot of different goldfields. Getting a little plan of action together about which regions you are interested in will help narrow down your research. Kalgoorlie, Leonora, Laverton, Sandstone, Mt Magnet, Cue are some great places to start. The amount of time you have and how remote you want to travel will determine which places you visit and how many. Jump on google maps to get a rough idea of their locations. All of these towns have a fuel station, caravan parks and places to top up food. Kalgoorlie is a great starting place as its the main hub of the region and obviously a big gold producer. To help with this step would be some general research. I would recommend the following to help narrow down where you want to visit - 

TROVE 

"A revolutionary new free search engine created by the National Library of Australia.

With just one click at trove.nla.gov.au users, like never before, can access a wealth of resources - across more than 90 million items in one go - about Australia and Australians.

Trove’s content, much of which is digital, comes from more than 1000 libraries around Australia as well as other cultural and educational institutions and international collections with relevance to Australia."

This is my favourite way to research. My favourite aspect of prospecting is the history and Trove gives us access to the past in a very beneficial way. Basically you can find old news paper clippings and books that document historic gold finds, historic big nugget finds and historic mines that have been forgotten about for 50 plus years. You can find a lot of information that isnt recorded on Tengraph and GeoVic, which is very helpful because it puts you one step in front of every one else.

Basically what you want to find on trove is recordings of big gold finds and old gold claims/workings. You can then go to that area with your new technology and find the mother load (hopefully they left you some)! Trove is also great for learning, they old timers were extrememly smart and a lot can be learnt from how they used to operate.

Here are some useful searches (lets say I am heading to Mt Magnet) -
- Big nuggets Mt Magnet
- Gold claims Mt Magnet
- Gold Mt Magnet
- Prospecting Mt Magnet

Some others
- Panning for gold
- Gold in Australia
- Gold Loaming
- Big nuggets Kalgoorlie 
- Etc... The list is endless

There will be lots of clues in the newspaper clippings , some give names that can be further researched and some even give location!

Below I have linked some interesting reads for every state -

WA - 
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/255687253?searchTerm=gold%20shafts%20kalgoorlie&searchLimits=

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/233800506?searchTerm=gold%20prospecting%20NSW&searchLimits=


BOOKS

Old time prospectors have the most valuable information in the gold game, unfortunately the majority have passed away. Gold books have preserved this knowledge and are extremely useful! These books we strongly recommend reading if you haven't already. If I have left out any books you think are amazing post them in the group :) You can also find some awesome books specific to your area on Trove, Trove will also tell you where you can purchase or rent them from.

- Gold and Ghosts
- Mates and Gold
- Council Gold Minning Leases WA 1954

The last book has a lot of valuable information. It lists all workings that produced gold, lease numbers that were producing gold,  and whether the gold was alluvial or dollied. You can then choose the lease number and search it on Tengraph. Even if you do not have access to the ground you can still go to the area and see what kind of ground it is to find similar ground near by that you can access.

Some awesome information in those books. Especially if you are coming over to WA and need an idea of where to start.

MAPS 

Maps are extremely important in the gold game. We use maps in conjunction with all the other resources. For example if you find an old mine that produced good gold on Trove you can get out the map and see what the geology is like in that area. Any information is good information.
Things we look for on maps -
- Contact zones
  We spoke about contact zones in our last lesson but basically its where two types of geology or fault lines touch. These circumstances often led to the formation of gold, hence why they are such a good gold indicators. I will have a map for the live and can show you guys what I mean.
- Similar with contact zones fault lines are great gold indicators. These are the black lines on the map. If you find an old gold claim, or a big nugget, or an historic working that is on a fault line you can use the map to follow the fault line into new ground!
- Colours
The map will have the different geological colours on it and the colour on the map usually matches the colour in real life. For example green on the map would mean greenstone. In Kalgoorlie gold carries in the green stone belts, so we wouldnt choose a spot outside these belts. Places where the colours contact are important as well.
- Workings
Maps on Tengraph, GeoVic etc.... will list historic workings, shafts, known gold areas etc. Firstly this is useful because you can visit these areas. Secondly you can see what geology, fault lines and other information is in that area and find other areas near by that mimic this.
- Fault lines
In Western Australia the majority of hills face 330 degrees so if you find an old alluvial working on a map follow it 330 degrees to follow the strike line!

You can find maps at your local prospecting store, your mines department or you can download them online from the mines department.

GOOGLE EARTH 

Google Earth is a great free tool! You can zoom in on new ground and look for gold indicators before you even leave your house. It is a great way to save time. You can overlay Tengraph and GeoVic to google maps to help find ground! I also find it helpful to see the information on Tengraph in "real life" form, as it helps me to understand what I am looking at.

MINES DEPARTMENT DATA BASES 
The Mines department in every state has a wealth of knowledge! Here are some of the resources you can use for research -
- Leases
- Geological maps
- Tengraph 
- Drill holes
- Soil samples
- Wamex - "Mineral explorers are required to report annually on their exploration projects under Western Australian legislation. After a period of confidentiality, the exploration reports and data are made available to the public. These are referred to as open-file reports. Mineral exploration open-file (public) reports are stored in the Western Australian Mineral WAMEX database. Access is free of charge, and copies of the reports are available for download." Super handy information if the lease is now pending! You can see if the lease was producing gold or not. 

STATE RECORDS 

Every state has records that are available to the public. There is so much useful information available. You can use this in the same way you would use Trove. Below I have linked the records for every state. Some of the websites you need to create an account and some you need to request the information you want to access, its very simple and easy to do. As always if you have any questions just ask :)

WA - 
https://archive.sro.wa.gov.au/index.php/files-mining-s20

I know that is a lot of information guys, sorry if its a bit overwhelming but hopefully you can work through it slowly and it will help you when deciding what areas you are most interested in. 

Getting access 

Ok so now you have done you’re research an you have a rough idea of which are you want to visit the next step is finding ground you are actually allowed to access. Every state has different laws if you want to know what the rules are for your state send me an email. 

In Western Australia you can prospect - 

• unallocated or vacant Crown land not covered by a granted mining tenement

• Crown land that is the subject of a pastoral lease, or lease for grazing and timber and is not covered by a granted mining tenement, provided prior notice is given to the lessee

• mining tenements, provided you have written permission from the tenement holder

• granted exploration licences, provided you have a Section 40E Permit ( Will explain this later on) ​These permits provide access to nominated Crown land areas on granted exploration licences, described as graticular blocks. Permits are valid for three months and only allow the use of handheld tools

• Any ground that is Pending! You can find pending leases on Tengraph - Any leases on tengraph http://www.dmp.wa.gov.au/Tengraph_online.aspx that appear green are granted (live leases) and you can not access without permission any leases that are blue you are allowed to prospect on.

You cannot prospect on national parks, nature reserves, within town sites or other classified reserves such as cemeteries. A Permit to Enter is required to search for any mineral on private property (farm land). The permit can be issued by the department. Contact with the landowner should be made before entry.

Section 40E permits - 

"Section 40E of the Mining Act 1978 allows Miner’s Right holders to apply for a permit to prospect on land within a granted exploration licence"

In Western Australia another way to get access to land is to get a section 40E permit. This permit gives you access to an exploration lease. So basically if you find a lease on Tengraph that you would like to detect on and its marked as an "E" you can apply for a 40E to gain access. The permit will give you access to up to 10 blocks of land. The nominated blocks must be in one group and each block must have a common side to another block. Great way to get access to some great ground own by mining companies!

Once your application is accepted the owner of the lease will be notified but you must contact the pastoralist.

Other features -

• is issued for three months and is not transferable between parties

• has a set fee of $90.00 for 1 to 10 blocks

• may include up to three permit holders who are jointly liable for any activities conducted under the permit

• limits prospecting activities to a depth of two metres from the natural surface

• allows a maximum sample limit of 20 kilograms

• enables prospecting activities to commence on the exploration licence 21 days after the permit issue date or when the licence holder has provided a licensee statement to the permit holder

• does not allow the use of power or hydraulically driven hand-tools

• is subject to standard protective conditions and notes, which can be varied or added to the permit by the issuing officer.
  
  Conditions -

1. Prior to commencement of prospecting activities, the permit holder must forward a copy of the permit to the holder of any pastoral lease affected.

2. No prospecting activities are to commence within the first 21 days of the term of the permit unless a licensee statement under regulation 4H of the Mining Regulations 1981 has been received.

3. Prospecting under this permit is restricted to Crown land within the blocks nominated in the permit and to a depth of two metres from the natural surface of the land.

4. All disturbances to the land are to be filled or otherwise made safe after completion of prospecting activities and all waste materials, rubbish, etc is to be removed from the permit area prior to leaving.

5. Only hand-held tools may be used and the use of explosives and powered or hydraulically driven tools is prohibited.

6. No prospecting activities shall occur within 100 metres of any activities being carried out by or on behalf of the holder of the nominated Exploration Licence.
   
   Notes - 

1. The permit holder’s attention is drawn to the provisions of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972.

2. If vehicles other than those nominated on the application for this permit are to be used, the holder of the Exploration Licence is to be given prior notice.

3. The permit holder is required to comply with the prescribed sample or specimen limit of a maximum of 20 kilograms, referred to in regulation 4 of the Mining Regulations 1981.

4. The permit holder is required to advise the holder of the Exploration Licence and the department of any minerals recovered within the permit area within fourteen (14) days of the expiry, cancellation or surrender of the permit.

So once you have chosen the general area you would like to visit its time to chose some specific leases. We would recommend having at least 3 options for every area you want to visit, its important to have well researched backups ready to go!

Lease specific research 

So now you have a list of leases you want to visit, what’s next? There is still some pre trip research to go! I have mentioned the methods above but it’s time to get more specific! It’s good to have a rough idea of where you want to start before you get there. My biggest tips here would be -

1. Get on tengraph and overlay geology and historic workings. The best place to start is where the old timers were, they didn’t stuff around unless there was gold. From here see if there is any patterns. Where were they working, what geology were they in, are they on a fault like, a strike line, a contact zone? Is there any run offs from there workings? Take note of all of these so you not only know where to start but what aspects to look for in a new area. 
2. Google earth is an awesome for research. On the leases you want to go on look for new workings, old workings, contact zones, colour changes, iron or quartz outcrops, roads leading to places (why are they leading there?) and anything else you find interesting! 
3. WAMEX - This is a great tool!! I posted a video in the facebook group about how to quickly access and use this if you want to check it out. Basically once you are on the WAMEX site click the lease you are interested in and then click mineral exploration reports WAMEX report down the bottom, choose one of the reports and the click download report- 
 

Have a good read about all the reports for that lease, there will be some very valuable free information there!

If you like this blog we do have an ebook that goes into more detail on the subject under “shop”.

All the best, 

 

Tyler