Sgt Collin said Low had been employed by Southern Earthworks at the Earnscleugh mine as a fuel tanker driver. Sometime after he started there, he had taken some sand that had been partially processed and was ready for the gold to be extracted.
He initially told police the sand was from a riverbed near Cromwell but then admitted "taking a couple of handfuls" of the sand from the goldmine.
"Located in his home address was a plastic lunchbox with about 1.2kg of gold-bearing black sand. Gold is clearly visible in the sand."
Low had tied to separate the gold in his laundry tub, using a goldpan, but claimed he was unable to separate it out, Sgt Collin said. He said he had only taken sand on one occasion.
His friend's mother was the victim of the jewellery theft. Gold and silver jewellery had been sold to a dealer by the defendant. Diamonds and amethysts had been cut from rings and those stones had not been recovered.
Tools from a stolen socket set had "shown up" in his garage, but he did not how, Low told the police.
The defendant had lost his job at the goldmine, a role that earned him $900 a week, Mr Tohill said. The defendant had "moved away" from using synthetic cannabis and had prospects of gaining seasonal work.
