G'day golddigger, I ahve found some fine flake gold in Gabriels Gully, when we were first starting off. If you dig up some of the matted willow roots and pan it you shoud get some colour pretty quick. The whole gully was filled up with tailings from sluicings, so I'm picking that the chances of finding anything large in the gully itself would be pretty slim.

Cheers

Hi NZgold

Thanks for the reply, seems like there is fine flakes at most of the fossicking zones, i havent really heard of anything bigger. they must have been cleaned out by the miners of old! But still i will have to take a trip in the summer to gabriels gully as its a nice area anyways.

Have you fossicked in any of the other zones??

many thanks,

Golddigger

HI golddigger, yes the gold usually found in most of the DOC fossicking areas is small flood gold, This is due to the fact that most of these areas (Of the ones I've been to anyway) have had tailings dumped in them from the old-timers' sluicing operations. Gabriel's gully is a classic example.

BUT, if you get on the bedrock, you still can get some nice chunky gold that's been either reconcentrated form all of the tailings travelling over the bedrock, or if you're lucky enough to find a patch that was missed by the oldtimers. A mask and snorkel works well in these types of areas, if the overburden is less than, say, 2 feet deep.

The arrow is a good spot for the mask and snorkel on a hot day. If you are on the bedrock, you've got the chance of getting something good. (Big) If you look for places where floods have changed the riverbed, check it out to find out how deep the bedrock is.

Cheers