Sapphires, Rubies, Zircons - field trip wanted Daylesford area

DB,

That wont even form a puddle. It will just go straight to the bottom of the creek bed. 8.(

Tuesday sounds good, I'll double check with the Boss lady and i'll get back to you with confirmation.

Golden Tiger said:

Hey EC,

Major bummer about the sluices, im assuming that means highbankers as well then?

Is that Victoria wide?

I'm yet to try out the Wal Banker / highbanker i bought, There is just no water anywhere.

Does anyone know of any gold bearing creeks/rivers in Victoria that have water in them?

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More than a major bummer. Not only will the new legislation ban sluices of any kind, hi-bankers included. the change of wording in the proposed legislation will be from "no motorised equipment" to "no mechanical equipment". I'm pretty sure this will include hand pumps, water pumps of any kind, yabbie pumps, etc etc.
Pretty much all we will have left is panning and detecting.
I hope I'm wrong, but I think the Devil's in the detail and may depend on interpretation.
Lets keep our fingers crossed.
Cheers, Ron.

Golden Tiger said:

Hey EC,

Major bummer about the sluices, im assuming that means highbankers as well then?

Is that Victoria wide?

I'm yet to try out the Wal Banker / highbanker i bought, There is just no water anywhere.

Does anyone know of any gold bearing creeks/rivers in Victoria that have water in them?

Click to expand...

If you can get a hold of a local to confirm forest in chewton had water a week and half ago, not sure about colour. Was hoping to get down there and have a walk around was to busy keeping the other half happy but got a quick peek at the alluvial grounds just up from it. Not sure how patchy the water was but saw sunlight reflecting off it.

Any water is good water for me. I'm on Annual leave for 5 more weeks and i'm going stir crazy with boredom.

Cheers,

Goldtarget

Hey GT I'll bring a bucket of water down to the creek for you so that you can get it out of your system
cheers db

hey golden tiger mate that would do my head in being on 5 weeks leave without good water, I'll put a map together for you, I wont tell you where to dig but there's plenty of gems and colour in the general area you'll juts have to find it. PM sent

hey crazy, yeah I'll let you know how it all works out - seems like a decent unit to learn on when not wanting to sink too many $ into it..

GT, the suggestion about going for a drive to sus places out is the best idea! Even if people give you an idea where to go, you just never know when the water dries out... Sometimes pays to find a place few others go too

I'll keep people posted on the legislation, might even start a new topic for people to post there thoughts/concerns/feedback:

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=63167#p63167

Ron or Eternal,

Does the legislation state sluices or does it just state "no mechanical equipment" ?

As far as I'm concerned because a sluice does not have any moving parts it would not be considered as "mechanical"

Maybe it's just a play on words, but it may be a loop hole.

agreed the wording that will count will be "for processing"

Ok guys, check out the new post for updates on the legislation that will be passed in November this year.

Golden Tiger said:

Ron or Eternal,

Does the legislation state sluices or does it just state "no mechanical equipment" ?

As far as I'm concerned because a sluice does not have any moving parts it would not be considered as "mechanical"

Maybe it's just a play on words, but it may be a loop hole.

Click to expand...

Hi Trent,
Sorry mate, no play on words. There's actually two concerning parts to the new legislation.

One specifically says sluices are to be banned, hence my reference to hi-bankers as a form of sluice.

As I recollect from what I read in the PMAV newsletter which Mark showed me, motorised equipment will also be banned.

In the following link, http://www.energyandresources.vic.g...requently-asked-questions-about-miners-rights
the current position is;-
Question 32. Can the holder of a Miners Right use motorised equipment to process gravel for minerals that has been excavated using hand held equipment and loaded into the processing equipment by hand?

Yes, however, significant land disturbance using these methods will not be permitted.
This clearly allows the current use of pumps to process gravel, probably ore crushers too.

Anyway, the new wording will ban anything "mechanical". The implications of this is whats worrying me. Remember, sluices will be banned separately.

In research I've done so far, "mechanical", In this instance can mean;-
1. of or pertaining to machinery or tools.
2. operated by machinery.
3. caused by or derived from machinery.
4. using machine parts only.
A bit broad I guess, but I'd say pretty much anything with moving parts covers it.

I really hope I'm wrong, but I guess we have to hope the bureaucrats make it real clean, otherwise there's always going to be problems.

Mark will be adding to his new thread later tonight of tomorrow, and hopefully include excerpts from the PMAV newsletter and or proposed legislation. He has a link to the thread in his post in this thread. Keep an eye on it.

To any Victorians that are interested in preserving what we've got left, or just want's to be kept informed, join the PMAV. If you have the time, attend a few meetings. You know the usual deal. Most of the heavy lifting is always left to a few of the workers, so I'm sure they could also do with some help if you have the time to commit.

Cheers, Ron.

My guess is sales for detectors will go through the roof if this is passed.

crazyk said:

My guess is sales for detectors will go through the roof if this is passed.

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mmm,, here's an interesting thought. Maybe the Greenies have shares in Minelabs,,,, oh,,, maybe Minelabs are the Greenies,,,,, bloody hell!!!!

hey Ron this change is only relevant to national parks mate not the whole state its really not going to effect that many people. they have not said they will ban sluices and alike in state parks or crown land just national parks.

G0lddigg@ said:

hey Ron this change is only relevant to national parks mate not the whole state its really not going to effect that many people. they have not said they will ban sluices and alike in state parks or crown land just national parks.

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Hi again.
For the benefit of others coming in here, see my reply in Mark's new thread. https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=63167#p63167

Hey guys been a while since I saw a post in here.

I ran a pan through some river rubble and got this.
Are the red ones rubies? Would the yellow type one on the right be a sapphire.

All found near daylesford area

Zircons, all except the one on the left which looks like quarts.

I imagine there were plenty more little ones left in the cons?

Sapphires are far and few between. Normally they are blueish gray, but from other creeks in the area (Jim Crow Creek which is on the banned list) you can get green sapphires.

I've searched Daylesford high and low looking for sapphires and the biggest one i have found is a clear royal blue weighing in at .2 of a carat.

Ruby's are not typically found in Daylesford but have been known to occur in surrounding areas. (But they still elude me)

Thanks GT. Yeah after a little more research I figured they were zircons. I just couldn't edit my post.
They are very tiny. My iphone makes them look decent!!

Here is a photo I managed to take of the cons.

Heaps and heaps of little suckers

I got the material from in a gravel bar. Is this a good place to sift through?

It depends on what your looking for. Rock/gravel bars are primarily the best place to look.

Although Daylesford has been hit pretty hard over the years, so thinking outside the box has proved quite fruitful for me.

I tend to look for long stretch's of creek and look for the slower moving water and dig there. Again, it depends on what your going there for.

I'm still trying to find a pattern with the sapphires as i've found them at varying depths from the first shovel full down to the rock bottom (literally)

I think the ones in the first shovel full are from previous prospectors looking for gold and discarding them aside. (My thinking as sapphires are heavier than most of the cons)