New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

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Kiwi over in the Yukon - Hi from a new member

philux		Posted : Sunday, 29 September 2013 6:18:53 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Dust Groups: Registered Joined: 29/09/2013(UTC) Posts: 6 Was thanked: 3 time(s) in 3 post(s)		Hi all, I've been a long time background looker and finally joined up. You have some really helpful information here. I'm from Christchurch but currently working over in the Yukon on gold mine for the season, it's quite a nice place. We are up near Dawson City which reminds me of central Otago but on bigger scale. Have seen a few of the gold miners from tv. Saw and talked to Parker from gold rush, it's not as easy as he thought it would of been. After working here I keep thinking how cool would it be to start sluicing somewhere back home but think I'd need to have quite a few more bucks in my back pocket. Any way when I get back I might bump into a few of you guys, gonna have to do some trips away with the pan and wee sluice box. Phil

Jd		Posted : Monday, 30 September 2013 12:26:00 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Nugget Medals: Groups: Registered Joined: 5/07/2012(UTC) Posts: 99 Location: Blenhim Thanks: 114 times Was thanked: 19 time(s) in 13 post(s)		Hay phil Welcome to the forum I am also x chch and moved to marlborough what a great place I got the bug a few years back and like you I am hooked I also watch the gold rush programs they are all recorded each week I would love to do what you are doing good luck in your ventures jd
		WWW

crushit		Posted : Monday, 30 September 2013 7:05:33 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Nugget Groups: Registered Joined: 24/11/2011(UTC) Posts: 31 Location: westport Thanks: 24 times Was thanked: 16 time(s) in 12 post(s)		Was over there a couple of years ago and went to bonanza creek.That museum was amazing with the old tractors and 4wd vehicles used years ago.eThe dredge is huge. There is a gold buyer near bonana creek who comes from greymouth and spends the summers over there. His name is Terry Sweetman and he enjoys having visitors from nz. We went along the top of the world highway to chicken then thru to Tok. If you get to Fairbanks go and have a look at the museum they have a large amount of gold on display there,just be carefull about taking photos in there as they don't like it. I was allowed to keep my camera after I convinced them I was just a dumb tourist and not someone casing the joint. You are lucky to be working over there as it is such an awesome place.
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philux		Posted : Tuesday, 1 October 2013 6:23:46 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Dust Groups: Registered Joined: 29/09/2013(UTC) Posts: 6 Was thanked: 3 time(s) in 3 post(s)		We took the upper Bonanza Creek road to get back to camp after Discovery days, Had a quick look at that dredge, I know what you mean by huge! Wish we could of stopped at the museum but we had the frozen grocery order with us. I have heard of that gold buyer, my boss is an ex New Zealander and coaster, think he might have some dealings with him. I'd love to come back next year but I don't think my partner would let me do it again, unless she came over to. If not a tourist holiday is on the cards to get back here, Its a very interesting place!

The Hatter		Posted : Saturday, 5 October 2013 6:56:30 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 21/05/2013(UTC) Posts: 259 Location: Westport Thanks: 62 times Was thanked: 320 time(s) in 125 post(s)		Small World Mr Crushit. I was up that way about 8 years ago. Fast Eddies at Tok does great tucker. Me and my American mate drove from Washington State up through Canada to AK. About two and a half thousand miles as I recall. Our best day was 800 miles. 500 miles per day was the average. Took us about 4 and a half days to get to Fairbanks. So I can say I had a whirlwind tour of Canada. We spent most of our time up in the Central/Circle area. Thats about 120 miles from Fairbanks. Circle is on the Banks of the Yukon River. After that we headed up the Elliot Highway to another gold area, thats on the other side of Fairbanks and about 200 miles in. I was looking at gold Claims for him, nothing took my eye, to be honest. But it was a fun trip. Was in AK for about four weeks, and three in Washington. Really loved AK. 24 hour daylight. Saw lots of game, but not one bloody bear. And Damm we had bear spray and things that go bang. Had lots of feeds of blue berries tho, guess we were stealing the bears tucker. Cheers Trev aka " The Hatter"

crushit		Posted : Saturday, 5 October 2013 10:34:10 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Nugget Groups: Registered Joined: 24/11/2011(UTC) Posts: 31 Location: westport Thanks: 24 times Was thanked: 16 time(s) in 12 post(s)		We flew to Vancouver then on to prince Rupert. From there it was ferry to Juneau .Had a couple of days there then went on to skagway. This was where the diggers started the trek into the Yukon . They either went over the Chilkoot trail or the white pass to Bennet where they built boats for the 500 mile journey down the Yukon river to Dawson city. Whitehorse is on the banks of the Yukon.We followed the path of the diggers but not by boat down the Yukon (went by road). Stopped and looked at some of the rapids on the Yukon.Must have been a scary trip down there.lots of boatsI wrecked and people drowned. Stayed in Dawson city for a couple of days then off along the top of the world highway to chicken (ANOTHER MINING DISTRICT) From there to Tok and went to fast Eddies Trev.Next was down to Mcarthy village to visit the old copper mine alongside the Kennicot glacier.FRom there it wason to Valdez in Prince William sound scene of the oil tanker disaster and the seaward end of the Alaska oil pipeline. From her we went to Whittier then on to anchorage for a few days. Next was up the highway to Denali national park where we saw numerous bears ,moose mountain goats and other wildlife. Went to Fairbanks from there.There were huge wildfires burning in the surrounding countryside and the city was full of smoke.After a couple of days of this it was back down the Alaska highway to toke then on to Kluane lakes which are back in Canada. The place we camped here was full of bears and you had to keep all food away from your camp. Then on down past Haines junction and back to Whitehorse.Flew back to Vancouver from here and had a couple of days in Portland. All up about 8 weeks .The highlight for me was following the path of the old diggers from Skagway to Dawson city as we stopped and looked at most of the historic places along the way.Even managed to borrow a pan and got a few colours in Dawson city.
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chrischch		Posted : Monday, 7 October 2013 1:27:38 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 28/08/2011(UTC) Posts: 811 Location: Christchurch Thanks: 192 times Was thanked: 105 time(s) in 104 post(s)		Wow it would be awesome to go there and see all that! Long hours of daylight would be odd though. How do you find a job mining there whilst living here?
		Fisher Goldbug Pro, Fisher F2, Garrett Propointer.

philux		Posted : Saturday, 28 December 2013 10:42:27 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Dust Groups: Registered Joined: 29/09/2013(UTC) Posts: 6 Was thanked: 3 time(s) in 3 post(s)		Hi chrischch My cousin who is an ex kiwi now lives over in canada and owns a mine up in the yukon, So it was pretty much word of mouth but he has quite a few contacts of other miners over there. I think one of the other kiwi guys I was working with is starting with another guy next season. The gold price is not the best as you know so my cousin is having second thoughts going back next season or wait until the gold price goes up. File Attachment(s): IMG_0296 1.JPG

nafcd		Posted : Saturday, 28 December 2013 10:11:45 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 28/12/2012(UTC) Posts: 276 Location: ashburton Thanks: 8 times Was thanked: 46 time(s) in 34 post(s)		does the land have to be returned to natural state when the ground is mined out. DOC would have a field day. nice photo though. what were you doing there.

philux		Posted : Wednesday, 29 January 2014 7:19:41 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Dust Groups: Registered Joined: 29/09/2013(UTC) Posts: 6 Was thanked: 3 time(s) in 3 post(s)		The way we minded up there was by putting the tailings in the old hole that we had just previously mined, flatten out the tailings, make a creek bed then knock the overburden back down. Pretty much reclamation done. Once done they just let nature do its thing and let things grow. I was over there feeding the plant, just putting lots of buckets of dirt through. We mined about 2km of the valley last season. Hopefully upload some more pics of the set up soon. Phil

nafcd		Posted : Wednesday, 29 January 2014 10:26:30 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 28/12/2012(UTC) Posts: 276 Location: ashburton Thanks: 8 times Was thanked: 46 time(s) in 34 post(s)		look forward to seeing some more photos. thanks philux

McKennas Gold		Posted : Wednesday, 12 February 2014 5:43:28 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Flake Groups: Registered Joined: 23/04/2011(UTC) Posts: 10 Location: Otago Thanks: 5 times Was thanked: 3 time(s) in 3 post(s)		Hi everyone Im pretty new to this business as well. That is typing let alone Computors. Ha. I was up in Chicken about 6 years ago I was flying helicopters there for Blm . We did a historic study of all the areas Montana ck 70 mile, Coal ck etc etc. Its a fantastic place and not unlike the west coast of NZ . I also flew out to Ruby where the mudminers on tv are . ( Gold fathers) They were a great family Doug Jones I think his name . Real true blue Gold mining people. The historic survey we would fly at high level over top of the trees about 3 or 4 000 ft and it was easy to pick up any square shapes ( Log Cabins). Once we had found one we would try and find a landing site ( Squirrel ) .One guy would draw a artist impression of each cabin and then photos etc. These were varied in age . They seemed to believe alot were in the depression? Some were interesting as the miners cups and saucers were still inplace sometimes at the dinner table one I remember had knife and fork in place. Which was hard to believe as the bears had been around. They normally wreck everything. Long toms etc. Im a keen gold miner with 150 yrs heritage in Otago fields. So Im also very interestd in the history side of it. We saw many old dredges, Jack wade ,Indian river etc. I envy any one who is up there in Alaska it is agreat area to be in. If there wasnt a New Zealand Id be up there full time.

philux		Posted : Tuesday, 3 February 2015 9:32:24 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Dust Groups: Registered Joined: 29/09/2013(UTC) Posts: 6 Was thanked: 3 time(s) in 3 post(s)		Sorry I have been a bit slack. One of the guys I worked with has up loaded a video of us operating in the 2013 season. It gives you a bit of an idea on what's going on. Yukon Sluicing 2013 Boy Am i having withdrawals, Once the yukon gets in your blood its hard to not want to go back. Only if I could convince my partner to move over...

Golddigger7		Posted : Wednesday, 4 February 2015 8:10:32 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Medals: Groups: Registered Joined: 6/09/2012(UTC) Posts: 252 Thanks: 1 times Was thanked: 46 time(s) in 35 post(s)		Now that is exactly what I want to do with my claim on the Arrow, wonder if DOC and the QE2 trust will support my application for a 40 tonne digger and a D9...mmmm......

kiwijw		Posted : Wednesday, 4 February 2015 9:33:03 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)		Originally Posted by: Golddigger7 Now that is exactly what I want to do with my claim on the Arrow, wonder if DOC and the QE2 trust will support my application for a 40 tonne digger and a D9...mmmm...... Of course they will Dave. :) JW :)