Some nuggets Mal Blown found while dredging in Central Otago Photo: Supplied
New Zealand could be on the cusp of an amateur gold rush, with the price of gold increasing by 65 percent in the past year, to more than $7000 an ounce.
There are more than a dozen public fossicking sites, which are places where you do not need a permit and can prospect for gold using handheld tools.
Mal Blown is one of the amateur gold hunters who has jumped into searching, and is now running a Facebook page and YouTube channel dedicated to the craft - Mal's Gold Adventures.
Blown is now giving up his day job to pursue gold hunting professionally.
"With gold at record prices, it's definitely a good time to get amongst it for sure."
Mal Blown Photo: Supplied
He told Checkpoint he decided to give up his day job as a builder for a chance to "hit it big".
"The building is getting just a bit slow at the moment, and it's a lifestyle change as well. It's nice to be out in the beautiful outdoors in New Zealand and get on a bit of gold."
He said he was confident that it was possible to make a living of gold hunting, given the current price of gold was "crazy".
"Only a couple of years ago, it was only like $80 a gram. If a normal daily prospector with a pan and a sluice can do average of about a gram a day that would only be like $80 a day, but now it's like $235 a gram.
"If you did that four days a week, that's almost $1000 worth of gold you could get."
Blown said he believed more and more people were turning to gold mining, particularly given the cost of living crisis.
"People who are retired or on the sickness benefit or unemployed, or just want to do something else for lifestyle change, it's definitely looking as a bit of an option.
"Gold is one of those elusive things, it's a tier one asset, so you can really sell it if you need to, or marketplace or exchange it as well."
For beginners looking to get into gold mining, Blown said there were a number of options.
"You can use gold pan, you can set up a little sluice and just use a shovel, you can do metal detector, you can do mask and snorkel.
"As long as you've got the willpower to keep shovelling, yeah, you can get some reasonable results. Just depends how keen you are and whether you're at a good spot or not, you can do okay."
Mal's kit for gold prospecting. Photo: Supplied
For hunters wanting to go a step further, there is a tool called a suction dredge, which Blown said cut down on the shovelling due to its motor.
He said it was when using this tool that he had one of his most successful days.
"I think we got like 11 or 12 grammes, which is like 1/3 of an ounce. So that might be like $2000 worth of gold in a day."
But he warned that the pastime came with its drawbacks.
"The gold fever is extremely addictive and the more you get on the gold, the more you want to dig."
For most gold hunters, there was also the matter of territory.
"Some people are a bit smoke and mirrors about where they are and what they're doing, and especially if you've got your own claim you'll be very protective about making sure no one comes onto your claim and takes all the gold from your place."
But Blown encouraged all curious beginners to jump in and give it a go.
"But it's a really great pastime as well, you get to go to the beautiful outdoors and the rivers."
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