Mine For Gold – Online Gold Mining Information And Gold Mining Equipment

Finding Rings In The South

June 24, 2014 by Prospector

Not Lord of the Rings, but definitely Master of Finding Lost Rings.

A ring finding SOS went out to the Mine For Gold ring finding team in the south of NZ and the result …

Having driven for over an hour on a frosty sunny morning through the heart of the Waimea plains, I finally arrived at the home of a woman who had lost two rings while weeding around a tree on her property.

After a warm welcome and a few details about the rings I throw on the gummies and grabbed my Goldbug, knife and spade and we made our way to the tree.

I could see straight away that she had spent a lot of time searching and digging. I moved all the loose dirt into one pile and waved detector over it. Nothing there.

A couple of swings 30cm away from tree and BINGO! solid signal, about 150 mm down first ring, a silver celtic ring, couple swings later and BINGO! the white gold ring only a couple of inches from the first ring.

Picture of rings found with metal detector

Another happy lost ring customer thanks to Coren.

The Mine For Gold ring finder was called to help find a lost ring at the beach. Always keen for a new challenge it was a case of packing up the metal detectors and heading to the location of the lost ring at a time when the tide was favourable.

After several hours of walking up and down the beach in the area indicated there was no sign of the missing ring.

There was a slight interruption during the search when a damsel in distress approached about finding her lost car keys. Unfortunately she thinks she lost them at the edge of the water about 30 minutes earlier, and having a plastic tiki key ring, and incoming tide, they could have ended up anywhere and were not found.

Forced to call it a day when darkness descended upon the beach we had to report back that the lost ring was still lost. However, after talking to the person who actually lost the ring it appears we may have been slightly out in our search area, so another day might turn up the lost ring in question.

Was the day a total loss? Not exactly.

I was able to open the car door of the girl who lost keys, and she had a spare key in the car.

I found $3.90 of lost coins.

And, it turns out, that at least 4 other people had lost their wedding rings on the beach – which I did find. So not the result we were hoping for, but still a successful ring finding day.

Lost Wedding Rings

If you are the owner of one of these lost rings please contact us

Ring Finder Success Story

January 4, 2014 by Nugget

Another Mine For Gold Ring Finder success story.

A damsal in distress lost her ring on the lawn while putting her son in the car. Despite many hours on their hands and knees scouring the area nothing showed up.

Local ring finder Al came to the rescue. Despite a wild Wellington weather day and an area littered with false targets he persisted. In this case persistance equalled reward. The shiney gold engagement ring eventually popped out of the undergrowth making one damsal a very happy girl.

Our knight in shining armour packed up his metal detector and rode off into the rain – ring found, job done!

See if you can spot the ring he uncovered with some skilled detecting work…

Lost Ring Found

What Is A Sluice Box – Gold Mining Equipment

November 3, 2011 by Nugget

If you are new to prospecting for gold you may be wondering what is a sluice box? Seasoned gold miners use terms like sluice box all the time but not everyone knows what a sluice box is and how it works.

Let us look at what a sluice box is.
Basically, the sluice box mimics a river bed. It acts like a river bed in that it washes gravel down stream. Because gold is extremely dense (heavy for its size) it always works its way down through all the other rocks to the bottom of the stream. Then it will work its way down into any tiny cracks and crevices in the stream floor. In a sluice box these man made crevices, or riffles as they called in a sluice, trap the gold so it can be recovered by the prospector.

Building a sluice box:

Building a sluice box is something that gold miners have done for many years. In the early days sluice boxes were built bigger and bigger as gold mining methods became more aggressive. It was not uncommon for entire creeks to be run through a sluice box for gold extraction. In some cases they would dam a river to run big water guns that washed the sides of valleys down into the river and through a large sluice box.

For a weekend prospector building a sluice box it is usually on a slightly different scale. The home handyman can build a wooden sluicebox complete with wooden riffles and take it out to a river and successfully mine for gold.

The issues with wooden sluice boxes are that they are heavy which doesn’t make them conducive to carrying far. They are also not as durable as other materials. And while they do recover gold, their riffles are not as efficient at capturing the fine gold.

For a more portable sluice box it would be wise to make a sluice box out of aluminium (aluminum for the American readers). Building a sluice box out of metal if you are able, or buying a ready made one, will allow you to use a better riffle system. Generally, the metal sluice boxes are easier to assemble and clean than a wooden system as well.

For the most portable sluice box, and most effective riffle design, you can not beat a plastic sluice box. The drop riffle design found in some plastic sluices have a much lower water turbulence factor which means more of the fine gold is trapped in the riffles. Being plastic they are also much lighter. But probably the biggest advantage, especially to a person new to operating sluice boxes, is that they are one piece. There are no riffles to try and insert correctly in the set up, and there is no miners moss (or carpet) needed under the riffles to try and trap the fine gold. Cleaning out the miners moss from the traditional sluice box is often where a lot of gold is accidentally lost.

If you are making plans to build a sluice box, or to try sluicing in a river near you, then I wish you all the best. There is nothing quite as exciting as cleaning out your sluice box for the first time to find gold glistening in the bottom of your pan. Visit our online sluice box shop to begin your adventure today.

Mine For Gold – New Zealand’s Number One Gold Mining Website

October 3, 2011 by Nugget

Mine For Gold, the website, was set up to provide the best information and gold mining equipment from around the world direct to you. While there are a few other sites selling gold mining supplies we found that there was room in the New Zealand and Australian market place for a site that specializes in quality equipment.

One of the problems that a person shopping for gold mining equipment faces is knowing what works and doesn’t. What tools live up to their hype and which ones are fools gold. Without buying them all and testing them for yourself there is no real way to know – until now! We at Mine For Gold only sell you the products that we ourselves personally endorse. They are proven to perform in the field and where possible we supply the ones that have the best manufacturers guarantee. We give you our word that any product not found to be living up to our own high expectations will not be endorsed on this website.

We do not have the lofty goal of being New Zealand’s number one gold mining website without understanding the responsibility that places upon us to deliver. Having secured exclusive distribution rights for many of the top gold mining supplies to both New Zealand and Australia we believe we are well on the way to giving you the best possible gold mining tools shopping experience.

Gold mining is once again becoming a popular pastime for both young and old alike. It is one of the few sports that can accommodate the whole family at the same time, and it does not cost a fortune. In fact, it is a hobby that can more than pay for itself. Even young children can begin their own gold empire with supervision and instruction. Getting your children involved early will inspire them to become entrepreneurs in their own right, and it is certainly more healthy than video games. We have a good range of junior products that will make their experience that much easier.

Alternatively, if your family is a little older, you may opt to work together and greatly increase the amount of material you can process in a day. One of our Highbanker Sluice Boxes, or perhaps even a Trommel, would be the way to go in this instance. These machines have been proven time and again to return high yields when situated in gold bearing country. And with the aid of The Gold Lab and its amazing ability to recover high levels of even the finest gold, more profit per shovelful is possible.

Whatever your gold supplies needs are, if we haven’t got them, we can source them. With contacts all over the world, and regular orders coming in all the time, we can supply almost anything. Use the Contact Us feature to make any special requests.

You can trust New Zealand’s number one gold mining website – we deliver.

How To Make Money Without A Job

October 1, 2011 by Nugget

Gold prospecting has long been a favorite past-time for people looking to make an extra few dollars. In The Great Depression gold prospecting was more than a hobby, it was how many man made a living. When there was little or no government support for out of work workers a person had to work to eat. When there were no jobs to be found, gold was literally a way to print money.

Today, gold mining is still a way to make money without a job. With the barest minimum of equipment it is possible to head into the hills and come home rich. You can increase your odds by learning how to find gold and equipping yourself with the right gold mining tools, but there is still nothing to stop you grabbing a gold pan and trying your luck.

Do not make the mistake of believing that gold prospecting is easy money. It is not. Although, gold mining today is a much easier task than it was when many men were driven into the gold fields last century. Today, most prospectors can sleep in the comfort of their own bed, or a hotel bed, at nights. Even if they choose to sleep in a tent, they have many of the comforts of home plus the added safety of GPS units and Cell phones in case of emergency.

Gold prospecting equipment is also much more advanced today. There are metal detectors, plastic sluice boxes, and portable pumps that can all increase the efficiency of the gold mining operation. Gold recovery is much more efficient too. The tools used by the old timers were not set up to capture the fine gold efficiently, and even much of the heavier gold managed to escape them.

All the advantages of the modern gold miner do not guarantee great riches, but it is possible to make money without a job, which is good if you don’t have a job. It also means that you can work when you want to, and not have to work when you are told to. How many of us would rather fire our boss and set out on an outdoor adventure than turn up to our boring jobs day after day?

At almost $2000 US dollars an ounce, it doesn’t take too much gold to replace the income from an average job. And there is always that small possibility that you might find that big nugget that will set you up for life. It is potential of great reward that spurs many prospectors on, just as it is why the lottery and casinos are so popular.

Most people have the dream of making money without a job – the successful gold prospector lives that dream.