Prospects dim for fossickers - The Age newspaper article.

[Barra_Mad]

I don't know if this has been said yet in this post but thinking back to a event that happened in Darwin when fishing in danger of being banned in area's we had the i "I float I vote rally" was a huge success and got the massage across load and clear. I say that we all get in our Utes tie a eureka flag to the antenna and drive to Melbourne and simply stop out the front of parliament house in the middle of the road for 60 minutes in peak hour traffic will go into melt down and we will be on prime time news for a week but the voting public will now we mean business and one side of politics will try swing our votes because my vote is up for sale now and can be bought with a promises to block this proposed bill to ban sluicing. the morons in Melbourne rally for stupid reason all the time so lets do it for a good reason. The police my try hit us with a fine for obstructing traffic but that's no worse than a speeding fine and they might think twice if its a hundred or more utes flying the eureka flag in this case we could use the safety in numbers mentality. what do you guys think about that will it work

link to I float I vote video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSXxCBofEek

 

[HeadsUp]

it might just irritate people

some time back there was a protest by truckies doing the similar canberra run . it barely featured on the news

i think promote ourselves with wings on our shoulders instead of loud hailers at our lips

 

[Goldtarget]

I don't know if this has been said yet in this post but thinking back to a event that happened in Darwin when fishing in danger of being banned in area's we had the i "I float I vote rally" was a huge success and got the massage across load and clear. I say that we all get in our Utes tie a eureka flag to the antenna and drive to Melbourne and simply stop out the front of parliament house in the middle of the road for 60 minutes in peak hour traffic will go into melt down and we will be on prime time news for a week but the voting public will now we mean business and one side of politics will try swing our votes because my vote is up for sale now and can be bought with a promises to block this proposed bill to ban sluicing. the morons in Melbourne rally for stupid reason all the time so lets do it for a good reason. The police my try hit us with a fine for obstructing traffic but that's no worse than a speeding fine and they might think twice if its a hundred or more utes flying the eureka flag in this case we could use the safety in numbers mentality. what do you guys think about that will it work

link to I float I vote video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSXxCBofEek

Instead of the the Deni Ute muster, the "Eureka Sluice Muster".
I love the idea of a show of solidarity. I previously floated the idea of a prospectors day where we should rally, provide our stance, educate the public and get the kids involved. A television media presence coupled with a print media campaign. United we stand.

 

[Barra_Mad]

Yeah we need to get the message out there, just a idea that came to me but maby not the best though has some merits. We do need a method to get a message out to the public educate the public on what prospectors really do in the bush. try break down the stereo types the greens are flogging to the public to further there cause.

 

[colinm_au]

My letter to the Age ... Will it be published?

"Greens get it wrong on sluicing"

Concerns that sluicing is such a danger to the environment that it should be banned are wrong.

Using my near silent solar powered recirculating high banking sluice to process stream bed material actually improves the environment.

Processed material is returned to the bank reducing erosion whilst recirculating my water prevents sediment from entering the river and affecting water quality.

The main impact of this ban will be to reduce local and interstate tourism to Country towns that could really do with the money that people like I spend when I visit.

 

[Goldtarget]

Ive been hard at work looking over the newly proposed areas and historical info (my history teacher obviously just needed to focus on the right topic) and trying to get my head around this in case things go south, as well as the older areas that will be affected. In addition I've been prospecting in a pan only style to try and get a feel for how restrictive this will be. Firstly i think apart from Lake Eildon water is going to be an issue. Not that it isn't available as such but the terrain makes it difficult to access, Lederberg river wasn't included in that area and is an historical river so i can't see to many rocks washed without questions being asked. Google maps shows the alpine areas as dense and unless alluvial chasing in the stream there's some hiking to do, that is if and when they are open and accessable.

Obv an on the ground report would be better suited and more helpful, and those in the north and south may be compensated slightly by new areas. However as a GT hunter the section of the whipstick coming under restriction is a real blow. I'm sure by the amount of overburden and tailings piles I've encountered I'm certainly not alone. Eldorado adventurers are facing the same fate. I'm not sure (I've not spent much time there) but Castlemaine suffers a similar situation, some of the greatest alluvial workings in the state occur here.

According to a quick google search there are approx 400 pans to a cubic metre, three proposed restriction on material. For all you alluvial chasers just think about how quick you can get through that with means of a sluice. That's a hell of alot of pans by hand! Yesterday while highbanking i set up a recirculating system, dug the steam, and placed the tailings and overburden in the hole. Now how is that different from shovelling into a pan and washing it in the steam? If anything its LESS impact with the banker. Do the proposed restrictions mean cubic metre total (think about the volume in some river rocks) or material processed? Its a minefield. I average a pan on unclassified material at about 3 minutes (20 to the hour over a few) quicker with the turbo or pyramid, so that's a big day for a cubic. That's alot of work, and I'm younger and fitter than a few prospectors, especially the average retiree.

Every shovel full has to be processed by hand. That's the difference. Instead of crevicing or shovelling like a madman you will have to pan every rock, and then pan out the cons. Sigh. So don't give up the fight, remember the report was to allow NEW areas, not restrict the old ones. We should be allowed both.

 

[dwt]

howdy guys just have time for a quick message,
Update time....... i have recieved emails from the office of Maree Edwards MP and the office of the DEPI, i dont have time to pop these up just yet, will do when i get home, both hold good news, nothing outstanding, but we are certainly making waves that are being noticed, keep up the good work one and all, should be back on the forum thursday/friday, and will post copies of the replies then

 

[Outback]

Guys why talk about appeasing them ( greens ) ! we have the power to legally destroy their stupid reasoning .
Hit their sites with why they will not get any future votes .

Help make these dopes EXTICT

 

[dwt]

As promised some of our pollies have responded to the emails sent to them, and here they are, draw your own conclusions.
I do however think that the Hon Ryan Smith has classicly handballed his response.
I am unaware if the Bendigo Advertiser has printed my letter to them but i am sure if they had, some local prospectors would of informed me so at the base of this post is a email i sent them this morning........... :|

Good morning Bendigo Advertiser please find attached letters i have recieved from MP's in rgards to "the proposed ban on sluicing in victoria" and my letter to the Advertiser "not without a fight you dont".
As i work away for two weeks at a time i have been unable to see wether my letter to you has made publication.
As this subject is gathering momentum, the attention of polliticians and the prospecting community, i would assume the Bendigo Advertiser would like to be at the forefront of reporting this subject as it unfolds.
If the letter sent to you has been published, i thank you in advance, and i will try to locate a copy so i can share it with the other 3000 plus members of a prospecting forum and the PMAV.
Kind regards

 

[7.62marksman]

Some interesting reading in this from back in 2014

 

[LONEWOLF]

I take it that He didn't get a reply?

LW....

 

[7.62marksman]

Thats what i was thinking as well
Will sit and read it all again tomorrow

 

[The Scrounger]

I just thought of the Eureka Stockade not surprisingly.

Just imagine if people turned up in the hundreds if not thousands I wonder what would happen,nothing I suspect.

Australia is being literally being taken away from us :N:

The fight against tyranny goes on ]