Yes there are still places to dredge, UK is a definate no-go though.
John.
i'm more down south/central europe.
I switch locations,depending on the harassing levels i experience.
No motorized or mechanical means allowed,so i started Gravity dredging back in 2012.
Despite having obtained written Permit for my system,out of 8 holydays seasons i got called rangers 4times on me,sadly everytime by other "prospectors".
Sometimes Rangers see my permit and leave,sometimes they are not willing to accept and start looking for other ways to make work for me impossible.
Highlight was 2018.
River acces for motorized vehicles shut down,parking 1km from location and if if you leave the car there you will find it broken in to.
New rules ,no more free camping allowed,even sleeping in your car or camper outside of designated areas, which are miles away,which means leaving your gear for everyone to steal.
I had to leave after 2 days of consecutive bulliyng but..
I accepted the fight,checked for nearby farms,found a farmer on the opposite side of the river,asked for acces permission and to place my tend and got it.
Third day i a row they came to check me out,saw me on the other side on private ground and decided that in this case i had to take down my little riverrcobble dam ,which was the deathblow for my ops because the river i worked was flat and to increase suction i had to build a 40 cm (16 inch)high dam .
So for 2019 i started looking for a mountain river that would provide enough natural occuring droplevels to run a gravity sytem -and found it.
Even better ,there are nice nuggets there.
However 2020 again some very "correct" prospectors,again, called the rangers on me.
After looking at my permit they said that they would check.
Never heard again from them but another day was lost and the stress in those moments is a pain in the rear.
While i was not there,the "prospectors" also took pictures of my gear and posted it on theyre very correct facebook page of theyre very correct and enviromental friendly goldseekers club.
Just in case,i contacted a lawyer and let them know throug a friend because i don,t do facebook.
They took the pictures down,together with the whining,outcryes ,comments demanding burning me alive.
Another battle won but its getting tiring.
Also with the "European harmonization "of laws and regs ,Agenda 21pinciples,i think its a matter of time before they turn every last bit of freedom in to nostalgia.
Thats why i,m interested about your location countrywise and also paperworkwise,because maybe i will have to switch location in the future.
No problem if you feel need to keep it to you,and sorry if i kind of highjacked your thread.
Btw,here,s a vid of my 8 inch grav,dredge,which i don,t use currently because of the sudden death of my mining buddy and it,s a bit bulky for time restricted ,one man ops.
Dredge display starts at 1.17 min
,gold can be seen at the end of vid.
If you have vids of your dredge operating or pics of your set up/riffle system,would also be very interesting.
Cheers
Now there's a job that I could handle !!
