New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

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One Flake - from the West Coast

Nugget-Hunter		Posted : Monday, 27 October 2014 8:09:18 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Nugget Groups: Registered Joined: 18/03/2012(UTC) Posts: 74 Location: Christchurch Thanks: 58 times Was thanked: 52 time(s) in 20 post(s)		I stepped out of the car and five minutes later I got this 3.52 gram flake. To my surprise it was about 4 inches down in the gravel, but a long way away from the bedrock. Could not find anything else for the whole weekend. File Attachment(s): PA250001.JPG PA250003.JPG PA270004.JPG

simon		Posted : Monday, 27 October 2014 8:46:32 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 7/01/2011(UTC) Posts: 789 Location: Central Otago Thanks: 33 times Was thanked: 239 time(s) in 150 post(s)		Gold's a funny thing. Often the bigger bits are one offs. Did you try panning for small stuff there? At a guess the most likely means of the gold getting there would be it dropped out of the higher ground in a flood. Then again being quite flat it could have flipped along after being caught in the flow, but then it doesn't look like that waterway carries too much flow or floods much judging by the extent of the moss everywhere. All i can say it it can't have been there too long on loose gravel as it would pretty quickly work downwards, especially if the gravels were wet. If it was hard pack then its another story. For the size of it i don't think it would easily flip too far in a small water flow. perhaps a bigger rock was dislodged and only then it made a move. I've found many pieces that shape but usually they are a fair bit smaller around here when they are that shape. it's funny how each bit is unique but then the forces seem to shape them all into general categories. much of what i have found in that sort of shape i suspect hadn't travelled too far but had still been somehow bashed into that teardrop shape once it got into the water. did you try and dig down to any bedrock nearby? the general rule is if you're getting big stuff up high in the gravel, it gets bigger as you work downwards. was there a fault nearby? the reason i ask is a lot of what i got that shape was off a nearby fault. what i detected up on the fault was not too much different. same sort of thickness but hadn't been rounded off on the edges. Maybe worth a more in-depth look in the area. perhaps a good place to start is picking the biggest boulder and seeing what is under that.
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1864hatter		Posted : Monday, 27 October 2014 9:33:48 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 4/08/2010(UTC) Posts: 1,007 Location: Auckland.... Thanks: 49 times Was thanked: 566 time(s) in 269 post(s)		. Edited by user Monday, 27 October 2014 9:38:09 PM(UTC) \| Reason: double post
		And now....On sandy beaches and muddy soil, rings and coins await my coil!

1864hatter		Posted : Monday, 27 October 2014 9:37:11 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 4/08/2010(UTC) Posts: 1,007 Location: Auckland.... Thanks: 49 times Was thanked: 566 time(s) in 269 post(s)		Nice "flake" and pictures. Well done I once detected a 2.6g nugget in a bedrock pocket full of fine sand. Interestingly the nugget was in the top part not nearer the bedrock.
		And now....On sandy beaches and muddy soil, rings and coins await my coil!

Nugget-Hunter		Posted : Monday, 27 October 2014 9:47:38 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Nugget Groups: Registered Joined: 18/03/2012(UTC) Posts: 74 Location: Christchurch Thanks: 58 times Was thanked: 52 time(s) in 20 post(s)		Well, the size certainly surprized me too. The Geology of the place is similar to a Moraine. From where I have found the flake, it is about 200 meters flat to a 60 meter high and steep slope, which is the edge of a 4 km square high-plateau. So my guess is that the flake most likely flipped it's way to the pick me up place. And yes, there is a named fault-line running straight through the high-plateau too. Cant wait to go back there. Also found a overgrown water-race which leads to a steep dry gulley.

kiwijw		Posted : Tuesday, 28 October 2014 5:29:35 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 28/03/2010(UTC) Posts: 1,152 Thanks: 92 times Was thanked: 658 time(s) in 324 post(s)		Nice find there Nugget-Hunter. It is pretty big to be called a "flake" LOL :) Isnt it strange how it was just a single loner. So often the case though & strange too as you say to be in the gravel & not on bed rock. Good luck out there JW :)

gjj109		Posted : Tuesday, 28 October 2014 9:41:33 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Medals: Groups: Registered Joined: 14/03/2011(UTC) Posts: 464 Location: Thames Thanks: 217 times Was thanked: 194 time(s) in 115 post(s)		Nice piece, great photos and good to see the minelab is doing the business. Thanks for posting.

gavin		Posted : Tuesday, 28 October 2014 12:43:22 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Administrators, Registered Joined: 20/02/2010(UTC) Posts: 1,326 Location: Christchurch Thanks: 736 times Was thanked: 535 time(s) in 287 post(s)		That's a pretty nice piece! Nice going :)
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simon		Posted : Tuesday, 28 October 2014 3:00:23 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 7/01/2011(UTC) Posts: 789 Location: Central Otago Thanks: 33 times Was thanked: 239 time(s) in 150 post(s)		Maybe try working upwards from the creek side. i got some good 2 gram nuggets detected on the top of soil. the area had been heavily mined to bedrock and the forest had regrown over it since the 1930s. all i could figure was the steep sided fault must of caught the gold when it was being peeled off and sluiced down by the miners, and eventually it fell to the base. ironically there was nothing on the bedrock at the base, nor any still up the face. nearby i detected bits in the bedrock layers that my scales hardly weighed, and further along on the flat in a very waterworn bit of bedrock i got a signal in solid bedrock with no cracks visible and smashed out the tiniest speck of gold. you never know what is right on a fault. except the danger of scaling it. in the end i realised it wasn't worth my efforts to recover such miserable bits. one slip unroped and it would've been all over. good sort of ground to explore if you have the ropes and harness as its probably not worked by the original miners.
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