Ok, I know you guys are up for this… How many tons would be at the bottom of the continental shelf on the upper/mid west-coast? Ok, so there’s tons of overburden, but the gold… would be significant… right?
I have a vague memory of a big company doing some off shore prospecting but was not pursued due to the large swells here?
I wonder about the boulder reefs off Ross and Arahura. Could they be like the “cobble” the Bering Sea Gold guys go after.
Don’t think the locals would tolerate their mussel beds been torn up.
My mother remembers an old woman who used to clean out the rock pools and crevices along the Coast road for fine gold after a storm. Thing is it’s rare to get a calm day with flat sea and decent visibility.
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There was a canadian company prob 15 years ago wanted to mine off shore from Ross i remember there was a petition against it , be a shitload of days you cant dredge out there im sure
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De Beers.
JW 
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“…West Coast goldfields where over eight million ounces of placer gold has been recovered from rivers and beaches since the nineteenth century gold rushes.” Yeeha
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I reckon it’s very hard to tell what may be down there, much less so what could be accessed. Tectonically active areas are an absolute nightmare when it comes to surveying/prospecting for precious metals on large scales. Things that people hold to be obvious very often don’t work in environments like that. If you want to follow logic, a quieter are like the east coast off Otago would probably be a safer bet.
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As the fines are continually washing up on the beaches, one could safely conclude there are significant reserves.
Speaking with a friend who was a black sand miner out of Hokitika. He reckoned you had to wait for the beach to “cut”. Certain tides and conditions create a pitch on the beach which cuts away the light sand leaving behind the heavies. Naturally processing thousands of tonnes of sand down to a concentrate.
He said when it happens it is rich as heck, a small scoop of sand giving a golden tail in the pan. He sold his beach claim 30 years ago and claims it hasn’t cut properly since.
He also did well after a south storm that really churns up the sea floor and throws gold up onto the beach. You have to be quick as the next tide can reclaim that deposit.
I pan some beach sand out of curiosity but only get a few specks.
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