New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

Hello All

I have been fossicking on a very irregular basis since November last year, and would like to share my initial experiences with you. It would only be fair, being that while my fossicking has been irregular, my browsing on this forum has been relatively consistent with the helpful tips, odd location pointer and lustful pictures all stirring the gold bug in me

So what have I gleaned so far?

We're lucky with what we have on our doorstep in Otago, my favourite spot is less than an hour from my door, with many more to explore within that radius too. It is sad however to see the impact of rock snot on our rivers... surely this hides the odd bit of gold too? Can't say I'm lining up to wash this in my pan though

Of the public fossicking spots, The Arrow is my luckiest, though it was on the Shotover that I got my first colour, simply by looking for rocks naturally slicing the river and panning the material stuck in the low pressure. Granted I doubt I'll ever find anything of weight in these areas, I know I'm a whole lot more likely than at Gabriels, such a small area so obviously dug over!

What tips can be offered in setting up a sluice box though? I can put material through this and put material from the same spade loads through my pan and while the pan shows colour, the box is empty. Water flow is my best guess, but I just can't seem crack this ... I do enjoy panning though, it's more work, but the reward is evident as you go.

It was near my favourite spot that I explored a bit wider, knocking on the door of a farm house over looking a neat wee creek. While I don't know the legal status of rivers, I figure if it is fenced both sides, or fenced off from the road, it is best to check? I was told by the farmer that while I would typically be welcomed to have a go in the (his?) stream he had someone already friendly with him who fossicks there on a semi-regular basis. Learning respect from much of what I've read on this forum, even while this creek isn't under permit, I've done my best to not step on any toes with this stream.

In summary though, I guess I've described this post as my first picker because I recognise I have heaps to learn, heaps to explore and heaps to find. Most of all I've got that bug bad.

If there is anyone happy to offer some advice on the above, or share a day out scouring a creek bed (even sniping before it gets too cold, I've done my share of spearfishing so happy to get my hair wet) know that it's always welcomed

Cheers
KDW

Hi KDW,

Not sure what sluice you are using, or if this helps you mate but a couple of things that helped me:

a) An easy thing to do, once your sluice is set up, set your pan at under your sluices end, with a rock in it to hold it in place. All the tailings should wash out the end of the sluice and drop in your pan and wash through it. Anything heavy settles. After a couple of spades of material through your sluice, pan the material in your pan out. If you find gold in your there somethings amiss 8-)

b) its not that hard to build a recirculating water system for your sluice. Trust me if I can build one anyone can! Just need some pvc pipe, a bilge pump and a battery. Actually its a good winter project! That way you can practice setting it up in your garage, play around with angles till your comfortable with it. Make sure you get a powerful enough bilge pump, again pan the tailings. On trademe you can get most of what you need for not much $. Something like this... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joaz2U-_PQ4

c) to make it more fun in your garage there are a few dudes that sell paydirt on Trademe. They salt it so there's gold in it. I found this great fun to practice with using a recirculating system (partly as I live in NI).

d) watch a few YouTube videos on people demoing sluice boxes. I'm not sure all of them have it right but it'll give you additional help.

Definitely too cold for me now I was out over the weekend in the snow and ice locals thought I was crazy!

Edited by user Tuesday, 2 June 2015 1:26:50 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified