The Roxburgh couple, together with Bill James, also of Roxburgh, set up a gold-panning tourism venture a year ago and are already expanding the business.
Based at the Edgecumbes' Roxburgh East home, the venture uses gravel from the property.
The Edgecumbes have a 15-year mining right for 2.54ha of land and are permitted to use only hand-mining and extraction methods.
They teach people the art of panning for gold and have had 200 customers in the first year of operation.
"It's been great showing people from all over New Zealand and all around the world how to pan, and to see them get excited about gold mining," Mr Edgecumbe said.
"You see the look in their eyes change straight away as soon as they see the colour come up in their pans," Mr James said.
The eldest client was aged 92 and the youngest one was 3.
"Everyone seems to pick it up quite easily and the ridges in the pan help keep the gold-bearing iron sand in," Mr Edgecumbe said.
"One of the clients was a Frenchman and once he saw the gold, there was no language barrier at all."
Clients get a quick lesson on the gold-mining history of the area and view early photographs of dredges and of Teviot town, which was right beside the Edgecumbe home.
The original town was found to be on high yield, gold-bearing soil so the homes and shops were shifted to the west bank of the Clutha River and renamed Roxburgh.
The site of the old town was then sluiced, leaving a 25m cliff next to the Edgecumbe property.
Dredges - paddle wheel and later steam-powered - were used to recover deep riverbed deposits and by 1900 there were 52 dredges working in the Teviot region, Mr Edgecumbe said.
He enjoys getting more people "addicted" to gold panning and said the mining venture was seasonal, with most clients booking in between October and April.
Everyone leaves with a small vial containing the specks of gold they have panned. Two jobs have been created by the business so far and he hopes, eventually, to employ up to six.
"We did a year of research before starting up. For that year, we practised without charging people and found out what sort of equipment we needed and what service people expected.
"Along the way, we learnt a lot. For example, some people from overseas were reluctant to put their hands into the tubs when the water was dirty, after you'd been panning, because to them dirty water was polluted water."
The next stage of the business will cater for more experienced gold panners - "freedom panners".
They pay to spend a couple of hours on site and take home whatever gold they extract.
