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mt arthur
nelson-goldy  
Posted : Thursday, 21 June 2012 11:11:57 PM(UTC)
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hey guys im new to the site and gold fossicking but have been very intrested in gold mining but az i am only 15 im not able to travel far and wide YET and so on but i was wondering if anyone has tried up by deep creek in the tablelands by mt arthur ive done abit of reasearch and it had been mined in the 1800"s but they couldent get suffient water to mine intensivly so was mining was abandoned in early 1900's so i thought it would be worth digging up what the old timers left behind the gold is apparently under about 2 ft of pete/boggy stuff so any thoughts on it would be much appreciated thx mark
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overdog  
Posted : Thursday, 21 June 2012 11:54:01 PM(UTC)
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Hi Mark.From memory its a big hack to get into Deep-either up past Peel Lake to get to the headwaters or along the Takaka river to get to the bottom end.Not done any prospecting up there but did find a few colours in Trilobite Creek at the top end of the Cobb reservior so its up there!
Apparently the gold sits in hollows and dips on the bedrock under the peat-spotting those should be easy but then you gotta get through 2-4 foot of peat,then rotten rock till you hit solid.
I think you might have a good chance in Deep Creek if you can find tailings-or a detector might get lucky in the catchment.Either way you will have to wait til the snow melts or we get a good settled dry spell.

Oh and welcome to the madhouse!

Edited by user Thursday, 21 June 2012 11:55:04 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified
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simon  
Posted : Friday, 22 June 2012 12:09:42 PM(UTC)
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hi mark, welcome to the forum.

it's good to see some young guys showing an interest.

it sounds like overdog has given you some good advice on the area you asked about.

i'd give it a crack. a lot of finding gold is about learning. so it's always worth a look.

and as you mentioned, if the miners had trouble getting a water supply up there, that spells out there could be something there worth investigating.

it sounds like something a detector would be of use for. if you can remove the peat overburden i would try detecting the bedrock under it.

remember the gold can be trapped in the bedrock also, not just sitting on the top of it. many people will break up the top part of the rock to test for this. more easily you can run a detector over it. smashing rock is hard work so you don't want to do too much of that if you don't need to. and if it is rotten as overdog mentioned, you should be able to get a crowbar into it and it should break pretty easy.

if you can get down this way one day i will offer to teach you some stuff and take you to somewhere local. i'm in queenstown so lots of possible spots to visit.

good luck.

simon.
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WWW
Nugget-Hunter  
Posted : Friday, 22 June 2012 8:25:37 PM(UTC)
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Hi Mark,
to access the Tableland, fastest is to mountain bike from Flora Saddle, shortest is to walk from Cobb Reservoir. Most diggings are around Candy Creek. You be lucky to find gold there as it was well worked. I had no luck there. Deep Creek is barren. Try the Hodge Creek off Leslie River, Pearse River or the Waitui Creek near Upper Takaka. Go to the library Nelson and Richmond and get some Nelson history books like Chaffey from the Asbestos Cottage, Tony Nolan Books, Washbourns Reminiscences, Seekers of Souls and Gold, J.P Salisbury books, Geological Survey Bulletins from the Nelson Library Archive etc.
Have fun
I did better at the Nelson goldfilds then on the Coast.
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Nugget-Hunter  
Posted : Friday, 22 June 2012 8:38:17 PM(UTC)
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PS the black smith tools at the Candy Creek are registered and photographed by Doc, leave them as they are. After all it is a National Park, don't get cought by Doc with a shovel, camouflage your self as a tramper or eco-extremist.
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overdog  
Posted : Friday, 22 June 2012 9:06:58 PM(UTC)
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There is gold in the Pearse-saw 2 blokes in there with a 5 or 6 inch this summer.

As its a resurgence river its farkin cold tho...
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bittenbythebug  
Posted : Friday, 22 June 2012 11:27:44 PM(UTC)
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Hi Mark, check out a topic i began a couple of months back, was about the Crow River area which is in the same sort of spot your looking at.

I spoke to a guy several years ago who wanted to take a detector up to the Tablelands to have a look around. He had gold fever real bad (still does) so if he was keen I think it would be worth a look.

Best way to learn the tricks is to hook up with someone with experience in gold mining and fossicking, saves you making too many mistakes early on. I wish I had as there have been a few remote places I've been which I never fully had a good look at or knew where to look for the yellow metal.

Read all the books written by Tony Nolan (Gold, Gold, Gold ..... Gold Fossickers Handbook)and ""Footprints" written on the Nelson back country. Lots of interesting stuff to read over winter and a few tips in there on where to go. And study some of the local maps of the area.

Edited by user Friday, 22 June 2012 11:36:45 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified
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nelson-goldy  
Posted : Saturday, 23 June 2012 9:33:33 AM(UTC)
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Hey thanks for the info. I will give it go wen the snow goes snd I will also get sum of
I will also get sum of those books out to read over the winter
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