Stony & Britannia Streams Gold Prospecting
Stony and Britannia are two rugged West Coast streams that drain the steep, gold-rich slopes of the Victoria Range. This is "proper" West Coast prospecting — deep in the bush, surrounded by lush ferns and the sound of crashing water. It's not for the faint-hearted, as the terrain is steep and the weather is unpredictable, but the gold quality is among the highest in the Reefton district.
Mission Profile
Discovery Metrics
Operational Gear
Stratigraphy & History
While Reefton was famous for its quartz reefs (and electric lights!), these streams provided the alluvial bread-and-butter for many miners. The Britannia Mine, higher up the hill, was a well-known quartz operation in the late 1800s. The gold in the streams actually erodes out of these quartz reefs. Interestingly, the area was also a site for "sustenance mining" during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when out-of-work men were paid by the government to prospect these very creeks.
Geological Context
The gold here is often found associated with "Maori Stones" (greenstone/pounamu) and heavy black magnetite sand. It is quartz-derived, meaning it is often bright yellow and high purity (95%+). Because the streams are so fast-moving, the gold tends to collect in "shotty" pockets on the downstream side of large boulders and in the deep cracks of the greywacke bedrock.
Field Note
PROSPECTOR NOTES
Verified Sector Secret
"The Britannia Stream has a hidden waterfall about 1.5km upstream. The pool at the base of that fall has been a gold trap for centuries — it's hard to reach, but worth the scramble."
Economic Potential
Historical yield data suggests unrecovered fines at depth. Optimal for small-scale suction or high-banking if permitted.