Mission Man Tasked Hunting Down Cowboys Illegally Mining Gold in NZ

Jackie Adams was on Seven Sharp tonight…

http://tvnz.co.nz/seven-sharp/mission-man-tasked-hunting-down-cowboys-illegally-mining-gold-in-nz-video-6517409

Though I feel he’s filling a good and much needed role tracking down illegal gold miners dredging and mining on a larger scale, the interview with him seems to suggest he’s also charged with targeting small time gold fossickers having a scratch around for a “few grams” that “all adds up when you get 1,000 people”. This is a real shame and is only illegal as NZP&M hasn’t made any legislative provision for the hobbiest who has minimal impact scratching around for a bit of colour.

It’s common knowledge that NZP&M has priced out the simple weekend hobbiest from obtaining a claim and removed the basic mining licence that was available for this purpose in years gone past (as best I understand it, as it was available before my time here).

Yes, there are public fossicking areas, but I think provision needs to be be made for hobbiests that would like to scratch around in unclaimed areas with simple tools like pans, sluice boxes and metal detectors.

The next question… how do we go about affecting this change in legislation. What’s the process to get things rolling?

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The whole thing stinks - In my opinion it was a jack up interview. The fact is that good honest colonial Kiwis are no longer in control of our own country and we have NO rights what so ever. The big off shore miners get to PILLAGE our country, as in Macraes and pay a mere 1 percent royalty and poor kiwis who want to go pan a few colours cannot do so.

That bloke is merely a moneky dancing to the tune of the government - a foreigner who has come here to tell decent kiwis what they can and cannot do…a prawn or puppet for a puppet government. He more or less said something about the rivers being ruined and destroyed by miners - what a load of bullshit the man spouted. What in hell does a flood do - maybe government should ban god from sending floods.

Personally I think the guy should be going around doing some good for the waterways by getting rid of bloody cows and arresting all the wealthy farmers who are really destroying our rivers by polluting them but hold on…could not do that because the farmers are wealthy and the government crawls to them to get their vote!

Gavin is right and I agree with him entirely. Hmm I wonder if Jackie Adams is a member of the Adams Family.

Heres a symbol of what New Zealand used to be - a place where the ordinary people had rights, where we were free and before the offshore bankers began calling the tune and suppressing the rights of the citizens.

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I have nothing against Jackie Adams himself as I do think it’s a roll that is needed due to honest gold dredgers having their claims plundered unlawfully. It just seems that NZP&M is being a bit heavy handed by going after the weekend hobbiest also who just has a scratch around for a few grams.

Jackie Adams isn’t the problem for the hobbiest, it’s NZP&M’s lack of provision in legislation. I think we need to band together and try to effect some change on that front.

Why shouldn’t the small time hobbiest be allowed to take their pans, sluice boxes and metal detectors in an attempt to find a little colour in our great outdoors? There’s no impact on the rivers and environment. Why’s it so different to hunting or fishing?

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Totally agree, he is needed. Hope he catches those heli dredgers.
Maybe try Gareth Morgans political party this election.

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the problem is where do you stop when it comes to policing people illegally taking gold.they call it gold fever for a reason.a few grains then can become a few ounces .perhaps there should be many more public fossicking areas opened up for these honest fossickers?after getting a claim i’m now finding the xtra costs associated with actually getting to use it,and man it’s not cheap.so i course these poachers should be deterred from stealing what i’m paying for.the segment on tv last night might have the opposite effect ,ha ha watch out for the mini gold rush with people seeking the 20oz a week they were talking ABOUT.

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I agree we need adams as when there was just doc and I reported a poacher nothing happened, but I wasn’t allowed to take matters into my own hands .

anyway, here is a situation, I’m looking for a new area to put a claim on so off I go for a prospect walking all over the hills making sure I’m not on anyone’s else’s gold claim only carrying my pan. dipping in a creek every now and then, to see if it is worth while claiming. I now have to pay $$$$$$ to do this and at the same time tell them where I’m going. so every time I go for a walk I pay .

I remember going into the timaru post office and getting one of those miners rights a couple of years back , well maybe a few more than a couple as I’m now retired and walking the hills waiting for the roar, carrying my pan, and stopping beside a creek for a pan and a brew up . bugger I really miss having to go to work every day.

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By all means catch and prosecute scumsucker who poach other people’s claims…at the same time claim sizes should be restricted to say 10k of river, they should be a lot cheaper to take out, no beaurocratic crap and fees should be a lot lower for the hobby miner.
The old miners right should be reinstated for everyone else so that they can have a fossick on state land with a pan and shovel so that public fossicking areas were not needed.
People might say there might be a mini gold rush all over New Zealand if you did that…bull shit. Comparatively few people are actually interested.
When gold skyrocketed in price in the early 1980s there was barely a ripple on the water.
IF however people want to use a gold dredge then they MUST have a claim or the use of one.
No person in this country should feel threatened having a pan alongside the road, say in the Kawarau Gorge or elsewhere as long as it is not claimed or they have the go ahead from the claim holder.
This guy should be restricted to tracking down and nailing illegal gold mining using machinery or poachers knowingly on other people’s claims

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@Lammerlaw totally agree with your last message!

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That bikey needs to just head back to his own country… so many things are being taken away from us. Digging a small hole in the river on the weekend your classified as an illegal miner. When your not even mining to earn money just to have fun as a hobby. Like illegal dredgeing within reason yes it would be bad if it was in the national park. But if it’s like in the cluthur or the Buller it’s a drop in the ocean and we shouldn’t even be concerned about it to a certain extent , the amount of water that pumps though some rivers and even streams totally transforms some creeks. A flood will do more damage and afterwards you wouldn’t even know somone was ever there.
The governments just shutting the hobby miners down so the big companies can come in.
It’s easy for someone from the outside to say that where doing damage to the environment and that ALL mining should be stoped when they haven’t ever got a flake of gold nor do the know the processes of mining, where not using chemicals and cutting down native bush. The west cost and Otago and nelson should have different rules and regulations depending on the climate and erosion rates in of the area. Eg any one is allowed to sluice anywhere on the west coast but maby in nelson your allowed to only pan anywhere you want. Just a thought.

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Made a video to justify his latest motorcycle adventure, did he do his job? Of course not he’s been on holiday … what has he got to show for his last couple months wages? Ohh he found a digger that broke down in the 80’s that was too expensive to recover.

I don’t disagree that we need someone out there from NZPAM as bush police, I want to see DOC with teeth so they have powers to arrest, and the resources to protect their estate. However a biker from Ireland does not a miner from the south make, they have the wrong man for the job with seemingly the wrong attitude following the wrong direction from Wellington, and maybe that’s the issue with NZPAM being based in Wellington, perhaps it would be better if they operated out of Greymouth and had nothing more than a singular token presence occupying a cubical in the corner of MBIE in Wellington, those in office in Wellington always make token remarks that the West Coast needs jobs yet they do nothing to help and everything to hinder.

My issue as a claim holder is increased costs, being told that finally poachers are going to get caught, poachers not being caught and the guy they are paying cruising around the south island on his motorbike on my dime.

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Being a pomme I don’t object to his roots myself.

I suspect NZP&M hasn’t made provision for the hobby miner / fossicker as we simple haven’t been vocal enough so their attention had been focused where the profit is.

I think it’s time to start getting vocal… but how do we go about it to affect change?!

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one of the biggest problem is that doc don’t want people mining it up sets native fish and ducks. yea right ive had blue ducks swimming behind my dredge having a good old feed.
its hard to tell at times where a claim starts and finishes, or weather a creek is claimed at all. someone driving along the road decides to stop for a brew at a creek and puts the pan in just for a play , do they know its claimed.
gavin have you got a notice saying the creek has a claim on it at the bridge?

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No, I’ve not marked my claim in any way. Just use a few trail cams but not caught anything interesting yet… not even any decent wildlife even though there’s a lot of pig sign in the area.

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yep lots of pigs round there. big hairy boars. big hairy boars with giant tusks. just watch when bending over in the creek of yours they like the young ones.
don’t want a big hairy boar up there

Word is he is watching Paydirt. He rides around on a motor bike but the cellphone messaging is well ahead. If he is approachable in regard to claim jumpers then that must be a good thing but some how I don’t think that is his focus.Walking up dark slippery gorges he might be out of his depth on the off chance of catching somebody , so cars parked at road ends and number plate taking will be about it.

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Both he and elements within P & M will of course monitor Paydirt and the Dredging forum. It would be stupidity and naive to think he wasnt!

Yep locals should be employed to police their own areas. Someone experienced who knows whats going on, who has the contacts to sort things out properly - sometimes it may be only a warning or giving someone the correct info about the law.

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The little guys are easy to catch, he listens for the pump motors, or even I guess the clinking of shovels against rocks, maybe even the swish swash as you are panning., or maybe even your idle chatter as you eat your lunch. And don;t dare fart, or he will have you, esp if its a pongy one or a loud one. How does one convert a Keene sluice into whisper mode. More from me on this when I settle down a bit.

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Here’s some interesting sums, 1000 miners each getting 2 grams a weekend = 2kg×12 weeks of summer=24kg. Double that to be safe=48kg=$2700000( give or take) x 1% royalty (is that right?)=$27000÷1000 miners =$27. Sounds about right to me for a miners right. Or I could be all wrong as it is 1230am. Looks like an interesting starting point.

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How does one convert a Keene sluice into whisper mode.

just have the exhaust pipe out let running under water

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