yup, i have seen folks running rampant, they started undermining the Macetown Road access in there quest for a few grains, so please dont tell me folks armed with a shovel etc do not do damage. No-one is prejudiced in obtaining a mining licence, but as u say that is more for mechanical means, so that is why the fossicking areas exist, so folks can get their sluice boxes and cradles out and go do some digging to satisfy their gold curiosity. there is no need for the mining permit what so ever, to do so would run rough shod over peoples property rights, I can imagine some folks waving their little peices of paper in front of some farmers noses and saying that they have every right to be there. Which brings me to the point of this conversation. If someone gets permission to be on someones land to do some panning, who is really going to care? as long as Joe public and the Tweety bird folks cant see them, and they arent doing actual harm.
In fact Lammerlaw, why dont you let folks onto your own property so that they can all have a go.
It still amazes me that a bunch of guys on here cant form a partnership and create their own claim. As ive said i would do all the paperpushing pro bono to secure consents, access etc…
Since when was my property a State owned domain upon which the old miners right had jurisdiction? We are NOT talking about private property so your comment is totally irrelevant. The entire discussion revolves around rivers upon which the Queens Chain allows access. Access to those rivers across private land is another matter such as the access to the Moke which is covered in another thread here. Have YOU ever asked to visit my place?
I have allowed people onto my place for a hunt for animals and on several occasions behind my back they have entered without permission. In other words you give them a foot and they take a yard. It would be no different with gold and as for gold everyone will have read the comment made by someone on here that there is none on my place now. I guess it was a small stream and easily worked out in years past.
This reply to Madgoldnz NOT GoldenEel - The crown might own the mineral wealth but the crown does not have any mineral wealth set aside because it has all been taken by wealthy fucking foreigners. The Crown should own the minerals and the crown is supposed to represent the people. This means that the people of New Zealand should own the mineral wealth but instead of some poor Kiwi being permitted to go for a pan and dig a few holes under a Miners Right big corporations can dig up thousands of acres and many many millions of tons of rock to process for gold and then take that gold off shore.
As I said - are you old enough to know that there was no rush when gold escalated from $35 to $150 in a very short time and the Miners right system was still in place. I am here for all New Zealanders and not just a few privileged people with wealth who can afford the luxury of a claim.
I note that there are metal detectorists who abuse the right to go metal detecting by not filling in holes, I note that there are drivers who abuse the right to have a driving licence to operate a vehicle by speeding and driving DiC and of course there will be people who abuse the right to pan for a bit of gold.Fucking criminal though that some poor bastard who lives at say Naseby and has a little gold in the creek behind their home but cant afford to take out a mining licence has to travel to Gabriels Gully to pan less colours than he can at home!
Strange though as I have never seen the Macetown road undermined by gold fossickers but I have sure seen it undermined by floods and I have frequented there since around 1961! Indeed I lost a truck there trying to rescue a stranded ill prepared party about 1975. I also lost a gold dredge there about 1972 - something to do with getting drunk and driving under a tree not realising that the gold dredge was still on the roof of my Landrover. I would never recommend it but I have even driven from Macetown to the pub at Arrowtown late at night and quite paralytic to get more alcohol - possibly the same year I wrote off the dredge. I also remember one of the early gold dredge enthusiasts getting some great gold just out in front of Andersons battery and that would have been early 1970s. Andersons battery was still roofed over then. I also did well at in the river at the town site about 1976 when I struck a nice lead full of black sand and gold.
Mangrove,
The reason nobody has taken you up on your offer is this.
90% of the followers on here are jokers, dreamers, and retirees. Nothing against the last ones. They would pull more weight then the others.
I offered, last year, for someone to partner up with me. My claim. My dredge. My quad. My experience in dredging to help them out. And you know what. Only 1 guy wanted to join. A hand full bitched that a gram an hour wasn’t worth it. And the rest were just dreamers and jokers complaining. So I am done with trying to help people out anymore. Like Lammerlaw said. You give them an inch. They want a mile.
I mean really. There was an offer to dredge for free. You pay for your food and fuel. No claim fees, PLI, $13,000 dredge to buy, plus $$$$ in other gear. And only 1 person took me up on the offer. It shows you that most people think they will work for a week, and retire from gold mining. Dreamers and jokers. You can’t fix stupid. Let them fix themselves.
$100 an hour is ace and surely not to be scoffed at. I am retired from gold after all I am not young any more but I still know a few places that might be worth looking at. Our three gold claims were not done thoroughly, only certain areas, and there are still spots on them that I would like to visit.
Its been rather painful following the “Group gold claim saga” the show has been running since the start of the old paydirt forum how ever many years ago that was & still nothing has happened , even with Mangrove,s repeated fine offer , Theres at least 2 or 3 grand saved rite there !!! & still nothing , whats that saying about a horse being led to water 
the topic should be banned ,
could be all the rules and regulations plus ongoing costs putting people off. could get a bit complicated with a group claim especially with cost sharing. guys living near it may get there a lot more than those having a 3 or 4 hour drive. dont know. even i have tried a couple times to get interest but you get the odd person who sounds keen and a few tyre kickers.
I was going to push ahead with a group claims type venture but got cold feet over the risk I might be exposing myself to. Wouldn’t be hard for someone to accidentally roll a boulder onto themselves if they aren’t careful. Then if you have a muppet that spills fuel / oil into the river… So I put it on the back burner for now, though I think it would be fun to do.
There seems to be a few people out there playing with the option or running with smaller scale ventures.
i really didnt think you would have been the type to go round exposing yourself. its not your feet getting cold when you expose yourself
Fair point… shrinkage in the cold water and all that!
How deep did you have to dredge to hit this lead.
Not a lead as you might think but a lead of black sand heavily interspersed with gold. Easily worked but long gone. It would have been flood gold and not something left over from the early days.
In another part of the Arrow we did extremely well about January 1977 or 1978. I have an ounce of gold still from that day and nothing under a gram I think and up to 6 grams.
My uncle in one day got 8 ounces under the Arrow River bridge also about 1976.
LOL…
I have just moved onto a farm.
The GOVT are giving us money to grow our own food and to raise native plants for riparian planting.
We just purchased a new quad bike with some of it…