Why can't you buy a Fossicking Permit in NZ?

I kept getting told there is no gold in Northland and that I’m not allowed to see if that’s true or not… So I’m just going to say that crevising produces nothing and is about as productive as trout fishing the streams of Northland. Current personal best is 5lb3oz from a creek that doesn’t hold Trout…

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Given the big boys think there is gold there, I’d assume there is Mining company looking for gold in Northland | RNZ News

Go give it a shot, no one is really going to mind if you are just giving in a scratch around, given the volcanic vents there I would not be suprised, I have heard somewhere this person found a gull with a small gold nugget in it and there were small quantitys of concentrated surface gold in this area up there, so there could be a couple scattered gold deposits.

For your best chance look for creeks/streams ideally easy to get to exposed bedrock so you can get to the pay instantly and small creeks that have a big catchment (so flood prone creeks) as they will have a lot more gold washed down (although that does not matter so much as the old timers never mined it )

Cheers

Well, going back to the original question posted in this thread, nobody has really been able to answer it. There have been many hints. Thanks @The_Sluicer and @Lammerlaw for giving great insight about the history and the true costs regarding claims. But I’m slowly understanding why this has failed in the past.
It’s purely because of political and ideological reasons. Right wing parties hand all the power to the big corporations and people think “greenies” want to stop us having fun. It’s amazing how many people vote against their own interests. (Reference: 2020 US Elections).

The only people on this forum who are against it, all seem to have their own claims. I understand this. You have spent a small fortune to secure your own piece of land that you can prospect. So why should I suddenly come along and demand that I should be allowed to prospect anywhere without paying stupid amounts of money with no guaranteed return?

So, here’s an offer for all of you claim holders as part of this plan.

You can buy a tourist permit. Cost 1 -2k per year. This allows you to have paying guests to fossick on your claim without have to buy a fossicking permit. You would have to meet certain requirements. Like toilets, (they called portaloos and they are cheap) and have someone on site who is trained in first aid.

Imagine, 10 tourists. $150-$200 a day. You pick them up from the nearest town, teach them the basics, feed them at lunchtime with a good bbq feed from the local butcher. At the end of the day, a glass of the fine local wine with a fine local cheese platter. Are you getting the cross promotion and commission you could get from this?

This would not just be beneficial to yourselves, but it would also help out the rural communities. You’re buying meat from the local butcher, the guests have to stay somewhere the night before and the night after their trip and you could take sales of the local wine and cheese that you sell them. Everyone’s a winner.

I’m currently putting together a proposal to send to the right Hon Stuart Nash. I was hoping to have a lot more constructive input from this community by now. But I guess you Kiwi’s don’t give a fuck about the yellow stuff that you, as Kiwi’s, actually own. Please don’t BITCH about losing your rights. Because very few of you seem to have the balls to stands up for your rights.

Peace

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Wow…
I don’t suppose you are currently in jail?
Sounds like someone who came over from Oz to screw up our rights.

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Wtf. Could say more but I won’t

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Haha. Some interesting stuff here. What amazes me is why people think just because a waterway is claimed it has gold or has more gold than public spots or unclaimed waters, thus making them beeline it to the claimed areas to pinch gold. In regards to eroded rights imagine if local waters were for locals. Why the hell would we want to bring in 100s of tourists to flood them. As mentioned many times gold doesn’t grow back and for every oz removed there’s less to be found. Many claims around here aren’t even worked. It’s all about money. Government collects your fees anyway. And many waters are now controlled by out of towners, often but not always locking out the locals who some will then deviously go on to nick gold off claims anyway. Its a big vicious messy circle. There’s always 2 sides to each argument as expressed on this forum. You could say no one should have a massive claim but a big claim might be needed to be productive and viable. The only certainly in these times seems to be the continual erosion of claim owners rights via various office based decisions made in the North. For anyone with an interest in finding gold and not just talking about it you just need to get out there and put the time in and find it. I’m sure some boffins keep an eye on the likes of this forum and think there’s 1000s of miners crawling over the land in the hunt for gold. Even with the high gold price I’ve seen bugger all prospectors out and about in recent times. There’s so many places to go whether panning, detecting, dredging, sniping or sluiceboxing. Every trip you will find gold if you look hard and put the time in. You just won’t become a millionaire. Good luck out there this year.

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"If you can fix a problem with money, it’s not really a problem.” - Kim Kardashian

You have five options, depending on how serious you are.

  1. Legally prospect for gold in the fossicking areas (FREE)
  2. Legally prospect for gold with permission on existing claims (Negotiate)
  3. Illegally prospect for gold on unclaimed land, with landowners permission.(Negotiate)
  4. Legally prospect for gold on your own claimed area ($5,750 + $1,150 annually)
  5. Decide that options 1-4 are no good, and try getting politicians to listen

Maybe those who chose #4 aren’t against you - just sad to see you pick the worst option for finding gold!! :thinking:

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You never know a few deposists we have been on have been pretty close to millonare strike. One of our mates hit a spot of virigin ground a little area that had not been got over by the old timers pulled out over 150 ounces in a day (this was a larger operation I beleive with a digger and large highbanker or washplant).

Its just the whole vibe of actually getting out there of the chance of finding that virgin deposit in untouched ground that now no longer exsists the spirit of real prospecting of the 1860s, it really is not around anymore given the current system.

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good luck sharkfin but dont expect too much. i have written to various politicians many times about returning to miners rights type system of old and various other questions re fossicking and ‘amateur’ mining etc but all i have had is referrals to nzpam site. easy way out for pollies. pass the buck to someone who doesnt give a f…k about our personal rights. hope you have more success. :+1:

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No/ 3 sounds interesting. There is a lot of farm land in Otago with gold on it. A bottle of whiskey & beers can do wonders…Mmmmm… :thinking:

JW :cowboy_hat_face:

With all respect @salcrete101 , no I’m not currently in jail. Why would I be??? And no, I’m not from Oz to screw up your rights. I’m from a country where we stand up for our rights.

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Hey @goldsborough ,
Please say more. You have had very little to, constructively, add to this thread so far, so please unleash your best. Or move on!

Hey @queenstown ,
you make some great points. But, the tourists who are willing to pay a premium to fossick here will already have a knowledge of their own local laws. (The do’s and don’t s) So, those guys would also be more willing to follow the NZ rules and regulations. And let’s face it, when this whole Covid shit is over and we finally open our borders, I’m sure that many rural communities would welcome any type of tourist they can get. And let’s remember, if a tourist comes here for a purpose, they are willing to spend to money to achieve it. If they only take home a couple of specs of 100% NZ Gold, they will cherish the experience they had getting it. It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey getting there.

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Hey @madgoldnz ,
why is it sad that I should pick the option that would make it easier for all us hobby pan shakers to go out and enjoy what we do? I currently have to drive 4+hrs to go to the nearest fossicking area.

I am still putting together a letter to send to the Hon Stuart Nash, but this is going to take some time. I have to make sure that I included all the stakeholders, (NZPAM, DOC, Local iwi, etc,). Stuart Nash is also the minister for tourism, so I hope to lean heavily on that side of things.

At the end of the day, I believe that if a reasonable proposal can be put forward, with the support of all stakeholders, then we should be able to make some ground. We have rights, and we should stand up for them.

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Don’t give up @nafcd !!! I’ve already stated in the first paragraph that I do not wish to be referred to the NZPAM website for various reasons. Like any rat, you have to close down their escape routes. :yum:

So this is the sound a whinging pom makes

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please let us know how you get on with your letter sharkfingold. if you get a half decent result then maybe we need to follow your lead and load up said minister with questions as well. let him know there arent just 1 or 2 of us asking why our rights are being thrown in the too hard basket.

Well I wasn’t going to enter into this debate…but its Sunday night and I’m 3 beers in so I’m going to give it a crack…lol…Yes sharkfin your right we should be able to get a universal permit to prospect various “public land”…so your free to prospect but not unlawfully…I get it… however our beautiful country is split up into land titles of different type such as State forest/Nation/Regional parks,Council owned,Regoinal council owned…Privately owned…eslande reserve.queens chain and repian rights and Moari land(iwi) to name a few… so to get universal permission/aggreement I think highly unlikely in the present Politicial enviromental climate…your pushing sh#T uphill I think.
I’m more worried about losing what we already have!.. claim owners are feeling the pressure with new regulations coming into effect in the future n 3 waters…can see dredging being banned in the next 10 years…so we have to protect/support our existing Public Fossicking Areas which provides over 172km of fossicking ground (just made that up… couldn’t be bothered adding that up)…also if anyone looks through this site they will see permissions from claim owners for free access…from experience most claim owners are good buggers and will allow access if you take the time to contact them directly (PM etc)… all this will provide the average person with enough options to last a lifetime of prospecting adventures…and if you do feel the need to go elsewhere make sure you don’t ever make a mess…
Which bring me to my final point…a better option would to form an association…a core group of keen kiwi gold prospectors to help advocate for our hobby…help maintain rights/accesses of the existing fossicking areas/could take over claims that may other wise would be relinquished back to NZPAM for members to use…establish camps and meetings/competitions…establish a code of ethics(do’s and don’ts)…develop new accesses…advocate for a universal permit of types?..that will do time for bed.
Get on the gold!! …Mal

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Yeah that probably is the case all the diffirent land titles etc would be so hard, ill ramble on about another easy proposal that would easily fix the problem and make everything better then everyone else.

At least it would be great if they opened more Public areas I know this sounds greedy but if every area had a public fossicking area people would have no need to go elsewhere for example in some areas like Malborough there are plenty of good gold fossicking areas but none are public and you have to drive all the way to the nearest site about 1hr and 1/2 away, or in Canterbury there is defintley a reasonable amount of gold in the raikaia gorge (once we went up there and found this good bedrock bank we were getting about 100micro colours a pan cleared out 3 buckets worth and probably got a 1/2 gram and there was actually 1 really chunky piece 0.01 gram, and thats in canterbury and it would be great to be allowed to fossick there close to home without being mortified, our bedrock cleaning out was less noticable and was probably doing less ““damage”” then the large sandcastle some kids were making).

I reckon if they did the following fossicking areas we would all be happy (these are some random proposals)

2 Fossicking areas in the corromandel (maybe spread out I dont know what the best spots are there so I will leave that)

A fossicking area in Wellington (forgot the name of the stream wielded gold in the old days and would be a good tourist attraction)

Official Fossicking area in either Canvastown and/or cullensville in malborough

Fossicking area somewhere between Motueka and Tapawera in the Mountains there.

Gold Fossicking area up near Karamea ( I guess stony and britania might fit this area but its still pretty far and people visiting karamea probably arent going to make the trip if they just want a quick fossick)

Gold fossicking area along each of the Passes (Arthurs/Loius and Haast)

Gold fossicking area near Haast (there are none even close to this area and would be a great tourist attraction also)

Gold fossicking area at Charleston and/or Tiromoana (could be creek or one of the infamous mining beachs), we have a batch there and it just irritates me how it is in literally one of the biggest gold rush towns in History but yet we have to drive an hour+ to actually gold fossick legally.

Gold fossicking area right near Greymouth (like up the marsden valley area, like even woods creek itself would be a great spot)

Gold fossicking area at the Raikaia gorge or up the Wilberforce valley.

Gold fossicking area in North Otago there were a bunch of gold rushes round there and its a area completly blank from fossicking areas (like I know you are aloud to fossick at the Danseys pass campsite but its nothing official and wont last forever)

Gold fossicking area near Wanaka (there is gold here but no fossicking areas easily accsessable would also be another good tourist attraction)

Another gold fossicking area in Central Otago, I know there is gabriels gully but its a tiny site and the only one in this area hammered by gold rushes add another one a bit north maybe west a bit more of that area and that would be good

Gold fossicking area near Cromwell/lake dunstan type area would be real mint.

And finally maybe a gold fossicking area in South Otago or this wold be another really good one in Orepuki area in Southland, I know there are a couple claims there and is quite a bit of gold and would be great to have a public fossicking area there.

I reckon if they did (thats just an example) add those fossicking areas which would Double the amount it would be so good, it would really make a good fossicking experience in NZ, you could actually easily locate a fossicking area near you in a gold bearing area rather then having to go miles out of your way to gold fossick it would double the amount of fossicking area actually making it that (like we learnt the other day) you can go to the nearest fossicking are without it being completly hammered.

And this is another “driving point” that is sure to get the goverment to look into it (at least I hope) more fossickng areas mean people have to drive less to get to a gold mining site which means less emissons lol.

If they introduced fossicking areas like that in most areas then people would not have a need to go fossicking elsewhere as it would all be practically close, there would be enhough fossicking areas that even if the introduction of these increased prospectors by 25% or so, they would still get less hammered on average letting current prospectors get more gold and have more area to scratch around and have a chance of that virgin deposit.

I think that would be the next best thing arguably even better then the re introduction of miners rights and it would work too you would not need to go through all this fuss. And if they complain its too much effort to set up all the sites etc, im sure (I know I would) they would easily beable to gather volunteers to do it all.

Or they could open these fossicking areas and then Charge a small fee at each of them (like small like $5 a day or something that might ruin it for some thought but I would happily pay that extra amount if it meant more fossicking areas) and with that money they could then monitor the sites better and less damage etc (if there is any) would be dealt overall if “Damage” to the creeks is what they are worried about at least.

Thats at least my proposal and thoughts.

Cheers

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