For more than 30 years, Murray Ungerer has hand-mined sapphires on a small patch of land he is confident he can sustainably mine for another 30.
But the Queensland government could put a stop to that under a new proposal to cap small-scale mining tenures at 15 years to crack down on people building permanent structures on claims.
Miners can currently apply for unlimited renewals.
Mr Ungerer lives in the Gemfields region of Central Queensland, one of the largest sapphire-bearing regions in the world.
He was unsure how the tenure change could be introduced, given so many people lived on their claims and there was limited accommodation in the community.
"What happens when all those people get kicked out?" Mr Ungerer said.
"That's going to have a major effect on the whole community.
"I have no drama with [the government] coming down on people who are just using mining claims to live on and not actually mining them, because that's what we're here for, to mine sapphires."
On Thursday, the state government released a discussion paper with reform proposals designed to stop those living on claims without mining them and abandoning sites before remediating them.
After a 12-month pause, the ban on approving new small-scale mining claims will lift on November 24.
Miners can currently apply for permits of between five and 10 years duration which have no limit on their renewals.
But the Resources Department wants to lower this to five years and limit renewals to just two.
Weeding out 'cowboys' on claims
Queensland's resources minister Scott Stewart said under the proposed changes, five-year renewals would still allow genuine miners to renew mining claims, but would provide better scope for compliance than 10-year claims.
"This is where we want to weed out those cowboys. We see people who come in and will set up, build infrastructure on site and not put a shovel in the ground," he said.
"If people are doing the right thing, then there shouldn't be any problems.
"But if people aren't using those 10 years for their purpose … we need to do something about that and that's where we can do something in that five-year timeframe."
Another proposal is to introduce further fees, which Mr Stewart said would boost the department's compliance and training program.
The discussion paper said across Queensland, there were 1,893 mining claims as of July 2022, located across the Central Highlands, Winton, Paroo and Quilpie.
More uncertainty
Mitch Brown's late father Peter Brown arrived at the Gemfields in 1974, drawn in by the allure of sparkling precious stones.
Their family home was built on a miner's right.
Mr Brown, a business owner and Rubyvale Progress Association vice-president, commended the state government's collaboration with the community so far.
But he said the discussion paper fed into uncertainty about the community's future.
"We can work with new ideas to make sure that the ground is getting turned over," he said.
"We're just concerned that this is just a way of putting an end to small-scale mining on some of the designated fossicking land."
Mr Brown said with added compliance measures, the limited tenure period should not be required.
"It's not a rip, tear, dig – some of these claims have been dug for 100 years," he said.
"The best outcome for our community is someone getting on that claim, digging up some stones, they get value-added … through our jewellers and they live in our communities and contribute to our local economy."
Remediation plans
The paper found as of February 2021, 385 mining claims had not complied with obligations to remediate their land.
Another proposal in the discussion paper is to introduce a financial and physical test to ensure people could mine their land.
"At this stage, they abandon their sites and leave the clean-up to government, and ultimately that means that fee comes back to taxpayers," Mr Stewart said.
He encouraged small-scale miners to provide feedback on the plan, with submissions closing on February 24.
"We're prepared to go back and continue to work with the small-scale miners to make sure we get it right," he said.
