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Adrian ss
Member
I have just sent off an Email to Earth resources Victoria asking for precise and specific details in regards to the legality of Yabbie Pumps for extracting fine gold from Victorian rivers, streams & creaks. I also asked for precise definition of Mechanical, dredge and hand operated where gold fossicking is concerned.
No matter how often you read the Miners Right rules and regulations there is always confusion as to the meaning of Dredge, Hydraulic Sluicing, Sluicing, High Banking, mechanical, machine and whether anything hand operated is mechanical or powered.
I do not expect to receive a clear detailed and easy to understand answer.
I am expecting a simple referral to the regulations because that is all I have ever received whenever I ask questions about the Miners right regulations.
Eski
Member
Adrian , would be interesting if you could post the response.... but the reality is whatever they put on paper, in the field they can find any reason to say your setup differs.
say you had a hopper up the hill and a sluice at the bottom , and hose running into the hopper - connect the 2 with some 90mm storm pipe. what if you shovel load the hopper??? that could be interpreted in a number of ways due to using water as medium to transport ground
Eski
Member
Golddredge, i don't think anything we do now will change the dredging situation. the time has past and we don't have the numbers.
Petitioning for change of rules for different category called "Minor prospecting lease" on the other hand may be viable. IE, limiting the engine size of what can be used to excavate and prospect. this may also be a new way to re-invigurate the current mining industry in vic
smokey22
Newbie
As a owner of a dredge in the days when a miners right allowed you to work in a stream.
It was a hard days work to find colour and you could have a rewarding day on the clean up.
One thing I see you all missed was the huge greens push at the time to stop the water being
muddy. As we all know the sediment of the bottom goes through your dredge clouding the water
as it traveled down stream this was a shock and horror to the greens as you might drown the fish.
I have seen trail bike riders do more damage to bank walls that we ever did.
I had been working in a creek over 10 years and had not seen this great destruction the Greens were pushing
at the time. One day when working I looked up and saw a lady and police officer walking towards me
and the lady was saying you cannot work in this creek, I said why not have been for over 10 years and
I have a miners right. This country was born on gold and wool how far we have slipped backwards from
radical greens.
Matt80
Member
Dredging seems a bit like a forest fire, if done right it's healthy for the system, if done wrong it can be devastating. Unfortunately most people just see fire and freak out without realising how the natural system works.
nucopia
Member
Dredging seems a bit like a forest fire, if done right it's healthy for the system, if done wrong it can be devastating. Unfortunately most people just see fire and freak out without realising how the natural system works.
Yep
every day is an adventure
Simmo
Member
As a owner of a dredge in the days when a miners right allowed you to work in a stream.
It was a hard days work to find colour and you could have a rewarding day on the clean up.
One thing I see you all missed was the huge greens push at the time to stop the water being
muddy. As we all know the sediment of the bottom goes through your dredge clouding the water
as it traveled down stream this was a shock and horror to the greens as you might drown the fish.
I have seen trail bike riders do more damage to bank walls that we ever did.I had been working in a creek over 10 years and had not seen this great destruction the Greens were pushing
at the time. One day when working I looked up and saw a lady and police officer walking towards me
and the lady was saying you cannot work in this creek, I said why not have been for over 10 years and
I have a miners right. This country was born on gold and wool how far we have slipped backwards from
radical greens.
Nice first post mate after all this time!!!
Even now, no matter what the mining method, you cannot cause 'turbidity' down stream, I think it is??
So that is why a complex system of settling ponds of dams are set up, at great expense.
Then in the wet season, it floods, and the natural miner takes over...
Swinging & digging
Member
As a owner of a dredge in the days when a miners right allowed you to work in a stream.
It was a hard days work to find colour and you could have a rewarding day on the clean up.
One thing I see you all missed was the huge greens push at the time to stop the water being
muddy. As we all know the sediment of the bottom goes through your dredge clouding the water
as it traveled down stream this was a shock and horror to the greens as you might drown the fish.
I have seen trail bike riders do more damage to bank walls that we ever did.I had been working in a creek over 10 years and had not seen this great destruction the Greens were pushing
at the time. One day when working I looked up and saw a lady and police officer walking towards me
and the lady was saying you cannot work in this creek, I said why not have been for over 10 years and
I have a miners right. This country was born on gold and wool how far we have slipped backwards from
radical greens.
If you were dredging in Victoria when legal you were required to also have a Dredging Licence, and the Mines Department made Rivers and Creeks available or not available, depending on a number of factors including popularity of a particular stream. ( A location been too popular was often used to withdraw a stream as opposition to dredging was widespread and significant conflict occurred ). I don't think the point about muddy water was missed as you were saying? Dredging was banned State wide in November 1990 in Victoria. The Dredgers were able to have the Government review the situation after much lobbying in 1994, the outcome of a over 300 page report stated that a number of issues were raised about dredging: Turbidity of the water ( Muddy Waters ), Erosion of bed and banks of a stream, Mobilisation of mercury and other toxins within the stream, noise from Dredge motors, conflict with other user groups, effect on fish and frogs and eggs of both. After input from groups opposed and the Dredgers who supported it, the final recommendation was to leave the ban in place.
After 30 years a lot has changed in regards to Prospecting in Victoria: Many more places have reverted to National Parks, more streams are off limits to prospecting. There are lots more prospectors now, more high bankers in use now than gold dredgers in the 1980s.
LoneWolf
Member
Dredgers are still out there, Perhaps not that many in Victoria, But in NSW they are still out there, Dredging away all the Gold...
LW....
Growing Old is Inevitable.... Growing Up is Optional.... Union Proud and Union Strong... A.M.W.U Active Member....
Dappa
Member
There are heaps of people using Dredgers poaching the creeks in the north east they just wait up till the parks knock offand work tho the night!! I was sampling up the Buckland and run into deer hunters who told me they saw a bloke with a pontoon it's a real problem here. In the last year I've seen people digging banks out with excavator's NO JOKE i was so angry people have been smashing the banks in eldy I have come aross a drift mine that was the size of a small bus right into the bank in a decomposing granite like i was looking at it like they must be crazy WTF ??? just last week i came across and camp were the was a pile of rubbish the size of a car and about 10-12 feet from there was a broad when i lifted it there was a 12 shaft freshly dug and just left there !!!! I rang Earth resources and they said we don't have the blokes or the money only 1 full time bloke and a part timer for the whole north east. There hopeless I don't know what to do??? People are destroying the creek i don't reckon it will be long and the will kick us out at this rate. I really would like to start a group up of people that could maybe help me have clean up days or something i really need help people are destroying the creek Its really bad 
Last edited by Dappa (27 November 2019 12:42 am)
Adapt Improvise Overcome
G0lddigg@
Member
there's at least 7 leases on the palmer which are dredge approved, the yields not real crash hot, actually i spoke with a bloke who was doing better with his dry vac in summer than dredging in winter.... maybe due to the crocks over winter 
Sluicing life is the life for me
Engineering Gold Sluices and Highbankers
mudgee hunter
Banned
Geeze, people winge about snakes! Never had any phobia of them, except for my dogs.
But CROCKS !!!! 
Member of the "Banker Gang"
G0lddigg@
Member
yeah funny isn;t it just a big lizard..... dinosaur... that eats anything hahah
Sluicing life is the life for me
Engineering Gold Sluices and Highbankers
LoneWolf
Member
There are heaps of people using Dredgers poaching the creeks in the north east they just wait up till the parks knock offand work tho the night!! I was sampling up the Buckland and run into deer hunters who told me they saw a bloke with a pontoon it's a real problem here. In the last year I've seen people digging banks out with excavator's NO JOKE i was so angry people have been smashing the banks in eldy I have come aross a drift mine that was the size of a small bus right into the bank in a decomposing granite like i was looking at it like they must be crazy WTF ??? just last week i came across and camp were the was a pile of rubbish the size of a car and about 10-12 feet from there was a broad when i lifted it there was a 12 shaft freshly dug and just left there !!!! I rang Earth resources and they said we don't have the blokes or the money only 1 full time bloke and a part timer for the whole north east. There hopeless I don't know what to do??? People are destroying the creek i don't reckon it will be long and the will kick us out at this rate. I really would like to start a group up of people that could maybe help me have clean up days or something i really need help people are destroying the creek Its really bad
I see it all the time out the back of Coffs Harbour Dappa... I have reported them but no action has ever been taken..
... Put it this way, 'how can the 'Police, Police the Police' if you get my drift... Absolute Joke...
...
LW...
Growing Old is Inevitable.... Growing Up is Optional.... Union Proud and Union Strong... A.M.W.U Active Member....
nucopia
Member
America
Ryobi Pool stick vacuum cleaner modified for sniping
every day is an adventure
Dr Lex Winter
Banned
Out of interest, when did it become illegal and what was the driving force behind the legislation?
All mining legislation is brought about because they want mining rights that big corporations pay a fortune to get to feel special. That and greenies thought somehow cleaning rocks was damaging the waterways. I remember when they banned it we started to get blue green algae choking up the waterways - previously dredging did away with that. The impact of small scale dredging is less than what most legal fossickers do - like you aren't allowed to move rocks but you can smash them up with a crowbar and that's A-OK. Unfortunately law makers tend to have no clue what they're talking about and only consult special interest groups who have access to said law makers to begin with and not the people doing it daily.
Dr Lex Winter
Banned
"""""DREDGING IS ILLEGAL"""*****
So is:
moving more than one cubic meter of material in any 48 hour period.
not putting all the rocks and materials you move back where you found them.
using a water pump, or yabbee pump, or a bucket (lifting a bucket is a 'mechanical' force).
Basically all fossicking and prospecting is illegal besides metal detecting and putting the dirt back in the hole you got it from.
The legislation is absurd and needs to be re-evaluated given every prospector I have ever observed for more than an hour has broken two or three various parts of the Act.
mbasko
Member
G0lddigg@ wrote:"""""DREDGING IS ILLEGAL"""*****
So is:
moving more than one cubic meter of material in any 48 hour period.
not putting all the rocks and materials you move back where you found them.
using a water pump, or yabbee pump, or a bucket (lifting a bucket is a 'mechanical' force).
Basically all fossicking and prospecting is illegal besides metal detecting and putting the dirt back in the hole you got it from.
The legislation is absurd and needs to be re-evaluated given every prospector I have ever observed for more than an hour has broken two or three various parts of the Act.
Your quoting NSW legislation which is irrelevant in other states of Australia.
Each state has different rules.
A yabby pump & bucket are hand operated.
As a lawyer you would know this?
Everything we use comes from mining or farming.
Smoky bandit
Member
18 posts in just over 1.5 hrs.
Wow this is going to be interesting 
Where's the pop corn.
No pain No gain..
OzzieAu
Member
What’s the motivation?......some potential clients to represent perhaps? 
GPX5000..2Evo’s...Whites SPP...Makro Multi Kruzer... ProFind pointer.
goody2shoes
Member
Popcorn time 
:
Teemore
Member
Popcorn time
By the bucketload I would suggest ..... and don't forget to read the fine print ... isn't that what lawyers always tell us.
Be entertaining for a day or 2 but don't think he's a stayer. Maybe he'll proves me wrong.
Last edited by Teemore (14 January 2021 11:10 am)
If you don't stand for something ..... You'll fall for anything !!
To be old and wise you must first be young and foolish.
gragagan
Member
I've never seen anyone mention it on here so here goes; to me the primary reason for not allowing dredging (and highbanking) is to ensure the resource (gold deposits) lasts as long as possible. So people can keep going back and keep finding enough gold to keep it interesting for years and years. Compare the amount of material that can be moved by a dredge or highbanker, to what can be moved by a pan. Many many many many times more. Where I go panning it wouldn't take long for one person with a dredge to strip that whole stretch of creek, leaving nothing for anyone else. Would that be fair? Someone wants to take their kids or grandkids out to pan for gold, but can't because some selfish goose with a dredge took it all? Also the greenies dont give a shite, but the farmers whos property the creek flows through probably will.
Also: buckets and hand held yabbie pumps are legal. If yabbie pumps were illegal then you wouldn't be allowed to pump yabbies with them. And I know a lot of people dont fill their holes in, which is pretty irresponsible. The farmers mentioned above run cattle, the creek flows through the property, unfilled holes are a hazard to the cows, as well as other people. I always fill my holes anyway in because I don't like leaving a mess. Especially if I'm on gold, I try to hide that I've been digging there, so it's there for next time.
Long rant over ha ha
Mike678
Member
Farmers have no control over the rivers and creeks that pass though their properties . It is excluded from their lease or land holdings .
In the old days , races for water passing through the property was also excluded .
Last edited by Mike678 (14 January 2021 02:14 pm)
Opal from my lease .
Mike678
Member
I built and used a 3 inch dredge and have seen a 8 inch dredge , power by a Vee Dub engine on the Shoalhaven River .
In my opinion small dredges are not a problem . A 6inch storm will do more damage than 10 small dredges . Those 4 x4 idiots do a lot more damage . Perhaps they have mates in parliament ............
Opal from my lease .
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