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Post by RKC on Jun 1, 2010 11:38:28 GMT 12
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Post by whitworthone on Jun 2, 2010 21:36:07 GMT 12
Is there much Gold in the river there?
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Post by RKC on Jun 4, 2010 16:21:37 GMT 12
G'day whitworthone, All the indications are that the Maruia River could be highly auriferous! There are numerous feeder streams that flow into the Maruia River that were worked for gold during the early gold rushes ... with some very rich. In fact the whole valley that the Maruia Rivers flows through has a history of gold workings, from alluvial, to some small hard rock mines in the tops of the mountains each side of the valley. There was rich gold bearing quartz taken out even as recently as the 1980s ... or it could have been the 1990s, when a load of quartz was crushed in the stamper battery at Reefton to produce about 10 ounces of gold. There is also a remnant lag deposit of auriferous wash in the valley that was said by the finders to be one of the richest alluvial gold shows every found in New Zealand (it has not been mined however as its covered by native trees which DoC have chosen to protect). Also, I was once told that there are old river bank gold workings with stacked stones, each side of the Muruia River at a spot where it goes inland away from the road (upstream from the claim in question). While all the indications are there to suggest it would be a good dredging proposition it would nevertheless require as a next stage, to be thoroughly prospected. And to do a proper job of prospecting, so it can be proved-up beyond any doubt, the prospecting would need to be done with a dredge no smaller than 6-inch, and numerous sample holes would have to be sunk from the upper boundaries of the claim (Mining Permit) to the rivers junction with the Buller river. And as its a long claim it would be a major undertaking as sample holes would need to be sunk, randomly at least every 20 or 30 meters. The most difficult and involved stage of any serious commercial-scale dredging project is the sampling and 'proving-up' of a deposit. In the sampling stage not only is gold needed to be shown to be in payable quantities but it needs to be determined where the pay-streaks are likely to be found and it has to be determined what would be the most suitable size and type of dredge to use for efficient expeditious viable mining. And a sampling program, carried out by experienced operators, can discover any potential mining problems such as the gold being difficult to recover (by being all fine gold or being flaky gold). And there would be numerous other aspects of dredging the claim that a sampling operation would make apparent prior to production dredging. Actually the sampling stage is the most difficult stage of dredging with the production dredging stage relatively simple as long as the sampling stage was carried out correctly and carried out by experienced operators. The sampling stage may or may not produce enough gold to cover the expenses of sampling. But it could just as easily produce enough gold to fully self finance the production dredging stage and purchase of equipment. The production dredging stage that follows sampling must obviously be payable. And after a sampling stage that was suitably carried out it would be a certainty before commencing, that production dredging would be payable. All that this claim on the Maruia needs is a sampling program carried out by experienced miners. And if it was proved to be a payable proposition then the logical thing to do next would be to apply for Resource Consents that would allow the use of a 10-inch production dredge (or maybe more than one 10-inch dredge). Its a big river in its lower reaches where the claim is located and a 10-inch production would well suit it, and a 10-inch could be easily moved about on this large river by being floated from one spot to another (the only obstruction is the Maruia falls www.panoramio.com/photo/3012094 which would have to be by-passed). Or simply a 8-inch could be utilized, as the consents are already there permitting the use of an 8-inch production dredge. Production dredging could immediately commence as soon as the sampling stage is complete on this particular claim without any bureaucratic delays. A sampling stage is always essential in my opinion. But there will always be some miners who would just decide to skip the sampling and go right into production dredging. And this could well work ... as long as the gold is there and they have deep pockets if anything should go wrong, or in the unlikely event that the gold is not there in sufficient amounts. Regardless of any of the above, the problem that presents itself these days to anyone considering carrying out any commercial scale dredging project is getting 'suitable' men to do the actual work. These days there are not suitable men available and that is why the gold that's sitting in the Maruia presently will most likely still be there in another 20 or 30 or 40 years time. Regards, Rob (RKC) |
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Post by GeoffS on Jun 6, 2010 11:57:13 GMT 12
While the pictured License shows Lance Stephen Vincent as the holder -Crown Minerals site shows Vaughan Griffiths and Vincent Rietveld as both the original applicants and the current licenceees. Does anybody have a phone number or email address for either of these two ?
I might be interested in this but I am not about to put up $K24 or more without a lot more information than can be obtained from Q&A.
I have already tried whitepages for the ChCh area but neither of the 2 V Griffiths turned up any leads and there are a surprising number of Rietvelds in the area.
Geoff S.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jun 7, 2010 9:35:48 GMT 12
Locals would have local knowledge.
The owner is on this site
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