And as such not allowed in the extraction or processing of minerals.This has now stuffed up a lot of people who use High Bankers in NSW. They have classified it as a mechanical aid, or a mechanical operated tool. In NSW they have banned water pumps all together in the aid process of washing your hand obtained or extracted minerals.

But you can not use a water pump to suck up gravels, only water.

(A mechanical tool is a tool with moving parts that can operate or run without hand movement like a petrol driven dredge) Here in Victoria you can use a petrol or electric operated water pumps to help in the aid of processing gravels to extract minerals.

In other words a yabbie pump can be classified as either a Mechanical Tool or a Hand Held tool as it does not stipulate exactly the meaning of the word Mechanical. Because under the Miners Right it does not stipulate exactly what the meaning of the word 'Mechanical Tool' really is, except dredges. But he did say he personally would not charge anyone for using one as it would be to hard to fight in court and to costly. He told me,you can use it in creeks to look for yabbies & worms but not for gold. My reply was it is a hand tool and only hand held tools can only be used under Mines Right. Even though it is hand operated and suck up gravels and such like a dredge pump, even though it is hand operated. And his reply was it is a mechanical device because it has moving parts. I put this question to a local ranger in Bendigo a few years back. AAARGH blimey! Ang on a minute maybe it is not even legal to catch yabbies with it. So in the mean time while waiting for a meaningful reply I will consider a Yabby pump to be a Yabby pump and if it happens to suck up a bit of gold with the yabbies then that is great. I wouldn't mind 10 grand for every time I have asked that question over the past 60 years and received no reply. I said that there is confusion among the holders of a Victorian Miners Right in regards to these terms and that they are not defined in the regulations. I also asked for a clear definition of the term 'Mechanical' and 'Hand Tools', 'Dredge', 'Power driven' and Machine in regards to the Victorian gold fossicking 'Miners Right' rules and regulations. On the 30/12/18 I sent an Email to the Dept Of Earth Resources Of Victoria asking whether Yabby Pumps are a legal gold fossicking tool and is it considered to be a dredge where gold fossicking is concerned?

Yabby gold hand dredge