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Select Here to View the MDHTALK's January News Brief in Adobe .PDF
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| January 2021 | Metal Detecting Hobby Talk News Brief Volume 11 Number 130 |
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Support The Hobby I would like to point out to the News Brief readers that there are a number of organizations taking on the challenge against various types of legislation dealing with metal detecting and gold prospecting. MDHTALK's recommendation is to visit their website and give strong consideration to joining the fight. In some cases your support may be to send emails and / or write a letter to specific legislators or to provide funds to help with the fight. Here are the organizations and a link to their website. |
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MDHTALK News Pages U.S. & W.W. News U.K. News U.S. Archaeology U.S. Legislation W.W. Meteoritic Other Media MDHTALK Article Links Return Stories MDHTALK Find a Club Read Newsletters FaceBook Clubs MDHTALK Event Calendar January |
What is a News Brief? The news brief provides a brief look into any news event. The intent of the news brief is to provide you, the reader, with news clips on what was taking place in the hobby last month. To read the whole story select the Article Link or go to MDHTALK.org. There are more news stories placed on the MDHTALK website for December the news stories listed in the MDHTALK News Brief are just a portion of all the hobby related news reported the past month. The news Brief is now available in Adobe PDF format, there is a link at the top of this webpage. The news brief is no longer emailed; it is only available on the MDHTALK website and can be downloaded. The Website's featured article for this month is: Recreational Metal Detecting on the Endangered List? Download this article to View and Read the Complete Article Metal Detecting took form in the 1950-60s and the detectorists who were metal detecting at that time had very few restrictions and the finds were fabulous. Metal detecting during this period can be described similar to being in the old west with open ranges and anything goes. The finds stories from those in the hobby during that period are hard to believe against today’s detecting results. So is Metal detecting on the Endangered List? Let’s take a look at the barriers and variables that affect the hobby. Barriers to Recreational Metal Detecting The Law: Today, the U.S. metal detecting environment is controlled by a hodgepodge of Federal, State, City, County laws. A major reason for this is that there is no regulation, law or statue at the Federal level that provides any support for recreational metal detecting. Some of the Federal statues were written before metal detecting became a popular hobby and since these acts were drafted to protect America’s Heritage it may have been felt that users of a metal detector on federal lands would rob America of some of its heritage. There were four major federal acts drafted to protect America’s heritage and everyone (detectorist) should read each of them. They are: The four acts indeed do protect Americas Heritage but at the same time limit or in most situations make metal detecting an unlawful act. If someone is caught metal detecting in National Parks, National Historical Sites, National Monuments, National Recreational Areas, Native American Lands or on archaeological sites the penalties can be severe. There are a few exceptions where portions of Federal Forest Service and BLM lands allow metal detecting if no archaeology sites are present. |
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General U.S. and World Wide Hobby News
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Other News Sources
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Plans aimed at protecting newly-uncovered treasure in England and Wales have
been unveiled by the government. Changes to the 1996 Treasure Act will see artefacts defined as treasure if they are of historical or cultural significance. They are intended to ensure significant artefacts are not lost to the public and will instead be able to go on display in museums. The move follows the growth in popularity of metal detecting. V&A snaps up 600-year-old brooch found on farm What is it like to find 'treasure'? Finder 'had no idea coin was worth £10k' Under the pre-existing rules, objects are classified as treasure if they are found to be more than 300 years old, made of gold or silver, or found with artefacts made of precious metals. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said a number of Roman finds on UK soil had not met the current criteria for the definition of treasure. Dog made of lead sold "The search for buried treasures by budding detectorists has become more popular than ever before and many ancient artefacts now see the light of day in museums' collections," said culture minister Caroline Dinenage. |
"However it is important that we pursue plans to protect more of our precious
history and make it easier for everyone to follow the treasure process." Once they have officially been identified as treasure they become the property of the Crown and can be acquired by museums for public display. Rise in illegal metal detecting at historic sites The DCMS said the new rules would have protected discoveries like that of a Roman figurine, depicting a British person, found near Chelmsford, Essex, in 2014. The artefact, now in the Chelmsford City Museum after an export license delayed its sale, would not have previously met the definition of treasure because it is made from a copper alloy. Bronze sculpture of a "licking dog"image copyright PA image captionThe "licking dog" is an example of a healing statue thought to be linked to a Roman temple at Lydney The department added that a four foot-tall bronze Roman statue of a dog found in Gloucestershire by metal detectorists in 2017, was sold to a private collector as part of a hoard as it was not made from precious metal. "Although it was of outstanding archaeological importance, the dog did not fall under the definition of treasure in the 1996 Act because it was made of lead," the DCMS said. |
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Metal Detecting & Gold Prospecting Events.
Now is the time to start planning and getting your club's 2021 hunt information on the web. The sooner it is out and available to the metal detecting community the greater the chance for people to see it and give your event some consideration. |
Check out your event before going it may have been postponed or canceled. Select here to View the Complete Event Details for January Add Your Event Information Here |
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For 30 YEARS: PLP exists to "Represent and assist outdoor user groups and individuals interested in keeping public and private lands open to prospecting, mining and outdoor recreation through education, scientific data and legal means." |
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December2020 Oktoberfest is in the books and we are planning the next big event! We really enjoyed meeting many of you at our recent Ocktoberfest outing in the historic Stringer Mining District near Randsburg CA. We were blessed perfect weather, great food and a fantastic location. We met old friends and made new ones. Folks who hadn’t seen each other in years enjoyed catching up. The kids’ metal detecting hunt was a big hit! There is nothing as pleasant to see as kids smiling, laughing and having a great time finding treasures. The parents enjoyed “helping” the kids out too! Saturday night started with an amazing smoked BBQ dinner, topped off with yummy potluck deserts! After dinner, Clark Pearson our Legal Researcher gave a stellar performance at the campfire updating the group on all that PLP has been working on both locally and in Washington, DC. All weekend there were prospecting tips and tricks shared with those who were interested in improving their gold recovery skills or just learning for the first time. There was a guided tour of a nearby small-scale placer mine as well which was very educational for all! There was some bragging about the gold that was found, but most prospectors were tight lipped about what they found at their ‘secret spot’! Miner’s Keepers was there with some fantastic nuggets for sale. They are huge PLP supporters and we were honored they came out. Coming Soon: Watch for the announcement for our next outing. 2021 is PLP’s 31st Anniversary and the 2021 Grand Raffle tickets are on sale NOW! They make great gifts or investments in supporting PLP. Raffle donations are still being accepted and will be mentioned in the monthly Mining Journal raffle ad. December PLP Update by Scott Harn published in the Mining Journal Web Site “The Department of Interior released revised regulations pertaining to complying with the Environmental Policy Act, but these revisions pertain to special use permittees, which does not include miners. Public Lands for the People’s Clark Pearson continues to have monthly meetings with officials via phone/video in Washington, DC, in the ongoing effort to get regulatory relief for miners. Those talks are now focused on immediate relief that can be provided by the current administration should the election results be certified in favor of Joe Biden. Plans are also under way to coordinate with the incoming chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. We had difficulty getting current chair, Senator Murkowski (R-Alaska), to provide much-needed regulatory relief for small miners, but her term as chair will expire. We expect Senator Barrasso (R-Wyoming) will be the incoming chairman and we had several good in-person meetings with his staff prior to the COVID pandemic. As mentioned in the Legislative and Regulatory Update , President Trump signed another Executive Order related to critical minerals on September 30. The President declared a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the National Emergencies Act related to critical minerals and the threats imposed by relying solely on countries such as China for our critical mineral needs. The order requires federal agencies to provide details on existing and planned efforts to jump-start critical minerals mining and production here in America and those reports are due within 60 days at the White House. Once started, this could be a difficult path to reverse by Former Vice President Joe Biden if he eventually is sworn in as the next President. Some of our readers have wondered aloud if they will be left behind when it comes to regulatory relief related to critical minerals because they mine gold and/or silver. But the administration has made it clear that critical minerals are byproducts in many cases, so any regulatory relief must be across the board for all commodities. President Trump’s Executive Order 13817 issued in 2017, stated, “Of the 35 minerals deemed critical, 12 are byproducts. Therefore, strategies to increase the domestic supply of these commodities must necessarily consider the mining and processing of the host materials because enhanced recovery of byproducts alone may be insufficient to meet US consumption.” We will continue to keep you updated on our joint efforts to provide regulatory relief for miners at the federal level. In the meantime, please consider joining PLP by purchasing a yearly $50 membership, purchasing raffle tickets or by making a donation. These funds allow PLP to continue their fight for small miners, as they plan to return to Washington, DC, in early 2021”. For more information, visit: Web Site © ICMJ's Prospecting and Mining Journal, ICMJ Inc. REVIEW these decisions for YOUR future wins: PLP Member Wins “No Addition Argument” in CA State Court For the very first time in CA State court a small miner has won the “no addition argument”- This time against the CA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife. Previously, PLP member Godfrey won the issue against the Forest Service and CA Water Board in 2015. Gold miner Michael Osterbrink along with PLP’s expert testimony delivered by PLP’s legal researcher Clark Pearson fought back a charge by the Sierra County DA that what Mr. Osterbrink had done “had polluted State waters with materials that are deleterious to fish in violation of section 5650 of the CA Fish & Game code.” WINNING: Mr. Osterbrink was found not guilty of violating section 5650 of the CA Fish & Game code which prohibits pollution of state waters with materials that are deleterious to fish and wildlife (count 2). PLP cannot understate the importance of this legal decision in our present battles with the political powers of the regulatory swamp. This IS a really big deal! So-called environmentalists in CA believe that miners are polluters – not true! There are no foreign substances added, a fact PLP has been touting for many years, and the Court agreed! The Court stated ”…I really think 5650, the intent of the Legislature there is to deal with situations where a defendant has deposited something new, a foreign substance. Here, there doesn’t seem to be any dispute that this defendant did not add anything new. So I am going to find Mr. Osterbrink not guilty on count 2.” If you may recall back in 2015 PLP member John Godfrey also won the “no addition argument” in count 5 against the Forest Service. (see: Web Site) The Forest Service had in that case even called a so-called expert lead engineer from the CA Water Board to testify that what Godfrey had done amounted to pollution – to no avail to the government. Godfrey won in federal court and now Osterbrink has won in CA state court. PLP had confidence that it was a solid argument that could be won, even in a California state court, and WE DID. Osterbrink’s decision will go a long way in helping get suction dredging to legally return to California and other states. PLP once again successfully stood by its arguments that are successful and applied them where others have waivered and compromised. PLP is effectively fighting for your rights to mine responsively without compromise. The Mining Journal supports PLP, and publishes the detailed PLP UPDATE article every month. Thank you again Mining Journal!! Web Site Do you want to support PLP AND get a tax deduction? PLP accepts all types of financial donations: stocks, bonds, annuities, real estate, mining claims, etc. All donations are tax deductable within IRS rules. Some folks are naming PLP in their Living Trusts and Wills as a beneficiary for a designated amount as a donation in the future. We appreciate every donation, it all helps! We hope to see you next year, and Let's Keep Taking it Back while we Make Mining and Multiple Use Public Land Great Again! Join or renew here: Web Site Your PLP Board of Directors |
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