New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

My recent gold finding in very cold water!!!, must get myself some gloves, about 5g for the day.

Great gold there digger...looks more than 5 grams!...dear i say it but maybe you need a COIN in ther for comparason!!.....did you use a dredge..?
gbm.

Edited by user Tuesday, 6 September 2011 5:01:49 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Coldest I have ever been in my entire life was gold panning in Arizona when I was about 18 years old. Spent an enjoyable day panning the old tailings piles next to a stream high up in the mountains in a pine forest. That night I slept in the back of my Chevy Blazer. I had all my clothes on, not just the ones I had been wearing but all the clothes I had with me. I remember the ensemble included 5 pairs of socks Levis sweat pants various shirts sweatshirts a jacket gloves and a hat. I rolled myself up in some wool blankets and wormed my way into my sleeping bag. Being a clever lad I had filled empty tin cans with coals out of the fire and had them on either side of me for heaters. As I said I have never been so cold in my life. Dawn couldn’t come fast enough, and by the time it got there I had a heck of a time starting a fire because my hands were so cold I couldn’t hold a match. Then once I got it going I caught my socks on fire trying to warm up because I couldn’t feel my feet. I don’t know how cold it was but the reasonably fast moving stream I had been panning the day before was completely frozen over with about 3 inches of ice. I was walking around on it and it didn’t even creak. I of course chopped my way through it with an axe and went right on panning. Found a decent little nugget as I recall. Didn’t spend another night there though, I guess I wasn’t a complete idiot as a teenager although the evidence often points to the contrary.

great looking hole and even better gold

talking of cold this winter went to the claim one forsty weekend it was so cold i had to chip the smoke out of the flue for the fire before i lit it it was so cold when the fire got going one was unable to through wood on the fire in fear of snaping of the flames as they had even frozen

i had to sleep standing up or else i would have frozen to the mattress

That's some nice gold Digger. Just looking at the photo of where you got it makes me feel cold though!

I don't tend to venture into the water much at this time of the year, but it's a fact you often see very low water levels during winter. I was down in the South Island a couple of weeks ago and managed to get into several areas of bedrock where the water would normally be too high to fossick.

Not entirely sure. I would hazard a guess that it's just a function of seasonal trends. For example the West Coast, despite its reputation for rain, actually tends to have quite long spells without any significant rain some winters.

I guess it's possible that some precipitation would also fall as snow at higher (colder) altitudes, and thus wouldn't contribute to river volumes if the weather was cold enough to limit melting.

On reflection I suppose that it is possibly a combination of both factors.

My own personal experience has been that river volumes are somethimes every bit as low in winter as they are in summer in some parts of the country.

I got this gold with hand sucker & sluice box, (1864hatter) all the Wakamarina valley is taken up by prospecting or mining permits there seems to be allot of DOC, fish & game, Marlborough district council cars & peaple buzzing around up there at the moment not the place to be unless you have a claim that is.

Digger

Edited by user Friday, 9 September 2011 9:01:06 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified