Lyell Creek Gold Fossicking Area: Fossicking in Buller District, West Coast
- Mineral reported
- 1
Lyell Creek Gold Fossicking Area is a mapped fossicking spot in Buller District, West Coast, New Zealand. Reported finds include gold. Below: coordinates, access notes, and nearby spots.
About Lyell Creek Gold Fossicking Area
Lyell Creek runs past the site of Lyell, a gold-rush town in the Upper Buller Gorge whose townsite is now a large grassed DOC campsite on State Highway 6, 15 km northeast of Inangahua. Part of the creek is a designated gold fossicking area where panning and sluice boxing with hand-held, non-motorised tools need no permit; alluvial gold is present, though concentrations are low. Walking tracks from the campsite reach old gold workings at the Gibbstown settlement (about 2 hours return) and the Alpine Battery site. Sandflies and summer wasps are plentiful in the gorge.
Plan your visit
Generally open to casual fossicking
- Area
- Buller District
- Region
- West Coast
- Nearest road
- State Highway 6
- Coordinates
- -41.79700, 172.04900
Coordinates are approximate. Confirm the exact ground and access before you head out.
Land & fossicking status
Generally open to casual fossicking
Public-tagged New Zealand spots are usually designated public gold fossicking areas under the Crown Minerals Act or beaches where casual collecting of loose stones is accepted. Hand tools only, and check local conditions before you dig.
Stay inside public fossicking areas for gold panning, use hand tools only, and treat DOC reserves and national parks as closed to collecting. Pounamu (greenstone) in the South Island is owned by Ngai Tahu, and collecting it is prohibited apart from a limited beach find you can carry out by hand in one trip.
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Nearby fossicking spots
Other fossicking spots in New Zealand within driving distance of Lyell Creek Gold Fossicking Area.
- Stony and Britannia Streams Gold Fossicking AreaBuller District, West Coast · 22 km awayGold
- Slab Hut Creek Gold Fossicking AreaBuller District, West Coast · 45 km awayGold
- New Creek Gold Fossicking AreaTasman District, Tasman · 50 km awayGold
- Louis Creek Gold Fossicking AreaTasman District, Tasman · 51 km awayGold
- Moonlight Creek Gold Fossicking AreaGrey District, West Coast · 74 km awayGold
- Nelson Creek Gold Fossicking AreaGrey District, West Coast · 81 km awayGold
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