Saddle Hill gold reef 5.pdf (85.9 KB)
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Interesting read indeed. So I shall add to the plot. The very mention of hungry quartz kinda sums up, the occurrence. Hungry quartz still has to be mined to get at the good stuff. Which from the geological report appears to be small leader type veins, contained within the ore body. The very mention of pyrite would indicate that much of the gold is contained within sulphides. Sulphides type ores are known to sicken the mercury tables to such a degree, that they loose their ability to catch gold. And the gold contained within the arsenopyrites is really only extractable by use of the cyanide process, which was utilized in NZ in the 1890’s. I note this geological report was done in 1875, so that process was not available at that time. So basically we have a low grade ore deposit (5dwt a ton) with no way to successfully catch the bulk of the gold, contained within that ore body… The 20dwt per ton assay was no doubt from hand picked stone.And even by roasting the sulphides and putting them through a berdan, little would be improved. I also note the ten head stamper was fired by steam and not overhead water, so coal would have been an added cost to the operation. Sadly this mine was just one of many that failed the test, and so was abandoned as being unprofitable. Of note is the fact that some nice alluvial samples were obtained and these were no doubt derived from the small but rich leaders. A similar occurrence is met in the Slab Hut/Merrijigs area near Reefton. Where some of the quartz leaders went as high as 60 oz to the ton. Trouble is they were only a few inches thick and discontinuous. Ahhhh well such is gold, and the 2018 gold rush to Saddle Hill is dealt a severe blow. But hey, great history and great reading. Hopefully the links work.
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-HutRepo-t1-g1-t2-back-d2.html
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-HutRepo-t1-front-d3.html
Cheers 'The Hatter" .
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Thanks NG, I know the area you mean and I remember the old concrete structures where they used to get the water for Dunedin City. When I was a kid I used to cycle up into that area and catch fresh water lobsters. I will certainly have a look when I get the chance. The roads around there have been very badly damaged by weekend trail bikes and 4wd vehicles. I was up that way a few weeks ago and the place was a real mess - mud and tyre tracks everywhere. I suspect that may be the main reason why the road is closed off and I recall the DCC got a bit upset about it a few years back and restricted access.
battery grinder…change the locks
I was on google earth last night. I was already aware of a forestry road further up the hill and it appears as if it could serve as a good short cut to get into the upper reach of the Silver stream. From google earth it looked like the trees had been harvested. I will have a look when I get the chance
Best way in is via Long ridge road. Take your pan and detector and you would need to walk maybe 10 mins to creek all flat going with a couple of river crossing… I’ve never dredged it and never would as you would probably make the front page of the ODT if you got caught as its part of the town water supply.
I do know someone that did dredge it about 3 years ago just before the 2015 floods. They were about 100 m upstream of the first river crossing above the pump house and pulled out just under half an oz of gold with a back pack dredge!. All bedrock working the cracks. Bedrock is a mixture of schist and basalt volcanic. Basically what your looking for on the creek bottom is a hard pack layer with lots of clay that acts as a false bottom. Once you hit that your on it.
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Headed out to Powder Creek, just up of the junction with silverstream for half a day of panning. Tried quite a few spots but got pretty much no colours. Only find of the day was a 0.1g nugget. Wondering if that is too far up the river or if we were just in the wrong places. Still odd to be getting no colours, and we were getting quite deep.
I am itching to get up there Rowan. I have a rental car business and over summer I work 100 hour a week, December to March. Things are slowing down a bit now and after I cut my foot long grass, and I have a spare day, I want to get out there, somewhere. I’ll get some advice as to where to go and I might be in touch before hand.
regards
Craig
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You wana be heading further up stream man, find bedrock and work the cracks. Last year DCC confiscated a bloke dredging in there over December because of this post. He had a 2 inch backpack dredge working the cracks. Lets put it this way he bought a new 3 inch Proline dredge/highbanker combo for Xmas with his take! Also work the bedrock just up from the carpark after the first river crossing.
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Just wondering if there is any exposed bedrock further up powder creek