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Gabriel's Gulley - Prospectin' the gateway to otago

Jacko		Posted : Tuesday, 3 February 2015 5:50:58 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Flake Groups: Registered Joined: 18/01/2015(UTC) Posts: 13 Location: Cromwell Thanks: 38 times Was thanked: 7 time(s) in 4 post(s)		Just curious if anyone has had much luck down there at all. Or even if many go there to have a wee fossick. I've never seen anyone else there on the few occasions i have stopped by.

kiwijw		Posted : Tuesday, 3 February 2015 6:39:00 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 28/03/2010(UTC) Posts: 1,152 Thanks: 92 times Was thanked: 658 time(s) in 324 post(s)		Na...it sucks. Stick to your own back yard. You dont need to go very far from Cromwell area. Or are you more in to the adventure of new places & discovery of....?? That is all fun too though. :) Good luck out there JW :)

Jacko		Posted : Tuesday, 3 February 2015 7:51:34 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Flake Groups: Registered Joined: 18/01/2015(UTC) Posts: 13 Location: Cromwell Thanks: 38 times Was thanked: 7 time(s) in 4 post(s)		Well technically i live in dunedin haha, but im up central for the summer working, strangely enough, i dont want to leave, i was just thinking about places closer to home, if i ever have to go back there!!! I was also kind of curious, because, being the first major rush in otago, sure it got flocked to and worked, but was relatively quickly left too as people saught to chase the colour further inlaned, might have left some tasty pockets around haha (wishful thinking i do believe!)

1864hatter		Posted : Tuesday, 3 February 2015 8:56:25 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)		The trouble with Gabriels gully is that a massive volume of ancient gravels were washed into the stream / gully from the valley sides during mining. This actually raised the level of the valley by around 30m in the area where the fossicking area is. Unfortunately it has been my experience that worthwhile gold (that can be recovered efficiently by hand tools) hangs out at the bottom ie. on bedrock or other hard base at the bottom of the gravels. Of course there are exceptions but in general this rule will hold true, gold is heavy and therefore works its way down. The discoverer of the gully, Gabriel Read (gully is named after him), describes finding gold resting 3 feet down on soft slate bedrock "shining like the stars of Orion". He recovered 9 ounces in that afternoon with a gold pan and then reckoned he might be onto something. Some very rich ground was located around that area. I no way do I recon it would be safe but I think if one ventured into the abandoned tunnels with a SDC2300 you may get gold. The area, from my experience, is loaded with black sand and the gold hangs out in the densest concentrations..... Thus a vlf may be rendered useless. Good luck!
		And now....On sandy beaches and muddy soil, rings and coins await my coil!

Mudwiggle		Posted : Tuesday, 3 February 2015 9:13:49 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered, Moderators Joined: 22/10/2013(UTC) Posts: 742 Thanks: 182 times Was thanked: 683 time(s) in 317 post(s)		Can't help with Gabriels, but while you're in the Cromwell area..... File Attachment(s): bannockburn.jpg

Jacko		Posted : Tuesday, 3 February 2015 9:37:59 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Flake Groups: Registered Joined: 18/01/2015(UTC) Posts: 13 Location: Cromwell Thanks: 38 times Was thanked: 7 time(s) in 4 post(s)		Yeah im familiar with Mr Gab :D although it should probably be called black pete's gully!! wow 30m! i did NOT know that! why the hell would they give us a public area with a VERY low % chance of getting gold if the valley has been infilled that much by tailings/sluice run off etc :\ makes very little sense. By the sounds of it, the odd pocket would be very far and few between, OR as you say, detecting old mine shafts etc. risky business, but not too bad if the appropriate precautions are taken! Haha nice map there mud! Cheers fellas, always getting some good/helpful feedback on here, and somewhat sating my fiendish obsession with the topics whilst at home! Vin

kiwijw		Posted : Wednesday, 4 February 2015 9:08:47 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 28/03/2010(UTC) Posts: 1,152 Thanks: 92 times Was thanked: 658 time(s) in 324 post(s)		Thanks Hatter (Matt) for that spiel on Gabriel's Gully. You did a better job on explaining it than I would of. That will be the geologist in you. Ha ha. Well done. So there you go Jacko....thats why it sucks. All fossicking areas put aside by DOC for the public to play are all totally thrashed & turned over areas & really of no economic value as to their gold content being worth any thing for the time & effort involved to recover it. But for joe public to go for a play & have an enjoyable day getting eaten by sand flies or frozen fingers & hands, there is the chance (legally) of finding a speck or two if that floats your boat or if you are lucky may be even a decent size piece. That is gold....you just never know your luck :). Places like the Arrow & Shotover do get a bit of flood gold replacement after a good flood, but even those are few & far between. Need to be on the spot at the time. Flood gold is usually in the first 6-8 inches as it is pretty fine or very flat & flaky & doesnt sink down to bed rock as the heavier worth while gold does as Hatter has pointed out. So with flood gold you dont need to dig to bed rock but just skim the first half foot. That is where your classifier bucket comes in. If you want to go to bed rock then go for it but it could be a lonnngggg way down :) Just touching on the SDC 2300 that Matt also mentiond. Those of you who have followed my posts on it will know that I wasnt very happy with it compared to my 4500 & sadie coil combo. BUT....last week I went to a spot where hot rocks gave the 4500/sadie a hard time & so too my gold bug 2. More so the gold bug 2 due to it being a vlf & the high sensitivity of it. Again like Hatter touched on with the vlf's in the old tunnels at Gabriel's. I took the 2300 there & bugger me it just cut through the hot rocks with no problem. It was like they werent even there & I got 9 little oieces of the good stuff. Small they were though. .03 of a gram up to a wopping .08 of a gram for a grand total of just over half a gram & they were pretty much surface dwellers & no more than 1 inch down & very faint signals at that. Going to take a while for it to pay its way at that rate. I ended up dumping the signals & hand full of dirt into my plastic gold pan & dry panning it to recover the gold pieces. Good luck out there JW :)

gavin		Posted : Wednesday, 4 February 2015 3:56:30 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Administrators, Registered Joined: 20/02/2010(UTC) Posts: 1,326 Location: Christchurch Thanks: 736 times Was thanked: 535 time(s) in 287 post(s)		Originally Posted by: kiwijw Just touching on the SDC 2300 that Matt also mentiond. Those of you who have followed my posts on it will know that I wasnt very happy with it compared to my 4500 & sadie coil combo. BUT....last week I went to a spot where hot rocks gave the 4500/sadie a hard time & so too my gold bug 2. More so the gold bug 2 due to it being a vlf & the high sensitivity of it. Again like Hatter touched on with the vlf's in the old tunnels at Gabriel's. I took the 2300 there & bugger me it just cut through the hot rocks with no problem. It was like they werent even there & I got 9 little oieces of the good stuff. Small they were though. .03 of a gram up to a wopping .08 of a gram for a grand total of just over half a gram & they were pretty much surface dwellers & no more than 1 inch down & very faint signals at that. Going to take a while for it to pay its way at that rate. Yeah, it's a beaut for cutting through the mineralisation eh - that's one of the things that impressed me too. Glad you finally had some joy with it ;)
		WWW

gavzilla		Posted : Thursday, 5 February 2015 7:29:43 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Nugget Groups: Registered Joined: 24/02/2012(UTC) Posts: 60 Location: queenstown Thanks: 12 times Was thanked: 34 time(s) in 18 post(s)		Jacko have you ever tried any of the creeks in Cromwell on the way to tarras? Or the old settlement of ballerat up in the hills for gold? I have always wanted to have a look that way due to the tailing piles you see everywhere, but always find another distraction on the way from Queenstown

Jacko		Posted : Thursday, 5 February 2015 7:42:27 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Flake Groups: Registered Joined: 18/01/2015(UTC) Posts: 13 Location: Cromwell Thanks: 38 times Was thanked: 7 time(s) in 4 post(s)		Nope I haven't mate. Can't say im not tempted haha. I just got my new hiking pack yesterday so I might head that way soon asi have a few days off. Only got a mountain bike atm so id have to make a solid couple of days of it to justify the 3+ hour riide haha. Have you checked out any creeks coming down the steep butt of the dunstans? Cromwell gorge? Abit buzzy for me thinkin thats a good 80 or so metres above the old river. Too young to remember the original gorge haha

moonlight		Posted : Thursday, 5 February 2015 10:01:15 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Dust Groups: Registered Joined: 24/10/2014(UTC) Posts: 0 Location: christchurch Was thanked: 4 time(s) in 1 post(s)		I took my garret down to doctors point below Alexandra and had a bit of a scout around the old workings. Got heaps of signals (mostly rusty nails) and about 8 grams of small pin head sized bits from scratching around. Going back again soon.

Jacko		Posted : Thursday, 5 February 2015 5:43:13 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Flake Groups: Registered Joined: 18/01/2015(UTC) Posts: 13 Location: Cromwell Thanks: 38 times Was thanked: 7 time(s) in 4 post(s)		Nice :) Despite the nails, still a productive trip!

Greg		Posted : Thursday, 5 February 2015 10:41:14 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Flake Groups: Registered Joined: 28/07/2011(UTC) Posts: 13 Location: Auckland Thanks: 12 times Was thanked: 5 time(s) in 4 post(s)		Originally Posted by: moonlight I took my garret down to doctors point below Alexandra and had a bit of a scout around the old workings. Got heaps of signals (mostly rusty nails) and about 8 grams of small pin head sized bits from scratching around. Going back again soon. Which Garret model If you dont mind me asking?

kiwijw		Posted : Friday, 6 February 2015 12:36:24 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 28/03/2010(UTC) Posts: 1,152 Thanks: 92 times Was thanked: 658 time(s) in 324 post(s)		Originally Posted by: moonlight I took my garret down to doctors point below Alexandra and had a bit of a scout around the old workings. Got heaps of signals (mostly rusty nails) and about 8 grams of small pin head sized bits from scratching around. Going back again soon. Thats a good effort. Take a LOT of pin head size bits to make up 8 grams. Hundereds & hundereds of them. Maybe you have big pins. :) I am struggling to think of a Garrett that would pick up pin head size bits of gold. Gold Bugs & the Whites GMT maybe.... but a garrett???? Here is 34 bits for 8 grams I got a month ago for an afternoons detecting with a Minelab GPX4500 & Nuggetfinder 14 x 9 coil The largets piece was just .8 of a gram & the smallest .06, Here are some bits I got a couple of weeks ago with my SDC 2300. I would call these getting down to pin head size. So hard to seperate from the dirt I had to chuck the pile of dirt with signal in to my gold pan & then dry pan to get the targets out. These bits were just .03 of a gram & I wouldnt really call them pin head size. Still too big. It would take 266.6666 of these to make up 8 grams. :) So you may be able to see my disbelief in you getting 8 grams of pin head size bits. Especially with a Garrett. Again...maybe you have big pins :) How about a picture. :) Cheers. Good luck out there JW :)