Is sluicing damaging

Hey guys
I haven't been sluicing long now and have a few questions that may have been asked before.....
When detecting the biggest thing i have noticed is guys talking about filling there holes which Is great and totally agree with but when sluicing it's quite a bit harder to do this and in some cases I've looked back and noticed that I have done quite a bit of digging over a couple of days and find it nearly impossible to fill in....
What the question is how do I sluice within the acceptable guidelines as I don't want to be in the wrong and spoil this for anyone else....I know the details about don't have your sluice in the river ect but what about holes????????
Also I can't understand why small scale dredging and sucker pumps are not allowed I feel you can do more damage when shoveling sometimes.....any thoughts to this guys....
Dave

Oh skysite you have opened a BIG can of worms!! I find its not always feasible to fill in say a trench that you have dug following a line of gold but ill give you what was acceptable to a ranger that I and a friend had been dobbed in by some local or anal orifice , the ranger was told we were dredging ,which we were not but he had to drive out on a Sunday and just lets say he was firein' up!! lol!
After the initial grumble he was pacified by our willingness to make him happy !! to cut a long story short i asked him not to condemn us for what we had done at that particular spot but to come back when we had finished. We did wash down our piles of stone and contoured the trench so as to look like a gully and it doesn't take long to do that and maybe use a rake on the stones if the pile was a big one . So results were lots of gold recovered -- anal orifices made to look silly -- Ranger was fine with reclamation of the area -- and we now email our rej numbers to him and the whereabouts on the creek +the cars and colours of them to him before we go to that creek ,we also take before and after pics of where we go so as to not get blamed for the mess some individuals and groups leave. He also laid down the law on pump sizes !!! --- he would prefer 4 strokes as 2 strokes have oil and bush fire problems --a maximum of 5 hp to be used and where possible to run your silt from the sluice on to ground rather than into the water .We did discuss many aspects of prospecting in the time he was there and i believe he doesn't have a high view of gold prospecting but im a great believer in the old saying " im a mirror to your attitude"

Cheers murachu
Opening the can of worms is exactly what I don't want to be doing mate.....It's a good idea to talk to the ranger before anything does escalate....
Thanks again mate
Dave

skysite im sure i can shovel faster than a 2'' dredge LOL!

Keep in good with "the man" and you will have no problems. Talk to your local ranger and explain to him what you are doing and that you have knowledge of the relevant acts, and your responsibility under a miners right. A good rapport is better than a bad report. The thing is when the opponents to prospecting complain, you have already established yourself, and proven you are working within the law. They will leave you alone.

I always dig a big hole so that the water from the sluice drains into the hole before trickling out. The hole acts as a settlement pond before the water trickles overland back to the creek. This causes less turbidity, especially if you are working clay, one of the points the Greenies bring up about dredging and sluicing.

Cheers
Fly_Dirt

minedog wrote:Keep in good with "the man" and you will have no problems. Talk to your local ranger and explain to him what you are doing and that you have knowledge of the relevant acts, and your responsibility under a miners right. A good rapport is better than a bad report. The thing is when the opponents to prospecting complain, you have already established yourself, and proven you are working within the law. They will leave you alone.

couldn't have said it better minedog!!

It is always a good idea to run your discharged water out over sand before it enters any waterway. This will filter any clays extra out of the water. It is not always possible to do this in a situation like that you must revert back to digging sediment settling holes. Stay within the guide lines set out by the relevant department for your state and you should not have any trouble at all.
James 101