50 gram limit!!?? NSW

What the?

I just renewed my NSW fossicking licence and was reading the conditions. A couple of things stuck out -

7. The holder must not in the course of fossicking:
7.1. Excavate in any way except as outlined in clause 6.1.
7.2. Undercut or damage the bank of any watercourse
7.3. Interfere with the flow of water in any watercourse
7.4. Cause pollution of any watercourse
7.5. Cause significant turbidity in any watercourse
7.6. Use any explosives or equipment or machinery operated by mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic or electrical power for
digging purposes
7.7. Disturb more than one cubic metre of material during any period of 48 hours
7.8. Damage or remove bush rock (not being a mineral)
7.9. Enter any quarries or gravel pits
7.10. Remove in any 48 hour period more than:
7.10.1. 5 kilograms of minerals (other than gold or gemstones);
7.10.2. 50 grams of gold (or 5 nuggets of 10 grams or greater);
7.10.3. 5 nuggets of gold of 10 gms or greater;
7.10.4. 100 grams of gemstones; or
7.10.5. 10 kg of mineral-bearing material (other than above).


7.6 So I take it that as a highbanker is not used for digging, then it's ok to use one now?

7.10.2 What if I pan or detect a 2 ounce nugget? Do I throw it back in the water?

Baz.

7.3. Interfere with the flow of water in any watercourse

that would rule out a river sluice

7.10.3. 5 nuggets of gold of 10 gms or greater;
So Sandbagger, you could find 5 2oz nuggets but if you found 6 you'd have to leave one there and retrieve it another day

madtuna said:

7.3. Interfere with the flow of water in any watercourse

that would rule out a river sluice

7.10.3. 5 nuggets of gold of 10 gms or greater;
So Sandbagger, you could find 5 2oz nuggets but if you found 6 you'd have to leave one there and retrieve it another day

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That's just silly isn't it?

Not as silly as the idiot who came up with it knowing full well there's probably not a human on the planet who would comply if they found themselves in that position

You just need to camp if you find more than 50 grams

I would just take it home..Inspectors on the field are as rare as winning the lotto.

7.10.2. 50 grams of gold (or 5 nuggets of 10 grams or greater);

This line reads that you can pick up 5 nuggets weighing over 10 grams, I can see this getting reworded, this effectively overrides the 50 gram limit.
A person could find 5x 10kg nuggets in one 48hr period. erfect:

Don't get hung up on it.
Go out & enjoy yourself. You find what you find - nobody needs to know what/how much etc.
I've never been asked to produce my nuggets for inspection

If any ranger ever asked to see my gold i would only show them all the trash in my pouch and tell them how good of a job we do cleaning the bush up, we will be locked out of the bush long before rangers have the right to search your pockets.

mbasko said:

Don't get hung up on it.
Go out & enjoy yourself. You find what you find - nobody needs to know what/how much etc.
I've never been asked to produce my nuggets for inspection

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They can look at my nuggets if they are that way inclined, but NO touching.

A question. Are the rangers allowed to body search or search the vehicle?

How do these rules and regulations get published as they are so open to misinterpretation, are they even proofed?

Has anyone questioned these rules?

Pretty slack in my opinion. They also could be damaging to some innocent trying to do the right thing.

Doesn't worry me as I will never find 50 grams 8.(

aussiefarmer said:

You just need to camp if you find more than 50 grams

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Do you mean camp or decamp lol?

This is like fishing where you have size and quantity limits. Mind you, with the declining fish stocks this is good.

7.6. Use any explosives or equipment or machinery operated by mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic or electrical power for
digging purposes.

This only mentions for diggingy purposes ..is there any mention of restrictions in regards to prossesing dirts ?

7.3 Interfere with the flow of water in any watercourse
And
7.5. Cause significant turbidity in any watercourse
Both these would make it had to use a river sluice ..

Similar in as S.A. in one way. Here's it's not called prospecting, but fossicking. The simple rule here is, if you find gold, you can keep it for its intrinsic value. However, you can't sell it as it's still owned by the "Crown"

Ridiculous, I detect in VIC, have miners rights, who in there wildest dreams wouldn't just go over the border and sell it there. Once it's melted down and refined gold is gold.

If you found over 50gr in 48 hours in N.S.W., I'd like to meet the inspector that will be hovering over your shoulder to check his watch, lol

What a ridiculous thing, that you may only keep gold and not sell in SA. Hang on, that's South Australia not South Africa, correct?

condor22 said:

Similar in as S.A. in one way. Here's it's not called prospecting, but fossicking. The simple rule here is, if you find gold, you can keep it for its intrinsic value. However, you can't sell it as it's still owned by the "Crown"

Ridiculous, I detect in VIC, have miners rights, who in there wildest dreams wouldn't just go over the border and sell it there. Once it's melted down and refined gold is gold.

If you found over 50gr in 48 hours in N.S.W., I'd like to meet the inspector that will be hovering over your shoulder to check his watch, lol

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Its why no-one has ever found gold in S.A.!

Checked the fishing rules and theres no mention about using dynomite to dig for worms so technically if you have a fishing rod with you could use explosives and a sluice to sort the worms from the rubble.

Wish I could get caught out 50% of the time :lol:

Just to get caught once would be awesome

aussiefarmer said:

Checked the fishing rules and theres no mention about using dynomite to dig for worms so technically if you have a fishing rod with you could use explosives and a sluice to sort the worms from the rubble.

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:lol: :lol: :lol: brilliant idea erfect: :beer: Now we need a thread on how to blow up worms :lol: