Beautiful, cold, rugged
the West coast of Tasmania is a forbidding place to prospect. Yet in the tannin stained waters of it's rivers and creeks lies a hidden wealth of gold. Tasmanian goldfields were never seen as rich by comparison to those on mainland Australia but the cold clear waters are particularly suited to a type of prospecting called sniping. Armed with a wetsuit, snorkel and crevicing tools modern day prospectors can reach areas the old timers could not.
I picked up gold prospecting in 2022 as part of a dream to make jewellery pieces where I have found and shaped every part with my own hands. On my first 3 day trip I remember driving down to the river with my guide as snow flurries dusted the car and thinking what have I gotten myself into. Despite very little success on that first trip I quickly caught "gold fever" and went on to have a very successful first year. Hopefully in future this means I will be able to bring a small selection of a very special Tasmanian line of jewellery to market, everything hand mined, hand shaped and traceable.
