WARNING TO FOSSICKERS ABOUT NSW SLUICING DEVELOPMENTS

[LONEWOLF]

But MikeB05, NAPFA and NSW Will need everyone's Help on this.. This Will affect ALL of us... By Doing something about this in NSW, may prevent the Same from Happening in Other States As Well... And look at the Big Issue... It's not just about Bankers....That is only the First bit of it... There WILL be more....

aussiefarmer this is where part of the fight has to start... With the Towns that this Will hurt the Most.... :Y:

LW... Dam your quick Tathradj...

 

[Jemba]

Again i call for guy's who do not belong to NAPFA to join weather you use a banker or not rally with us please we do need your help. When NAPFA started the stick they wielded was only small but with each new member that stick gets a little longer and thicker.
:Y:

 

[7.62marksman]

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=23043

 

[Jemba]

Guys as these post crow in size please remember now is the time to be tolerant of others opinions and open to new ideas. The best way we can help is by supporting NAPFA. Together WE STAND. :Y:

 

[GaryO]

Can NAPFA please make it easier to join ... most people arent going to bother printing out forms and sending them in.
An instant online or over the phone method is essential to getting members .. at the moment especially, members are needed like never before.

 

[GaryO]

I will be honest and say ive wanted to join for years now but this ancient payment system has always got the better of me and ive given up
I will join today given the latest developments BUT PLEASE as a major priority look into online instant payment .. we do it here so surely its not difficult to set up ?
Gaz

 

[Eldorado]

https://form.jotform.co/napfa/nsw-amp-act-prospectors-and-fossick
GaryO,just fill out the form in this link,submit it and go to a Westpac branch to put the $25 into NAPFA's account.Don't forget to tick the box at the bottom to show which way you are paying and put your name with the payment as a reference.

 

[GaryO]

Ive done it Eldorado , via scanning it etc .. but most people dont have time to go to banks or are not savvy when it comes to online banking , so they just wont get around to joining.

But thanks , i didnt find that option on their website when i looked. , at least you can submit the form quickly that way :Y:

 

[Jemba]

Thanks Eldy. :Y:

 

[Way2go]

Hi All,

I think many of you are jumping the gun, so to speak.

I am all for the small guy and the prospecting clubs; however, I have seen too many videos on YouTube showing prospectors (here in NSW) using high bankers and not respecting the environment, digging large hole and not remediating the area. If it was not for these people I believe we would stand a better chance of keeping them in service.

If joining NAPFA makes you feel good, then join. Groups like this with passionate members can help organise gatherings, submissions to the relevant authority and in some cases make deals with local land owners to allow prospecting. They also do a good job keeping us novices informed of legislation changes etc.

If you have a problem or are presented a problem, instead of complaining about the problem, identify a couple of positive solutions or actions to these problems and propose them. This will make prospectors look responsible and give the authorities/government some possible solutions to the existing problem.

An Example 1 would be:

Issue - High Bankers are causing environmental damage due to the silt coming from the washing action.

Solution 1 - Use a reticulation system and not discharge the was into the creek, stream, river or other water course.
Solution 2 - have all water used in a high banker pass through an approved silt filter / filter system before being released into the creek, stream, river or water course.

I know this message will upset a few. More than likely those of you who have been doing the wrong thing will be the ones who disagree with my comments.

food for thought.

 

[Jemba]

The first part of your post i totally agree with but the second part, you may find NAPFA has already stated that to the powers to be?? And it is a bit more than feeling good about joining NAPFA it gives them a stronger voice. :Y:

 

[Tathradj]

A lot of good points there Cobber.
We who do the right thing already do that.
True, I like many have made a mistake from time to time but
I can tell you now, It gets fixed in one hell of a hurry plus
I suffer a lot of embarrassment.
Public Education is a large factor that we all should engage
in a friendly way.
Not start a civil riot because some poor person has no idea.
Marvelous what can be achieved with a friendly grin and good
solid advise.

Hi All,

I think many of you are jumping the gun, so to speak.

I am all for the small guy and the prospecting clubs; however, I have seen too many videos on YouTube showing prospectors (here in NSW) using high bankers and not respecting the environment, digging large hole and not remediating the area. If it was not for these people I believe we would stand a better chance of keeping them in service.

If joining NAPFA makes you feel good, then join. Groups like this with passionate members can help organise gatherings, submissions to the relevant authority and in some cases make deals with local land owners to allow prospecting. They also do a good job keeping us novices informed of legislation changes etc.

If you have a problem or are presented a problem, instead of complaining about the problem, identify a couple of positive solutions or actions to these problems and propose them. This will make prospectors look responsible and give the authorities/government some possible solutions to the existing problem.

An Example 1 would be:

Issue - High Bankers are causing environmental damage due to the silt coming from the washing action.

Solution 1 - Use a reticulation system and not discharge the was into the creek, stream, river or other water course.
Solution 2 - have all water used in a high banker pass through an approved silt filter / filter system before being released into the creek, stream, river or water course.

I know this message will upset a few. More than likely those of you who have been doing the wrong thing will be the ones who disagree with my comments.

food for thought.

 

[Gilly47]

We INVESTED in a Highbanker because my wife has serious difficulties with panning and sieving, our plan was to set up the highbanker and i do the digging and wife looks after the highbanker.

We are in our seventies and were going to spend a few years on the fossicking trails, now without this aid wife will not be able to participate at the levels she anticipated when we sold our Home and are getting set up with caravan and tow vehicle.

Looks like we made a BIG mistake, we had researched the fossicking hobby for a number of years and now there is only one of us that can participate.

On another note we are also restricted from using National Parks as we have a small dog as a companion and we both need power as in a generator, for our medical devices that keep us mobile.

A Cpap machine and a neuro stimulator are now an integral part of our twilight years.. GO FIGURE????

 

[Creekbed]

They are classifying a High Banker to be a Mechanical device
as it has a Mechanical Water Pump attached to it.

That is not correct! It is neither petrol or battery powered. A Highbanker is an inanimate object that has no moving parts nor does it have a pump attached to it.

You may use a pump to transfer water to the sluice body but that pump is not part of the apparatus and if you were to set the pump so the hose does not actually attach to the highbanker then they are two separate pieces of equipment.

A water pump is still legally able to be used to move water for the purpose of prospecting or fossicking.

 

[7.62marksman]

Ok this is maybe one solution
so the law states that you cant have a pump hooked up to a highbanker as that is illegal no grey area there now
it is ok to pump water from the river
so there for if it is not connected to the highbanker and only used as a hose like you would hose your garden then it should be fine remembering that its not connected to any thing
i am sure we could adjust our bankers to do this i know i can with mine
shoot me down or build me up its just a maybe this will work maybe this way is legal

 

[iamagoldenoldie2]

a motor and pump connected to a highbanker is the current defined illegality, as Marksman suggests and I have eluded to , if its not connected then there should not be a problem , simply redesign the spray bar to be independently self supported and not connected, a cooling shower for the operator , but they will work around that one , I assume that the environmental concerns relate to the silt runoff which can be managed however the "no excavation" part is the other dark horse yet to be let loose, prepare for that possibility.
All in all , one needs to examine the intent and context of any Act or Regulation with its application to fossicking, if you have read the business activity reports published by the Regulator , fossickers are insignificant to the purpose of the mining act and regulation, the large mining corporations are killing workers and destroying the environment and worst of all not paying their fees, all this is openly reported

 

[Jemba]

Guys you must keep in mind if you were to go to court and fight a charge the government pockets will be so much deeper than yours.
So I ask this just what dose high-banking mean? What it means to me is this. It allows me to take the water to the dirt and not the dirt to the water. By taking the water to the dirt or work area if you like cuts down on a lot of manual labor. Where as if I was to use a wheelbarrow and take the dirt to the water and dump it in a longtom or sluice would mean a lot more work. But I would be within the law at this point in time.

 

[aussiefarmer]

I do love the ingenuity of these hose ideas :Y: and if all appeals fail we will need to think out of the box , but bending the rules isnt helping reverse the law changes that are basically another notch in their belt towards a total ban on interacting with the bush.

This great hobby has been attacked from many angles and slowly they are strangling the life out of it and the stupid part is the more ground they have stopped access to (with conservation areas etc) more concentrated and obvious our diggings have become.
Also the Tv shows and internet have introduced this hobby to a young fit style of cashed up newbies with high capacity bankers and they believe quantity will deliver riches instead of digging smarter through good research and knowledge , then at the end of the day when their exhausted and dissapointed they just drive away leaving their mullock heaps pilled up like trophies for the day out.

Almost any trip to a public area i have done i have either seen people breaking rules or seen the aftermath, i honestly cant remember a public spot without rubbish or banker mounds .

I am not sure that these laws are coming from people on the ground so much , unless its a push from the tree change lifestyle blockies that dont want people in "their" creek or even the odd ranger on a power trip, i more think its the office dwelling nature experts, that simpily dont want people in the NSW bush and if that is the case we are screwed.

I dont know the answer but i do believe proving these struggling historic towns will disappear is key, as most tourists come to fossick , look at Victoria where access to maps and fossicking areas are promoted through goverment links , the historic gold towns are thriving and growing and really make NSW gold towns look derelict and forgotten , to me NSW government obviously sees the old diggings as a ugly scar on the environment and refuse to promote them and basically want to lock the whole bush up to stop any further degradation .

We are being guided by highly educated fools , they are that smart they are dumb, being a farmer i am used to silky handed proffessors making rules and decisions on things they have neved physically seen or done , god help this country when the next generation of wifi educated ,never been told no, experts come to power

Well.... i vented and dont feel much better anyway :lol: i started because i thought the thread was drifting off topic but i only made it worse :lol:

 

[Tathradj]

You are correct CreekBed.
That is how they are classifying a HighBanker and the main
argument is that a HighBanker is a static device.
Just because there is a hose from the pump attached to it in their
minds is a mechanically assisted device.
We know it isn't.

They are classifying a High Banker to be a Mechanical device
as it has a Mechanical Water Pump attached to it.

That is not correct! It is neither petrol or battery powered. A Highbanker is an inanimate object that has no moving parts nor does it have a pump attached to it.

You may use a pump to transfer water to the sluice body but that pump is not part of the apparatus and if you were to set the pump so the hose does not actually attach to the highbanker then they are two separate pieces of equipment.

A water pump is still legally able to be used to move water for the purpose of prospecting or fossicking.

 

[G0lddigg@]

Can call them out on this term alone. T he highbanker is still a highbanker without the pump and will work by bucketing water into it.

"The use of a highbanker, which is a petrol or electric powered device, in fossicking, is prohibited by the Mining Regulation 2016"

Put ur hand up if you have a petrol driven highbanker??? No one.... well it will be an interesting discussion on tje day how a hose a pump and the other thing are all considered a highbanker.