But members who choose to dredge should be aware that they may be hassled by the authorities, and even face the possibility criminal prosecution. Since the Court ruled that California’s dredge permitting moratorium is unconstitutional, making it unenforceable as a matter of law, The New 49’ers are not going to prohibit suction dredging on our mining properties. This is truly a great win for all gold miners!

In his Decision, Judge Ochoa ruled that both the Moratorium and the 2012 suction dredge regulations are unconstitutional. The good news is that Judge Ochoa awarded California suction dredgers a huge win on January 12th 2015 by declaring California’s “scheme” of first passing a law that requires suction dredgers to obtain a permit, and then passing another law making permits unavailable, as an unlawful and un-enforceable interference with the intention of congress.

The New 49’er Legal Fund was first in and remains on the front line of the battle after all these years. Several industry Associations have stepped up and contributed to the legal effort. This particular litigation extends all the way back to 2005, and has cost the mining community no less than a million dollars in legal expenses. All of the cases were eventually consolidated in front of Judge Ochoa in San Bernardino Court. Anti-mining activists challenged the new regulations as not restrictive enough.

The mining community challenged the new regulations as unreasonably restrictive. The case has yet to be decided at that level.Īt least six other lawsuits have been filed in California which challenge both the Moratorium and the new suction dredge regulations which DFW ultimately adopted in 2012. Important Note : In 2009, the State of California passed a law which placed a statewide moratorium on suction dredging in California until the Department of Fish & Wildlife (DFW) completed an updated Environmental Impact Report (EIR) along with several other requirements that were not within their jurisdiction. As a result of extensive litigation, we managed to finally get the Moratorium overturned in the Third Appellate Court. The California Supreme Court has since consented to Review the Third Appellate’s unanimous Decision.

2019 california gold mining dredging