Hi everyone: Intro

[Ed1]

Hi everyone, just a quick intro, my wife and I are intending to do some prospecting this year, we are in the process of selling our house and moving northward, probably Hervey Bay or the Bundaberg area. Wifey is retiring early and after buying/building another house and then a caravan, not necessarily in that order, we are planning to do the Grey Nomad thing and travel around the Australian countryside subject to restrictions.

If we came across some likely areas out bush, I was planning to do some fossicking. I am in the process of building a Highbanker and will most likely get a Minelab SDC2300 and a Gold Monster 1000, but I have been told that the latter is not as good as the SDC2300 so should save my money. I do own a cheapy metal detector (E-Bay special) but it really is unreliable and not worth owning.

Cheers

Ed1

 

[Dave's Office]

Welcome and good luck to you and your wife with your new adventures Ed1, you'll get plenty of great advice to help you with your fossaking from the members on the forums. Cheers from Dave :beer:

 

[Simmo]

Welcome mate and good luck with the move!

 

[Jaros]

Welcome Ed1.

 

[Newprospect]

Welcome and good luck..

 

[Ed1]

Thanks everyone for the welcome. The High Banker should be finished in the next 4-6 weeks or so, might have to do a quick trip up to Clermont to test it out. I take it that is a good place to start looking for a beginner?

 

[Simmo]

Thanks everyone for the welcome. The High Banker should be finished in the next 4-6 weeks or so, might have to do a quick trip up to Clermont to test it out. I take it that is a good place to start looking for a beginner?

https://www.qld.gov.au/recreation/activities/areas-facilities/fossicking/central-gold

 

[Jaros]

I don't think you can use a hi banker in Qld.
Permitted tools and extent of diggings
Hand tools such as picks, shovels, hammers, sieves, shakers, electronic detectors (metal detectors) and other similar tools can be used.

No machinery is permitted. This includes water sluices with electronic pumps and dredges of any kind.

You can collect from the surface or by digging, but you are not permitted to dig below 2m of the natural ground surface of land or below 0.5m in streams. Overhangs and tunnels are not allowed.

On road reserves, no digging is permitted but collection from existing exposures is allowed.

Materials collected
You can collect gemstones, ornamental stones, mineral specimens, alluvial gold (including nuggets) and some fossil specimens, but not meteorites and fossils of vertebrate animals.

You dont need a fossicking licence to search for treasure such as lost jewellery and coins on a beach.

 

[Simmo]

You can Jaros, as long as its not fed by a motorised pump.

 

[Ed1]

Well that is disappointing, does this also apply to private property where you have permission? I don't think that I could hand feed a high banker with enough water to make it work. I was intending to get a fossicking licence for both of us. Originally the plan was to do the great lap but due to border closures we may be stuck in Qld, or until maybe the government changes.

 

[Simmo]

Umm such a grey area mate, but technically YES! The rules apply for private land, even with the permission of the land owner.

They (Qld) give a definition of what Fossicking is, and what the conditions of such an activity are.

Then they go on to say where you can 'Fossick' and who to contact in the case of the land not meet the normal (GPA etc) criteria.

The definition of 'Fossicking' doesn't change when you have permission of the land owner.

I wish I could tag @mbasko!