New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

That looks like a nice claim... 25Km of river bed is a huge area that covers both forks of the Maerewhenua river and runs by the Danseys Pass motor camp. I remember there being some comments being made on this forum when this claim was originally made as this was an unofficial public fossicking area. People would stay at the motor camp and go down to the river and pan for gold. That all ended as the claim owner didn't want public messing with his claim. So is this an opportunity for the foundation of a mining society? Is there any interest form other members of this forum?

Cheers, Ken.

Trust me Goldsborough, another year and 9 months and I'm living down in Christchurch. Just waiting for my daughter to finish school and as soon as she's off to Uni we're moving.

Hey ForrestFenn, that's actually a great idea to combine the holiday park and claim.

I played in the area when I lived in timaru. spent holidays with the kids at the camping ground and played in the river
this was 30 odd years back and there was good easy gold then
now I live on the coast its a bit far to go

if I lived back down in timaru you boys wouldnt even be talking about it , I would already be there

warning though be careful with forming a group, gold dose funny things to people (look at me)

That's a good idea gavin so long as when it comes to getting reasorse consent they don't get you to :get the river surveyed ,historic places trust often like an expert to survey historic features in & out of the river , electric fish the area pluss a bunch of other crap they throw at you...last 1 I did I was hoping to get it all sorted for under 10k....in the end 30k :(.
Best bet is to really do your homework b4 you part with any $ so that's talking to the likes of fish & game , doc, HPT first , also would pay to sus out access especially if its on private land .The only downside to asking questions first is if someone trys to cut ya lunch before you have a permit on the ground also dealing with the above crowed can take a lot of time but if I where to do another 1 that's what I would do.
Cheers.

Who would I contact to get this area proposed as a public area for us east coasters.
I am happy to dedicate time to form a group to make this a reality but wouldnt even know where to start and I have a mortgage and mouths to feed so buying it is not an option.
Was an opportunity lost when the area went under claim and alot of groaning went on so where are those voices now?
Now is the chance to get it for all to enjoy and would be a real shot in the arm for us east coasters with the gold fever.
Hey, would be it an option for the current owner to supply paid permits to local fossickers? He keeps the claim and draws an income and still gets to use the area too?
You could also restrict it to panning, sluicing, sniping and highbanking to make it fair for all.
Hey just dreaming here but wouldnt it be cool to have a patch to go without driving 4 hrs................

i find it strange pictures of MY gold that I found ended up on that advert.... most of it found miles away from the maraphenua river.... shows how well the previous guy did?.... good hobby claim? yes. pretty place? yip. gonna make you rich? no

yes i was up there and spoken to by dale franklin...( i was/am unaware that panning or detecting up on the banks was not allowed as i thought it was only gravels from the river that was claimed?) it was a nice day for a picnic and a walk of the dogs.. i left immediatley after the covosation and nothing further was done.. did i ever go back to danseys?..... no i did not.... i had full intent of leasing a section with a "mate" but felt like the section of river he wanted to lease was far too deep and had too much overburden. to try work for one day a week in the weeknds with a 2-4 inch homemade dredge. which i ageed to nothing but having a look at the strech of river he wanted to lease.( section from the bridge just upstream from camp ground to the pringels gully bridge. had it had been the north branch i would of been more than happy to shake hands on that.) he also greeted me on that day with a large cannibis pipe and a big bag of cannibis.. i also remember him talking up his big german sheppard and how he bragged about carrying a 7mm in the truck "just in case"....

i guess was just gob smaked seeing photos ive taken over the years on trademe to premote the danseys claim. and some of the chunky gold i shamefully admit ive bought off trademe. :/

it does show how much gold has been found over the last 2 years.yes the Dawsons have scrapped every crack on that river over the last 30 odd years and the only reason to go back is to have a picnic on the banks reminising about the good times. :)

as he is sitting beside me having a good laugh at your comments, esp being called a drugy and a gun nutt Mr 270 win .....
i guess il believe the guy with the bigger jar of fine gold and the photos and police emails
but 3 grams for my days efforts with the pan today keeps me happy .
i i see a couple of other people have already commented on this topic that do ok there with his say so , also with the pan on this claim.
but ive been asked to not turn the crank handle so to speak, so ill leave it at that

if there is enough interested I am prepared to do some investigating in to crowd funding to get this claim. send me a message if you are interested

Edited by user Monday, 28 March 2016 8:33:04 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified