Gold hunting is rapidly growing in popularity .. and not just among grey nomads. PIC: Peter McKenzie
Gold-hunting grey nomads may be finding they’ve got a little more company than usual out on the treasure trail these days.
According to some observers, the mining downturn is forcing more people to go in search of gold to make ends meet … and not all of them are following the rules.
“What’s happened is a lot of people are now out of work, so they’re buying detectors and going anywhere where they think they can find their fortune so they can retire,” Martin Ynema, who owns mining leases around the old Halls Creek town site in WA, told the ABC. “As long as the detector points in that direction that’s where they go … they don’t seem to worry too much about whose properties or leases they are or if they’re encroaching on anyone’s toes.”
He estimated that prospecting for precious metals and stones had increased by 200-300% in the Kimberley in the past few years.
“Maybe one in a thousand make a good quid out of it,” he said. “The rest of them really lose money … it’s a lot harder than what most of them think.”
The Department of Mines and Petroleum confirmed prospecting had increased in popularity in Western Australia in recent years.
Executive director mineral titles Dr Ivor Roberts told the ABC that a miner’s right was required to prospect on crown land, including pastoral leases and vacant crown land.
I inherited a Garret —— gold detector from my fathers estate, and ” played ” a bit and found as the man says ” it aint easy ” it requires a determined effort on the part of the prospector to learn how to use the machine in all sorts of areas, I was in a well paying job so dropped it as it looked like input effort was too hard, to make sure I did not persist I gave the garret away- good decision