It’s no secret that many grey nomads make looking for gold and gemstones part of their Big Lap adventure … and an increasing number of communities are recognising that attracting these treasure-seekers can be a win-win.
The ABC reports that Queensland currently has 11 fossicking areas, nine designated fossicking lands and 21 general permission areas for fossicking, totalling more than 20,000 hectares.
In places like the Gemfields near Emerald, the local council estimates visitors spend about $22 million in the region annually.
And businesses in towns like Mount Morgan in central Queensland want in on the action.
Caravan park owner Dave Brant operates one of the only fossicking sites in Mount Morgan and is calling on local and state governments to establish public fossicking areas in a bid to boost tourism to the town.
Many areas are keen to attract more grey nomad treasure seekers. PIC: mutasculucian / PIxabay
“[Prospectors] sign a waiver, a ledger with us, and pay a fee depending on how many people there are and for how long … we give them a key and away they go,” Mr Brant told the ABC. “Being the town it is, with a history of gold, there’s gold everywhere, but it’s not simple to find.”
Both the local council and the state government are reportedly considering potential sites to establish fossicking areas, but there’s no timeline for a concrete decision.
Many local businesses want discussions to move more quickly about whether to set up a Fossicking General Permission Area, or GPA.
The ABC reports that a GPA is where landholders have given general permission for fossicking to occur, while designated fossicking lands are established by the state government in cooperation with local government and landholders.
“I’d prefer to see people come in here have a free gate to a GPA, it’s as simple as that … it would bring a lot more people into the town,” said Mr Brant. “They are proven in places like Clermont … all they have to do is back us up here.”
According to the ABC, the Rockhampton Regional Council said it had written to the Department of Resources more than year ago to try to create GPAs in three locations in Mount Morgan.
The Department of Resources told the ABC it was working with the council to identify new fossicking areas.
“In addition to the potential sites near Mount Morgan, a broad proposal for new fossicking areas is currently open for public consultation as part of a suite of small mining proposals released earlier this month,” a spokesperson said.
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Yes and shoudl be ALL States not just Qld…WA, NT and SA have plenty of places that could be designated fossicking ,Victoria too but less so perhaps.
Yes, wholeheartedly agree. Typical Gov red tape interferes too much with great suggestions from the majority public
Interesting article. Which of two van parks in Mt Morgan does Dave Brant run?
Cheers,
Roy
Absolutely, I travel up to 1800km just to get to detecting areas, & generally stay for several months, whilst spending thousands of dollars locally during my stay, all in the hope of finding a little bit of gold whilst getting out and about and getting fit.
Hundreds even thousands of people go to the places I do each year and they are all spending money in the town. Caravan parks are full, shops are busy local businesses are thriving. If there were no opportunities to prospect, these towns would be as dead as Mount Morgan. Mount Morgan would literally spring to life IF there were GPA’s available for us to visit & try our luck. I for one would definitely be coming and be bringing my fat wallet to empty in town!
Yes