New Zealand Gold Fossicking Forums

Well I'm gonna kick this off, pretty new to prospecting so I'm looking for somewhere local to try some sluicing. Thames being the closest seems logical. I've tried Karaka Creek(Thames)with little success a little colour. I know theres bugger all alluvial gold in Coromandel but any ideas where a good starting point might be to try my luck? and obviously techniques?

Hi guys, Here is some more Coro gold from a little creek that I have cleaned off all the over berdan material that I put through my little sluice box. Bucket is my sieve buckets sitting on top of the overberdan that I am digging down to bed rock & putting through the sluice box



Once down to the bed rock I use my crevice sucker/pump to clean up the bed rock cracks & crevices. As you can see I am right down to the bed rock. White pipe is a crevice sucker/pump



Some gold found. Each pic is of a different days finds. Some nice little quartz specimen pices amongst it.

















Yes all from the same little creek & yes all COROMANDEL GOLD

More later.

Happy hunting

JW

Here's the link to JW's gold fossicking gear for sale page:
http://www.paydirt.co.nz/shop/john-wilson.aspx

There's a contact form at the bottom of the page if you'd like to contact him directly.

Hi Guys, Here are a couple of pics of the 1.5 grams of gold got in the weekend from a Coromandel creek with the 4" dredge





JW

Hi all, I sent Criticol a personal message & he asked me to put it up on the forum to share a bit of what I said.

G'day there Colin (Criticol),
I was very impressed with your post on the geological
formations of gold. I really wouldnt have had the patience to be so
thorough as you were. Again, well done.
You will know of course that a lot of the coromandel has greywackey/shale
areas that produce gold, like the Matawai stream area, Tapu & Thames,
Kouatunu, & Kennedy bay just to name a few. I have found some nice gold
in all these areas. If you look under the Coromandel Gold posts you will
see some beautiful little quartz specimen pieces that i found in these areas.
You will notice my sluice box set up in a Greywackey/ shale bedrock.
These quartz specimens were from rich little stringers that laced the
greykackey/shale bedrock. These stringers would have pushed up through
the older greywackey, in their super heated liguid state
(hydrothermal/geothermal) during volcanic activity
& pushed through earth fractures in the greywackey. To cool rapidly as
the heat & pressure reduced as the super heated liquid got closer to the
surface & further away from it heat source to harden into the quartz
stringers where the gold & silver & other minerals that had percolated in
the heated liquid persipitated out at different stages as the heat &
pressure reduced. Forming the gold/silver deposits, Pyrities, & in some
cases zinc, copper, lead etc. All very interesting.
The Coromandel hasnt had the erosive forces & mountain demolshing that
the south island has been through with its major faulting & folding &
glaciation. Hence freeing up all that gold from the quartz reefs.
I am from Whangamata but at the moment I am down in Queenstown & due back
up north around october. So I am making the most of my free time down
here detecting for gold.
Do you get out fossicking much in Coromandel & do you have much success??

Happy hunting

Regards

John Wilson (JW) :)

G'day Dave, Yes a bit chilly down here. Had snow all around the house I am building this morning & a minus 3 frost to go with it. Bit of a shock to a boy from a "winterless" (no frosts) east coast Coromandel beach.
Yes, many stories of clogged up stampers. Wouldnt you hate that. :) :) LOL.
One storey I have heard about the workers getting one over the companies they worked for was that when the grafters at the face struck a rich spot they would place a broken pick handle on top of the next cart going to the surface. The workers had worked out this secret little plan & that was a signal to the chap at the top & he would race off & buy up shares in the company from a kitty the workers had going. Getting in before the price rocketed & then of course they would sell out at the right time before they dropped again.

Happy hunting

JW :)