Nundle - Fossicking Access to the Peel River

[opal light]

Hi everyone,

Another one raised on a forum (Nundle Fossicking FB pages) saying no fossicking is allowed between Nundle and Chaffey Dam. I can't help but think its cranky landholders trying to dissuade fossickers.

It was investigated by NAPFA who got it from the NSW Resources Regulator and clarified the situation. Worth a read and good work by NAPFA.

https://www.napfa.org.au/so/4fOw4aCis/c?w=CWDQfuXXhYC_wmT0VfP9hmy8weOG9ssFWivVzv_2FzI.eyJ1IjoiaHR0cHM6Ly83NWFhZmU3MS0zNTA4LTQ0YzYtOTk3Yy1mMjI1MDI4NGJmZmUudXNyZmlsZXMuY29tL3VnZC9lZjE4MjJfZTgyMmJkMmVmOTI0NDZiOTkyZGU5ZGZlZTg5YWZkNjQucGRmP2RuPU51bmRsZSUyMEZvc3NpY2tpbmclMjBBY2Nlc3MlMjAyMDI0LnBkZiIsInIiOiIyNDEwZDcxMy1hMmU2LTQxZDEtYjk2NC1iODJiYTlmODQzYjAiLCJtIjoibWFpbCIsImMiOiJkMzBhZThkZS05NjRkLTRmMzgtODFkMi1iYmRlYzA3MGRlNmMifQ

[bjm]

Geez ,more twists and turns than a good novel! From people being shot at a few years ago,to total bs from
landowners pushing their own view of whats legal or not!
One given the idiots in many areas I used  to fossick have stuffed it for good by not respecting both public and private fossicking areas.! I am going to Nundle on Wednesday so its going to be interesting !

[tinker]

Yep just takes one idiot and stuffs it for the rest of us, just like the Prase mine at Hanging rock and idiot with a jack hammer, they just don't think

[opal light]

Tinker,

be interested to hear when that was?

I was told access was closed due to 4wd groups destroying tracks making it difficult/impossible for fire crew access and why forestry/crown land installed the gate.

[tinker]

Mate was up there in May 2021, there was a fella there with a small what looked like a battery driven Jack Hammer, with another fella helping him load the split rocks into the back of a white Toyota 4x4 Land Cruise ute, he left when I arrived but had a couple of large lumps of Prase that he left behind.   I didn't think much about it until I went back to following year and the entrance to the mine had been gated.

[Clarky]

We were up there last weekend. The roads down into the mine site area are now like highways with ballast under road base all rolled in & turnaround bays every couple of hundred meters. We had to walk in leaving the vehicle up near Hanging Rock old quarry. A Hallstrom employee had no worries about us walking in. He unlocked the gate for himself to drive through & do some checks further down. None of us had been into the site before so we actually missed the turnoff to the mine as all the trees holding the track markers had been pushed over due to the width of the upgraded road. Its a couple of hundred meters down to the mine off the new road & nothing has been done to the access from there. There hadn't been much traffic on the old track recently, just a motor bike by the look of things. There is a fan of tailings on the slope below the mine down through the bush that is visible on google earth if you are looking for it but its not a recent photo as all the new work isnt on it. I googled up Hallstrom when we got home to find they are an earthmoving company. Interestingly the second item that came up on the list was the NSW state tenders site with Hallstrom on it in the tenders for the Hanging Rock fire trail system. There were a number of companies participating in the project which will span 2022 to 2026 with a total of over 6 million dollars of works to complete it. after we walked out we visited the old rec ground that the trail comes back up to. It had gates fitted to as well as steel bollards concreted in either side to prevent access. I guess NSW state forests would be the ones to approach re whether vehicle access will be available again. It was a good weekend all round as we ended up with some nice prase samples from the mine, some good crystals from near the lookout & some nice zircons from further out in the forest. Theres good camping at either Sheba Dams or Ponderosa.