campers who like gold fossicking look out

Link corrected to Petition

It appears to be about the potentially damaging to the land practice of sluicing, rather than the metal detector searching that most fossickers use. Fair enough.

Motherhen

Yes ..not the normal undertaking of the average gold prospecting "camper".

Cheers
Greg

depends which part of the country you're in

95 % of gold in Oz is too small for detectors to find , but sluices are the way to go.

I do 8 times more sluicing than detecting , but i carry equipment for both in the camper.

nothing better on a hot summers day than sitting with your feet in the river :)

What evidence are they basing their proposal to ban on? Seems petty on the face of it. If tens of thousands were doing it, upsetting stream ecology and biology maybe they'd have a point.

Maybe the want to stop people like Clive and Profit Unlimited Party to begin sluicing on their scale. Just lunch is a big event.

..if one person was doing it, upsetting stream ecology and biology, they would have a point.

Cheers
Greg

It doesnt upset stream ecology

In fact my sluicing and detecting has given me 11.3 kg of lead bullets at home that i have removed "from the environment" while sluicing or detecting.
I also have one and a quarter buckets of beer can pull tabs , bottle tops ,shell casings and other miscellaneous junk that i have brought home , those "environmental pollutants" will all go to the local scrap dealer for recycling when the buckets are full.
When i go bush i often bring home other peoples rubbish , we have some photos of clean ups we have done in the bush but i cant post photos here

I suspect the pollies have their backs up because any gold obtained by hobbyists is tax free.

The greens members trying to push for the ban dont even know what sluicing is , they think its using water canons to blast away the river banks

thats called " hydraulic sluicing" ,its been banned and not used for over 100 years

Bottom line is , the Greens think that hobbyist prospectors are the same thing as "a mining company"

This country is being destroyed by gross incompetence in politics

off road 4WD vehicles could be perceived as doing far more " ecological damage" by driving over soil and earth

and we dont want the guvmint banning that now do we ?

what next ?

will they ban campfires because it contributes to global warming ?

over regulation will choke this country to the point where we are drowning while other countries float . they will thrive economically and socially while we go backwards if we allow it.

baalleez - another government bashing thread...

Happy sluicing.

Cheers
Greg

"I suspect the pollies have their backs up because any gold obtained by hobbyists is tax free."

"baalleez - another government bashing thread..."

Yes, but at least you'll be paying for camping hey ? :D

So sluicing, not panning, is what they're on about ?
Panning was great fun with the kids when they were younger.

so far they want to ban sluicing

( without ever seeing it done or talking to any of the families doing it )

however there are other reports where they want to ban every aspect of prospecting , while still selling mining permits to foreign miners to come here , pillage the resources , send the profits offshore through tax havens and pay zero tax in australia.

go figure ?

So Greg should we ban every activity which might affect the ecology or biology of a system or just single out what appears to be a short term, low impact recreational undertaking by a limited number of people?

..each activity would have to be assessed on a case by case basis. I have no knowledge of the specifics of this activity (sluicing). All I said was that "IF" the activity was having an impact them the government would have a point (I said "would" but "may" is probably better word considering I don’t have a clue of specifics).

I still can't offer an opinion based on your assessment that it "appears" to be a “short term/low impact” activity as I do not know what your definition of short term and low impact are or if in fact this statement is true.

Prospectors in WA are allowed to carry out “short term/low impact” activities in terrestrial environments – requires a program of works to be submitted including (if required) details of what rehabilitation is planned. There is also a new Mining Rehabilitation Fund where, based on your activities you contribute to a fund that is in part going towards fixing up the mess created in the past. Streams are probably a bit more sensitive than dry land (e.g. erosion, downstream effects) so I suspect this may be why (at least partly) it is being single out in this instance. Not much sluicing in the WA Goldfields – general dry as the proverbial.

Cheers
Greg

Neither do I know, and I suspect neither do the Greens in this case. Thousands of activities undertaken by environmentally conscious Australians could be banned on the same basis. If there's a good case to be made let them make it. Otherwise these sorts of proposals do nothing other than entrench the antagonism by the usual mindless lot towards so called "greenies". And THAT can have far bigger consequences for ecologies than a few sluicers are ever likely to.

so far the case by the greens has been based on accusations that "we use high powered water jets to strip away river banks"

that is called Hydraulic sluicing and has not been practiced for over 100 years

sluicing is using a small trough with water flowing through it to separate gold from gravel and sand.

I would happily bet that the average Greenie kills more bugs,insects and micro organisms every time they mow the lawn at home

hopefully we can get the required signatures

petition here


I suspect the Green's motive is to lock up all crown land as reserves and national parks and throw away the key as they have already done at three locations in Victoria and NSW

even Copeland State Forest is now locked up and renamed as a "Conservation Area"