Buying silver in Tasmania
Silver has one price in Australian dollars across Australia, and investment silver (silver of at least 99.9% fineness, in bars, wafers or bullion coins) carries no GST anywhere. What differs in Tasmania is how second-hand silver buyers are licensed and how long they must hold what they buy, and the rules for fossicking.
Silver has one national spot price in Australian dollars: the prices on this page are the same as on the silver price in Australia page. What differs in Tasmania is how dealers are regulated and other local rules, explained below.
Selling silver or jewellery to a dealer in Tasmania
- Licence: No licence: a person must give at least one month's written notice to the officer in charge of the nearest police station before trading as a second-hand dealer or pawnbroker (no fee); the Commissioner of Police may object within 28 days.
- Hold period: 7 days. Goods must be kept in the form received for 7 days and not disposed of (exceptions: goods bought at public auction or from another dealer, vehicles and vessels). Pawned goods: redemption period of at least 6 months. Police may freeze suspected stolen goods for 21 days, renewable once.
- What the dealer records: Records of goods bought above a prescribed value, with prescribed details (set by regulation).
- What sellers need: Sellers must produce documentary proof of identity showing correct name and address (maximum fine 50 penalty units for dealers who do not check).
- The law: Second-hand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Act 1994 (Tas); Second-hand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Regulations 2026
Fossicking for gold in Tasmania
You do not need a licence to fossick in designated areas of Tasmania. No permit needed inside designated fossicking areas; outside them a prospecting licence/permit from Mineral Resources Tasmania is required.
Where: Designated fossicking areas listed by Mineral Resources Tasmania. Not in roadside gutters or embankments, caves or underground workings, or areas closed for timber harvesting or burns.
Rules: Hand fossicking only; no powered or mechanised equipment or explosives. Restore diggings, do not undermine stream banks, keep 10 m from cave entrances. No more than 10 kg of gemstones or rocks in any 48 hours.
Check the state's current rules and any land-access permission before you go: national parks and many reserves are closed to fossicking. Compare states: gold fossicking rules across Australia.
Silver in Tasmania: history
Gold-bearing quartz was found at Blythe Creek near Beaconsfield in 1847, and the first payable alluvial gold at Mangana in 1852. In 1877 William and David Dally found a rich reef at Beaconsfield that became the Tasmania Gold Mine, which yielded about 30 tons of gold to 1914. On the west coast, the Iron Blow gold mine (worked from 1883) became the Mount Lyell copper mine in 1890, and Frank Long found silver-lead at Zeehan in 1882. Historic: Zeehan on the west coast was the centre of Tasmania's silver-lead mining after Frank Long's find in 1882, and by 1908 it was the state's third-largest town. In 2021 the Hellyer mine (NQ Minerals) was among Australia's five largest silver producers, with about 1.9 million oz.
More: history of gold in Australia.
GST and tax on silver in Australia
For GST, 'precious metal' means gold of at least 99.5% fineness, silver of at least 99.9% or platinum of at least 99%, in investment form (bars, wafers or bullion coins with a recognised fineness mark, traded at prices linked to spot). Other supplies of precious metal are input taxed (s 40-100), so no GST is charged on resale of investment bullion. Jewellery, numismatic and proof coins, and unmarked granules are not 'precious metal' in investment form, so normal GST rules apply.
Collectables such as jewellery and coins or medallions are subject to CGT unless bought for AUD 500 or less; capital losses on collectables can only be offset against capital gains on collectables. Individuals who hold an asset for at least 12 months can generally reduce the capital gain by 50%.
AUSTRAC rules for silver dealers
From 1 July 2026, dealers who buy or sell precious metals, stones or products for AUD 10,000 or more in physical currency or virtual assets (including linked transactions that add up to AUD 10,000) are regulated under the AML/CTF Act reforms. Dealers that will accept or pay AUD 10,000 or more in cash or virtual assets had to enrol with AUSTRAC by 1 July 2026 and need an AML/CTF programme; a streamlined customer due diligence process is available for low or medium risk individuals paying cash. Dealers can stay outside regulation by not accepting cash or virtual assets at all, or by accepting them only below AUD 10,000 per transaction and watching for linked transactions.
Tax and duty information last reviewed October 2026. Rules change — confirm with your dealer or tax authority before a large purchase.