New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

Hey Guys! I have been heading over to the thames and coro and have been doing a little scouting for a gold bearing river. I have yet to see that lovely colour in my pan yet. I have done some research but I keep coming up dry. And I've got the gold bug bad. I have a few rivers that I have tried but if anyone is willing to help me out with a better spot it would be much appreciated. I live in Auckland so I only go out about 1 a month for 3-4 hours (depending on the misses...). Just give me a PM if you can help out. cheers

Also, I have included some pics of the spot that I went to yesterday. There where two gravel bars catercorner with the stream running diagonally through it. on the left side there is a deep fast flow and on the right the bottom gravel bar. Where on this local is the best spot to dig? I know that this is supposed to be a gold bearing stream but maybe I am just not digging in the right spot. any help would be much appreciated.



~Goldnut

Edited by user 14 years ago  | Reason: Not specified

Hi Goldnut-First thing I would do is pull up the grass in pic 6,carefully wash it roots and all in your pan and then see if you have any flood gold when you pan it out.
If you do get some flecks go for the inside bend beaches and dig as far down as you need to get to bedrock.Thats where the heavier stuff will be.

Best of luck and let us know how you get on.

I'm sure JW can offer some local advice!

I Can't be 100% from the pics but it looks like you are in a rather deep (to the bedrock) part of the river. The majority of the gold will be on the bedrock. If you have a look at some of JW's coromandel stuff, he is cleaning up shallow bedrock in small streams. Go upstream and try to find a shallower spot. Cheers

Goldnut I spent a bit of time metal detecting at Waitekauri (after asking the farmer for permission[img]null[/img][img]null[/img]) and thought I would try panning expecting nothing. First 3 pans and I got two pickers both less than 0.1 of a gram I couldn't believe it, I was expecting 1 or 2 specs at most. But I've never found any more since and tried up and down the stream that runs in to the river at the bridge that crosses at Waitekauri. I panned a few potholes about 100m up from the bridge. I went up both forks about 1 to 2 kms and sampled and found nothing. My guess is that the gold is in the banks of the river deposits from ancient floods that now form the lower paddocks of the farm and just occasionally the river washes out a few flacks.
Has anyone else found gold at Waitekauri?

Another spot I tried was at Waiomu, up the Waiomu Valley Rd there is a bush walk, after crossing a ford the path takes you to an old gold processing plant near where the path crosses the stream. The little stream that flows in to the river next to the plant site from the hills is Parakeet Creek. After walking up Parakeet Creek I found one very small speck of gold, but think that with better gear and better reading of the stream, to find the best spots to work, I could have got a few more specks.

Gidday CZNZ

If that photo is of your Waitekauri gold, I am impressed.

The first couple of hundred metres of Paroquet Stream are well filled with loose overburden and are best bypassed. If you go up a track leading from the back of the old stamper battery site, you can walk just above the stream for several hundred metres before dropping down into the stream. There are good areas of bedrock up there. If you use a sucker, you should do better than one speck.