Nelson Creek, Greymouth, Grey District, West Coast Region, New Zealandi
| Regional Level Types | |
|---|---|
| Nelson Creek | Creek |
| Greymouth | - not defined - |
| Grey District | District |
| West Coast Region | Region |
| New Zealand | Country |
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
42° 24' 21'' South , 171° 31' 7'' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Type:
Köppen climate type:
Nearest Settlements:
| Place | Population | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Blackball | 321 (2011) | 9.4km |
| Dobson | 738 (2011) | 18.6km |
| Barrytown | 225 (2012) | 23.1km |
| Gloriavale Christian Church | 570 (2017) | 26.8km |
| Greymouth | 9,419 (2011) | 27.0km |
Nelson Creek is a popular public gold fossicking site, where traces of gold may be found.
To reach turn off State Highway 7, just east of Ngahere onto the Nelson Creek Road, and follow this to the Nelson Creek Settlement. The site contains a hotel, campground, old mining relics, gold mining tunnels, water races and diggings, a suspension bridge, childrens playground, kayaking, trout fishing, and several short walks through beech forest.
Gold fossicking can be undertaken without a permit with hand tools (panning), in Prices and Claughesy's creeks, which are beech shrouded gullies, leaving Nelson Creek eastwards from the campground. (Please see New Zealand Department of Mines website for the latest information).
The Nelson Creek area has been formed by layers of sandstone, overlain with glacial gravels, with gold found in trough-like hollows on the sandstone surface.
A rush occurred here in 1865, the Try Again Terrace yielding coarse shotty gold. Sluicing was undertaken, where material is washed down tail races containing riffle boxes to collect the gold. Some shallow shafts were also sunk to deeper gold bearing wash. At its height, there were 1200 miners on the field, however gold finds were patchy, and the site gradually declined until by 1900 the area contained only 26 miners.
The Nelson Creek Gold Dredging Company from Dunedin started in the area in 1900, to work the deeper saturated gravels. They also brought in a new dredge in 1905. Alfred Robert Edmonds was the dredge master. Later the Reefton based Pactolus Company dredged the Try Again Terrace with two dredges, distributing 66 875 pounds in dividends to shareholders (ten times the original capital invested) by the end of 1919.
Deep Lead Ltd from 1933 to 1937 mined west of the Nelson Creek township. Further activity was seen in the area in the 1990's with several floating recovery pits fed by hydraulic excavators.
Select Mineral List Type
Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical ElementsDetailed Mineral List:
| ⓘ Native Gold Formula: Au |
Gallery:
List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification
| Group 1 - Elements | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ⓘ | Native Gold | 1.AA.05 | Au |
List of minerals for each chemical element
| Au | Gold | |
|---|---|---|
| Au | ⓘ Native Gold | Au |
Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
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