New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

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Perfect crevice

overdog		Posted : Thursday, 1 November 2012 10:52:53 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Medals: Groups: Registered Joined: 2/03/2010(UTC) Posts: 418 Location: nelson Thanks: 69 times Was thanked: 82 time(s) in 68 post(s)		Got out for a couple of hours yesterday down the Waka and came across the perfect crevice-you know the sort-right angles to the flow,just downstream of a step in the bedrock,on the gold path,6 inces deep and about an inch across,all the rocks and pebbles jammed in tight... In other words perfect. Started dreaming of the house I was gonna buy with the fortune that was waiting for me at the bottom of it and set to work. 2 hours later I had a fascinating collection of lead shot,airgun pellets,old nails and a 22 slug. And 1 flake barely visible to the human eye. Oh well-it was a nice day and I wasnt at work so Im happy!

DrunkBrother		Posted : Thursday, 1 November 2012 11:28:49 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered, Moderators Joined: 27/11/2011(UTC) Posts: 911 Location: Auckland Thanks: 21 times Was thanked: 206 time(s) in 161 post(s)		Bad day at metal detecting/gold prospecting is better than a good day at work, right? ;-)
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overdog		Posted : Thursday, 1 November 2012 12:45:28 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Medals: Groups: Registered Joined: 2/03/2010(UTC) Posts: 418 Location: nelson Thanks: 69 times Was thanked: 82 time(s) in 68 post(s)		Damn right! Cant think of many places I'd rather be when the suns out and the birds are singin-something very zen about cleaning out a crevice...

Lammerlaw		Posted : Thursday, 1 November 2012 1:01:33 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 24/05/2011(UTC) Posts: 1,721 Thanks: 72 times Was thanked: 579 time(s) in 396 post(s)		interesting I thought that the perfect crevice was the one with heaps of gold in it regardless of its lie to the current - two of the best crevices I ever got gold out of ran down the current so that the river ran down the crevice rather than across it - one of these crevices yielded over a pound weight of gold. Judging by the shotgun pellets etx you got methinks someone beat you to it!

element111		Posted : Thursday, 1 November 2012 3:12:15 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 2/12/2011(UTC) Posts: 114 Location: blenheim Thanks: 49 times Was thanked: 34 time(s) in 21 post(s)		i know of a crevice that sounds just like that lol.past 3 days have been pefrect to be out and about.i bet the sandflys where out in force

overdog		Posted : Thursday, 1 November 2012 3:58:57 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Medals: Groups: Registered Joined: 2/03/2010(UTC) Posts: 418 Location: nelson Thanks: 69 times Was thanked: 82 time(s) in 68 post(s)		Bastards were driving tanks and flying Mig 27s... was about 500 metres down from your claim so I blame you lol! (For the empty crevice not the sandflies!)

Golddigger7		Posted : Thursday, 1 November 2012 4:04:40 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Medals: Groups: Registered Joined: 6/09/2012(UTC) Posts: 252 Thanks: 1 times Was thanked: 46 time(s) in 35 post(s)		LoL, I always leave shutgun pallets and lead etc in the crevices that I've cleaned out. I even jam em tight with rocks as well!!!

element111		Posted : Thursday, 1 November 2012 10:54:29 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 2/12/2011(UTC) Posts: 114 Location: blenheim Thanks: 49 times Was thanked: 34 time(s) in 21 post(s)		yea i hate that find such a nice crevice and if there is only lead in there you know someones beating you to it lol

goldstalker		Posted : Thursday, 1 November 2012 11:44:16 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 11/10/2012(UTC) Posts: 454 Location: greymouth, west coast Thanks: 6 times Was thanked: 67 time(s) in 57 post(s)		i mostly work in rivers creeks with clay (parpa) bottoms would love to get into some nice bedrock crevices i have a good collection of old bullets and nails from crevices i always take them home, ive found one silver coin to stuck to a horse shoe nails still in it so i guess the horse died with it on? lol

goldstalker		Posted : Friday, 2 November 2012 3:21:30 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 11/10/2012(UTC) Posts: 454 Location: greymouth, west coast Thanks: 6 times Was thanked: 67 time(s) in 57 post(s)		Originally Posted by: element111 i know of a crevice that sounds just like that lol.past 3 days have been pefrect to be out and about.i bet the sandflys where out in force i have found were theres lots of sandflies theres great gold. i reckon there gardians of gold lol

element111		Posted : Friday, 2 November 2012 7:18:52 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 2/12/2011(UTC) Posts: 114 Location: blenheim Thanks: 49 times Was thanked: 34 time(s) in 21 post(s)		yea you can go though an expensive can of tropical insect repellent on a good day lol

NUGGY		Posted : Friday, 2 November 2012 8:53:30 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 20/07/2012(UTC) Posts: 267 Location: greymouth Thanks: 85 times Was thanked: 76 time(s) in 58 post(s)		Most perfect crevice I ever found (apart from the obvious lol) was in a large river where I was dredging years ago, at right angles to the flow, it was about one metre wide by three metres long - tucked in behind a bus sized boulder in in water nearly six feet deep. Got into it with high hopes and by the mid afternoon had it opened right up, Moving rocks up to wheel barrow skip size. I was in it head first and my feet above me were well below the surface of the bedrock, on the river bottom. It was weird looking up over my shoulder to see the dredge floating so far above, looking tiny. The gold was starting to show on the flat surfaces of each new rock I exposed - flakes and flat pickers too. The crack/crevice was getting narrow and I had to push down into it. Sorry got visitors, family - 9 of the buggers. Anyways.... The wash was not as hard packed as I had hoped to find, but it was getting harder. I had a couple of hose blockages then, and thought if it goes too much deeper I would run out of hose - but the dredge ran out of power first. It didn't have enough suck to lift the gravel no matter how slow I went it just blocked instantly. We were coming back the next day with another motor and pump for extra grunt, but it rained like hell that night, we struggled to get the Landcruiser back there with the track so bad. We made it there though, but all we could do was pull the dredge up out of reach of the roiling brown flood water. I did get back there a couple of times, but the Crevice had about 2 metres of rocks on top of it - some as big as grand pianos. Sometimes I think it had been done, other times I imagine scooping ounces of fat yellow nuggets out of the bottom. So it remains my perfect crevice, but it's on someone elses claim now! Nuggy Edited by user Saturday, 3 November 2012 12:33:50 AM(UTC) \| Reason: Not specified

1864hatter		Posted : Friday, 2 November 2012 9:31:24 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 4/08/2010(UTC) Posts: 1,007 Location: Auckland.... Thanks: 49 times Was thanked: 566 time(s) in 269 post(s)		Originally Posted by: NUGGY Most perfect crevice I ever found (apart from the obvious lol) was in a large river where I was dredging years ago, at right angles to the flow, it was about one metre wide by three metres long - tucked in behind a bus sized boulder in in water nearly six feet deep. Got into it with high hopes and by the mid afternoon had it opened right up, Moving rocks up to wheel barrow skip size. I was in it head first and my feet above me were well below the surface of the bedrock, on the river bottom. It was weird looking up over my shoulder to see the dredge floating so far above, looking tiny. The gold was starting to show on the flat surfaces of each new rock I exposed - flakes and flat pickers too. The crack/crevice was getting narrow and I had to push down into it. More to come Go on.....
		And now....On sandy beaches and muddy soil, rings and coins await my coil!

overdog		Posted : Saturday, 3 November 2012 11:14:29 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Medals: Groups: Registered Joined: 2/03/2010(UTC) Posts: 418 Location: nelson Thanks: 69 times Was thanked: 82 time(s) in 68 post(s)		This has been bothering me.If there were a decent amount of lead at the bottom of it why no gold? I'm not naive enough to think that I was the first one to spot this crack-probably been done over quite a few times since 1864 but as I said the pebbles were pretty tight in there and to find only 1 tiny speck... If it had been cleaned out recently why all the heavies?

1864hatter		Posted : Saturday, 3 November 2012 11:37:50 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 4/08/2010(UTC) Posts: 1,007 Location: Auckland.... Thanks: 49 times Was thanked: 566 time(s) in 269 post(s)		Originally Posted by: overdog This has been bothering me.If there were a decent amount of lead at the bottom of it why no gold? I'm not naive enough to think that I was the first one to spot this crack-probably been done over quite a few times since 1864 but as I said the pebbles were pretty tight in there and to find only 1 tiny speck... If it had been cleaned out recently why all the heavies? Hey mate I recon gold takes a very long time (lets say thousands of years at least) to build up in a crevice, unless a flood washes a bank out and brings a bit of "new" gold into the system. The gold that was in the Waka in the early rush took millions of years to build up so 150 years wont do much.... As for the heavies being in there, well there is way more lead than gold in the waka, also I personally dont always take the lead with me when im sniping. I have found the odd bit of gold sitting in with lead but the richest spots have had little if any lead. What you want to look for in the waka are hematite and sheelite, as these are natural they should be found even in virgin crevices which will contain little if any lead. I recon that some of the tightly packed crevices essentially have "no vacancy", despite gold being really good at working its way down into bedrock it can only do so much and cant go through concrete like crevice fill. My 5 cents worth...
		And now....On sandy beaches and muddy soil, rings and coins await my coil!

simon		Posted : Saturday, 3 November 2012 10:28:59 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 7/01/2011(UTC) Posts: 789 Location: Central Otago Thanks: 33 times Was thanked: 239 time(s) in 150 post(s)		hatter, you're spot on with the sheelite. i've done well when i get the runs of scheelite. there wasn't much of it but wherever it was there was good gold. basically, no scheelite, no gold. sometimes the big chunks of magnetite act in a similar way. this doesn't work too well if you go somewhere like the arrow of course. other places if there is flood gold you will find the gold streak when you find the streak of rusted chunks of mining waste. down underwater this prob ain't a good sign as if the metal is in the crevice its only got there after the crevice has been cleaned before you, as i'm sure you are well aware of. still, waka is a nice place to be anyway. just watch that mad guy in the jetboat doesn't come back and run you down while underwater!
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