Hill End - No Detecting Zone

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Well I'd heard rumours & was once even approached by a bloke from Victoria that was camping there & said he was told by "the mining company" that he couldn't detect there.
Never thought much of it myself. Seen the Hill End Gold utes drive past me in various places at Tambaroora, on the common & other crown land & never a whimper out of them. Not today - was on some crown land there detecting away as usual when the Hill End Gold ute went past. No biggie, kept going. Next minute he's back. Hmmm... this might be interesting I thought.
He comes over & says "Are you doing any good"
"Nah not here" I said.
He then says "you can't be here".
I says "I thought it was all crown land".
"It is" he says "but we've got it under Exploration Licence so you can't be here"
"Fair enough" I said. "We'll get going then".
He says "Sorry for the bad news but we've got the whole area from the Turon River right through to past Hargraves under Exploration Licence & you can't fossick anywhere except the designated area just in past the chimney at Tambaroora".
He goes to leave then turns back "ya won't get nuthin' up here anyway. We already tried & we didn't get much. The old timers didn't leave it for nothing".
"Oh right" I say with a feeling of the Irish anger building. I let it pass & keep my cool but geez I wanted to give him a piece of my mind. What better area to allow fossicking - crown land, old area, they're not interested & there is possibly ;) some detectable gold up there.
So it seems the rumours are true. Looks like Hill End Gold are flexing their EL rights out there & trying to restrict fossicking to the creek near the chimney entrance at Tambaroora which is crap anyway. The fossicking area goes a fair way in & also down to the left towards Hill End. Maybe someone can post a screen shot off ArcGIS? (I'm on my mobile). The rest of it is mostly Hill End Common or other crown land apart from the fenced house blocks & actual mining leases.
NSW fossicking laws are *****. No company should be able to stop you fossicking or doing any other lawful activity on any crown lands just on the back of an EL.
BRING BACK A NSW MINERS RIGHT LIKE VICTORIA'S THAT ALLOWS US TO FOSSICK/PROSPECT ON EL's WITHOUT PERMISSION!! I can understand mining & even assessment leases are & should be no go zones but EL's tie up vast tracts of land that these companies will never even be bothered with only to p155 the little blokes off. :mad:
OK end of my rant. Had to get that off my chest :lol:
We went to the chimney area we were hence directed to & I was able to get these:
1430822948_14308124474840.jpg

Bit over a gram so not all bad but geez they **** me.
 
There was a couple of spots that I wanted to try on their Hargraves EL so I thought that I would do the right thing and sent of an Email to HE Gold asking permission for my wife and I, stating the area we wanted to look. We did get a polite reply, but it was a NO :( Yep Matt, its not fair, hopefully NAPFA can change this for us.

Cheers
 
after all these years they are still "exploring" phuckme! no wonder this country is going backwards!

but seriously... the pinhead amounts we get... in the top 8 inches of soil... that they are not even working... and they feel they need to move people on?

what about panning down on the turon?

PS mbasko... i would like to thank you for keeping your cool...
 
Is it any wonder their desperate.

We have found more Gold at Hill End than Hill End Gold!!!!

-97.24% Growth since 2009. Perhaps they should invest in a few GPZ 7000s?

1430826210_capture-optimized.png
 
By that chart it looks not too good for them or their investors, maybe they should spend their money looking in a better area,... maybe they couldn't even afford to take anyone to court for fossicking on their EL.
 
Retirement Stone said:
The only problem is if they don't renew it (& that looks possible) then there will be a lineup of others ready to take it over - if for no other reason than to lock the area up to any competition. They might be more flexible than HEG but they might be worse too?
Anyone who fossicks/prospects in NSW will be breaking this rule somewhere. Last time I checked on ArcGIS there is no worthwhile auriferous ground not under EL in NSW. The only places it doesn't apply are the 7 fossicking districts (council areas) & the former designated fossicking areas (which are like pin heads in relation to the crown land we should have access to).
I know NAPFA were working on this so hopefully we can get something done.
 
I was thinking about staying at Hill End instead of Windeyer in a few weeks but this has turned me off.

Ill spend my money in Mudgee/Windeyer/Hargraves instead.

Hill Ends economy will suffer if we are pushed out of the area.

Thanks for the heads up.

Cheers RS
 
Why doesn't NAPFA form a special subcommittee of PA members(fully funded) to take up the lease and use fossickers to do the exploration research for them by asking a nominal Yearly Fee from NAPFA members and PA members and members of the public who hold the appropriate fossicking permits,... That way all could get on to hunt and camp and NAPFA would recoup money spent on the EL,.. everyone would just need to log on their finds with the NAPFA special sub committee who in turn would keep all that information secret. Nothing has to ever get developed and a large chunk of land could be always open to prospectors ,... just by using the system itself to hold that land open in a way not yet intended but maybe entirely legal ?
 
Retirement Stone said:
I was thinking about staying at Hill End instead of Windeyer in a few weeks but this has turned me off.

Ill spend my money in Mudgee/Windeyer/Hargraves instead.

Hill Ends economy will suffer if we are pushed out of the area.

Thanks for the heads up.

Cheers RS

I agree mate, it's terrible for the Hill End economy.

You know I heard a rumour a couple of months ago that a business in hill end had been speaking to the gov and mountain bike powers to be and we're looking at developing the area with world class mountain biking tracks.........simple because their economy was suffering so much and couldn't rely on its gold history or prospectors.

Like I said, just a rumour however it makes one wonder.

Regards

Lambi
 
BHP used to own the show at the Hawkins Hill mine that HEG now own.
They also test drilled a lot around the Red Hill area and a little further out the Mudgee Road.
BHP do not leave if easy profit is to be made.

HEG has reported good test results and a possible new mine.
However it is not north of the Hill End village.

A lovely rock fall on the side of Hawkins (while nobody at the mine) would be lovely.
Considering their cash flow in last two years...probably could not afford new equipment...hehe
 
mbasko said:
Retirement Stone said:
The only problem is if they don't renew it (& that looks possible) then there will be a lineup of others ready to take it over - if for no other reason than to lock the area up to any competition. They might be more flexible than HEG but they might be worse too?
Anyone who fossicks/prospects in NSW will be breaking this rule somewhere. Last time I checked on ArcGIS there is no worthwhile auriferous ground not under EL in NSW. The only places it doesn't apply are the 7 fossicking districts (council areas) & the former designated fossicking areas (which are like pin heads in relation to the crown land we should have access to).
I know NAPFA were working on this so hopefully we can get something done.

It may be helpful to NAPFA arguments if someone with legal background would draft petition to the effect of reintroduce Miners Right and free access to EL areas. Highlighting economical benefits of fossicing for small country towns and the fact that minerals found by Fossickers at shallow depth are no value to mining companies. And put it on prospecting forums so people concerned can sign it.
I do not have a necessity skills to do it myself.
Karl
 
jimnyjerry said:
That is a real bummer. :mad:
Always thought Hill End was in a Fossicking District.

Suppose emailing the director would not help. http://www.hillendgold.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=72&Itemid=148
There is only a relatively small area of Tambaroora that is the actual designated fossicking area/district.
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/doc/member-docs/4485/1430876291_hill_end_land.pdf

I have tried the nice way & wrote to HEG management - got the same polite reply as Oldfella - NO!!!
 
KarlS said:
mbasko said:
Retirement Stone said:
The only problem is if they don't renew it (& that looks possible) then there will be a lineup of others ready to take it over - if for no other reason than to lock the area up to any competition. They might be more flexible than HEG but they might be worse too?
Anyone who fossicks/prospects in NSW will be breaking this rule somewhere. Last time I checked on ArcGIS there is no worthwhile auriferous ground not under EL in NSW. The only places it doesn't apply are the 7 fossicking districts (council areas) & the former designated fossicking areas (which are like pin heads in relation to the crown land we should have access to).
I know NAPFA were working on this so hopefully we can get something done.

It may be helpful to NAPFA arguments if someone with legal background would draft petition to the effect of reintroduce Miners Right and free access to EL areas. Highlighting economical benefits of fossicking for small country towns and the fact that minerals found by Fossickers at shallow depth are no value to mining companies. And put it on prospecting forums so people concerned can sign it.
I do not have a necessity skills to do it myself.
Karl
I don't know if petitions are the answer but I do know that NAPFA have been working on this & the above points were included in their argument.
This was the last update on it January this year:
NAPFA said:
Since April we have met with the Minister for Resources and Energy, Anthony Roberts, to press our case for removing the requirement for Exploration Lease holder permission to fossick in land in non-Fossicking Districts. The Minister gave us a good hearing and as a result we were expecting declaration of new Fossicking Districts in NSW, essentially covering various Local Government areas by Christmas. This would have removed the EL requirement in those areas without legislation. Unfortunately, however this has now been stymied by the NSW Election and wont occur before then. If there is a new Minister we may be back to the drawing board.

From the same newsletter:
NAPFA said:
One of our members, Doug Stone, has published the first NSW Gold Atlas which was launched by Minister Roberts in November. The Atlas will do a lot to encourage fossicking tourism in NSW and to help the newbies at least be in the right area. Congratulations Doug! Job well done!
I wonder if the Minister realises he has launched an atlas that contains a great many crown land areas that essentially, without EL holders permission, we are not allowed to fossick/prospect on & many may be unknowingly breaking laws in his own legislation?

Maybe a concerted effort by interested people to write to, in a polite & effective manner, the various Ministers involved i.e. local members, tourism minister, resources minister etc. to raise awareness. I have written in the past about this & the issue of where we stand on the "former" designated fossicking areas that were basically abolished when the legislation allowing fossicking in NSW without a permit was introduced on "any" lands with permission (which is just a "you can fossick anywhere but really you can't" legislation). I received a reply back that these areas still stood & no company/EL holder could prevent you from fossicking these areas. I will try to scan & put a copy of it up on here.
 
is the issue access to these areas or the fact we are finding "their" gold?

are you allowed to walk / birdwatch in these crown land locations with mining lease?

cheers

jason (toecutta)
 
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