Was just wondering if there was anyone in the north island that happen to have a claim in the north island that wouldn’t mind me having a wee bit of a jam just to get in a bit of practice before I go to the south and have a go down there I don’t mind flicking some coin for your troubles I just want to be prepared and get some experience before I go make a fool of myself in public as I’m new to this haha
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but there is 0 alluvial gold claims in the north island , that’s not to say there is no Alluvial gold up there .
Well that’s no good cause I don’t really wanna get caught digging around in a river
get sum river sand. lead cut up small various sizes , count the lead and put it in the sand . pan it all out and see if you get the same number you started with
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Or try panning some lead bird shot of different sizes. Because it is round the challenge for a newbie is to put say 30 into a pan with sand, gravel and lather rocks then pan the gravel out while retaining all the birdshot.
And there’s plenty of black sand to be found on the beach up there to add to the mix , if you can keep all your pellets panning in mix of black sand your going well , just don’t go getting any 00 shot as that mite be a little optimistic 
There is a camping ground called dickys flat out of waihi you are aloud to pan in the river there
Is it a public fossicking area or a claim on which you are allowed to pan.
Is there actually any gold in the river
I have heard people getting fine gold there that hole area is a mining area backs onto Mt aroha and flows down into the gorge but like said fine it’s from the old days when they were mining they lost in most cases up to 40 or more percent
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Might have to go check it out on the weekend
I live in Te Aroha,been checking out Wairongomai and Karangahaki streams for the past few years,have not been to Dickeys flat yet,keen to tag along along if interested,streams are in minor flooding at the moment,but could still be ok in places.
I would be keen to give it a look
I’ve found minute traces of it in the back end of Karori… Didn’t take too much to find and I just went onto a farm that was right next to the road… It was really only a discovery exercise and I was curious and board one day. You could ask a local land owner up there if you can have a go … they probably won’t mind after they have calmed down from laughing so hard… But in all seriousness… It’s up there and I found it only using a garden trowel and pan… Didn’t even have to dig much, but like I said… Minute amounts…
Many years ago when they mined the wairongomai they sent out 2 geos to look further around the area one area that has a small track going up a incline they found a vein which was never mined it’s one one of the tracks tell aroha side that is what I was told by one of the geos so it’s still there waiting for someone to find
I think you could be referring to the top of butler’s incline ,when I have done research on it a small vein / reef was located up there bAck in the day,but the guy who found it (back in the late 1800s) died of heart attack showing his sons
the location so I don’t think it was mined cause he didn’t manage to show where it was before he died,I could be wrong ,but anymore info. Thanks Tom
If you go down the track from Dickeys Flat towards Karangahake and hang a left up Dubbo Stream you will find very fine flood gold if you Pan Moss from the rocks. Its realy realy fine so bag some moss take it home and pan it in a tub with some dish wash otherwise it will float away, same with all the gold around there.
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No more information as that’s all I know of that was a track so I was told