Mid-Western Regional
Central West. 18 km east of Mudgee.
Gazetted
2 June 2017
Mapped size
8,773 square kilometres
Nearest town
Mudgee
Photo: Conrad Martens (Public domain). Wikimedia Commons.
Location
Gold marker: the middle of Mid-Western Regional. Dark marker: Mudgee.
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
Mid-Western Regional is a fossicking district drawn around a local government area. It was gazetted on 2 June 2017. The mapped area is about 8773 square kilometres. The middle of the district sits 18 km east of Mudgee.
Mid-Western takes in Mudgee, Gulgong, Hargraves, and Windeyer. Gulgong's rush in the 1870s was rich alluvial gold in deep leads. The towns are set up for visitors, which makes this one of the easier large districts to use as a base. Gold is the survey's main record.
Inside the mapped district, the Geological Survey of NSW mineral inventory records Gold (356), Lead (32), Copper (29), Silver (29), and Diamond (22). 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, 8 carry a placer description, which means the survey classed that gold as alluvial.
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.
Other gem minerals in the count are Diamond.
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
Mudgee is north of the Great Western Highway. The usual approach from Sydney is through Lithgow and the Castlereagh Highway. This district is 18 km east of Mudgee.
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 Mudgee unless you already have permission to camp on the land you are visiting.
Showgrounds and caravan parks in Mudgee 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 Mid-Western Regional 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.