The response to the last survey was looking very positive, and thanks for all the great suggestions and offers to help - very much appreciated!
I’ve further refined the survey to gather a little extra detail that will hopefully shape what will be offered. If you don’t mind spending a few minutes filling out the new survey it would be much appreciated…
The “Otago Region” is too broad.
That could mean the backyard of Dunedin, or Shotover River which is 280km and 4 hours drive.
Better to refine that to Queenstown Lakes, Otago Central, etc
Westcoast Region is similar a case:
Fair enough, I guess we can always zone in via district once there’s a short list if needs be.
fair comment goldp but from my own point anywhere in otago or west coast would be ok. its a fair drive from ashburton to anywhere that theres gold and I would make at least an overnight trip to make it worthwhile going. quite possible a fair percentage of share owners would be in the same position
I think north of Westport would be good then I could walk there
you could go further south. say to hokitika. just have to leave a bit earlier. 
I’d be prepared to travel pretty much anywhere in the south island if the claim had good gold on it,can get anywhere via airport and rental car.Somewhere close to Keith’s place so we can all go back to his for muffins and whisky!!
Would you be prepared to drive to Clutha, when there are 4 good fossicking areas in Queenstown?
Keep in mind you may have to hike over the countryside for an hour or more to get to the claim.
These things might not be a deterent for a dredger or serious sluicer, but for detector/panner/casual sluicer it could be.
Imagine if they were hoping for a site that was more central in the survey questionare.
for a half decent claim I would drive to clutha to get on a claim that hasn’t been worked over like the public ones are. difficult access would be the only thing that would put me off. vehicle and my body aren’t up to rough terrain or long hikes.
has anyone had a look at nzpams site for claims lately with the setting on all claims and stuff there a very large grey area that just got bigger down south around most of the gold areas and if ya look at wat it means they not doing permits on that area at the mo and there another grey area up the top of south island wonder y they have done that
Yeah, looks like anyone in that area is screwed!
Lucky those Reserved Areas only last for a year or so… but if someone’s claim is up for renewal soon?
Are they trying to push out the little guys to make way for some Big Corporate Mining operation?
Meanwhile… right at the (Claim 52804) heart of the Coromandel there is a large Exploration Permit: Permitted activities may include literature reviews, drilling, bulk sampling and mine feasibility studies.
Also an exploration permit on the Thames Mudflats.
So much for no mining, all the protests for nothing aye 
There was a massive hoohar in Thames over dredging the harbour a few years back.
40% to 60% of the old timers gold was washed out with the mercury, before the Cyanide Recovery method was discovered. Someone wanted to dredge the silted harbour and process it, but there were worries about disturbing all that mercury and other nasty minerals.
Just found out Thames harbour was already dredged in the early 1900’s, and the recovery rate wasn’t good!
source
There was also some dredging done on the Waihou River (main one near Thames).
From the looks of your profile picture GoldPandemic I think you’d fit right in at this march mate!!..lol:laughing:
I am a bit of a greenie - just not psycho about it.
Low scale mining by locals, where the money is retained in our communities & country is where I stand.
Some of the coromandel mines could be turned into tourist hobbit homes for rent.
Yep…preaching to the converted here mate,I’m in the save the forest not just the tree sort of thinking…if I had my way we would simply dig 3-4 large open cast mines on Doc land,extract a trillion dollars worth of gold,which would pay off our national debt,150,000 new houses,rebuild Christchurch and Kaikoura,scale back intensive farming and replant marginal and low lying areas back into natives trees and grasses.trap n fence huge sections of forest to save our natives species ,maybe even a bounty on possums,rats ,cats stouts etc.And NZ start lending money internally to first home kiwis,low interest loan secured off gold reserves shift reliance off foreign banks maybe…
The reserved areas in grey simply mean no new prospecting permits will be granted. There is no issue with mining permits
Seems to be correct. Here’s the info straight from the horses mouth - https://www.nzpam.govt.nz/about/news/reservation-land-prospecting-permits/
never looked into a horses mouth
No to open cast pits. No need to disturb the surface at all.
Lets build hobbit mines, then turn them into liveable underground cities.
Especially down south, where it is cold. Canada has a lot of underground commercial space.
It’s warmer in winter, and cool in summer, natural insulation.
through your survey results have you had enough people interested to put money up front to get started if/when it gets to that stage.
Kind-of in theory… general consensus is that there should be a max of 10 dredgers allowed access and it looks like $1,000 / head is acceptable = $10k. For establishing a new claim this is probably a little light with all the fees, insurance, access agreements, etc. that need paying, and that’s if we can do it without using paid consultants.
Doing it without paid consultants might be possible as some people said they’d help, though I need to follow up (been knocked out with a bad case of man flu the last few weeks and still having trouble stringing a few sentences together without having a coughing fit at the mo).
There’s a lot of non-dredgers interested, but the amount people are generally willing to pay is trending towards the low end so I think the dredgers would provide the core funding to make it happen. The non-dredgers who have indicated they are willing to pay a bit above the average might get us over the line though and keep initial member numbers down which would make the initial trial of a group claim easier to manage.
Once established and more claims are added, we can review the pricing and see if some membership fees can come down but also provide some reward for me / whoever is throwing their time dealing with red tape, admin, etc.
