Naseby Gold

Naseby, Central Otago, New Zealand

• Phone: 64-3-4449292
• Web site: http://www.nasebygold.co.nz/
• Length of Vacation:  Chosen by customer, a few days to few weeks
• Cost: $150US/per day – Includes: pick up/drop off from their airport & dredge (contact for details)
• Open: September through to mid April, after April is starting to get quite cold for dredging and before September things are starting to warm up.
• Type of Prospecting/Tours: Gold – They do to all types of gold mining from dredging, hand sluicing, panning, and they also do four-wheel-drive touring if the weather turns a bit sad or if the customer would like to do some of this. There are a lot of areas around where they live in New Zealand of historical value in the way of gold mining.
• Equipment: Dredge provided
• Instruction: Site does not say; I would easily guess that it will be provided
• Lodging: In the house of Allan & Denise, everything is provided and catered for; washing clothes, food, etc.
• Meals: Included in cost

From their web site:

In the southern part of the South island of New Zealand is an area called ‘Central Otago’. Within this area is a township called ‘Naseby’and this is where My wife and I have made our present home. The house is set out on to two acres of lawns and gardens and the backdrop is the Naseby forest which was started after the mining finished in the area. Here in Naseby we are surrounded by a lot of New Zealands mining history. Quite a few of the local rivers have gold in them, as is evident from when you start by taking 2 or 3 pans of gravels from them. The old miners were pretty thorough and did not leave too much for those coming behind so this prompted me in to making my first dredge, as I found that to work with a shovel into a pan or hand sluice was quite hard work – and slow. I made the decision to build my first dredge and finding this a good way to do my mining stepped up to a Keene 5″ Triple dedge. This unit came with a compressor enabling work under water and then a couple of years ago i once again revamped up to a Keene twin 9hp 6″ dredge.

I had decided in 2001 to retire from my 36 years of commercial fishing and along with my wife – Denise – start gold mining/dredging/touring holidays here in Naseby.We like to cater for all that have an interest in finding or learning how to find some of the precious yellow metal that has attracted people throughout centuries past. Special welcome is given to interested fossikers/miners from abroad, that do during their winter, start suffering from the old ‘cabin fever syndrome’. For $US150 a day we will pick up/drop off from our local airports – Dunedin or Queenstown – supply a gold dredge to work or buddy work with me on the one dredge -then – If the rivers are affected by rain and they cannot be worked successfully – a bit of 4WD touring around our gold fields or tourist spots, of which there are plenty, would be in order. If you have a detector that you might like to bring with you, there is always the chance of maybe finding some small pieces lost or missed by the old miners. After a “hard’ day in the river we invite you to join us in a bit of Kiwi hospitality, a local Central Otago wine, or the old Otago favourite ‘Speights’ beer, followed by some of our ‘gastronomic delights’ conjured up on the barby. Accommodation is with us in our house and we will go out way to ensure that your stay is both memorable and enjoyable.