Dubbo
Central West. 10 km west of Stuart Town.
Gazetted
14 February 2020
Mapped size
7,527 square kilometres
Nearest town
Stuart Town
Photo: Maksym Kozlenko (CC BY-SA 4.0). Wikimedia Commons.
Location
Gold marker: the middle of Dubbo. Dark marker: Stuart Town.
Fossicking district
The gold line is the gazetted fossicking district. Inside it, you do not need an exploration licence holder's consent. The line is not landholder permission, and it is not the only place fossicking can be lawful in New South Wales.
Line simplified from Geological Survey of NSW fossicking districts, CC BY
History
Dubbo is a fossicking district drawn around a local government area. It was gazetted on 14 February 2020. The mapped area is about 7527 square kilometres. The middle of the district sits 10 km west of Stuart Town.
The old Dubbo local government area is now part of Dubbo Regional Council.
This is the newest district in the set, gazetted in February 2020. The inventory inside the old Dubbo boundary is heavy with gold and copper. A lot of that ground is farming country on title. The district removes the need to ask an exploration licence holder. It does not remove the need to ask the person who owns the paddock.
Inside the mapped district, the Geological Survey of NSW mineral inventory records Gold (266), Copper (142), Lead (17), and Silver (16). Those are recorded locations of mineralisation. They are not grades, and they are not a forecast of what a pan will show.
Of the gold records, 4 carry a placer description, which means the survey classed that gold as alluvial.
The same inventory records asbestos in this district. Do not collect fibrous rock, and do not dig it. If you uncover material you think is asbestos, cover it again and leave it.
What you can find
Inside this district, gold is the main mineral the survey records. Work gravel with a pan or a detector, keep holes small, and put the ground back. Gold on a mining lease still needs the lease holder's consent.
Base metals appear beside the main target. Old copper, lead, and zinc shows are often on leases or private paddocks. Colour in a rock is not permission to break it.
Anything you keep has to fit the state take-home limits: 50 grams of gold in any 48 hours, up to five nuggets of 10 grams or more, 100 grams of gemstones, 10 kilograms of gold or gem-bearing material, and 5 kilograms of other minerals. Publicly owned minerals found while fossicking lawfully become yours. No royalty is charged on them.
Getting there
Dubbo is on the Newell Highway, and also reached by the Mitchell Highway from Wellington. Dubbo is the practical base. The mapped centre is 10 km west of Stuart Town.
A shire-wide line is not an open invitation to every paddock inside it. Private land needs the landholder. A mining lease, mineral claim, or opal prospecting licence needs that holder's consent. The district removes only the need to ask an exploration licence holder.
Open the district on the Dig Here map before you drive. The map shows this boundary against current titles, which a printed description cannot keep up to date.
Camping
The gazette notice does not create a campground. Plan to stay in Dubbo unless you already have permission to camp on the land you are visiting.
Showgrounds and caravan parks in Dubbo change with the season. Book what the local council currently lists, and do not assume a creek flat is free camping.
Important notes
- !Inside a fossicking district you still need the landholder's permission on private land. You do not need the exploration licence holder's consent. A mining lease, mineral claim, or opal prospecting licence still needs that holder's consent.
- !Hand tools only. A pan, sieve, pick, shovel, non-powered sluice, and metal detector fit the rules. Pumps, dredges, powered trommels, and machinery do not.
- !Disturb no more than one cubic metre of ground in any 48 hours, put the soil back, and take your rubbish with you.
- !On native title land or water you need the registered native title body's consent. The only tools allowed there are hand-held, and digging or clearing is not permitted.
- !Mineral counts on this page are locations from the Geological Survey of NSW. They are not grades.
Nearby districts
Open Dubbo on the map
Titles change. Check this boundary against current leases before you dig.
Open mapDistrict boundaries and mineral counts are from the Geological Survey of NSW, CC BY. The words on this page are Dig Here's. Read the current rules on the NSW Resources fossicking page and check titles in MinView.