Marlborough gold

New to the forum and my first post after watching for a long time.
I’m about to semi retire and I’m wanting a gold claim to work as a hobby. Ideally it would be in a reasonable travelling distance from Blenheim.
I’m looking to buy, lease or do a deal with something that I could work alone. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

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Hi again,
Further to my post above there is a listing on Trade me Listing #1543086200 that might fit the bill.
What sort of questions should I be asking about this if I contact the seller.?
Also, how is a value put on something like this?
I’d really like to hear from anyone who has experience in buying,selling claims or in the area.
Thanks

You want to ask

  • what dredging has been done, what the grades were, depth to bedrock in those areas
  • is there an access agreement, and what are the conditions of that
  • does it have resource consent or is it permitted. you want to see the consent
  • are there any neighbours or stakeholders that have concerns with the activity that may be problematic in the future
  • what are the annual costs with all paperwork
  • will they pay the cost of transfers
  • has there been any record of non-compliance history with either the councils or NZPAM
  • does it need a consent from the territorial authority for noise and has that been determined
  • then there are questions about accessibility to the whole claim rather than odd spots. so get them to clarify on a may where access is, and that you can legally use those access points.
  • then you need to ask about the dredge if you want to buy it , can it be used by one bloke, can it be moved around by one bloke, any issues with the pump, are the pontoons sun-damaged etc…

the guts is, you want to ensure all the legal obligations are satisfed or it can become a problem…having now just read the ad on trademe, it looks liek a nice spot, but it looks like hard work and something best suited to a young buck

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A claim means nothing, merely the ticket has been clipped by NZPAM, without resource consent and access agreements this claim isn’t workable and it’s value is closer to the $5k that permit cost through NZPAM than the $20k they are asking, to work this claim you will need access agreements, in this case with Nelson Forests for access through their forestry block AND with DOC to disturb their river gravels, You will also need resource consent from council for non-consumptive water use, with recent history in the Marlborough region this will prove extremely hard to get.

There is gold there, but the Northbank was and always will be considered poor diggings in comparison to the Wakamarina (Canvastown).

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Thanks Mangrove and Darren, a wealth of information and great advice from you both, just what I was looking for in respect to this claim.
Apart from all the legal whoha, I’m not sure that I can any longer be referred to as a young buck, so maybe need more help on what I want.
Thanks again.

Hi, are you still looking for somewhere to work? Cheers Les 0279187600