Changes in Victoria's prospecting rules

[chris11330]

That screenshot extract is all very well, but as far as I can see it is only a website interpretation of the regs, as there is no reference to a specific clause of the Act which states the same thing. Unless that interpretation is stated in the Act, the interpretation has no legal validity.

Yes i would agree per se, but obviously this is stated on the Victorian Government website of Resources Victoria who regulate and manage access to resources within Victoria and also play a key role in policy development and regulatory reform. Even though it does not state a direct reference you can use Geovic and utilizing layers and filters to highlight all S7 areas. After identifying these areas you can gain further information about what exact exemption applies to that area, some range from exemptions of having no licences through to a total ban in areas such as National Parks. These folios can be downloaded and are signed scans of the original exemptions that apply to that specific S7 area. I have attached Folio 90016214 which is for the S7 over the Ballarat area, as you can read the exemption is only for no licence to be held over the area, therefore prospecting is allowed. This can be done for the entire state and this link to Resources Victoria explains how to do toward the bottom of the page.
https://resources.vic.gov.au/licensing-approvals/mineral-licences/section-7-exemptions

 

[Bush]

No Surprises on Mineral Resources ( Sustainable Development ) Section 7 in the latest Gazzette Bills that i could see.
From what i can gather All changes to anything related to Acts is revealled here to the Public 1st.

Victorian Gov Gazzette.
https://www.gazette.vic.gov.au/gazette_bin/recent_gazettes.cfm

 

[golden_pan]

i would like to say this...
to Jason Cornish, PRESIDENT of PMVA. no matter how hard you blow your horn on what you volunteer for, do and have done, it does not justify the unprofessional, rude, closed minded behaviour you have displayed on this matter. you owe OZgeology an apology, as well as everyone else you have mislead or attacked. if you cannot man up and do this, you should step down from your position as you are not fit to represent paying PMAV members or the prospecting community. if this is the type of person that engages with government bodies and communities on our behalf, i question if its the producing the best outcomes for us all, as in this scenario it has been abysmal.

this first post says it all. and i could not agree more.
https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...e-offering-illegal-advice-to-ignore-it.42988/

on the s7 matter...
the resources.vic website post on 20dec is nothing but a Band-Aid for the bigger issues.

1. that as far as RECREATIONAL prospecting goes there needs to be way more done to clarify the difference between "mining" and doing some panning and detecting. as the Mineral Resources (Sustainable Development) Act 1990 (the Act) lumps it all together and tells us "good luck everybody" to figure it out.

2. you need to be a expert on GEOVIC and with understanding legislation, etc to even know for sure what you can and cannot do and where, to fully access all the areas available. this needs to be simpler for everyone. its a major hurdle for new players and discouraging the hobby.

3. anyone with a miners right ...or just anyone should be able to sign up to a gov. website or similar with a list of subscriptions to choose to get updates on topics, areas, changes, laws, proposals etc that are normally put out to public (like gazettes are) it cannot be that hard to implement a system to subscribe to various gov websites that have to share this info anyway.

4. just like s7, i also know of another similar spanner that can be thrown into the works.... legislation that exists that can be used if need be, that directly affects prospecting, if the powers that be want it too... but lets save that for next time.

 

[grubstake]

Further to all of the above discussion, the following official proposal was announced last week:
https://www.smartcompany.com.au/tou...entative-world-heritage-status-tourism-boost/

Here is the full (lengthy) Victorian Goldfields World Heritage Tentative Listing submission:
https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6794/

The subsection entitled Integrity is highly relevant to prospectors/fossickers, in particular the following paragraph in which I have bolded key statements:
"All component parts and their elements are in fair-good condition. All coordinate points are in public ownership with some level of public viewing or access available. The component parts do not suffer from adverse effects of development, and threats are mostly confined to bush fires with a number of areas falling within the Bushfire Management Overlay. No new mining is permitted. The longstanding removal, as secondary aggregate, of quartz pebbles and sand from the waste heaps of degraded Deep Lead sites in the buffer zone is almost at an end. Recreational gold prospecting and ‘fossicking’ is not classed as active industrial mining and is popular in Victoria. This small-scale individual’s pursuit is strictly licenced, in designated areas only, under the tradition of the Miner’s Right traceable to 1855. Only hand tools such as pick, shovel, sieve, pan and metal detector are allowed and disturbance to any Aboriginal place, historic place or archaeological site is strictly prohibited. Damage to any tree or shrub is also prohibited and any disturbance to the ground must be re-covered prior to leaving the search area."

 

[loner]

Further to all of the above discussion, the following official proposal was announced last week:
https://www.smartcompany.com.au/tou...entative-world-heritage-status-tourism-boost/

Here is the full (lengthy) Victorian Goldfields World Heritage Tentative Listing submission:
https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6794/

The subsection entitled Integrity is highly relevant to prospectors/fossickers, in particular the following paragraph in which I have bolded key statements:
"All component parts and their elements are in fair-good condition. All coordinate points are in public ownership with some level of public viewing or access available. The component parts do not suffer from adverse effects of development, and threats are mostly confined to bush fires with a number of areas falling within the Bushfire Management Overlay. No new mining is permitted. The longstanding removal, as secondary aggregate, of quartz pebbles and sand from the waste heaps of degraded Deep Lead sites in the buffer zone is almost at an end. Recreational gold prospecting and ‘fossicking’ is not classed as active industrial mining and is popular in Victoria. This small-scale individual’s pursuit is strictly licenced, in designated areas only, under the tradition of the Miner’s Right traceable to 1855. Only hand tools such as pick, shovel, sieve, pan and metal detector are allowed and disturbance to any Aboriginal place, historic place or archaeological site is strictly prohibited. Damage to any tree or shrub is also prohibited and any disturbance to the ground must be re-covered prior to leaving the search area."

So this is saying our Miner`s right DOES allow us to detect , pan and sluice on S7 affected land . How official is that paragraph Grubstake ?

 

[golden_pan]

as i mentioned in 4. of my post before grubstake... there are other bits of legislation just as bad if not worst than S7. that people contravene every day.

Aboriginal place,
not something most people can easily find maps of or the boundary of. there are also a "place" that are not areas, but single spots scatted around the place.
-ABORIGINAL HERITAGE ACT 2006

historic place or archaeological
you will find this section is much more significant IF the authorises want to use it... and they have many times before.
how many of the places you last prospected or fossicked fall under the below terms?



there is a whole overlay for spots and areas like this,
but its also stated that IF a thing or place is classed as such, it can be automatically included in the protection.

found a few old coins? or some old rubbish...??? those can be "artefacts" regardless if on private or public land.



HERITAGE ACT 2017


HERITAGE ACT 2017 - SECT 210 Seizure and forfeiture—archaeological artefacts

Seizure and forfeiture—archaeological artefacts
(1) If an inspector has reasonable grounds for believing that an offence has been or is being or is about to be committed against this Act in relation to an archaeological artefact the inspector may impound and detain that artefact .

also see : HERITAGE ACT 2017 - SECT 209 Powers of inspectors—archaeological artefacts


so while they state there is an exemption for XYZ... the powers to enforce can sneakily fall under other acts as example above.

 

[Flash Jack]

It would be nice if the Victorian government could give us an indication (without political speak) as to how this will impact us. Not only prospectors / fossickers, but also all the other groups wanting to use the bush. Finding the devil in the detail is nigh impossible for ordinary people.

 

[grubstake]

So this is saying our Miner`s right DOES allow us to detect , pan and sluice on S7 affected land . How official is that paragraph Grubstake ?

It's part of the officially published TENTATIVE proposal, so at present it's only really suggestions and not the final word on anything.

 

[grubstake]

as i mentioned in 4. of my post before grubstake... there are other bits of legislation just as bad if not worst than S7. that people contravene every day.

I think this World Heritage Tentative Listing announcement is the missing piece of the puzzle that explains why those large S7 areas covering Ballarat, Bendigo and Castlemaine suddenly appeared last year. They're obviously intended to restrict anything related to mining within those areas, as per the listing proposal. The question now is where those "designated areas" are that prospectors/fossickers can still legally access, according to the listing proposal.

 

[Hawkear]

Whilst I think it has been clarified that we can pursue recreational prospecting in S7 areas at the present time, we should not be overly happy with their expansion to cover prime prospecting areas because of the following.

"Furthermore, under section 120 of the Act, the Minister has delegated the power to impose or revoke exemptions under section 7 of the Act to officers within Resources Victoria"

An exemption is the means whereby prospecting IS allowed in s7 areas, so this statement means that at any time a bureaucrat can revoke the exemption that allows that.

Introduction of more overlays such as world heritage listings only add to the justification that some overzealous bureaucrats may use to make such a decision to ban prospecting.

I note the reference in the world heritage listing submission that "Gold was a democratic mineral, the possession of the legitimate finder". I hope that should there be any future hint that prospecting be banned because of world heritage listing that any bureaucrat involved be reminded that this concept is incorporated in the very documents used to justify the listing.
The goldfields region being one of those areas where this is still possible to this very day.

 

[golden_pan]

as it said... the area only needs to be "heritage significant" not even marked or named to ban any disturbance to that area, as its an "archaeological place".
similar to what happened to "Neville Perry". if the area falls into the examples i posted prior, its automatically considered pseudo protected.

the government... they have a card up their sleeve for any situation they want to control (they write the laws)

its impossible to know every protection or policy put in place. but they expect you to. half the time they cant even tell you whats what..
what we need is a written right to protect us from malicious prosecution.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...500-acre-plot-180km-north-west-Melbourne.html

 

[Imadogman]

I've got a few provocative questions about this totally unnecessary proposal which I totally oppose:
Why on earth would any prospector think it is a good idea to allow international bureaucrats in Paris tell them where they can go and prospect in the Golden Triangle? there are already too many restrictions with so called heritage areas and national parks.
Why is Victoria lining up to effectively sterilise organised mining in one of the richest gold areas in the world? Victoria owes the GT for the kickstart it got in the 1850s. This could potentially continue in the future with advanced exploration and mining using as yet undiscovered techniques and processes. WH listing will stop that dead. Victoria (and Australia) cannot afford the stupid luxury of putting whole areas in glass cases.
Can you really believe the well-funded green and heritage activists who are pushing this project that they will respect prospectors' rights? Really? These tight alliances chip away at the rights of prospectors, not just in Victoria but all over Australia. Bit by bit, state by state, they are shutting us down.
Prospecting and mining in Victoria has a continuous and unbroken link to the 1850s gold rushes. It is living heritage. Not stopped heritage.
Victorian prospectors -- please resist this listing. You have nothing to gain by it, and everything to lose. Give them an inch and they WILL take a mile. Once these agreements get signed your prospecting will be squeezed out. You will eventually be cocooned in red and green tape.
Disclosure: I don't live in Victoria, but I visit sometimes to go detecting.