The former of these, “The Sandhills Dredge”, was designed and put into operation in 1889–90 by RC Jones who later became one of the founders of the firm Turnbull and Jones. The first successful gold dredge was commissioned through the vision and perseverance of Sew Hoy of Sew Hoy Big Beach Mining Company and was built by Kincaid and McQueen, Dunedin.īoth the first electric dredge and the first to be electrically-operated from a three-phase alternating current supply were built and operated in New Zealand. Important changes however, have been the introduction of steam dredges about 1882, and electric dredges in 1890, and the accidental but very profitable discovery at the very end of the century, that often there were rich gold-bearing deposits concealed beneath a hard layer which was apparently the bottom of the river bed. Five years later the bucket type of dredge was introduced, and this, in various forms, has been used ever since. The earliest “spoon-dredges” were employed in 1863 and for a time they won a considerable amount of gold with very simple appliances.

By means of dredges, wash-dirt was obtained from the beds of large rivers.

How does a 2 gold dredge work