WA 371 ounces & a jack hammer

[Gail]

Well good luck to the happy diggers on there find. The thing I find a bit silly is the jack hammer in the picture, I mean a well read magazine about gold. This is breaking the law using a jack hammer, are there many others who do this also. We only use hand tools because we want to be able to continue detecting in WA and others states. Am I wrong in my way of thinking or not.

 

[Nugget]

Here's the picture Gail is referring to.

 

[Bradbury88]

Wrong. He is just greedy. I believe and been told no electric tools can be used. Even a pump for a sluice box. But there also has to be one tool to stuff it for others.

 

[Ramjet]

Wrong wrong and wrong.
Put's us all in a bad light.

 

[TenOunce Tone]

Do we know if its on a lease?

 

[Gail]

Hi, TenOunce Tone by the sound of the story its not their lease. But don't know for sure.

 

[Nugget]

The story does suggest they were simply wandering around in the bush, traveling several klms between patches. But yeah who knows.

 

[Guest]

Before everyone jumps in & gives this bloke a heap just remember there are different rules in every state.

For example Western Australia has in place a "special prospecting license" which is for gold only & allows the small prospector access to alluvial gold deposits. It may only be held by individuals not companies. With this you can dig up to a depth of 50m (or greater with approval from the Minister). EDIT: you can also hold up to 10 x SPL's hence the wandering around in the bush bit maybe?
Without knowing for sure what conditions these blokes were operating under its a bit rough to give them a spray.

 

[Diggerdude]

In defense of this bloke, the only people who would say he is greedy using a jackhammer are people who have never been here. The calcrete is hard and I mean really hard, most jackhammers even struggle with this stuff. If you had a screaming signal in the calcrete would you just walk away and leave it? I doubt very much.
Give the bloke a go and be happy for his great find, no need for all the sour grapes, nearly everyone over here uses kanga hammer on that stuff.
Also nearly all the ground over here has some sort of lease on it, so it's highly likely he has permission to do what he is.

DD

 

[Ag Man]

Well said DD & Basko.
Who knows what sort of licence/permit he's got...

It's not good form to bag someone out unless there's facts to back them up

- seen that on other forums & it does no one any good.

 

[Guest]

Good on him I say, we dont know the whole story, and plus if you have been to the outback you would know no one is going to notice that hole. Plus with all the greedy politicians and bankers around good on some battler getting out in the desert and earning a lucky find. Plus he will spend a good portion in the pub by the looks of him so its good for the economy.

 

[Peko]

For all we know the story could be years old too.

 

[Nugget]

You guys are 100% right, without knowing the full details and the state specific rules and regs it's not really our place to judge.

 

[navieko]

Good on them I say. Plenty more things to worry about in the world than a small hole in the middle of nowhere that was dug with the aid of a jack hammer. No harm done.

 

[Gail]

I am not bagging them or their great find but the jack hammer, yes the ground is hard and we have spent hours with a chisel and hammer getting nuggets. And also 3years on a small reef we found as our time in WA kept running out and had to head back NSW. So this question is more about how many go against the rules and use jack hammers and other power tools. As for not notice the hole you walk over one thats been dug and refilled you notice

 

[AuSearch]

Great find. Id bet plenty that it's on a lease.

 

[Diggerdude]

I am not bagging them or their great find but the jack hammer, yes the ground is hard and we have spent hours with a chisel and hammer getting nuggets. And also 3years on a small reef we found as our time in WA kept running out and had to head back NSW. So this question is more about how many go against the rules and use jack hammers and other power tools. As for not notice the hole you walk over one thats been dug and refilled you notice

This small reef you found, who's lease were you on? And did you inform the lease holder ( if you had told them they would have mined it themselves) ? This is what really stuffs access in WA. Mining companies are always blocking access now because no one reports there finds, keeping it to themselves to come back year after year. They don't take your gold, they just want to know where you got it so they can explore deeper. This is the greedy part in my opinion and is also stealing.
If by some chance it wasn't under lease, why didn't you peg it?
I don't know many saints, whats that saying , whoever has not sinned cast the first stone?

DD

 

[Guest]

Unless someone can show me that they were operating under restriction (or a simple Miner's Right + 40E permit) & not allowed to use a jackhammer, well then the jack hammer is irrelevant because we do not know what permissions they had.

This is breaking the law using a jack hammer, are there many others who do this also. We only use hand tools because we want to be able to continue detecting in WA and others states. Am I wrong in my way of thinking or not.

I think you are wrong in your way of thinking because you don't know for sure they are breaking the law.

There are many different scenarios/licenses available in WA that would make it legal (SPL's, PL's, mining lease or other tenement etc.) The fact that these blokes went into a popular magazine with their find & the irrelevant tool wasn't covered up would make me believe that these fellas could, if required, produce evidence that what they done in recovering the gold was legitimate.
If not I'll have egg on my face, so will they & GGT will be the biggest tools for publishing the photo.

 

[Ramjet]

I agree. Withdraw my comments due to not having the full story.
The full story may have stopped some of us jumping to conclusions?

 

[Greglz86]

Someone should just track this fella down and ask him
Greg