Pretty new to suction dredging, but mainly just wanting to get some opinions on what kind of results you’d want to see in a creek before you went ahead with getting the claim, might have worded it wrong but ask me and ill try elaborate on what im trying to portray. My mate has a dredge and claim lined up, but i will be the $ behind getting it going. So i guess im just trying to get opinions on what i should take note of and what results are worth me investing in?? Like i said before may of worded this wrong but have a crack at comprehending it
Hi,when you say he has a claim lined up,what does that mean ?..there has been a mining permit granted on a certain area,? or you need to apply for a mining permit?..You would need to know there was enough gold on the permit area to make the application worthwhile and then decide if you want a return on your investment or if you just want to have some fun.If you are stumping up for the application and a new dredge , you could be looking at a 50k investment. Hows access?,DOC land or public land will probably require an access agreement and private land will require permission but I wouldnt have the whole venture hanging on a verbal arrangement with a farmer.I dont know where you are but in Otago dredging in many rivers is a permitted activity provided the dredge is 6" or under, an 8" dredge will require resource consent on top of the mining permit.An 8" dredge is a big machine that requires plenty of water and plenty of gravel in front of it and a plan on what to do with the dredge when your not there…do you plan on dredging full time or weekends? Leave the dredge moored or take it out? Our rivers can rise very quickly and if your in a gorge a dredge can be lost if its not secured. Do some sampling with a smaller dredge first if you can, a gram an hour with a small machine would be the minimum ,something like that.Remember gold dredging started in Otago pretty much so most water suitable for a big dredge has been turned over already,probably more than once.Is there reef on the permit area or bottomless gravel?..is it a spawning area for fish? will the historic places people have anything to say and what about iwi.?..all things that need to be thought about…good luck
Hey cheers for the reply, im basically just throwing out the little info i have got from my friend, we are based on the westcoast. I believe he said that the river is all ready permitted and the fella that has it said he would sell his 8 inch dredge that he had been using on the weekends there for 10k, and allow us use of the area for a year for 3k. Bottomless gravel as far as i know. What if we cant get access to a smaller dredge to sample it what would be the next best bet? “we are looking to hopefully be able to do this as a full time thing” ive had experience on a claim feeding the screen tailing out ect so im quite a newby to the hole suction mining. But we are both keen miners and we cant see ourselves wanting to do much else other then mine gold all the time… Haha hope this can kinda help with your next reply cheers
personally I would be suspecting if he wants to sell his dredge and lease the ground then maybe its not producing as well as he expected.
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Yeah i suspected that also. Unless he jist doesnt have the time. He is a friend of a friends so it could be legit
If you’ve never used a dredge before then a 8" is jumping in at the deep end to say the least. For 10k it should have twin engines, three stage sluice box, Keene or proline pumps. Good plastic pontoons. Dive pump and tank etc. This thing will suck your arm off if you fuck up! Any claim you invest in should come with paperwork detailing everything you need to know, you should also be at least able to spend a week or so testing areas. owners still salt areas so beware.
10k wouldn’t come close to buying or building an 8" dredge. Engine and pumps alone to run one are 6+k.
I’m a stainless and alloy fabricator and I couldn’t build myself one for that…
Add to that the fact that the suction hose alone being upwards of $300/m gst inclusive, there is no way to build a big dredge cheaply, unless you have a very loose definition of what constitutes cheap.
Yeah my friend has had quite a bit of experience with an 8. Ive only used 4inch and 3inch dredges so yes im aware it will be a shit load gruntier
To cheap to produce any good gold, 10g is only 6oz or so cost, if you are running an 8" you would need an oz to two oz a day to be bothered having two people working it, what does he get at the moment? The way nz rivers go you will prob get 5 grams a day and not cover fuel and time in my opinion