To Dredge or not to Dredge ?

[steve62]

Hi Guys,

I'm brand new here so expect some dumb questions.

I am getting in to Dredging now and given that I live in W.A., options are limited. If you had a choice, anywhere in the World, where would you go ?

Is there such a place as Dredging Heaven ? I suppose if there was, it's probably already full and you wouldn't want new guys cramping your style anyway. However, any advice or suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thanks guys,

Steve. 

[RKC]

G'day steve62,

Great question!

If I was 20 years younger I would head to PNG to dredge! There are incredible things happening there now, in the small-scale mining field. And there is very little competition as just about all of the miners from Australia and New Zealand who have gone to PNG over the last 20 years did not last long before leaving the country and telling miners in their home countries exaggerated horror stories about their experiences there. In the last 10 years conditions have improved considerably in PNG with better communication and improved infrastructure. I was in PNG in the late 1980s and I wish now I had not let myself be beaten so easily, and had stayed on there. When I was there the Mt Kare rush was starting, just a few hundred klms away from where I was. But, I only learnt about the rush when I got back to Australia and read a magazine article about it. If the presently available communications, and infrastructure, was in place in PNG back then I would have learnt about it while there, and it might well have been enough to prompt me to stay.







There was a time when I thought New Zealand's South Island was the "Dredging Heaven" you are seeking. It certainly reads like it is. But ... there was a solid brick wall of bureaucracy between me and the gold in the rivers that I was not fully aware of until I came up against it.

There is a lot of gold dredging presently going on in Africa. But my guess is that it is far from a "Dredging Heaven".

There is considerable gold dredging going on in South America. Costa Rica seems to me the most prospective country in South America.

There is a lot of gold dredging going on in Asia. Indonesia in particular is highly prospective. And then there is the Philippines.

China is one of the biggest gold producing countries in the world which has a lot of bucket dredges presently working. And there are bucket dredges in Mongolia, but its not really a country to use diver-controlled eductor/suction dredges.

Then there is North America. There are still some remaining States in the USA where you can legally dredge. Alaska would be the most highly prospective State for production dredging if the regs were loosened up. Canada would have some highly prospective rivers but, like New Zealand, there is the brick wall of regulations stopping most dredging.

Then there are the Eastern States of Australia. Victoria still has a lot of rivers where dredging could be profitable. And there is NSW, along with Tasmania. But of all the eastern states, North Queensland would be the best, as it would be easier there to keep under the radar ( as quiet a few dredgers are successfully doing at present).

I've often wondered if there are suitable rivers for dredging in Tibet. But there would be the same problem as Mongolia with putting a diver in super cold rivers.

Regards,
Rob (RKC)

[RKC]

G'day,

Another country I've just thought of that has potential for eductor dredging for gold is the Solomon Islands.

Regards,
Rob (RKC)

[steve62]

Hi Rob,

Thank you for the comprehensive round-up of the World's hot spots. 20 years younger and you'd be dangerous, going like a bull at a gate, so what we all really need is today's wisdom and experience but in a much younger body. That reminds me of an old timer who Dredges down the Valley from me. He throws around a 6 all day long and he's 86 years old. Says he'll just keep on going until one day he'll probably drown in the River. The old bugger is as tough as nails. There is also another old boy who gets around in a 6 x 6 Polaris Ranger. He's got a driver for it who drives him around and his sons do the Dredging for him. When we asked him how much longer before he gives it away he tells us that while he can still talk and point, he can still get Gold.

Anyway, PNG you reckon ? I did take note of some of the previous Posts about PNG and as you rightly pointed out, these things are generally reserved for Citizens of the respective Country, as it is with a lot of other places. This of course is understandable and obviously they don't want us exploiting their Natural Resources as they often put it. Unfortunately, Over-Regulation and impossible-to-comply-with Restrictions drives us either out of the game or out of our own Country to seek greener pastures Overseas.

And as I was just working my way through your List of exotic and faraway places I couldn't help but think about what I would prefer to deal with - A Croc or a Grizzly ? Jungle Humidity or Freezing Cold ? Malaria or Yellow Fever ? Being shot or slashed with a Bush Knife ? All of a sudden my own quiet little piece of back yard isn't looking as boring as I used to think. Anyway, I would be most interested in hearing about some of the more wilder adventures some of the Members may have experienced over the years. 

Great pictures Rob. I assume they were taken when you were up there in the late 80's ? 

Cheers,

Steve.                            

[oro e lavoro]

wonder if enybody prospected south georgia island near the south pole

[steve62]

I'm not sure Oro. Sounds interesting though. How does the Geology of the place look ?

[RKC]

G'day steve62,

The two top photos were taken by me in the late 1980s when I visited Simbai in PNG. The other photo was taken by an Australian miner who dredged in the PNG highlands just a short time after I was in PNG. He, at least, managed to get some dredges in the water before having to leave the country.

Regards,
Rob (RKC)

[oro e lavoro]

Jul 6, 2016 1:41:54 GMT 12 steve62 said:

I'm not sure Oro. Sounds interesting though. How does the Geology of the place look ?

hi steve,late reply,i was on a dredge trip,have no internet there.Didn,t study the geology there,just saw some pics with mountains.

[goldkiwi]

Jul 2, 2016 16:13:24 GMT 12 steve62 said:

Hi Guys,

I'm brand new here so expect some dumb questions.

I am getting in to Dredging now and given that I live in W.A., options are limited. If you had a choice, anywhere in the World, where would you go ?

Is there such a place as Dredging Heaven ? I suppose if there was, it's probably already full and you wouldn't want new guys cramping your style anyway. However, any advice or suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thanks guys,

Steve. 

Steve62, Whats wrong with your own back door to go dredging. WA has one of the most prolific bands of gold resources in the world and there are many rivers cutting through these gold belts.
A few years back, I like many others had a guts full of the anti mining brigade and regulations here in NZ and researched WA as this to me was one of the few places that had not been targeted by dredgers due to its remoteness and huge area. I had been to several other countries chasing dredging and they all had their own problems and some down right scary but the main one being in another country far away from home and family and friends.

One of my mates was working in one of the huge gold mines near Port Headland in WA and he was talking with the locals about where to go gold mining and dredging. He mentioned a one man operation with a 5 ton excavator and small screening plant who found a quartz reef on the surface and worked his way along the reef down to a few metres deep.
He was recovering A$200,000/month. I have seen the photos of this small plant and in the background there are huge abandoned open cast mine pits but there was plenty of water for screening.

From the information my mate supplied, the Ashburton River in the Pilbarra looked a promising river for dredging. On Google earth you can see the open cast gold mining operations in this area. Follow the Ashburton River on Google and you will see there are miles of river suitable for dredging. Is there payable gold there? I never got to find out and past it now.
Main problem with WA is the massive size of the country but do your homework and highlight the known gold rush areas. You might need to put some time and miles in but that's gold mining eh.

If you ever get to the Ashburton River let me know how you got on.

Cheers

Do the research and look for the larger gold rushes where rivers have cut through those areas.

[eoinc]

Jul 27, 2016 11:30:57 GMT 12 goldkiwi said:

Jul 2, 2016 16:13:24 GMT 12 steve62 said:

From the information my mate supplied, the Ashburton River in the Pilbarra looked a promising river for dredging. On Google earth you can see the open cast gold mining operations in this area. Follow the Ashburton River on Google and you will see there are miles of river suitable for dredging. Is there payable gold there? I never got to find out and past it now.
Main problem with WA is the massive size of the country but do your homework and highlight the known gold rush areas. You might need to put some time and miles in but that's gold mining eh.

If you ever get to the Ashburton River let me know how you got on.

Cheers

Do the research and look for the larger gold rushes where rivers have cut through those areas.

A bit late to the party, but I first went gold-mining in the Ashburton River area in 1983. We were working an alluvial lease called Secret Creek (or Soldier's Secret / Middle Camp), on a creek system on Ashburton Downs, which feeds into the Ashburton River. We were digging mainly old creek beds, and running the ore through a 30T / hr wet shaking-jig plant. This was generally very fine gold, and our cut-off was 0.5g / ton.
Most of the Ashburton River is dry for most of the year, with seasonal flooding, returning to dry (apart from waterholes) within a couple of weeks of a big rain. It's really only a river, albeit an impressive one, because of the huge catchment area.

Cheers,
Eoin