RawGold

Andrew Bales spent decades prospecting before training as a geologist, and RawGold's day workshops teach the two disciplines together — reading rock types, structural geology and mineralisation patterns as the actual basis for finding gold, rather than detector technique alone. Sessions run from Dunolly's historic Town Hall, opening with classroom instruction on how gold forms and moves through a landscape before moving into the field to apply it, spanning a full day with morning tea and lunch included. Bales, who has prospected across most Australian states over more than three decades, leads each session and sends participants home with a workshop manual of notes. It suits people who already own a detector and want to stop swinging it blind, as much as newcomers after a genuine introduction to the science behind it. Held in the heart of the Golden Triangle, a short drive from Bendigo, it's a workshop built around understanding ground rather than luck.