Prospecting and Metal Detecting During The Lockdown

There are now restrictions on what you can do in Tassie during ‘the lockdown’. I heard the Premier say on radio and TV that recreational activities are allowed but for no more than 2 people.

Yesterday he mentioned fishing and today shooting. He said they were OK to do. ‘Personal exercise’ is allowed.
I think that prospecting by yourself must be safe because how can you catch the virus alone in the bush?

The $750 fine for individuals who don’t comply shows how seriously they are taking it.
I’m not connected to the government in any way but I would like to see Tassie stay safe. I like the ‘fortress Tasmania’ idea.

https://coronavirus.tas.gov.au/families-community/gatherings-faqs#still-exercise-outdoors

2 Likes

Yep , heard some of that today . Looks like we can still go bush , good thing too .

Good to see that we can still get out to exercise and look after our physical and mental health. I Will be being extra careful though, hospital would not be a great place to be spending time at the moment.

2 Likes

Might worth someone confirming with MRT or the state government to confirm its o.k, it sounds like is … but

1 Like

There is no clear line of demarcation in this; some are allowed to go to school, work, shopping, doctors but in Penguin you are asked what are you doing outside walking around breathing clean air, by the police. (If it is true)
I guess the important and main part of it is to stay away from people, touch no one and keep your hands clean when you touch doorways and stair rails, etc.

1 Like

Please be mindful of where you go. All reserves managed by parks are closed, and they’ve been handing out $800 fines for people still using them. Most prospective ground is still in some form of reserve, a lot of it Regional Reserve.

3 Likes

Spot on Miguel , anything controlled by parks is locked up even including our local trout fisheries around here . They love locking people out ! If your going anywhere it would pay to study up on Listmap to see who is the controlling body .

1 Like

From the point of view of someone whose entire family back in Spain had caught the coronavirus before they even knew that it was spreading through the community, I’d actually encourage people to stay home. Yes, I know it’s boring, but it’s the only thing that works in slowing it down.

Spain generally has a much better health system than Tassie, 100% public and free. I’m sure most of you have seen the news and heard that things over there are pretty grim. Field hospitals, stadiums and ice-rinks used as temporary morgues, overwhelmed hospitals that means most people who need artificial ventilation are dying before a ventilator becomes available.

If that’s been the situation in a place with a fairly good quality health system, just ask yourself: do you want to be one of the people needing help in one of our hospitals any time, let alone if cases start surging? One busy day in flu season will see ambulances ramping outside the hospital… And it won’t be just whether you catch coronavirus. In Spain right now, if you need emergency medical treatment for ANY reason (accident, heart attack, anything), you may well not get it and die waiting for overwhelmed medical personnel to be free to attend to you.

Sorry to sound grim, and of course, we’re all going to do whatever we think is best, but I wouldn’t like you to think my comment about parks above is an encouragement to go out.

See you all in person on the other side of this!!!

7 Likes

https://www.sttas.com.au/using-our-forests/road-and-track-closures

2 Likes

Certainly agree with what you are saying Miguel , and i hope your family members have recovered . As a person nearing 60 years of age and having silicosis of the lungs with a resulting lung capacity loss of 20 % i am quite worried about contracting this virus . My wife works in an aged care facility , and a hospital , which doesn’t help my concerns much either ! But the incongruity of our Premier saying it’s ok to go fishing or shooting as long as it’s no more than 2 people while forests and lakes are closed really irks me . Up to 20 boats a day are still using the boat ramp here each day to go sea fishing , while i cannot wander around the bush totally on my own , or drift around on Blackmans Lagoon , on my own , is ridiculous .
I have been informed by an official source that the army will be pulling up night traffic in our area over the next few days . If you don’t have a very good reason to be on the road then they will escort you straight to the police station . I don’t have much problem with this as it will settle some of the hooning that goes on here , reckon it might disrupt a few drug deliveries too ! Once all this is over it will be interesting to see if we get all our accesses and liberties back . In the mean time , may we all retain the best of health .

4 Likes

Thanks Curt, they’re all ok, and my elderly mum actually got lucky with a mild case. My 40-year-old brother had it worst, but didn’t develop pneumonia, luckily. The damn thing is incredibly contagious.

1 Like

Its good your family have recovered miguel. At least they now have immunity to it.
Things have changed since I started this topic. I don’t want to explain why I go detecting to a ‘Dads Army’ of military, SES, firebrigade and police.
Thought I would share this here:

4 Likes

After a week of only going out for essentials, it seems more like a month or more. I was already leading a quiet life (retired). I put the detector aside and have been working on my early 90’s ute. Did a carby swap and have started painting the house inside with low odor acrylic paint.

Today is a perfect day, we have had good rain and everything looks so green but that just makes ‘social isolation’ worse.
Last week I renewed my drivers license for no charge. Very helpful but the license doesn’t get much use ATM. People are meeting in the public reserve next door late at night but that’s not my business.

Today we read the virus infects cats, including big cats in the Bronx zoo. I hope they survive. This virus was a real ‘curved ball’ for the global economy.

4 Likes

I enquired with MRT in regards to this.
and this was there answer

Thanks for your patience.
In line with current Directions issued by the Director of Public Health, the Director of Mines has deemed that prospecting at this time is not an essential activity. The reasoning behind this is that there are other options for fitness, and it is not necessary for food gathering or as an income stream.
Further to this there will be updates made to the coronavirus.tas.gov.au website, as well as the Mineral Resources Tasmania website in the coming days so please keep checking there for updates and ensure that you comply with requirements.
Thank you for checking in and stay well, and stay at home

Andrea Martin | Tenement Administration Officer

5 Likes

Hey Karl,
Good you’re keeping busy, but yes frustrating for many, especially on these fine autumn days.
Thinking it must be early 90’s and one of the last carbies models as most things went injected from then, having said that i had a '97 petrol Hilux that was carby
stay chilled,
Andrew

2 Likes

Thanks Jonesy. It’s what I thought. I guess they don’t want the list of essential and non-essential activities to be too complex.

Hi Andrew, new carby works well. We are on a few acres but it’s not very interesting for detecting. We have an old mine which is very deep. Wife uncovered an air vent in the vegie garden one day. Luckily she didn’t fall into it. It’s covered over at the moment but I always wanted to abseil into it. If nothing else just to see where it goes.
I would like to learn rope skills. Getting back up would be good excercise using an ascender.

2 Likes


My isolation prospecting fix. Had a couple of buckets of super sticky clay from the Lefroy area sitting around for a couple of months cos it’s just too hard to process for the returns. Now that I’ve got all this time on my hands I thought I might as well puddle it by hand and pan it. Nothing great so far but I live in hope!

5 Likes

I’ve found hosing the clay through the metal sieves into a bucket does to job to break up clay pretty well, easy to pan from there.

4 Likes

A heavy duty paint stirrer works very well for puddling too.

I once got two used 20L buckets from a bakery, and drilled a bunch of size 8 or 10 holes in the bottom of one. I then put the holey bucket inside the whole one, loaded the clayey wash into it, and used a heavy duty paint stirrer from Bunnings to puddle the clay. It would be done in 30 sec to 1 min.

Good thing is the setup is portable with a good cordless drill.

5 Likes

Good one Dave , could do with a ute load of that clay dropped in the front yard here . Would give me something to do over the next few weeks ! Hope ya get a few bits out of yours .

2 Likes