Public land in WA

G'day All,
Is there any public land where one would be able to prospect in WA like we have here in victoria.(state forests etc.)
Phil

G'day Phil,

WA is a different ball game altogether to Vic and the other eastern states. There are vast tracts of public land, but generally it is not auriferous country. Practically all gold bearing country from Norseman in the south to Halls Creek in the north has been taken up as mining tenements and although there are still a lot of places where you can swing a detector and still find good gold, they are getting a fair flogging.

caveman

hi phil,i think you best bet is to contact DOIR WA,email, mtd@doir.wa.gov.au or internet www.doir.wa gov.au you will find huge tracts of land that are open for prospecting,hope this helps.reg

Hi Phil.
I have been to WA 3 times since 2000. I have only been around Norseman, Kalgoolie ,Leonora,Laverton,leinster and Wiluna areas (Eastern Goldfields). There are plenty of places to swing a detector.A lot of the land has been taken up by a variety of leases,but depending on what type of lease determines wether you are able to prospect on it. You really need to have a bit of an idea where you might want to detect, because in a lot of the bigger towns you can go into Dept of Industry and resources office and they can look at the area on the computor you may want to try and give you a print out map of all leases and what areas you are allowed to detect on. The staff are very helpful. This information is available from your home computor through the DOIR web site but unless you have a bit of an idea where you want to detect it is hard to know where to start. The printout maps they give you,(There is a small charge for the maps but this is very small) are very accurate so you will need a GPS to locate the boundarys of leases. I haven't seen many boundary markers or claim pegs that make much sense to me,it is your resposibilty to know where you are. A lot of the smaller lease holders make it clear detecting is not allowed on there leases.
You can also contact the big companies and some of them will give you a letter allowing you on a non working part of their lease.
A good place to start is research,ie, books like Gold and ghosts vol 1&2 WA are very good reading and cover I think most of the gold fields in WA. You must take into consideration that if it is in the book many people have already been there before. It does give you a very good idea of what to expect and the size of the gold fields. Also There are big areas close by to explore.
It is a good life over there, and if you spend some time in the camping grounds I'm sure you will soon meet up with somebody that you can talk to and maybe go out with and get a feel of the process. Good luck Phil hope you find heaps,just leave some for me next year
Colin.

Hi Col
Thats one of the best written posts covering how to tackle WA Ive seen.
Cheers Dig

hi dig,got some official paperwork here from dior wa covering prospecting in wa, you may find it useful, if you want can send foc,email your address to rj.h@hotmail.com will forward to you.reg.

sorry dig,that reply was meant for phil . reg.

thanks for the response guys, I have been browsing the doir website and yes there is a lot of info there. Colin much appreciate your reply lots of things to consider there. Reg will send you a pm. the maps will be of great help.
As this will be our (handbrake and I) to the west. mostly as a sight seeing adventure but hoping to get some detecting in while over there be a shame if i didn't having travelled all that way. Haven't set out a specific time table as to where i'll be and when. if i like a place might stay a few days if I don't i'll move on. We are hoping to meet some fellow travelers along the way to spin a few yarns with
Cheers Phil

I am going to to WA (Kimberleys) and will arrive in the first week in July at Halls Creek, I will only be allowed to go detecting for 2 days max, unless i strike it rich in the first 2 days, So dont know if anyone is going over at the same time or not, coz not only am i a learner driver with my 3500, I have No idea where to even try.

G'Day

Ditto to the above message, except I may be a week or two earlier.

Is there any public land like say Forestry here in QLD?

Waz

Do you LEGALLY need permission of the person leasing the public land for their stock. (FARMER)

Do you have to tell him u r there?

Hi Bill,
under WA regs, you HAVE to advise the pastoralist of your presence. However, he DOESN'T have any right to refuse entry, provided it is a crown pastoral lease (which is
maybe 90% of WA).

For those not able to do it themselves, I am running a service which enables permission
for anyone to prospect legally in WA on mining company tenements. I am already bogged down with demands but if you are heading over in a month or more, I can help.
Cheers, Dwt

Hi DWT,

I have sent you a PM regarding your last post. If you have not received it please let me know, as I am interested if your offer.
Cheers Laurie & Roz

A copy of your Rights and Obligations for prospecting on WA pastoral leases is available on this link.
There are many of us here that are actively promoting a better relationship between prospectors and pastoralists. A friendly phone call letting them know approx what area you will be in and the approximate time span you will be there works wonders.
Of course there is hardly any gold left in West Oz but you T`Othersiders may as well come and enjoy the weather and spend all your coin...............

Driller.



http://www.dmp.wa.gov.au/1641.aspx

Driller, The problem is knowing where to go. this seems to be very much secret mens business as none seems to want to help out at all, It would be much better if there were allocated ground to swing a stick, not much use downloading a pdf telling what you have to do, if all you have is go over there and hope to run into someone who may or may not give you a snippet of information on where to go, I have started doing some web searches etc, and I contacted 1 guy who has tag-along tours(i have done a day trip with him before), but you have to pay for the full time and not just 2 days, I am only looking for somewhere "safe" to detect around Halls Creek, not someones motherlode, NOTE, Your best spot is safe with me coz if i fell in a wheel barrow full of tits i would come out sucking my thumb.

Hi Frank,
I know the Kimberley pretty well as I have spent a great many months detecting there in the past. I can let you know some good areas. Permission is still required of course as every bit of gold bearing ground in WA is under tenement. Hear from you again soon.
Cheers, Dwt

Pennyweight wrote:Hi Frank,
I know the Kimberley pretty well as I have spent a great many months detecting there in the past. I can let you know some good areas. Permission is still required of course as every bit of gold bearing ground in WA is under tenement. Hear from you again soon.
Cheers, Dwt

Hi Dwt,
Not to sound forward but some of that info would be real handy to me, who knows might run into you Frank as I'll be around that area around the same time.
Phil

Maybe this is all too simple,
Why not just have a list of all the people that have public land leases and their contact details.
I'm sure it is a list that is part of the freedom of information act.
Why do we have to consult a third party for this information that should be, or is public?
It all sound a little strange to me that someone can say "contact me and I will tell you" so to speak.
If its available to one its available to all. Simply knowing who to contact seems to be the key, as access can not be denied anyway.
HOW DO WE KNOW HOW TO GET THE LEASE HOLDERS DETAILS?
I feel this is the question everyone is wanting answered. This way, they can do the work themselves.
Brett.

1oldcol2
Your post above is one of the most non bull crap post I have seen for a while. Thanks for your absolute honesty.

WA, has come across as a no go zone for outsiders, for a long time. Post keep coming in saying something like, its all under lease, There is no public land etc. Even to the point of people being warned that they may be shot if caught trespassing.
WA, might be a long way away from the Eastern stated, but it is still Australia and we should use this forum to find out the truth about Western Australia's prospecting rights.
Brett.

Where to go Frank?...........its no secret. Its all available . All you have to do is the same as I do. Research,research and more research.

For a start,follow the greenstone. Learn to use Tengraph. Learn to use Wamex. Learn to use Google earth in conjunction with these.

Lets say for instance you want to have a look in the Kimberlies. Go to this link and get a geology map to download for free. Save for future use

http://geodocs.doir.wa.gov.au/document/documentSearchCriteria.do?from=topNav&cabinetId=1101

In "Map name code" scroll down until you find "Gordon Downs".....hilite!....now go across to "map scale" and hilite "1-250,000"

Ok ,now you have a good geology map of the area around Halls Creek saved. Now sign up for Tengraph and Wamex. Tengraph will give you pinpoint accurate maps of all tenements and their status. You can also get dead accurate AMG co-ords and print off the maps you need. You can also access Wamex direct from Tengraph as well as Google Earth . Pick a tenement that looks interesting, click the G/E icon and it will open G/E right down to the tenement.
Once you have set up for Wamex log in and ask for the "Gordon Downs " 1-250,000 map and it will give you all the reports logged by previous and current tenement holders for the last 30 years on that map. Do like I do Frank, burn the midnight oil and read the reports until you get sick of looking at them. Find 20 places you would like to have a look at for the winter and then look in Tengrapgh to see the status of the tenements. If "pending" they are fair game. If granted E/L`s ring the holder and ask for permission to detect. If you dont get it ,slap a Section 20a on it and you get 3 months to work it.
Now go into G/E and print off pix of the areas you want to work. Put AMG co-ords all over them so you can track where you want to go. Put them in plastic folder and take them with you.
Repeat this process on all the maps of known gold mining areas in WA Frank and you will find enough spots to fill a dozen life times. So much ground ,so little time. Getting onto the ground and swing a coil is the easy part Frank, doing the hard yards is the hours and hours of research.
Five of my last patches came from research. Three 1 piece patches, One 2 piece patch. One made 6 pieces for 16 grams and one 9 pieces for 28 grams. All virgin. Oh Yeah and a few duds in between. There is something special about doing the hard yards and going out to spot you have researched and it fires up.... .

Its all on the `net Frank...........all you have to do is find it and read it.

Cheers,

Driller

Brett and Driller,
Well said!
Pw how can you offer a service that is free and easy for all to use?
Are you the same guy that took people to the West last year(for a price) with no research or permission to detect on mining leases?
As Driller and Brett have said, detecting in the west is fairly straight forward if you do you home work.
The Mines Dept has lists of every Pastoralist and their phone numbers! Its a simple matter of giving them a call once you have the Section 20A or you have Pending ground to detect on. It really is quite easy.
Private Leases are definately Private Leases. These guys do a lot of research and pay out a lot of money to get these licences, It's their livley hood, you should respect this. I can understand why they get so peaved off with guys detecting on their property. The Mines dept is also (I Understand) quite unhappy about illegal detecting on private prospecting/mining licences. The penalities if caught are not worth it. There is more ground out their than you detect in a life time, without poaching on some guys private lease!
You certainly don't need to pay someone to show you how to do it, Driller gave all the info needed to detect in WA.
I'm heading over there in a couple of weeks. I couldn't detect the areas I've got in mind in 3 life times.
Good Luck
Tom

"Maybe this is all too simple,
Why not just have a list of all the people that have public land leases and their contact details.
I'm sure it is a list that is part of the freedom of information act.
Why do we have to consult a third party for this information that should be, or is public?
It all sound a little strange to me that someone can say "contact me and I will tell you" so to speak.
If its available to one its available to all. Simply knowing who to contact seems to be the key, as access can not be denied anyway.
HOW DO WE KNOW HOW TO GET THE LEASE HOLDERS DETAILS?
I feel this is the question everyone is wanting answered. This way, they can do the work themselves.
Brett."

Not sure what you mean by this Brett.

If you mean a list of Pastoral Lease holders and their contact details this is now a slight problem as the Pastoral and Graziers Assn of WA recently successfully lobbied the DOIR to have the contact details of its members made unavailable to the public and one has to apply to DOIR and sign a confidentialty agreement to get it. This despite the Mining Act saying it is advisable for a prospector to make contact as a courtesy to let the Pastoral Lease holder that they will be entering the lease to lawfully prospect.
APLA is working to have this resolved

"HOW DO WE KNOW HOW TO GET THE LEASE HOLDERS DETAILS?"

If by this you mean Mining tenement holders then all of that data is available on Tengraph. Engage "Active Holders" in the drop down menu and every tenement you click on it will tell you the name of the holder.....or simply hi-light a tenement, click (i) icon and holders and it will give you the mailing address for the tenement holder. This for every tenement in WA..... to easy.

Driller.

Driller, Thank you very much for the info in your post, on Tengraph and Wamex ( never heard of them b4) I will have to learn how to overlay the maps to pick the roads etc, but it is hard when you work 60 hrs/ week, every damn week, I do have a registered version of oziexplorer and i have 250 raster maps so will work on trying to get them all together, So again thank you, It is frustrating when starting out and there are no clubs or groups in my area, So i hope i dint offend anyone as it was not my intention.

Hi all,
you are quite right...most of what I am offering is available for free. It takes a bit of effort to learn but anyone can do it. There are those however, who DO NOT do the right thing and are lazy. There are also those people who do not have either the patience or the aptitude to achieve a good result. They prefer to have someone do it for them. Thats fine by me as long as they make the effort to do things correctly & legally. APLA and PMAV agree. It is at their insistance that I am doing this. The next issue of the Eureka Echo will have this year's big WA problems outlined within.

Tom, yes I did run a WA tour last year and I had arranged access to Paddington's tenements prior to leaving. When we got there, all of their promises evaporated. They beefed up their insurance demands and withdrew access from all but 20% of their tenements. Luckily, Navigator, St Barbara Mines, Cawse Nickel and a few others were not so difficult. They kept their promises and had none of the brainless demands either. Plenty of pending land kept us busy too and my tour group was (apparently) the most successful for the whole year....we got nearly 20 ounces in 14 days. A few still didn't find anything (4 I think) no matter where you sent them...these were the only complaints and you get these no matter where you go if you run tours. Things could have gone better to plan but it was still a great result. A few blokes continued on and found a great deal more.

Once again, all info & permissions CAN be gotten for free, no argument. See previous posts for excellent advice....For those who find the process a little difficult, can't be bothered or don't know where to start, I can help. Simple as that! Cheers, Dwt

Driller,
I was speaking in general, yet leaning toward the Pastoral Lease holders.
You have answered things quite well. Shame about what sounds like the privacy act closing our eyes to what has been public knowledge and should remain public knowledge.
Lets face it, these people are using our land for there own enterprise. Its only fair that we know who they are and be able to approach them for temporary access. I'm in no way up to speed with WA. prospecting regulations yet I felt strongly on this topic and added my thoughts.
Interesting thread. I will continue to read it closely.
Brett.

Very interesting thread, where the majority of requirements have been covered in detail.
Adding to the above, if you know which pastoral company covers the ground you wish to prospect it is a simple matter of looking up the company in the relevent telephone book and give them a courtesy call.
I have found an email or letter is also worthwhile.
As previously stated in several of the posts it is mainly up to the individual to do the hard yards. The information available on the internet is endless so the mention of "research" is paramount.
Personally giving strangers advice on where they can and can't prospect is generally unrewarding with gripes and grizzles if they are unuccessful.
WA is a rich auriferous state which is vertually untouched by detectorists.
Good luck.
Peter

[qthank you driller,have been looking at the post and have learned a lot we have tengraph,but you have helped us to use it.we are at old bulong at the moment camping legally and want to move north,seems like a lot of research first.thanks again ,john kingaroy qld. email listed.


uote="Driller"]"Maybe this is all too simple,
Why not just have a list of all the people that have public land leases and their contact details.
I'm sure it is a list that is part of the freedom of information act.
Why do we have to consult a third party for this information that should be, or is public?
It all sound a little strange to me that someone can say "contact me and I will tell you" so to speak.
If its available to one its available to all. Simply knowing who to contact seems to be the key, as access can not be denied anyway.
HOW DO WE KNOW HOW TO GET THE LEASE HOLDERS DETAILS?
I feel this is the question everyone is wanting answered. This way, they can do the work themselves.
Brett."

Not sure what you mean by this Brett.



If you mean a list of Pastoral Lease holders and their contact details this is now a slight problem as the Pastoral and Graziers Assn of WA recently successfully lobbied the DOIR to have the contact details of its members made unavailable to the public and one has to apply to DOIR and sign a confidentialty agreement to get it. This despite the Mining Act saying it is advisable for a prospector to make contact as a courtesy to let the Pastoral Lease holder that they will be entering the lease to lawfully prospect.
APLA is working to have this resolved

"HOW DO WE KNOW HOW TO GET THE LEASE HOLDERS DETAILS?"

If by this you mean Mining tenement holders then all of that data is available on Tengraph. Engage "Active Holders" in the drop down menu and every tenement you click on it will tell you the name of the holder.....or simply hi-light a tenement, click (i) icon and holders and it will give you the mailing address for the tenement holder. This for every tenement in WA..... to easy.

Driller.[/quote]

Gday folks , In the five years I've been detecting in the Leonora/Laverton region , I have only come across 20 or so people in the wide open expanses , who have , with one exception , ALL been eastern staters , who when asked about tengraph and live leases etc , have all replied with the same disappointing reply , which is , I detect where ever I want as long as nobody is working the area....Most do not even have W.A miners rights {$25}....This has been my experience...Also , when asking the DOIR about contacting pastoral lease holders about being on the lease , they told me it was just a courtesy to the lease holder , but not a legal requirement.??.....One feels if you do the right thing , you are decreasing your chances compared to all the foreigners { just kiddin } who come over here and just do whatever they like......The only west oz couple I met out near redcastle were the only ones I've met in the field who knew or cared about tengraph maps etc .....OF COURSE , no body who is informed as we all are on this forum would do what all of the visitors from the east I,ve met out there do , would you !! cheers Paul....