New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

hi jase265,

while the weather is perfect here for it at the moment i have a few spanners to throw in your plans.

1. moke creek is under claim (see permit map on this site). it is also on private land. you are allowed to walk or bike the creek bed though if you want to have a look. a nice walk or bike. you can complete the track to arthurs point or return via the road back to moke lake.

2. 5 mile. good luck. it's a public reserve for panning but has terrible access. not one for kids. i would say i know of no one finding gold there but someone i know did spend a fair bit of time there - and got 2 specks! you never know i guess.

3. macetown. lots of places to "disappear". be aware ALL waterways are claimed up there now. even the ones next to the reserve where you can camp. something may be happening up there for the public soon i have heard. prob be next year, as in next summer.
it's all farm land, reserve, and claims up there but good for detecting if you like the heat. not too much shade, lots of steep stuff. there is an old plane wreck you can walk to up a side gully before the homeward bound battery.

simon.

I 100% agree with your thoughts on this where there is public popularity there should be no claims more areas should be set aside for new zealandrs to be able to fossick and enjoy the outdoors there would be less need for people to poach on claims . You cant beat the outdoors fishing hunting and fossicking are great pass times.

Hope you all have a great happy and safe new year

Cavey

gogold,

hey, i was out there doing some digging the other day! worthless overburden pretty much!

it's a vicious circle all right.

when i've got people over or don't have time to go far places like the arrow are great to take them. nice scenery, historic....

sometimes you gotta dig in shit places as there is no where else to go. some folk just want to see some colour. thus the digging in average places.

no worse than the mess i've seen made underwater by sniping / dredging.

everyone's got to remember a flood or two will erode most traces of mining. and mining hasn't really ever stopped in some of those areas, just been delayed and slowed by the long arm of the law. anyone would think the wealth in the ground isn't required.

you're lucky its not another gold rush (yet) or those guys out there would have the road dug out already. on the bright side better to see guys down lower than upstream with a dredge in the back of each boot aimed at someone's claim.



lammerlaw, sorry to hear you knew the people in that place. its still sitting up there. the pilot must have tried to put down on the rock top there. nothing short of spectacular but must have been a pretty terrifying place for things to go wrong up that creek.

i hear you in regards to claims. i'm sure claim holders will not take that kindly.

in some ways you think being close to such a large international centre would see suitable rivers that are slightly more accessible such as moke / arrow dealt with in a different way. but that is the problem with the whole permit system isn't it?! too bigger claims given out making the claims a great commodity.

trouble is the claims probably need to be this big to make them pay.

a simple solution would be to make costs in getting one less.

i guess the government would rather see same income with less people to deal with.

thanks guys just saved me going up their for no reason other than to get the hilux wet.
I live in southland an know the areas well, their is still plenty of gold all over qtown. its just most land is tied up by glass earth, or claims an most prob don't even do anything with it.
But its not just queenstown , most of southland creeks , west otago, otago...all have gold in them.if there is a gold rush again as whats happening over seas, then it would be a can of worms. the way I see it, if you dredge- golds on the bedrock, if you use a detector the golds in tar hills, as for the rest of us, its a very small area or well dug over areas that have bugger all going on. So we start to question an search these other areas... the wee guy just cant get a look in, unless you got money for a start to get you going.so its not that easy to get some colour in the pan. that's my rant for now
cheers

Perhaps I should have said and therefore correct myself - No claims should have been allowed on these stretches of river in the first place - amen - none. At the same time the use of up to say a three inch dredge should have been permissbale on them - this means that the Queenstown guys and Central guys had somewhere to go without hiring a lawyer, doing a lot of hard work and shelling out a heap of money taking out a claim.

Such things as taking what is rightfully the property of others - legally - is common place. If they want to take your house Nellie then rest assured that they WILL do it under what remains of the Public Works act I would have naturally assumed that anyone reading my earlier comment would realise that when something is taken from someone compensation has to be paid so for those who have taken me wrongly - my fault - I shall state that the claims in question should be taken over by the State and made into recreational areas due to their popularity and the claim holders given fair and reasonable compensation...we got compensation when one of ours was effectively taken.

Nellie - It is a totally absurd analogy to equate someones 'house' with someones claim however! - A claim is totally different - also bear in mind that claims can and do get taken from people for whatever reason - we lost one of ours due to it being considered water reserve - another thing is that IF the likes of the Arrow were taken from the claim holders some compensation would of course have to be paid

I guess you may also have to arrange permission with the landowner of the station. but yes, only the main creek is claimed. i presume the side ones were so steep most gold came down and got deposited in moke creek itself, which it a pretty gentle gradient.

Hi All Moke Creek is under claims & it's on private land. one land owner or land owners, doesn't wont minners on his land. As one claim on there land has been shut down,, it could be up to five years before he maybe allowed back in. and problem a shit load of money. As a claim holder, you have to pay for the rights, to get on his land & make shore you don't piss he off. It's hard work digging for gold & Even harder work getting in to private land. So same of yours say open up the creeks, for fossicking put you can't because same creeks are on private land & land owners may not won't us there. Gold is where u find it.

Edited by user Tuesday, 2 July 2013 10:49:47 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

It's the moonlight 1

Yes been a few times, a big walk for no return, even walked to the top of its source detecting, nothing but an old shovel head and bullets. If you do go up wear bright colours and make lots of noise because its a poachers haven, and you could quite easy get shot out up there.

If that's the creek just before then it's a dry creek, don't get me wrong there is gold in there somewhere as there's old miners huts scattered all through there, but its not easy going and the cocky is a bit of a c@@t plus the fact you could get a .308 in the rear is not to good. I know a few guys who have poached around there and said that they had seen some guys in random places. Best bet is to walk in early before the horse girls go out and then sneak down off the road towards the river. If you just want to have a quick play for some colour head of the moke creek west branch just above the lake, I have done well around there in the past, if you can get over the big waterfall at the top you'll be doing well...