Hi Martin,
I can give you some answers to your questions but i think i have more questions for you than answers.
Firstly, what sort of line of work were you into? what were your reasons to quit?
Have you done any prospecting before at all?
Are you into the outdoors, i.e., hunting, fishing, 4wd'ing, that sort of thing?
In NZ you need to pay for permits and all sorts to have the legal right to mine in any way. Otherwise you are stuck in the few public areas where you are allowed with minimal hand tools.
In answer to your questions above:
1. Can I support myself from found gold per month for food and life expenses?
Maybe, depends what you plan to eat, how high your standards are and of course if you find any gold. I know of lots of miners but can't think of a single one that supports himself just mining. Most are doing it for the enjoyment factor plus hoping for gold to at least cover their costs.
2. How much I can expect to find gold if working ~10 hours per day? (motivated to work hard)
That is an impossible question to answer. It depends if you find the right location. There is gold out there but without experience i think you would struggle. My question would be have you done something similar to 10hours of mining before in a day. day in day out? its backbreaking work any method of mining. the reality often is you'd be better off working and then buy some gold.
3. What are the best tools to start with? (I imagine myself working on the river, not digging)
I'm a bit confused to what you mean as to working on the river but not digging? are you meaning you would have a dredge?
Most if not all people start out small, usually with a pan or sluice box. until you are certain this is what you want to do i wouldn't rush out spending money on equipment you may not be able to use or have nowhere to use it.
4. What are the best places for this short term project? (I only heard Queenstown) (I want to escape from city life to astonishing NZ nature)
Again i don't know if there is an answer for the best place. obviously you need gold to be there. so you need to research. clearly the more remote you go the better the chance you may have of finding a new location but you could just as likely find gold in small quantities in an old gold mining locality. again i see you mentioning short term here which is sort of contradictory to finding a new way of life? 3 months is not time to learn how to find gold and survive off it. sounds more like a hit and run to me. a dine and dash as some would say.
5. What is the best/warmest period in the year for this project?
Not now that is for sure! its winter, way to cold for mining. the water is never too warm at the best of times.
6. Any extra advises are highly appreciated!
My advice mate would be doing lots of web based and book based research. plus talk to someone that has done some mining. If not possible try digging for 10 hours a day for a couple of days and see how you're going. you would prob need to build up to such a thing as its going to be tough going. beyond the digging you need to throw in the insects, the rain, the floods, boulder removal, all sorts stuff that is out to stop you digging easily.
My final advice is everything is against you for this so to succeed you will need to be as well prepared as you can. I've known many people that have had exactly the same idea but have given up very very quickly once the idea becomes reality. You won't win if you don't try. so a lot of it is pure determination really.
As an end note i did something similar when i started out and made my gold into wedding rings. took a year and a half and i was out there most days. Was brutally cold and brutally hot. got eaten alive and burnt to a crisp, frozen limbs and ice cream headaches. Got it done in the end.
Good luck with it all.
Edited by user Wednesday, 17 June 2015 10:29:14 AM(UTC)
| Reason: Not specified
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