jeez that brought back some memories re reading that thread. lol. got to know dale a bit and he was/is actually a dam nice guy. the new owner is pretty approachable to. I don’t blame them or any claim owner for charging to use their claim either even if just panning/sluicing. big $ tied up getting it.
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Same here dredged with Dale on his claim and he’s a top bloke. I can remember the plebs that used to without shame come and try there luck and secretly dredge when he wasn’t there. He caught a few. Typical story of butt hurt locals and the previous camping ground owners having a whinge. Loved his proline 5 inch dredge.
The new owner Jo is a good bloke as well and now owns the camping ground living the dream!!
dales mate ben is a good bloke to. part of my use of of the claim was to warn ppl off. didn’t run into any dredgers but a lot of panning was going on.
are you back in New Zealand
I would love another dredge maybe a fiver
Not yet mate. Up in the Klondike mining still. Talk to the guy at Dredge NZ about getting you a Proline if your looking for a 5in. Not sure if anyone has one for sale in NZ but there way better then a Keene.
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I wish brother hahahahahahahaha, see how this year goes.Can’t wait to get back in to it. Wouldn’t mind someone dredging on my claim illegally, preferably with a brand new fiver. Drop into reefton on your way to your claim.
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does anyone know an easy way to get in touch with claim owners if you just want to have an afternoon panning or sluicing? (i live in dunedin and the public claims in arrowtown and qtown are really far away)
Is this who I think it is?
Pretty sure it is mate. I’ll be back down that way in early December. Might be able to sort ya out a spot to dredge. You seen my rules posted above. Ahahaha
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Yea by reading everyone’s stories I thought hang on there is only one person I know who’s in the Klondike and crazy enough to shoot platoons and the story of two fellas that got chased by a guy on a claim.so I put two and two together and realised it was you
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Ya bro. Just rolling over the 300oz mark. Been a few bears around but kick em in the nutz and they know who the boss is. Can’t waste bullets and they leave the gold alone.
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being nosey here goldstamp. are u working for a company. just u and a mate or new member of gold rush. lol
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Lol nope. I do fly over Tonys dredge on the way to Dawson and a few.of the other guys ground. Just me and a mate. Got a good deal on leasing some ground so took the chance.
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You would be used to them bears wouldn’t you,was having a laugh with the old mate telling me you digging it by the kg,lol you might as well come buy one of the local chopper to cart your equipment in the mountains.
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Well when fuel has to be flown in. 300oz doesn’t put a lot in your pocket. The dozer burns 1500L in 2 days and a 33 ton digger burns about 150L.
That’s why I think the shows are funny. You only see the gold. You never see the bills they pay with that gold. Most of those guys need.to make 2oz an hour 24 hours a day just to cover costs. 10 guys working for you is $100 000 a month in wages. No fuel, food, break downs. I know guys that use a million L of fuel a year. Now you see why 1000oz is something I laugh at when I watch those shows. Hardly covering costs. If the tv show wasn’t paying them for the show most would be broke.
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I have some photos here which sadly I promised not to show anyone but they were recovering 35 ounces per day BUT kept an entire engineering outfit working non stop on their equipment. Overheads can be enormous.
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The golds not in the ground. The gold is in the people you meet searching fpr it.
Anyways. Enough of that crap. Your all gonna think I am soft. Overheads are a killer. Just think. Machines need an oil change every 200 hours. Most hold 50l of oil. Thats an oil change every 4 days going 24 hours a day. Our dozer holds 250L of tranny oil. A broken pad bolt on the track is $10. And you need 400. So all you guys who think of going big time. Start buying lotto tickets. It’s way easier then gold mining. And your odds might be about the same.
In cost to profit/stress ratio. I think I do better dredging.
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Oooorrrr good on ya mate!!!..unfortunately some people are gold …some are pyrite…any operation regardless of size needs a comprehensive safety plan including regular safety meetings…the old timers were good at getting to the gold but anywhere they couldn’t divert the river should still hold good gold I reckon!! Suck that s#@t up!!!
Oh yea that’s what I’m talking about.till today my kids still talk about the bottles of gold you had and how heavy they were.and now I just realised it was you on youtube with a dredge being dropped by a chopper you should put up some more videos