Lasseters Reef claimed to be found

[Chilli]

Hi all. Lasseters Reef here is legendary. I even knew a guy who went looking for it years ago. Many have. One guy now claims to have done so, found it. Im not convinced but good on him if he has.

Has Lasseter’s Reef been found?

Ever since early 20th-century gold prospector Harold Bell Lasseter publicly claimed that a gold-bearing quartz reef existed somewhere west of the MacDonnell Ranges in Central Australia.

www.australiangeographic.com.au

 

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[traveller777]

Hi all. Lasseters Reef here is legendary. I even knew a guy who went looking for it years ago. Many have. One guy now claims to have done so, found it. Im not convinced but good on him if he has.

Has Lasseter’s Reef been found?

Ever since early 20th-century gold prospector Harold Bell Lasseter publicly claimed that a gold-bearing quartz reef existed somewhere west of the MacDonnell Ranges in Central Australia.

www.australiangeographic.com.au

I am familiar with Lasseter's Reef. Watched an episode of Expedition Uknown with Josh going looking for it. They went to an outcrop of quartz that looked like it ran for miles. I think that is called a reef, right? Anyway, like all of Josh's hunts, the treasure was not found that day. I would have to see hard evidence someone found it. Not just a hand full of veined quartz. Thanks for sharing, mate.

 

[Chilli]

I am familiar with Lasseter's Reef. Watched an episode of Expedition Uknown with Josh going looking for it. They went to an outcrop of quartz that looked like it ran for miles. I think that is called a reef, right? Anyway, like all of Josh's hunts, the treasure was not found that day. I would have to see hard evidence someone found it. Not just a hand full of veined quartz. Thanks for sharing, mate.

Hi, yeah outcropping quartz still part of the load, main body, is the reef.
Iv come across a couple over the years, got what little I could and was able too. They were not super rich but was fun. I have a picture of some of the stuff from one somewhere, ill have a look for it later on.
The guy I know who looked for Lasseters got some guy he knew that had a mate who flew a helicopter involved, they got film cameras and flew back and forwards over the supposed area filming it all and going over it all later looking for signs of things they may have missed flying. They never found anything.
I do know one thing, that places can change dramatically over time and from false memories. Iv had that happen. Think it looked a certain way in my mind, gone looking for the spot id found gold yrs ago and not been back to, several attempts later I find it and it was nothing like my memory.
I wouldn't be surprised that Lasseter if he did find one had the same thing happen.
Cheers.

 

[traveller777]

Hi, yeah outcropping quartz still part of the load, main body, is the reef.
Iv come across a couple over the years, got what little I could and was able too. They were not super rich but was fun. I have a picture of some of the stuff from one somewhere, ill have a look for it later on.
The guy I know who looked for Lasseters got some guy he knew that had a mate who flew a helicopter involved, they got film cameras and flew back and forwards over the supposed area filming it all and going over it all later looking for signs of things they may have missed flying. They never found anything.
I do know one thing, that places can change dramatically over time and from false memories. Iv had that happen. Think it looked a certain way in my mind, gone looking for the spot id found gold yrs ago and not been back to, several attempts later I find it and it was nothing like my memory.
I wouldn't be surprised that Lasseter if he did find one had the same thing happen.
Cheers.

I fear doomed to remain another treasure mystery to determine true of false. His story seemed to change and waffle some. People may find another treasure out looking for his treasure. And his may be true. I just do not know. I hope it is.

 

[Chilli]

I fear doomed to remain another treasure mystery to determine true of false. His story seemed to change and waffle some. People may find another treasure out looking for his treasure. And his may be true. I just do not know. I hope it is.

Here's some of the species I got, 12 yrs ago? There were other bits from other times going there. The place has for a while now been turned into a nature reserve so its a no go area. It'll remain where it is I guess, the reef, virtually unworked other than my small go at it. Im guessing there could be a fortune in it as it was along the line and not far from a rich one worked in the late 1800s.

This was the best single piece I got out of the quartz. 1/4 oz gold. Got given that dollar by an American I knew back then. Thought it might make a better thing to sit it next to for you guys.

 

[traveller777]

Very nice, Chilli. Beautiful specimens. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Tesorodeoro]

Here's some of the species I got, 12 yrs ago? There were other bits from other times going there. The place has for a while now been turned into a nature reserve so its a no go area. It'll remain where it is I guess, the reef, virtually unworked other than my small go at it. Im guessing there could be a fortune in it as it was along the line and not far from a rich one worked in the late 1800s.
View attachment 2010113
This was the best single piece I got out of the quartz. 1/4 oz gold. Got given that dollar by an American I knew back then. Thought it might make a better thing to sit it next to for you guys.
View attachment 2010119

Nice specimens. You didn’t crush them did you?

 

[Chilli]

Nice specimens. You didn’t crush them did you?

Hi, yeah, all but 1. Still got that 1/4 oz bit too.
Specimens used to sell well here yrs ago. Not now. I had a friend who worked in a detector shop at the time I got those. I gave him a couple to put in the for sale cabinet, all I wanted was gold price for what was in them. Three months I think went by and nobody wanted them. Into the dolly pot they went.
But get this, people were happy to buy bits 25% over gold price, they were not mine, nuggets that were nothing to look at and not what id call jewelry bits by a long shot.
Yrs before that they would have been the first to go.

 

[Tesorodeoro]

Hi, yeah, all but 1. Still got that 1/4 oz bit too.
Specimens used to sell well here yrs ago. Not now. I had a friend who worked in a detector shop at the time I got those. I gave him a couple to put in the for sale cabinet, all I wanted was gold price for what was in them. Three months I think went by and nobody wanted them. Into the dolly pot they went.
But get this, people were happy to buy bits 25% over gold price, they were not mine, nuggets that were nothing to look at and not what id call jewelry bits by a long shot.
Yrs before that they would have been the first to go.

I have an attraction to gold ore. Most all of it has been crushed as a matter of practice. So there isn’t a lot of it out there that has visible gold exposed. I’d like to have a bucket of ore like that! Gotta do what you gotta do to pay the bills.
your story about the area being off limits makes for a treasure tale.

 

[crashbandicoot]

Hi all. Lasseters Reef here is legendary. I even knew a guy who went looking for it years ago. Many have. One guy now claims to have done so, found it. Im not convinced but good on him if he has.

Has Lasseter’s Reef been found?

Ever since early 20th-century gold prospector Harold Bell Lasseter publicly claimed that a gold-bearing quartz reef existed somewhere west of the MacDonnell Ranges in Central Australia.

www.australiangeographic.com.au

A question for you Chilli. I,ve been watching Aussie Gold Hunters on TV and noticed the gold they find with metal detectors is almost always rough and jagged,not smooth like nuggets found in the U.S. What is the origin of this gold? There seems to be no water near where they find this gold,so no stream origin.Just curious you understand and thought I,d ask since you,re from OZ.Thanks for any info you may have.Pretty country ya,ll have there except that red dirt gets kind of monotonous.

 

[traveller777]

A question for you Chilli. I,ve been watching Aussie Gold Hunters on TV and noticed the gold they find with metal detectors is almost always rough and jagged,not smooth like nuggets found in the U.S. What is the origin of this gold? There seems to be no water near where they find this gold,so no stream origin.Just curious you understand and thought I,d ask since you,re from OZ.Thanks for any info you may have.Pretty country ya,ll have there except that red dirt gets kind of monotonous.

Great question.

 

[Chilli]

A question for you Chilli. I,ve been watching Aussie Gold Hunters on TV and noticed the gold they find with metal detectors is almost always rough and jagged,not smooth like nuggets found in the U.S. What is the origin of this gold? There seems to be no water near where they find this gold,so no stream origin.Just curious you understand and thought I,d ask since you,re from OZ.Thanks for any info you may have.Pretty country ya,ll have there except that red dirt gets kind of monotonous.

Sorry, missed some posts the last 24hrs. Was off air so to speak. Had a monitor on and couldn't use it I was told with anything electronic. Im ok, im sure it was just precautionary. All good.
Iv done this, detecting, since the early 1990s, im personally no expert. Believe me im no expert. But I know some who detected since the first detectors came out in the 70s. Where I live in Victoria its all over the place, not literally, but reason wise. No rhyme or reason at times why it's where it is.
We have places with ultra deep lead deposits hundreds of feet deep from ancient river deposits. We also have those same ancient river deposits up on hillsides on the surface now exposed. Iv detected a few of each. The deep, i detected the throw out piles, the shallow iv detected virgin and others surfaced by old timers. I have found surface areas that I was the only and first to find, some smooth that looked like they traveled miles, others so rough you scratched your head not being able to find the source.
The old boys couldn't find them, us new cannot either at times.
It can be several things. We have lots of Indicator Reefs here. Very narrow, with and then without gold. That with and without can be lets say 20 feet or more with awesome nuggety gold, then 20 or more with zero gold. As it erodes you can imagine what happens. The lead downhill will be patchy, gold....no gold.....gold....no gold for hundreds of feet. Now imagine that in the lower gully! A person may have dug in the diggers days and landed on a 100 ounce thumper, next shaft dug absolutely nothing. Next a pocket of 3000 ounces, next a couple of hundred, next 7 shaft's zero gold not even a speck! That was common on our fields. Other places it could be, gold gold gold every shaft. For miles. Or Kilometres as we use now.
There were even places like Rheola where the bottom was, lets say as im just guessing the to give an example, 30 feet deep to bedrock. Bedrock is the expected spot heavy gold rests. But no, they got some fine gold, the big bits, hundreds of ounces to the thous, were several feet above the bedrock! Small on bedrock, monsters floating above it defying logic!
Such is our OZ Vic goldfields.
Crazy place. I could write a book on my experience and more from others but I hope that explains our nuts Victoria gold.
I still scratch my head today I can assure you.

 

[crashbandicoot]

Sorry, missed some posts the last 24hrs. Was off air so to speak. Had a monitor on and couldn't use it I was told with anything electronic. Im ok, im sure it was just precautionary. All good.
Iv done this, detecting, since the early 1990s, im personally no expert. Believe me im no expert. But I know some who detected since the first detectors came out in the 70s. Where I live in Victoria its all over the place, not literally, but reason wise. No rhyme or reason at times why it's where it is.
We have places with ultra deep lead deposits hundreds of feet deep from ancient river deposits. We also have those same ancient river deposits up on hillsides on the surface now exposed. Iv detected a few of each. The deep, i detected the throw out piles, the shallow iv detected virgin and others surfaced by old timers. I have found surface areas that I was the only and first to find, some smooth that looked like they traveled miles, others so rough you scratched your head not being able to find the source.
The old boys couldn't find them, us new cannot either at times.
It can be several things. We have lots of Indicator Reefs here. Very narrow, with and then without gold. That with and without can be lets say 20 feet or more with awesome nuggety gold, then 20 or more with zero gold. As it erodes you can imagine what happens. The lead downhill will be patchy, gold....no gold.....gold....no gold for hundreds of feet. Now imagine that in the lower gully! A person may have dug in the diggers days and landed on a 100 ounce thumper, next shaft dug absolutely nothing. Next a pocket of 3000 ounces, next a couple of hundred, next 7 shaft's zero gold not even a speck! That was common on our fields. Other places it could be, gold gold gold every shaft. For miles. Or Kilometres as we use now.
There were even places like Rheola where the bottom was, lets say as im just guessing the to give an example, 30 feet deep to bedrock. Bedrock is the expected spot heavy gold rests. But no, they got some fine gold, the big bits, hundreds of ounces to the thous, were several feet above the bedrock! Small on bedrock, monsters floating above it defying logic!
Such is our OZ Vic goldfields.
Crazy place. I could write a book on my experience and more from others but I hope that explains our nuts Victoria gold.
I still scratch my head today I can assure you.

Thank you Chilli,that was most helpful and very interesting too.I enjoyed it.I just get curious when I see something like that with no logical explanation.Strange place,Australia,but it has it,s own beauty.Wish I,d gotten there when I was in the Marines but alas,I was destined for other places.Hope you find those big old nuggets,happy hunting!