FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Jordi Fabre]

Recently Spain is considering new laws, something that has already occurred in many other countries. After a kind of "legal hole" forever, new rules about collecting/mining are to be implemented in Spain and, as usual, they make no sense, due to the minimal (0) relationship of the promoters of these new laws with reality.

Many different people interested in Spanish mineralogy are working now trying to improve these proposed laws and avoid the monumental errors that they currently contain, but we also need some help from outside countries. Could you please publish in this thread a summary or the laws that exist in your countries relating to field collecting of minerals?

The people who are working now in preparing different proposals to the Spanish politicians need to know how field collecting of minerals is controlled in other countries in order to prepare a compilation of these laws to show to our beloved politicians so they can see what other countries are doing in this field. Please download, publish or comment here the laws/regulations you have in your own countries concerning field collecting, mining or just picking up a rock during your walks. Every legal regulation related with Geology/Mineralogy/Paleontology would be extremely useful to us.

Thanks in advance to everybody who will spend some time to help us. Spanish mineralogy will be always grateful to these heroes! ;-)

Jordi
PS: If you want to know more about the discussions about this topic you can follow these links from the Spanish Forum and using the Google translator implemented in every page, follows more or less the contents:
¿Conservación del Patrimonio Natural?
Relación de nuevas especies o primeras citas en España - Sinergias
Una reflexión necesaria
Consideraciones sobre el Anteproyecto de Ley de Conservación de la Naturaleza

[Jordi Fabre]

[Riccardo Modanesi]

Hi Jordi!
In Mindat there is a very interesting article whose title is: "Defending The Freedom Of Collectors". In that article I wrote down a comment about the Italian situation. For instance, in the Aosta Valley it is forbidden to search minerals, especially with tools, while in Trentino Alto Adige (Sùdtirol) you need a permission card by the Province Trento or Bolzano (depending on where you are going to look for minerals). In Lombardy you can look for minerals, theoretically without using motorized hammers or explosives. The Elba Island is a National Park nowadays, therefore special permissions are required for searching minerals.
I hope I answered to your question. Greetings from Italy by Riccardo.

[chris]

Hello Jordi :

Here is the link of the English version of Chamonix Code of honor for crystal-hunters:
https://www.mineralogie-chamonix.org/?op=html&page=93

Regarding the French law itself, a short version is available on mineral-hub (in French):
https://www.mineral-hub.net/loi-reglementation-mineraux-fossiles.html.
To note I read somewhere the law was currently under revision.

And on Geoforum (in French):
https://www.geoforum.fr/topic/5817-demande-dautorisation-pour-la-collecte-de-mineraux-dans-quels-cas-est-elle-obligatoires/
(links normalized by FMF)

Hope it helps

Christophe

[chris]

While looking. In Switzerland :

Vaudoise society of Mineralogy code of honor (in French). This is a copy from the Swiss association of crystal-hunters & collectors statement:
https://www.svm.ch/website/code_dhonneur.html
(link normalized by FMF)

Hope it helps

Chris

[Jordi Fabre]

Thank you to everybody!

We still need info about UK and Australian regulations, some chance from our English and Australian FMFers?

[Martin Rich]

Hello everybody!

My comment to this spanish situation: strange!

E.g. in the national park of the Hohe Tauern in Salzburg, Carinthia and East Tyrol (this is the most significant national park in Austria relative to collecting minerals) is in the outer zone allowed to collect minerals only with hammer and chilsel. In the central zone it is not allowed to collect minerals with tools, only pic up minerals with hands is allowed. In this zone about 100 people are permitted to collect minerals with hand tools. These people are a part of a scientific program. They have to notify every find and the best and most interesting specimens have to deliver for universities and museums (e.g. center of the national park, mineral museum in Bramberg, NHM Vienna, etc.). Law for the national park Hohe Tauern (in german, maybe Google translator is useful):
https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=LrSbg&Gesetzesnummer=10000434
(link normalized by FMF)

[Note: For all aficionados of minerals out there, if you want to visit these museums, don't forget your Hasselblad camera and take care and take an Oxygene bottle with you. ;)]

These explanations above are only for the national park Hohe Tauern!

We have here in Austria thousands of mineral localities (I am a co-author of the new mineralogy of Lower Austria (19,000 square km) and we have listed more of 2000 localities in this region!). Farm land, forests, quarries and also old mine dumps are private by 100%. If you want to collecting minerals, you have to ask the land owner for a permission. In the most cases, you get a permission, only in some quarries and active mines you don't get this, because it is a question of your security. In special prodected landscapes, there in not allowed for collecting minerals.

The well known austrian mineralogyst Dr. GERHARD NIEDERMAYR, NHM Vienna, postulated such: "Minerals are national heritage and we can prodect this things only by collecting and scientific investigation and making public.... Mineral collectors and mineralogical professionals are working hand in hand...." I agree by 100%!

I hope this was some helpful
Martin

[Martin Rich]

I wanted to add a link about the law of the national park Hohe Tauern.
I think, I did some wrong. Some suggestions??

Martin

[Jordi Fabre]

[James Catmur]

In the UK there are some restrictions.

For example the Hilton mines are in an army test area, so access is only allowed on certain days - but then it is not a problem

Caldbeck fells operates a licensing system, to stop excessive collecting.
https://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/171604/Application-for-a-permit-to-collect-minerals-Green-Zone.pdf

and there is a code of conduct with three zones:
https://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/171601/policy_and_code_of_conduct_nov_2007.pdf

We also have sites of special scientific interest (SSSI) that have additional protection
https://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/conservation/geodiversity/threats/collecting.aspx

I hope that helps

James

[Martin Rich]

Jordi, thank you for the help!

Ah yes, we have also some military test areas and there is also on some days an access possible.

I forgot one thing. In the state of Carinthia it is the same problem like in Spain. The government of Carinthia legislated a law, that says, collecting minerals is not allowed! This was affected by some (unworldly ?) NGOs. To collect minerals on the area of Carinthia is only allowed for scientific purpose. OK, invest 20 € and get a membership of the "Wissenschaftlicher Verein für Kärnten" ("Scientific Society of Carinthia") and you can looking for minerals on mine dumps, quarries, etc. In my opinion this is some crazy, but it works!

Martin

[Rei]

Hey all. I had heard some comments a while back expressing uncertainty over whether people can any more collect minerals on public lands in Iceland, so I figured I'd do some digging.

In publicly available information, it stated that it's banned to take anything from protected regions (including the famous zeolite deposits near Búlandsá/Teigar in Berufjörður and the Iceland Spar mine a couple fjörds away). It's also always prohibited to damage or take cave formations, regardless of ownership and permission. Beyond that, the information simply said to ask the owner. But what about lands in ownership of the state? Hiking areas? What sort of quantities are regulated? The information didn't say.

I turned to the Environment Agency of Iceland. At first they just responded about cave formations which I already knew. The person there didn't know the answer in general, and so had to turn to a lawyer. So this response is from a lawyer picked by the environmental agency! :) My translation below.

[Jordi Fabre]

[alfredo]

Another thing to keep in mind in Iceland: Many Icelanders (perhaps even a majority?) believe that invisible live spirits live under many big rocks. They won't like to see you giving their friendly spirits a headache by hammering on the rocks. Picking up small loose rocks should be OK.

I guess if some farmer refuses you permission for collecting on his land, that this might be what he's worried about --- Nasty collectors disturbing the spirits.

[Pierre Joubert]

[Rei]

Æji... not the elves stuff! ;)

Rates of belief in elves here are about as common, and about as seriously taken, as belief in ghosts is in America. So yeah, there's a small number of people certain they exist, a much larger percent willing to consider their existence, then a majority that shakes their head in disappointment when they hear that a friend or family member is certain that they're real ;)

As for the traditional beliefs, they're rather similar to the Japanese belief in Kami - that there's places in nature, often those that look out of place or inspire a sense of awe, that can can be inhabited by otherworldly entities - in Japan, Kami; in Iceland, álfar. Often they're large boulders, and if one that's traditionally held to be an elf home is in the way of construction or something, sometimes they'll give the elf believers a chance to convince the elves to move so that the people will stop complaining ;)

But yeah, I've never heard of the elves messing with people over little rocks ;)

[Juan F. Buelga]

In this link you will find information about how the government of Western Australia regulate mineral collecting.

https://www.dmp.wa.gov.au/documents/132297_Prospecting_in_WA.pdf
(link normalized by FMF)