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Post by goldtimer on Dec 9, 2008 20:31:46 GMT 12
Hello,
I'm just wondering whether DOC have the right to confiscate dredging equipment if you are dredging on a river?
Thanks
GT.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2008 20:50:54 GMT 12
NO !!!!!! Puff up and tell them (Rob may amend this) to **** off. They have no powers of confiscation if they have the police with them it maybe wise to surrender it then.
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Post by RKC on Dec 12, 2008 12:58:29 GMT 12
G'day, A reality check is needed. The rivers of New Zealand are part of the DoC estate and are managed by them. Therefore if a DoC ranger sees any illegal activity he is obliged to report it to his bosses. DoC employees are the most likely government department employees to come across illegal dredging activity, whereas other branches of government with an interest in illegal mining (Regional Councils and Crown Minerals) are more likely to respond to illegal dredging through a tip off ... usually from a member of the public. Prosecutions for illegal dredging can be initiated by DoC or Crown Minerals or a Regional Council or a combination of any of the above government departments. And a single instance of illegal dredging that is detected by any of the three government departments refereed to above can result in prosecutions from various branches of government for difference breaches of each departments legalization it operates under. And any government department can call on the police if they deem it necessary ... to enforce the legalization with the threat of force. When Regional Councils become aware of any illegal dredging activity they will first issue what I think ... if I remember correctly, is called a Cease and Desist notice which asks for an explanation of why the activity is being carried out. Depending on the explanation, a decision will then be taken (I think by Council) if a prosecution is to be commenced. Most of the previous prosecutions that DoC have been involved with were when dredging was being carried out illegally in DoC hand fossicking only areas. When Crown Minerals come across any illegal dredging they will first send out a Mines Inspector to gather evidence (this usually involves taking photos. The ORC has a thick file of photos of "illegal" dredges). Then a notice is issued stating that dredging is to cease immediately (one dredging operation I was involved in received one but I can't remember what the notice was actually called). A decision would then be taken back at Crown Minerals HQ whether to prosecute. None of the three government departments would be interested in impounding equipment at first, as long as the dredging ceases when detected. It would probably involved a court order, when the case came before a judge, before any equipment could be legally seized by the authorities. Just one final thought ... many of the DoC rangers who get out and about in the bush and do the actual hard work (compared to the pen pushers back at DoC HQ in Wellington) are OK guys. They are usually guys who have worked in the outdoors all their lives and the only way they can continue to get paid work in the outdoors is to work for DoC.These guys are obliged to report anything they see occurring in the DoC estate that may be illegal. They would lose their their job if they did not. A few years after dredging was no longer allowed in Victoria (during the early 1990s) the Prospectors and Miners Assoc of Victoria (PMAV) was told of a government ranger who had bought himself a dredge and was dredging illegally. He must have thought he was the luckiest guy in Victoria as he had the rivers all to himself now that legal dredging was no longer permitted. When the boffins in Head Office in Melbourne learnt this was happening they went ballistic and approached the PMAV to ask for the name of the ranger. Needless to say they were not given the name. And one Ranger I got to know quiet well who was known as being strict with the rules and extremely officious, used to buy gold nuggets from dredgers as a little earner on the side and something he could do while he was being paid to be a ranger and enforce the regulations. All I'm saying is that the field guys are just human like the rest of us. Its the bureaucrats and politicians who think up the ways to make things difficult for us that are the real problem. img.photobucket.com/albums/v172/Coochee/GreyStarCDDEW.jpg?t=1196296785img.photobucket.com/albums/v172/Coochee/greystar22.jpg?t=1193438750 img.photobucket.com/albums/v172/Coochee/GoldMinersDespairAAA-1.jpg?t=1187567181img.photobucket.com/albums/v172/Coochee/HOT%20LINKED%20PHOTOS/P1010032-1illegalminersnaped.jpg?t=1229043273img.photobucket.com/albums/v172/Coochee/HOT%20LINKED%20PHOTOS/EditedOKOKOKOKL.jpg?t=1229043406 Regards, Rob(RKC) |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2008 13:54:29 GMT 12
Hi Rob,
I am not talking about fossicking areas we should stay well clear of them. I have been mining since 1979 and have come across officious ----- from all walks of life. I have found a short sharp reply is best for those that have any other interests besides gold mining. The Richards affair is good example. No one can take your dredge off you on the spot. Cheers Mark. Not all the desk bound
pen pushers live in wellington.
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Post by RKC on Dec 14, 2008 8:55:32 GMT 12
G'day, When thinking about the issues in this thread I was reminded of something I should take the chance to mention here. All Regional Councils in New Zealand now have access to satellite photos of all of New Zealand taken at extremely high resolutions. And ... this is the point of most interest, the photos are renewed every 5 days. Regional Councils use the photos to monitor Resource Consents and can just as easily use them for any other purpose they consider necessary. The implications for dredgers carrying out unauthorised dredging are obvious. BTW: The article at the link below shows what can occur when rangers go looking for illegal dredgers. www.chicoer.com/news/oroville/ci_11191676Regards, Rob (RKC) |
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Post by roscoe on Dec 14, 2008 13:45:57 GMT 12
Since the drug choppers seemed to have disappeared over certain Oz rivers, we suspect Google Earth (or equivalent) has replaced the spying. Having moved on from the green/black camo scheme, we are now constructing waterproof papier-mache icebergs to cover our dredges. Waddya think of that idea?
p.s. We used to spray our dredges, but couldn`t come at touching that lovely Honda-engine paint job. Are dredgers weird, or what?
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Post by RKC on Dec 15, 2008 7:22:01 GMT 12
G'day Rosco, This i125.photobucket.com/albums/p71/auriferous101/571b6154.jpgKiwi dredger did a great camo job on his truck. Herb Blake used to do a good camo job on his Goldstrikers. Every summer about this time of year in the South Island of New Zealand the drug seeking police choppers come through as regular as clockwork and you can be sure that if they saw any suspicious mining activity they would report it to the relevant government department. In the late 1980s a Kiwi dredger was dredging in the Arrow river one day with his Suitcase dredge when he was swooped on by an Army Squirrel chopper with guns on the side. The chopper was not looking for drugs but were doing a security sweep of the area because the Queen was visiting Arrowtown that day. Anyway nothing came of it ... but when it happened the dredger was a bit concerned that the Army guys might have though his Suitcase dredge was a hand-held missile launcher. Regards, Rob (RKC) |
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