New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

It was well worked and when I was there last it was hard to raise a colour. Today it would be a long long walk to find too little methinks - you can see how bare the bedrock is of gravels and it was merely a matter of progressively working up the creek weekend after weekend just scratching out cracks and crevices - nothing was missed as it is bare river bed continuously for a long long way without much in the way of gravel and rocks...scoured clean I guess by millenia of floods without much disturbance of the banks and surrounding countryside to create more debris and bring more boulders, rocks and gravel down. In the few spots where it was deeper and where there was a little rock and gravel it was taken care of by using my skin diving suit and garden back hoe.

Nearly finished with this claim and might or might not put on the few photos I have of the other two claims...if I can find them so that part two, three and four are all in this one thread in one long continuum...I would have placed the last photos for this claim on by now but have been away from my photos for a week and am currently whitebaiting and just happened to get access to a computer to see what was what and reply to a few threads if I saw anything of interest and note.

Thanks for the positive comment.

Creamer - You should have been here today Shane - the whitebait ran today and I had a great time - thats the good news - the bad news is that when I get home I am in for the sickle of the short head chop - some of us are total liabilities and I told my wife I would be home last Thursday night and to have tea on the table for about seven - I am still away and might go home tomorrow - but only if the weather turns to custard.

Finally something interesting to read, I like the look of that, large open areas with no bush in sight to contend with, I'd take a photo of where I've been recently but it would just be a green smudge, the bush is so thick! I can't wait to get down your way! Two more weeks to go, then nine off. Keep the posts coming.

Dont worry...it's only the depth that verys.

This is the highest point in this river where there was evidence that the old timers had worked it and it was also the only spot I never found so much as a colour - they had scoured these cracks and crevices out with a fine tooth comb but above and below this point good gold was recovered.

Hi Simon

I had often thought about this spot and took my son there not so many years ago - it is a fair hike with all the gear now days and when we got there it was a total waste of time - not a colour - you have got me thinking though and on this claim I often found gold well and truly above the flood level in cracks and crevices when they were exposed and I cleaned them out and my son found good gold also high above the water.

To be practical it is really a walking trip now as the track is too dangerous and a person needs to spend a couple of days out there with a pup tent and all the gear to make it worth while - I am not so sure of my performance if I tried to make it as a round trip in a day now as it would be a fifteen ks round trip.

About six ks away both my son and I have found gold up near the 3000 foot mark 100 metres away from the merest trickle of water right at the top of the mountain in a sandy clay bank.

Maybe this summer - famous words I have spoken for some years now!

Edited by user Friday, 16 November 2012 10:59:00 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Small rough nuggets - the photo below was taken within five minutes of finding the very first nugget and although not clear it shows my son and his cobber Sam standing at the exact place we have been finding them and it is well away from the water on the top of the ridge or more or less so.

The second photo was taken within a minute or so of finding the first small nugget and with a bit of imagination it can be seen on the trowel. The nearest water is a small trickle down behind my son in the dark shadowed area and behind him is the top of the mountain range so it is at a high elevation. The nuggets come from the bank behind him...hey these photos were for part 4 of the saga!

Edited by user Saturday, 17 November 2012 12:22:07 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

I dont know them but you have me quite interested as one could be a handy device to own - with the exception of hte component parts we have made all our own gold mining gear over the years, cradles, sluice boxes and so on - in fact one cradle I noticed is still sitting on the bank of a stream exactly where I last used it 25 years ago.

As I get older though I keep looking at modern gear and this Garrett Super Sluice you mention seems an intersting thing to have so thanks for pointing it out and now I have to do myself some research on them.

Hi there 5amp & Graeme, Dry panning is just the same as wet panning but without the water. It wouldnt be as efficient as with water but the principle is the same. With the shaking & panning action droping the heavies to the bottom front crease in the pan. Would take a bit longer as you would need to be a lot more careful. Be a good idea to classify the material to 10mm & smaller. Maybe even less. Any nuggets bigger than that you are sure to spot them before you discard the bigger material.
It would pay to pan the material off in to another pan. That way if you do get lucky & get a bit of gold in your pan & the risk of having accidently tossed some gold out you can then repan back in to the other pan. Even getting the material down to a spoonfull of concentrates & then keeping those concentrates & building them up in a bucket. The old timers called this bucket of concentrates a Poverty Pot. You can then take these concentrates with you & process them in a sluice box or pan them off when you get access to water.

Another method of dry panning is to use two pans. You will need a bit of wind to help you. The process is to load one pan up with material, do your shaking & panning motion to help settle the heavies. Pluck out any bigger bits, once again it would be wiser to preclassify the material. Once you have shaken & aggitated the material, stand up & with one pan on the ground below & with the pan of material you have worked & still in your hand, tip the pan up & slowly let the material pour off the edge of the pan & down in to the pan on the ground. The wind will blow away the fine dust & lighter material & hopefully any gold, being heavier, will drop more or less straight in to the pan on the ground. You may need to regulate the height in relation to the strength of the breeze. This is just another way of collecting the heavier concentrates to be processed later with the aid of water.

Good luck out there

JW :)