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Public prospecting in the North Island - DOC public fossilking areas seem to be limited to the South Island?

in2go-i		Posted : Sunday, 6 December 2015 4:25:18 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Dust Groups: Registered Joined: 6/12/2015(UTC) Posts: 0 Location: Hamilton		Hi, I'm a newbie here and I'm sure this question has been asked many times. Are there any public gold fossilking areas under the DOC permit in the North Island? Or are the claims made by members of this group, who allow alluvial panning in their claim areas? I'm particularly interested around Taihape. I'm thinking of moving there, and note that there was some historic alluvial finds 15 km NE of Taihape. Thoughts? I'm an inventor / IT specialist, now business owner. I have a Earth Sciences degree from Waikato Uni, and this would be a pretty awesome hobby, and beats fishing hands down. Thanks
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Metal Kiwi		Posted : Sunday, 6 December 2015 4:32:38 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 19/06/2011(UTC) Posts: 1,210 Location: Auckland Thanks: 498 times Was thanked: 484 time(s) in 322 post(s)		Originally Posted by: in2go-i Hi, I'm a newbie here and I'm sure this question has been asked many times. Are there any public gold fossilking areas under the DOC permit in the North Island? Or are the claims made by members of this group, who allow alluvial panning in their claim areas? I'm particularly interested around Taihape. I'm thinking of moving there, and note that there was some historic alluvial finds 15 km NE of Taihape. Thoughts? I'm an inventor / IT specialist, now business owner. I have a Earth Sciences degree from Waikato Uni, and this would be a pretty awesome hobby, and beats fishing hands down. Thanks There are no public fossicking area's in the North Island. MK
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c4bb0ose		Posted : Sunday, 6 December 2015 6:20:06 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Nugget Groups: Registered Joined: 7/09/2014(UTC) Posts: 97 Thanks: 1 times Was thanked: 32 time(s) in 29 post(s)		As to gold http://www.teara.govt.nz...ractive/18976/gold-fever None were found, its close to the army base and so a vast majority is used as training for the army. Only places with proper workings in the north island are te aroha, thames , the karangahake gorge and Waihi. There were plenty of mines sunk in and around the bay of plenty and their used to be a mine in wellington somewhere. Alas the vast majority of gold is in the south island, west coast and the otago region.

mwyatt		Posted : Monday, 18 January 2016 11:51:15 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Flake Groups: Registered Joined: 14/12/2015(UTC) Posts: 28 Location: Auckland Thanks: 72 times Was thanked: 15 time(s) in 8 post(s)		I wonder how hard it would be to get a public fossicking area established in the Coromandel? Maybe at the Broken Hill camp? I know there is not much alluvial gold there (very fine gold). But at least for prospector's living in the North Island, they can scratch their winter gold fever itch now and again... :)

WestieDigger		Posted : Tuesday, 19 January 2016 12:33:27 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 6/01/2015(UTC) Posts: 217 Location: North Island Thanks: 207 times Was thanked: 291 time(s) in 135 post(s)		Originally Posted by: mwyatt I wonder how hard it would be to get a public fossicking area established in the Coromandel? Maybe at the Broken Hill camp? I know there is not much alluvial gold there (very fine gold). But at least for prospector's living in the North Island, they can scratch their winter gold fever itch now and again... :) The locals wouldn't support it all. As the bumper stickers say.... COROMANDEL-NO MINING
		2016 Totals Gold 0 Silver 3 Silver coins 25 Returns 2 my blog- http://westiedigger.blogspot.co.nz

mwyatt		Posted : Tuesday, 19 January 2016 2:34:33 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Flake Groups: Registered Joined: 14/12/2015(UTC) Posts: 28 Location: Auckland Thanks: 72 times Was thanked: 15 time(s) in 8 post(s)		I don't agree that you can term fossicking as mining. (Just my opinion...) Maybe, the locals won't look at the public fossicking area proposal in such a bad light. I don't know, I don't live in the Coro, so I don't really know how the locals view the issue. For me the main idea is to hit the river with my boys and play around with pans and stream sluices, without feeling like a criminal snooping around the river worrying about being noticed by locals or hikers and getting reported to EW. I know other members indicated that as long as you use hand tools, you'll be ok. But it's the feelings of being a criminal that I don't like. I mean, at the end of the day I'm not causing any damage to the environment. I enjoy other outdoor activities as well (bird watching and hiking) and are all for conservation. All I'd like to have is an area reasonably close that I can legally scratch in the river between summer south island trips.