Taking gravel/soil home, permitted?

[blennus]

If memory serves I've read a few posts where people have taken some diggings home to process at their leisure... I did the same not long ago (got two little flecks from the collection but that was it). I was just wondering... are we permitted to within our permitted rights (Victoria in case there are state differences) and how much are we entitled to take? I just used what I had with me so the first sample was I think a pan packed high and stuck in my satchel... second time I got a 3l plastic container with a lid and the box that my new foldable shovel came in (which makes digging so much faster and easier than the little garden trowel I had been using). There are obviously a few places at the moment that just don't have water but at home I can at least set things up (in my case a plastic tub that I can dip the pan in and work over)... but I don't want to do it if it's not ok. I did back fill my diggings (so many people have left big holes where they have worked... it's sad to see so I've started at least trying to push some gravel into those to cover their holes).

Anyway... I now have a casual job so my time "in the field" will be reduced until we move to Ballarat but I might get the odd chance to grab some samples here and there.

Thanks as always for any help and good prospecting to you all.

 

[Dignit]

I was speaking with some prospectors at Christmas who told me that you are not meant to. Apparently you are meant to process on location so you can return worked material back to its original location. Makes a lot of sense to me. Just imagine if everyone took material away. It wouldn't be good for the environment.
I'm a detectorist and don't know for sure. As a dectorist we have to fill holes and leave the ground as we found it. So I imagine the same applies for prospecting with pans, sluices, trommels etc.
I'll leave it to others who are in the know to confirm. Cheers

 

[Swinging & digging]

I think you may be able to take home your sluice concentrates ( black sand ), but taking home cubic metres of gravel, clay & rocks is pushing the boundary as you are required to refill any holes dug and keep disturbance to an absolute minimum.

 

[blennus]

That's kind of what I thought... I just read some people have taken "buckets" home and it got me thinking. But I'm only panning so perhaps they are using sluices or some such and that creates enough black sand concentrate to fill some buckets. (maybe I need to get a sluice )

 

[Heatho]

Taking concentrates is ok I believe. Just use common sense.

 

[Eldorado]

The rules state that you can take no more than 10 kg of mineral bearing material in any given 48 hrs.But it then goes on to say that the removal or destruction of any bushrock is prohibited.

 

[blennus]

The rules state that you can take no more than 10 kg of mineral bearing material in any given 48 hrs.But it then goes on to say that the removal or destruction of any bushrock is prohibited.

Ok well that's confusing then... what qualifies as "destruction of any bushrock"

 

[kuskus]

You are aloud to take how material but you have to have your prospecting licence, well in NSW anyway.

I can bring home up to 10kg of gravels/material and I do every trip.

No idea what the go is in Vic though.

Hope that helps

 

[mbasko]

? In NSW you don't need a prospecting licence. In State Forests you need a State Forest fossicking permit but it's only for State Forests & means nothing outside of them.
You can take 10kg of mineral bearing material - this is a relatively small amount & would be less than half a 20 litre bucket in most cases. Whatever you take if you dig it out you must fill the hole which isn't hard to do in most places for that amount.
In Victoria you need a Miners Right & you must repair any damage to the ground resulting from your search by immediately restoring the area as originally found, i.e. backfill any holes dug and replace leaf litter. This would be hard to do if taking bulk samples of mineral bearing ground home.

 

[mbasko]

The rules state that you can take no more than 10 kg of mineral bearing material in any given 48 hrs.But it then goes on to say that the removal or destruction of any bushrock is prohibited.

Ok well that's confusing then... what qualifies as "destruction of any bushrock"

I believe this was added into various NSW legislation due to the past removal & destruction (breaking up of large rocks or just the bulk removal of it from a specific area i.e. destruction of a bushrock habitat) of bulk bushrock which would have mainly been truck, trailer or ute loads destined for rockeries.
Bushrock refers to naturally occuring loose stone or rock. Mine dumps, mullock heaps etc. shouldn't be defined as bushrock but bulk removal would be outside the rules in NSW anyway due to 10kg limit & to process it efficiently you would need mechanical means which is also no go.

 

[AtomRat]

Its all a bit fiddle sticks to me. What if you find an 11kilo nugget.. or an 11kg amethyst
The protections more as mbasko is saying.. preventing those making money off pure rock for gravels etc

In reality though..is there ever a need to take it home anyway? I agree with taking cons home..and this can vary as well depending on the unit used for gold / mineral recovery

 

[Heatho]

Its all a bit fiddle sticks to me. What if you find an 11kilo nugget..

I won't tell if you don't mate.

 

[mbasko]

Its all a bit fiddle sticks to me. What if you find an 11kilo nugget..

I won't tell if you don't mate.

No need to worry in NSW. You can find & keep a single nugget of any size. An 11 grammer would be nice let alone 11kg :lol: There is a limit of 50 grams in 48hrs or 5 separate nuggets of 10 grams or greater each.
The limit of 10kg is for mineral bearing material such as concentrates or a bucket of wash.

 

[blennus]

Its all a bit fiddle sticks to me. What if you find an 11kilo nugget.. or an 11kg amethyst
The protections more as mbasko is saying.. preventing those making money off pure rock for gravels etc

In reality though..is there ever a need to take it home anyway? I agree with taking cons home..and this can vary as well depending on the unit used for gold / mineral recovery

The only "need" for taking it home at the moment is just there are a few areas that don't have water but that are much closer to where I'm traveling, taking the kids to school so if it's allowed it's easy enough to just grab a small container of soil and take it home where I can set up a little water to pan in (again also means the young ones can participate).

It won't exactly kill me to not be able to do it and I've had more luck panning at a different location that does still have some water anyway... was just curious and don't want to do the wrong thing.

 

[AtomRat]

Your better to take a sieve and pan..quickly do pans withought looking at what you have and dump your 1/4 full pan to the bucket. This way your only taking the heavies mostly and more chance to see what your looking for, keep it as "processed / concentrates"

 

[blennus]

Your better to take a sieve and pan..quickly do pans withought looking at what you have and dump your 1/4 full pan to the bucket. This way your only taking the heavies mostly and more chance to see what your looking for, keep it as "processed / concentrates"

Ahhh.... see I was thinking of doing that next time just to reduce the amount of bulk extras... but as you put it... that would make what goes in the pan a concentrate... might well do that next time (just as well I ended up buying a sieve recently )

Thanks AtomRat and everyone else for your advice on this... again it's not an ideal idea... but it's just so I can get a bit of panning in from some dry locations and it lets the kids have a bit of a go at home so they know why dad keeps going "out bush" for hours on end

 

[Parko]

Ok in Vic Parks Victoria rangers will respect a persons right to do a lawful activity if you show them some respect when you talk to them. Take a 15 or 20 litre bucket of washdirt home with you if you tell them you want to teach you're kids how to pan you can do it. I suppose it's what you tell em at the time and how they feel about your attitude. Remember good cop bad cop.