Using a dredge in Australia for recreational prospecting is illegal - information and questions

[G0lddigg@]

no this is not dredging it is manual removal of material just like a shovel or a bruch and shovel.

[video=480,360]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGX1wXWl1rk[/video]

 

[Guest]

I think aussie detectors "bendigo" have got a few for sale' iv used a yabbie pump but it's not the same as the real thing and still easy to buy one than build it.

 

[golddiggerart]

I think aussie detectors "bendigo" have got a few for sale' iv used a yabbie pump but it's not the same as the real thing and still easy to buy one than build it.

My son won't let me use his Yabbie Pump lol

 

[Guest]

This is an eductor. It is mechanical, it has moving parts, it is illegal. Don't make things harder for us all than it is now. Promoting the use of these when we are already having a battle to retain the use of sluices is reckless and selfish. This discussion has been back and forth for years. Nothing changes, its a mechanical device using moving parts to extract gravel from a stream bed and thus illegal under a Miners Right in Victoria.

 

[dazza513]

That looks a bit different, like yabbie pumping into a bucket really? Banned? The new australian way, if in doubt ban it!

 

[Guest]

So cracvac and all those other bilge pump or pump devices shouldn't be used in vic either? Lots do, maybe it's time for a post that outlines what can and can't be used? What about a mini trommel?

 

[G0lddigg@]

This is an eductor. It is mechanical, it has moving parts, it is illegal. Don't make things harder for us all than it is now. Promoting the use of these when we are already having a battle to retain the use of sluices is reckless and selfish. This discussion has been back and forth for years. Nothing changes, its a mechanical device using moving parts to extract gravel from a stream bed and thus illegal under a Miners Right in Victoria.

I dont agree with that puddler bill and you can buy these type of product in any prospecting store in victoria. both crevis suckers and yabby pump conversion kits.

Its operated by hand force and the force created is limited by manual drive, there is no mechanical benefit of power in a system like this. To say they are mechanical is going waaaaaaaaaaay out on a limb. I doubt anyone thinks that theses little suckers will cause more damage than a shovel or crowbar.

mechanical
mkank()l/
adjective
adjective: mechanical

1.
operated by a machine or machinery.
"a mechanical device"
relating to machines or machinery.
"the helicopters are prone to mechanical failure"
2.
(of an action) done without thought or spontaneity; automatic.
"she stopped the mechanical brushing of her hair"
synonyms: automatic, machine-like, unthinking, unemotional, unconscious, involuntary, instinctive, routine, matter-of-fact, habitual, inattentive; More
unfeeling, impersonal, inhuman, lifeless, soulless, uninspired, unanimated, casual;
perfunctory, cursory, careless, unimaginative, negligent
"she stopped the mechanical brushing of her hair"
antonyms: conscious, emotional, careful
3.
relating to physical forces or motion; physical.
"the smoothness was the result of mechanical abrasion"
archaic
(of a theory) explaining phenomena in terms only of physical processes.
archaic
relating to mechanics as a science.
synonyms: mechanized, machine-driven, automated, automatic, motor-driven, power-driven, self-propelled
"the invention of the mechanical clock in the fourteenth century"
antonyms: manual
4.
relating to the exclusive legal right to reproduce a particular recorded version of a song or piece of music.
"mechanical copyright"

noun
noun: mechanical; plural noun: mechanicals

1.
the working parts of a vehicle.
"a major overhaul of the mechanicals"
2.
archaic
a manual worker.
"rude mechanicals"

 

[Salutations]

This is an eductor. It is mechanical, it has moving parts, it is illegal. Don't make things harder for us all than it is now. Promoting the use of these when we are already having a battle to retain the use of sluices is reckless and selfish. This discussion has been back and forth for years. Nothing changes, its a mechanical device using moving parts to extract gravel from a stream bed and thus illegal under a Miners Right in Victoria.

Can totally understand the confusion though, it looks nothing mechanical to it, you have to hand pump it yourself, yet a yabbie pump is fine...I dunno.

 

[Easypeasy]

OK, sorry to open a can of worms here guys.

So, is there not some Authority I could write to to ask, or would that be inviting trouble by alerting them? You see, I am a very experienced SCUBA diver and if I was using this and passing the take to my mate who has a Gold Cube we could do quite a bit of work in the deeper hard to get at holes.

If a Gold Cube has a motor (with moving parts) and is legal...

 

[Beagleboy]

Cube is like a high banker and you can use it.
Hand pump is powered by hand and there fore allowed. If you use petrol or electric pump to suck gravels from the creek, than you have a dredge and that is not allowed.

 

[dwt]

That looks a bit different, The new australian way, if in doubt ban it!

Ain't that the truth mate
I designed and built a portable wash plant that can be used under water, the whole system (less the pumps) is negatively buoyant, I trial ran it at a certain "X" lake with mixed success, having the coast guard boys call the parks boys call the water catchment lads, mrs dwt and I were left standing on the bank with final wording of " yeah look mate, don't really know what that dose, or what your trying to prove, but I think it's best you just move on!!"
My response " yeah, no worries cobber, strait after you guys go eat a d##k!!"
Having been escorted from the lake shore, mrs dwt was not impressed.
It was totally legal, hand load only!!!!!
But the *********s couldn't understand how it worked or the principal of the unit so they banned it from being used in that area....... Hmmmmmmm :|

Ps, the pic of it is on the forum somewhere, one of my first posts I think 8)
HA, found it, (just a bit of time between editing hahaaaa)

 

[G0lddigg@]

Bloody hell mate youve gone and built something i had in my head for ages.... bet that smashed clay

 

[G0lddigg@]

To be fair i remember that post just didnt see it in i5s almighty glory untill now

 

[Tricky Dick]

Hi all,
In my humble opinion, I reckon a hand/yabby pump is not classified as a machine, because no mechanical advantage is obtained by its use.
I saw another post that looked at the Vic regulations and proposed the fine would be $140,000 if fined for using a pump or prospecting in an exempted river. There is a 'default penalty' of 10 penalty units for individuals which is about $1440, rather than the 1000 penalty units for a corporation ($140,000).
There is also no specified penalty or offence for prospecting in an expected river, it's just listed as something that you're not supposed to do.
I've also never come across a post, or heard news of anyone being prosecuted for any such breaches, so I reckon circumspect and modest use of anything, other than a dredge, will not land you in trouble.... Famous last words

 

[Tathradj]

Now that is bloody smart thinking mate. I commend you.
I see a way it can be used in a stream though.
Put the hopper in the bed and run the sluice up on the bank where the sediment cannot dump directly into the stream.
I bet the "authorities" were looking at the venturi on the bottom of the hopper and decided that since it was what it was, it must be illegal.
.
When asked what is it say, "Mate, I am being responsible for what I do and I was worried about silt being dumped directly in the stream, So I use this method".

That looks a bit different, The new australian way, if in doubt ban it!

Ain't that the truth mate
I designed and built a portable wash plant that can be used under water, the whole system (less the pumps) is negatively buoyant, I trial ran it at a certain "X" lake with mixed success, having the coast guard boys call the parks boys call the water catchment lads, mrs dwt and I were left standing on the bank with final wording of " yeah look mate, don't really know what that dose, or what your trying to prove, but I think it's best you just move on!!"
My response " yeah, no worries cobber, strait after you guys go eat a d##k!!"
Having been escorted from the lake shore, mrs dwt was not impressed.
It was totally legal, hand load only!!!!!
But the *********s couldn't understand how it worked or the principal of the unit so they banned it from being used in that area....... Hmmmmmmm :|

Ps, the pic of it is on the forum somewhere, one of my first posts I think 8)
HA, found it, (just a bit of time between editing hahaaaa)
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/428/1422343059_image.jpg

 

[dwt]

Bloody hell mate youve gone and built something i had in my head for ages.... bet that smashed clay

Unfortunately no, it didn't smash the clay as well as I was hoping, made a few mods since the build day and..... Clay no more, it's running at the moment on a 1 on 1 off 5 day dig, I was hoping for 5 ounces at the end of the 5 days but alas, at the end of day one i still have 4oz 28.5grams to go!!!!!!
Sonofabiarch

 

[Tathradj]

Be also nice to use at Oallen Ford.
Crikey Boss,
You got me thinking on this. LOL
That is if you do not mind.

 

[G0lddigg@]

Lol ... i built a prototype and it failed. But i found by dropping the layflat and going to airseeder 1 inch and i boight a pump with 105 meter head. Boy did it smash clay. Just hadnt worked out how to stabilize it and by George youve done it old boy

 

[dwt]

Tathradji, I could of told them that the Prime Minister himself was diving and digging, they just didn't care, oh well, look out if X lake dries out abit, hahaaaaa,
I'm using the unit at the moment set up on the side of a creek bed, working just as we'll out of the water

 

[dwt]

Be also nice to use at Oallen Ford.
Crikey Boss,
You got me thinking on this. LOL
That is if you do not mind.

Knock yourself out cobber