Indiana Recreational Prospecting

The State of Indiana currently has no laws or legislation differentiating between "commercial sand and gravel" operations and "recreational gold prospecting" or "mineral collecting" on public (navigable) waterways. Recreational gold prospecting and mineral collecting are very small scale weekend hobbies for thousands of Indiana residents, as well as a tourist attraction for many more out of state residents. These activities do not use bulldozers, backhoes or any other type of "heavy equipment" and should NOT be lumped in with large scale commercial mining operations. Recreational prospecting includes gold panning, sluicing, highbanking and operating small suction dredges with a hose diameter of 5 inches or less. All of these activities, small scale suction dredging in particular, have been shown through numorous environmental studies to have no permanent adverse affects on the environment and may actually be beneficial to aquatic organisms. In addition to gold, considerable amounts of lead, cadmium and other toxic metals are removed from Indiana streams by gold prospectors, which has considerable long term environmental benefits. Laws that were intended for "commercial mining operations," such as IC 14-29-3-4 should not be applied to "recreational gold prospecting" and "mineral collecting." The Indiana courts agree, as a recent dismissal ruling (Cause No. 09D02-0710-IF-02137 thru 09D02-0710-IF-02143) from Cass Superior Court 2 has shown, whereby seven Indiana DNR citations were dismissed because the Indiana Code is far too vague to be applied to recreational activities such as this. We are seeking a De Minimus Exclusion from these Indiana commercial mining laws, for recreational prospectors and mineral collectors. if you agree that Indiana's commercial mining laws should not be applied to ordinary citizens and hobbyist, then please make your opinion known by signing this petition. When complete, this petition will be delivered to the Indiana State Legislators for their consideration.