New South Wales Consolidated Regulations

MINING REGULATION 2016 - REG 12

12 Fossicking

(Former clause 12 of 2010 Reg)

(1) A person who causes any soil, rock or other material to be disturbed in the course of work carried out for the purpose of fossicking for minerals must ensure that--

(a) the soil, rock or other material is removed and stockpiled separately, and

(b) after completion of the work, the soil, rock or other material is replaced in order to reconstruct the original soil profile.

: Maximum penalty--50 penalty units.

(2) A person must not carry out work that includes any of the following activities for the purpose of fossicking--

(a) the use of any equipment other than hand-held implements on any land or waters that is subject to native title,

(b) the excavation or clearing of any land or waters that is subject to native title,

(c) the use of power-operated equipment for the purpose of surface disturbance, excavation or processing on any land,

(d) the use of explosives on any land,

(e) the damage or removal of any bushrock,

(f) the removal of more than the prescribed amount of material from any land during any single period of 48 hours,

(g) the disturbance of more than 1 cubic metre of any soil, rock or other material during any single period of 48 hours.

: Maximum penalty--50 penalty units.

Note--: The language of part of this subclause mirrors the language of part of section 24LA (Low impact future acts) of the Native Title Act 1993 of the Commonwealth. That section refers, in part, to an act (in relation to particular land or waters) that does not consist of, authorise or otherwise involve "the excavation or clearing of any of the land or waters" or "mining (other than fossicking by using hand-held implements)".

(2A) To avoid doubt, subclause (2) does not prevent the use of hand-held metal detectors or other hand-held equipment for detecting metal or metal objects.

(3) In this clause--

"gemstone" means a Group 6 or Group 7 mineral.

Note--: Group 6 and Group 7 minerals are listed in Schedule 2.

"power-operated equipment" means any equipment powered by mechanical or electrical means.

"prescribed amount" , in relation to material, means--

(a) 10 kilograms of mineral-bearing material (other than the material referred to in paragraphs (b)-(e)), or

(b) 5 kilograms of minerals (other than gold or gemstones), or

(c) 50 grams of gold (except where found as nuggets of 10 grams or greater), or

(d) 5 nuggets of 10 grams or greater of gold, or

(e) 100 grams of gemstones.