Hey team. This is my first post after reading through the last few weeks what’s been posted in the past.
I’m am based in Blenheim and have never panned but keen to get out there and enjoy our backyard. I am a member of the local rock and mineral club with my daughter and we enjoy fossicking when we can
Looking up the public areas for gold panning, it’s a good few hours from Blenheim at least before even getting a pan out.
Is there anyone closer to Blenheim with a claim that would allow us to pan very occasionally using a pan and shovel.
I would consider myself honest and responsible and my daughter is a good kid
Hi Nigel.
Based in Marlborough as well.Go up to the Howard a few times every winter and the occasional trip to Slab Hut Creek.I’m told there’s a bit of fine gold in the Wairau and have been meaning to have a pan there but haven’t yet.
The camp at Pine Valley has a claim I think and you can pan or sluice as long as you are staying there
Cheers
Rob
Ah got ya, sorry wasn’t sure where those places were but I have seen those creeks mentioned. Easily accessible by car/foot? I’ve had a 4x4 on Santa’s wish list for a while but I keep getting socks instead
Somewhere in or closer to Marlborough would be preferred
There are no public fossicking areas in marlborough so you’re limited to getting permission from a claim holder or getting a claim for yourself. Unless you did the unthinkable and had a look at some of the areas that produced gold historically and go panning in a creek where there is no claims. Although this wouldn’t legally allowed, so I can’t suggest that you do that!
Shame there isn’t any public ones in marlborough after all the history of mining here. I’d rather not go down the road of mining where I shouldn’t be. Zero chance of getting my own claim, I haven’t even had a pan in the water and I might end up hating it lol… not that I think that would happen though.
I’d imagine those who have claims work them pretty hard to try and recoup their $$ eh.
I’m sure it’s been asked of DOC but I’ll try my luck. Any suggestions of DOC land worthy of its name on the list, give me a holla. I’ll see if Mr Google can also help
Well I went and saw DOC, they were helpful and asked me to email them so I’ve done that. Will see what they say. What I didn’t learn was there used to be a public fossicking area up the whakamarina 10+ years ago but she wasn’t sure why it was stopped
I did make this up, it shows the approx locations of public fossicking locations in the South Island. I gave 100km zones to show how far people would need to travel to get to a public spot.
Hey Jade. Are you open to let people pan at your claim? Do you run the camp also? I heard if you’re staying at the camp you can hire pans but not sure if it works if someone just wants to pan for a hour or two…
