Incredibly WAS rich…with a rich gold mining HISTORY…L&M got the best of the last.
JW 
There remains one significant sized section untouched by past mining.
I work with a guy that was working for l & m up the shotover in the 80s,he has some awesome stories including the 1000ounces they got in a week and a 7 ounce nugget found while going to the toilet on the tailings.
Probably because it wasn’t worth while. You can guarantee it was looked at & prospected by the old timers. They didn’t leave many stones unturned or waterways untouched. Just look at where they did find gold & when they did & it was worth while, the efforts they went to.
JW
I’d very much argue that it’s STILL a rich river. I’ve been lucky enough to see some of the larger nuggets that have been pulled out even after L&M have been through. Shame I wasn’t the one to find them 
Still a lot of smaller stuff coming out too. Definitely not as rich as it used to be though.
Apparently L&M knew they were loosing the larger nuggets as the holes in the classifying plates were too small for them, but they were playing a numbers game… recover more finer gold and loose the rarer larger pieces in order to maximise production. I’d heard they even invited detectorists to try their luck over their tailings, but no-one took them up on it. All second hand info I’m just regurgitating though, so can’t claim it as gospel.
Is that the section in part of Alister Boyd’s claim where the dredging marker is before the branches, he told me that they pulled out because of the Boulder that’s about 30 ton in the middle of the river, have dredged up above there but it’s pretty deep
The reach is described in an L&M report including where and why they elected not to mine despite the assumption it was rich.
Is the claim above the branches?
When the dredge was going they reached the branches and the gold just turned off like a tap I was told.
Did the guys that are forming the Arrow Sydicate be part of the Shotover syndicate that you are part of Gavin?
@goldsmo no, the claim’s much further down river - New Zealand Topographic Map - NZ Topo Map
@GoldenEel nah, nothing to do with us.