The Mathinna goldfield

The Mathinna goldfield started, like many others, with the discovery of alluvial gold, this time in Black Horse Gully. The area contains one of Tasmania’s largest gold mines, the New Golden Gate, which had a total (historical) production of over 260,000 ounces (~8 tons) of gold. The whole area is riddled with mines, prospects and old workings, and is fairly easy access with light bush.

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Alluvial gold part 1: gold panning

Are you interested in looking for alluvial gold? Did you know that most Tasmanian gold rushes and all but one of Tasmania’s great gold mines were found by prospectors originally following leads of alluvial gold? In this post I will briefly describe alluvial gold, and go into places you might go, where to do research, and link to some good videos on how to pan, if you’re just starting out.

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The Mount Huxley swindle

In the heady gold-rush days of the 1890s, one particular discovery promised to be the biggest gold mine ever found: Mount Huxley, southeast of Queenstown, between Mount Owen and Mount Jukes. The show was reported as being so good as to threaten to depreciate the value of gold. Within a few short weeks, the Mount Huxley mine was exposed as a massive fraud.

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