Loose lips sink ships..and nuggets !

[casper]

there's a twist to this story - although the gold was dug up on a mining lease the lease holders may ultimately have no claim on the 'stolen' gold because all minerals "in the ground" are the property of the crown. There is an argument atm that the theft was from the crown and not the lease holder :/

 

[AngerManagement]

A lot more to the background... As in most legal cases it is about what is not said and or where they know the facts and your caught telling porkies or inconsistent.

1: Not all were charged with the same breaches - Pics of 4 but one is blurred out... released all three men on bail

2: 1 worked in the Shire

3: They had detectors and had been on a trip that produced nothing ? No mention of where or for how long said trip was.

4: A BBQ and disused mining pit nearby = How many other locals and or Grey Nomads have stopped and a poke..

5: Interesting use of words... "explore the bottom of a disused mining pit nearby, where one of them stumbled over the large chunk of gold.

There is a lot more behind all that...

6: "the men then used their metal detectors to recover more than a kilogram of gold " Does not gel with point 5 ?

7: "largest specimen a rare gold leaf-type nugget was smashed to pieces" Something you would do to attempt to hide the exact type and thus actual location from whence it may have come...

8: "the company was monitoring the case, but "it would not be appropriate to make any further comment as the matter is still before the courts". " That is very interesting....

My gut says they found it elsewhere And they came up with the BBQ and disused Mine in an attempt to cover the real story - But that is just my conjecture from a Newspaper post

You can bet the Company involved has more info and would be in a better position to say where the GOLD was from (If they can get at some to test it )... Some one will know where it was found and at some stage; visit said area again and who knows what the outcome might be....

They though they saw a chance to pocket some Gold from a company and that it would not be missed - Trespass and Stealing with knowledge that they were in breach or one or more laws etc... Disused Mine Shaft is an option that other owners have used previously in these sorts of cases........

 

[madtuna]

Can't say a great deal other than it wasn't just a few misguided poor prospectors being where they shouldn't have been.

Knew full well where they were, what they were doing and it wasn't the first time.
Stopped for a BBQ? yeah right. They have a track record of stopping for BBQ's

 

[Smoky bandit]

I wonder how many people would go into a DISUSED mine with there detector.......Nobody around........in an isolated part of Australia.......If they new there was big chunks of gold to be found ] ] :Y: :Y: :Y: I know its against the law............and called "STEELING" More like illegal finding........... BUT.... ...WHAT would you really do.

 

[Mickkat12]

Lets not crucify them.

From what i read in that article they didnt break into someones house and steal gold.
They didnt mugg anyone for the gold.
They didnt con anyone for the gold.

They were driving through an area that was leased and stopped for a lunch break BBQ spotted an easy gold nugget and greed got the better of them.

It was wrong and they need a big slapp on the wrist maybe lose a detector or two and return the gold to the owners.

But lets face it...the're not hardened criminals.

it's funny how the entry level person gets smashed by the law , but the ones that are elite get trivial repercussions .

 

[Gem in I]

As a newbie I'm watching this because having invested substantially $ wise in prospecting equipment my biggest fear is going somewhere I'm not supposed to be which can be extremely frustrating because even where you are allowed to go can still have fences and you ask yourself is that ok. ? you don't need a liscence for a metal detector but you do on some say cb operations ?so you learn the basics of operation other than just turning it on! So a mate just asked me recently what's it like and I said I think only about 10% know where they go and 90% know not what they do and then the govner says maybe it was underground so maybe I should have it. I can't wait to get out of newbie ground.

 

[Moneybox]

As a newbie I'm watching this because having invested substantially $ wise in prospecting equipment my biggest fear is going somewhere I'm not supposed to be which can be extremely frustrating because even where you are allowed to go can still have fences and you ask yourself is that ok. ? you don't need a liscence for a metal detector but you do on some say cb operations ?so you learn the basics of operation other than just turning it on! So a mate just asked me recently what's it like and I said I think only about 10% know where they go and 90% know not what they do and then the govner says maybe it was underground so maybe I should have it. I can't wait to get out of newbie ground.

With the gear you've got you shouldn't be a newbie for long. Just make sure you learn to read the readily available Mines Dept data on accessible ground and head for the spots with a history of finding gold. If we follow the rules there's really not a lot of ground where we can't freely go or go with permission. The great thing is that we have free access to Tengraph, Geomap and the likes.

 

[madtuna]

With the gear you've got you shouldn't be a newbie for long. Just make sure you learn to read the readily available Mines Dept data on accessible ground and head for the spots with a history of finding gold. If we follow the rules there's really not a lot of ground where we can't freely go or go with permission. The great thing is that we have free access to Tengraph, Geomap and the likes.

Spot on!
In W.A. for example, I'd hazard a guess and say there is more ground you can go than ground you cant. There is really no need and no excuse to go poaching and only yourself to blame if you do and get caught.

 

[Gem in I]

I think i will use a tag along tour for my first w.a trip to give me a face to face on regulations and user status rather than my interpretation of what i understand (my bad maybe part ignorance maybe part trying to learn too much to quick) and thanks guys for the helpful info. My other concern is the leaseholders may lose that awesome gold after paying the govner and jumping through god knows how many hoops to have exclusive rights to it and surely they must have known what they were doing was right but they just hadn't dug it up yet?

 

[Gem in I]

I worry the bleak outlook for you w.a prospectors the mining companys will have because of a few guys greed or mistake.
could it end up looking like fnq as i understand it with tenements etc or am i looking at it wrong.

 

[grubstake]

Three out of the four have now had their day in court.

Men who stole $60,000 worth of gold while having a barbecue hit with $5,000 fines (ABC News):
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-...est-gold-thieves-hit-with-heavy-fines/8526638

 

[7.62marksman]

Stolen gold seized by WA Government

The case has also resulted in a small, yet curious windfall for the WA Government, with all of the stolen gold forfeited to the state.

While the men were officially charged with defrauding tenement holder Evolution Mining by stealing the gold, prosecutors argued the gold, in fact, belonged to the Government.

you have got to be kidding me

 

[Goldtarget]

Well at the risk of upsetting (some very compelling) posters in the thread already, all I can say is this just seems (on the surface) a bit of good old aussie larikanism.

4 mates go out, 4 equally divided shares of some gold owned by the queen. I'm sure she has enough she could share a little with Davo, Stevo, Dazza & Mick ?

I can't help but sit here and laugh that 4 blokes figure out how to share and properly divide up the spoils and the cover story (true or not) turns out to be the reason they (equally) had to hand it all back. Bloody hilarious.

I'm sure there was a time if you did this they'd convict you and send you to another country to live....So by that comparison they probably did alright.

 

[treasureman]

Scum

 

[GypsyGoldAu]

you have got to be kidding me

Yeah, see my post here;... https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=331258#p331258

in particular, the PS at the bottom...

More to come from this story i think...

 

[Bazz]

A lot more to the background... As in most legal cases it is about what is not said and or where they know the facts and your caught telling porkies or inconsistent.

1: Not all were charged with the same breaches - Pics of 4 but one is blurred out... released all three men on bail

2: 1 worked in the Shire

3: They had detectors and had been on a trip that produced nothing ? No mention of where or for how long said trip was.

4: A BBQ and disused mining pit nearby = How many other locals and or Grey Nomads have stopped and a poke..

5: Interesting use of words... "explore the bottom of a disused mining pit nearby, where one of them stumbled over the large chunk of gold.

There is a lot more behind all that...

6: "the men then used their metal detectors to recover more than a kilogram of gold " Does not gel with point 5 ?

7: "largest specimen a rare gold leaf-type nugget was smashed to pieces" Something you would do to attempt to hide the exact type and thus actual location from whence it may have come...

8: "the company was monitoring the case, but "it would not be appropriate to make any further comment as the matter is still before the courts". " That is very interesting....

My gut says they found it elsewhere And they came up with the BBQ and disused Mine in an attempt to cover the real story - But that is just my conjecture from a Newspaper post

You can bet the Company involved has more info and would be in a better position to say where the GOLD was from (If they can get at some to test it )... Some one will know where it was found and at some stage; visit said area again and who knows what the outcome might be....

They though they saw a chance to pocket some Gold from a company and that it would not be missed - Trespass and Stealing with knowledge that they were in breach or one or more laws etc... Disused Mine Shaft is an option that other owners have used previously in these sorts of cases........

Thanks AM

Now that sounds plausible, and trespass is trespass and stealing is stealing, whether it's supposedly from the bottom of a disused mine that is owned by someone else owns or a garden gnome from my front lawn.

Hope the law comes down on them as I expect it would if I was the transgressor, and if anyone knows who has my garden gnome, PM me

Cheers
Judge Bazz

 

[LONEWOLF]

Gnomes often go on Holiday.... Some Return.... Some find their True Gnome Home and never return..... :lol: ] :rainbow: Here's Mine...

LW...

 

[grubstake]

Finally, the case is closed:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-...unluckiest-gold-thieves-pleads-guilty/8790286

 

[Jaros]

Nice backyard you have there?? :Y:

 

[LC76]

Still doesn't sit right with me that the mining company never got it back.

A bit backwards claiming the guys stole it when WA claim the mining company never owned it to begin with.

The guys should have got a slap on the wrist and the gold returned to the mining company end of story.

Government is so bloody corrupt.