About
Andrew Bales – Bio
Andrew Bales has been searching for gold since he was 4 years of age. Growing up in a gold mining region, he used to walk up and down the road of his parents farm property looking at the rocks for gold. He is an authority on gold and can successfully read ground, often finding gold where others can’t.
Andrew works as a geological consultant, specialising in gold mineralisation and is often professionally sought for his acute understanding of coarse gold occurrences. He has explored for gold across most parts of Australia and in the International arena.He is driven by a passion in searching for nuggets of gold and has travelled extensively around Australia, chasing the glorious metal.
At a young age Andrew was searching through gravel on the side of the road for glimmers – he was born with prospecting in his blood. At 12 he started panning in the creeks around his family’s farm at St Arnaud in Victoria’s Golden Triangle. Specks were found and fuelled his passion to find more!
In 1989 he bought a state of the art metal detector. His initial outing with the new machine produced his first gold nugget. It was only about the size of ½ pea (worth $30) but for 18 year old Andrew it was like finding The Welcome Stranger (the largest nugget ever discovered). Now 26 years later, that same euphoric, infectious thrill grabs Andrew every time he uncovers another piece of the precious yellow metal.
Andrew’s passion for prospecting has been further developed by an Honours Degree in Geology that has enhanced his abilities and success rate as a prospector.
Andrew is a well known and respected author of several publications and has prospected across the country. Andrew has risked it all in his pursuit of gold, including being shot, becoming lost and close to death from extreme heat and dehydration. He uses tools ranging from the basic pan to sophisticated electronic equipment, all contributing to countless ounces discovered in some of the wildest outback country of Australia.
