NSW State Conservation Areas Rules

G'day

Was chatting to the NPWS today and asked them for a list of 'illegal activities' or a difinitive list of what's NOT allowed in a SCA as their info always seems vague and enquiries are usually met with another question "Why? What is it you want to do?" I don't play this game. It means you are just likely to get this one persons opinion, not a real answer. So for asking for a specific 'NO' list I recieved an email that, I was assured, would clear up any confussion.

The following is the guts of the email-

Subject: Fossicking
Dear Mr Pxxxxh

Thank you for your enquiry regarding prospecting in national parks.

Under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 (NPW Act), exploration, prospecting and mining can occur in state conservation areas subject to environmental assessment, but it is unlawful to prospect or mine in any other category of park (including national parks). There is some ambiguity about the meaning of terms used in this area. To prospect is defined in the NPW Act as “to search for any mineral by any means and carry out such works and remove such samples as may be necessary to test the mineral bearing qualities of land (Section 5 Definitions). Fossicking is generally understood to be a smaller scale activity that involves searching for and collecting minerals and gemstones with hand held implements.

In this context I understand you are more interested in fossicking than prospecting. All forms of exploration and extraction, including fossicking (or gold prospecting), has the potential to adversely impact the environment. For this reason, the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) policy, (adopted July 2007), is:

“Other than where currently allowed (at the time of adoption of this policy), fossicking will not be allowed in any park. Where it is currently allowed, including under a Plan of Management, consideration should be given to phasing out the activity.”

The local relevant parks office would be able to advise whether or not fossicking is allowed in any particular area, noting the policy is to phase it out over time.

Please note that, to assist in protecting the natural and cultural heritage values of parks, the National Parks and Wildlife Regulation 2009 regulates potentially damaging activities, including:
• Prohibiting a person from interfering with, digging up, collecting or removing soil, sand, gravel, fossil, clay, rock, ochre, mineral, among other things, in a park (Clause 11(1)(h)); and
• Prohibits the use of metal detectors in parks without the consent of the Park Authority (Clause 16(3)). (However, there is no constraint on the carrying or possession of metal detectors in parks.)

If you require office contacts for any specific parks please let me know.

I hope this information is of assistance.

Make of it what you will. Me? I'm clear as mud

Cheers

Chimpy

Read more: http://alluvialgprospectors.proboards.com/index.cgi#ixzz2RAgxRV2i

They forgot to add the bit where if you are a large mining company its a free for all

[quote="Chimpy"]


“Other than where currently allowed (at the time of adoption of this policy), fossicking will not be allowed in any park. Where it is currently allowed, including under a Plan of Management, consideration should be given to phasing out the activity.”

This is why we need to get onboard with NAPFA & get a unified voice against these bureaucrats.

G'day

I asked why SCA's are not just declared as national parks and the answer was that they weren't quite the same and that is so mining can be allowed. So yeah, all set up for the big boys but at the same time a policy in place to phase out the little guy.

Cheers

Chimpy

My understanding is that fossicking is only presently allowed in one State Conservation Area in NSW.....Torrington SCA. This SCA has been a favourite hunting ground for smokey/amethyst quartz crystals, feldspar crystals and emeralds for many years. The pegmatites in the park have produced some of the best emerald (beryl) crystals in Australia with some crystals as thick as a finger up to 10 inches long with thick bands of emerald coloured beryl along their length.

Wrote a big rant n rave, gave up n deleted.

Damn SCA's, somewhere in the legislation of the handover of all that NSW state forest to NPWL to be SCA's(6-7 years ago or so)
the wording was what was can still be. ie. fossicking allowed then it still would be.
But no renewing of the allowing so by now its all over n denied...
Although in part of the legislation, they were meant to put up signs at the entrances stating what u couldnt do.??

And all those SCA areas were allocated a large boundary to encompass all possible areas of mineral resources.
And was done so to reserve the minerals for big business to mine at their leisure whilst supposedly conserving it
and to block out the little guy from exploring and possbly finding something.

U can fossick in state forests with their permits but all(yes by the looks of minerals NSW map, was everything) the good areas were handed over to be SCA's.

So either out to Hill end, or a private property somewhere nice n quiet like with permission of course or find a state forest with a bit of quiet history that hasnt been reported or just doesnt have much or hasnt had claims put on it,
as soon as it does it would probably get made into another SCA.

All sounds a lot like South Australia to me!  

Thought I'd resurrect this topic, just because ...

NPWS in NSW is supposed to allow fossicking in certain circumstances in certain areas such as particular SCAs. Notice how qualified I made that statement. So far there are no new areas opened to gold seekers (actually many were open when they were State Forests but access was lost on conversion to SCAs).

Anyway, to avoid having to type a big missive, here is a link to the PA thread (I hope that's allowed?) on the Monga SCA which recently had its Management Plan approved. No metal detecting (or other forms of fossicking) because of possible compromise to water quality in the catchment. https://www.prospectingaustralia.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?id=22803 The more recent stuff is at the end.