Hello everyone, complete beginner here, and this is my first post.
I’ve just moved to Waihi Bay of Plenty, from Melbourne Australia, where I’ve been living for the past five years. I’ve got gold fever! I’ve only panned for gold once, but it was such a great time (I only found a speck the whole day and that was enough LOL) that I’d love to be able to do it here too (without having to go to the South Island). Seeing gold is great, but it’s also about getting outdoors, enjoying nature, and de-stressing.
I was wondering if anyone knows someone with private land in or around the Bay of Plenty (can be further afield) with a river that has quartz, or has been known to show gold in the past - anything really - that they’d be open to letting a complete noob use to learn the ropes. Gutted that we don’t have public fossicking areas on the North Island.
My partner and I are planning to move to the South Island and live in a van sometime next year, and it would be great to kind of know what I’m doing, or at least have some idea of where gold might be in a river.
I’d be happy to split anything I find, or even pay for access (I’m not really sure what people normally do when it comes to private land).
Even if a landowner had a river in the north island that may contain gold they can’t give you permission to use it as they don’t own the minerals contained within.
If you want to stay legal buy some paydirt online and practice that way, or make your own paydirt with lead shot.
If you don’t care about the legality just go for a walk up a river.
I’d say anyone interested in mining from the north island sneak about rivers, I mean people in the south do it to as that’s how most rivers end up getting claimed. The chances of seeing anyone is low but if you do get caught then there can be big consequences, there used to be a mining “policeman” a while back! I don’t know what happened to him though.
Personally I don’t see the problem in a guy panning anywhere.
Always check the nzpam minerals permit webmap, to make sure you’re not digging on someone elses claim. Looks like the area you’re talking about has a lot of hard rock prospecting/exploration permits but not alluvial mining permits. Ideally to be legal you would get permission from whatever company holds the permit on the ground. The worst they can do is say no and the benefit to them is there’s always a chance that you trip over something interesting for them to investigate further… It’s true that most people don’t do this, and unlikely that they’ll care, but it’s the way to go if you want to be completely legal.