New Zealand Gold Fossicking Forums

thers a "submitted" prospecting permit along the beach at rakaia and also 1 up the wilberforce river so could be worth a look...in between... iv never been ther maybe some of these other guys could fill you in weather itd be worth your wile or not...?

Well, it's kind of self-serving for me... I just find it's more fun having partners in crime on fossicking adventures :P

Hello all, yes Gavin a coffee and story swap would be much appreciated, there might be other Christchurch fossickers who would like to come along too,is it the done thing to give cell numbers here? Maybe I'm getting confused with trade me :)
Yes I have had a very welcoming response from everyone Colin, it's very encouraging and much appreciated. So a fossicking/camping trip in November is very much on the cards.
As for the the Wilberforce River I read Mona Anderson's books on the area and the were several parties of miners trying their hand up there over the years but always ended up abandoning the sites, I'm sure the book said they found nothing, but I'm not sure if that means nothing comercially viable or absolutely zilch. Might look into that further. It's frustrating that there is no good fossicking less than a few hours drive from Chch. As for fine gold on our beaches, I'd give that a go anyway since I'm a beginner and keen for anything.
Gav let me know when you want to meet for a yarn, I'm in Hillmorton, what part of town are you? Zeroes cafe near PM Hospital is a good spot for a cuppa.

Hello everyone, been lying low for a while but nosing about in other posts anyway. I was away in the Marlborough sounds in the weekend with a bunch of friends fishing and telling stories etc, caught up with my friend Tim who said he had been building a dairy shed near Bell Hill on the coast near Lake Brunner. The local publican had found a good sized nugget around there somewhere, just off the road in the local creek or river, apparently he's more than happy to tell anyone about it, good custom for the pub I suppose. So anyone heard good things about Bell Hill? Gav maybe we should consider it for the Big Adventure itinerary?

hi susan, i too am a beginer, not much of a clue at this stage ,i hear your planning a trip in the near future ?! if there is any room id love to go along to.

alan

Hi Susan,

Bizarre - link should not have caused laptop to crash! I wonder if it's related to your email playing up?! Got an up to date anti-virus installed and latest Windows updates?

I use the free Avira AntiVir Personal myself - http://www.free-av.com/

Bit hard to diagnose what might be going on without having your laptop in front of me. If it's still mis-behaving could always pop it around one weekend and I'll take a look.

Gavin :)

Hello Susan, Hey Gavin, A mate of mine in Alexandra, Rob, has shown me a little bit of the garnet sand that accumulates at the Rakaia river mouth (or the waimakariri, i forget it was a while ago..) and it was pretty brown and boring, until you go microscopic, man there was plenty under 20X magnification, but nowt to the eye!! Rob had hoped to professionally mine the gold in the garnet sand, but it aint quite viable, yet. It's there I tell you, just REALLY REALLY small!!
Joe

Hello Joe, my nephew and I think we found a tiny flake near the Ashburton mouth but lost it before we could get it home to the microscope, all good clean fun and keeps the kids amused. But like Gav I'm hoping for something a little chunkier than a microscopic flake!! Very interseting to know it's there though, isn't it a funny old wrld we live in....
I will definitely keep my eye out for some good dark patches of sand though and see what it hides.....

I haven't been to bell hill myself,(yet) in a book by W.F Heinz prospecting for gold, it mentions coarse shotty gold.

nathanial