Head across to the Apple Isle for some gold and gems
By Jim Foster
In the three times we have visited Tasmania, and having spent almost six months in total in the Apple Isle, we had never done any prospecting simply because we didn’t think there would be much, if any, reward for our efforts. It just goes to show how wrong you can be. In fact, gold can be found in many places in Tasmania. We didn’t know it at the time but when we visited Corinna on the Pieman River on the west coast, we were very close to the Whyte River goldfield. We even climbed over a huge moss-covered quartz blow out on the Whyte River walking track that could have shed gold. We did visit a couple of gold towns but these were built to service deep mines and we weren’t aware of any alluvial workings in those places. The fact we didn’t have our detectors made it a moot point, but when we return to the Apple Isle next year we won’t be making the same mistake. Gold is thought to have first been discovered by a convict at Nine Mile Springs near Lefroy, in north-eastern Tasmania, in 1840.
Then, it is said, John Gardner found gold-bearing quartz in 1847 on Blythe Creek, near Beaconsfield. Officially however, the first payable alluvial deposits were reported in the north-east of the state in 1852 by James Grant at the Nook, also known as Mangana, and Tower Hill Creek. And the first registered gold strike (2lb 10oz) was made by Charles Gould at Tullochgoram in the east, near Fingal, south of St. Marys.
A very beautiful ounce-plus nugget from the Lefroy area of Tasmania
Alluvial and reef gold was then found in the many creeks running into the Pieman River near Waratah, and into the Whyte and Hazelwood Rivers on the west coast. Having been to the Pieman and Whyte, I can attest to how rough and wild the terrain is and I have no desire to brave the leech- and mosquito-infested wilderness of the Whyte or Pieman goldfields to do a little prospecting, despite the fact there is still good gold to be found there. Everything I have read and heard about Tasmanian gold these days is that it is mostly sub-gram stuff. While that might be true in many areas, there are still nuggets being found down there that tip the scales at more than an ounce. We actually don’t mind what size it is – gold is gold and as we only prospect for fun these days, we get as much satisfaction and pleasure out of a pretty one grammer as we do out of a 1-ouncer. As a bloke once said to me “Anyone can find the big lumps but it takes real skill to find the flyspecks.”
Tasmania has designated fossicking areas for both gold and gemstones. No license is required to work these areas
Looking at maps of the Tasmanian goldfields we see that they range from the east coast to the west and are concentrated in the north. The biggest blank space is down in the south-west but that’s because most of that incredible wilderness has never been explored let alone prospected. At Specimen Hill, Nine Mile Springs (now Lefroy) in the north-east, the first alluvial gold was discovered by Samuel Richards in 1869.
As can been seen from this map of just the north-east corner of Tasmania, there are plenty of goldfields but you do need a license and permission for most of them
Reef gold was actually identified at this location in 1867 with production mainly restricted to the Native Youth, Chum, Volunteer and New Pinafore Reef mines.
An SDC2300 is probably the best detector for Tasmania. The small coil is ideal for tight undergrowth and the detector’s ability to find tiny scraps of gold means you’re more likely to find at least some of the right stuff
News of Richards’s discovery precipitated the first big rush to Nine Mile Springs and a township quickly developed beside the present main road from Bell Bay to Bridport. Dozens of miners pegged out claims there and at nearby Back Creek, and the usual goods and services providers followed in their wake.
A specimen from the Apple Isle
While the Specimen Hill find was alluvial gold, most of the gold in the Nine Mile Springs area was bonded to quartz below the surface. Consequently, companies moved in to crush the ore and the Lefroy Goldfield became the first profitable goldfield in the colony.
Osmiridium nuggets aren’t worth as much as gold but at around $560 an ounce, they’re not chicken feed either
The largest gold nugget ever found in Tasmania weighed more than 243 ounces and was found in 1883 by J. McGinty, D. Neil, and T. Richards at Rocky River in the north-west near the township of Golden Ridge. It should be noted that more gold was obtained from the surrounding area than the famous Golden Ridge itself. Overall nearly 30,000 ounces of gold was won from this location. If you want to do some detecting in Tasmania my advice is to join the Prospectors and Miners Association of Tasmania (PMAT). They have members who know Tasmania very well and they can put you onto the best proclaimed fossicking areas around the state. They also have a forum which will enable you to garner a great deal of useful information. But if gemstones are more to your liking, you’ll be pleased to know that Tasmania is literally awash with them. One of the most popular and easy-to-get-to spots if it’s sapphires you want, is at Weldborough in the north-east on the Weld River. While you’re there the Weldborough Hotel is well worth a visit and there is a camping ground right beside the Weld River.
A handful of Weld River sapphires. Most Tasmanian sapphires have been found in the creeks and rivers that drain the Blue Tier and Mt Paris area in the north-east of the state
Osmiridium is another metal that is popular with prospectors in Tasmania at the moment. It is a natural alloy of the elements osmium and iridium, with traces of other platinum-group metals, and at the time of writing was fetching about US$400 an ounce. The main use for osmiridium was as hard, durable tips for fountain pen nibs however the popularity of ballpoint pens led to a huge reduction in the market for fountain pens and hence for osmiridium, although the alloy has some other uses. You can readily research osmiridium on the internet and while it might not be worth as much as gold, it’s still an interesting metal to find. Goldfields in Tasmania are generally much smaller than in Victoria or Western Australia and most are on private land or leases, or both.
If you go gold prospecting or gemstone fossicking on Tasmania’s west coast without the right gear and a whole lot of experience, at least leave a note for the coroner
Local knowledge is a must if you want to access goldfields that are not proclaimed fossicking areas. Prospecting opportunities in Tasmania also depend on the type of country you’re in. Much of the northern area of the state compares favourably with parts of Victoria but the west coast goldfields such as the Tarkine, Whyte River and Pieman goldfields are in dense temperate rainforests where even the locals get lost. But if you’re prepared to brave the wild west, make sure you’re carrying whatever it takes to ward off the marauding armies of leeches, sand flies and mosquitoes. If you’re interested in prospecting for gold or gemstones in Tasmania you’ll find a great deal of information online as well as on the Tasmanian Detecting club’s forum. Simply visiting Tasmania as a tourist is extremely rewarding but throw in some prospecting or fossicking, like Cheryl and I plan on doing next year, and your visit will be even more memorable.