DO YOU or CAN YOU make a living from gold prospecting with a sluice/dredge/detector?

[keepmehumblelord]

Does a person or can a person make a living from gold prospecting w/sluice/detector?

Hi everyone! I wanted to start this thread to see if anyone is doing this for a living or knows someone. Also this would be good motivation for those that have no jobs and need a little extra cash. I understand if you have a family it would be difficult but lets make this thread if you are a single man or woman not wanting to work at fast food or retail and want to work hard long days 5 days a week or more. The question is how hard can this be? This is for mining only in the US or Canada. I know AU you can because ive read many articles so lets assume you can only go within US or Canada.

 

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[mellowyellow]

Hi and welcome! I suggest searching some threads here as well. This topic comes up about once a week! So ALoT of info already here and great stories.

You can do it full time but you'll be broke. Goodluck!! Lol

 

[Hefty1]

The question is how hard can this be?


It can be really Hard...Read from the start... [h=3]

Sticky: California miner needs help after USFS employee steals his property from claim[/h]

 

[Fermion]

collecting aluminum cans and selling to a recycler might be a better way to work long hard days for more money (and get similar exercise). $500 a week is not out of the realm of possibility and you get plenty of exercise.

 

[Fullpan]

Question is misleading! - substitute "do you or can you" to "does a person or can a person" Remember there are about 22,000 mining claims in Cal. alone.
A good percentage of them have not paid year after year to simply "have fun" out there. And I'll guess that 50% or more have never heard of tnet!

 

[keepmehumblelord]

Hi and welcome! I suggest searching some threads here as well. This topic comes up about once a week! So ALoT of info already here and great stories.

You can do it full time but you'll be broke. Goodluck!! Lol

Broke is different in many peoples eyes mellow. Im not talking getting rich. Im talking making some cash for those who have no jobs like myself.

 

[keepmehumblelord]

The question is how hard can this be?


It can be really Hard...Read from the start... [h=3]

Sticky: California miner needs help after USFS employee steals his property from claim[/h]

It is a great bummer for that to happy to sticky and not fair by any means. Yes there are thiefs and corruption but anyone who has a car a house etc will always have a chance of someone stealing there car breaking into their home etc. There are thiefs and those thiefs are not nice people. Hope sticky gets help or equiptment back or insurance can cover it.

 

[keepmehumblelord]

collecting aluminum cans and selling to a recycler might be a better way to work long hard days for more money (and get similar exercise). $500 a week is not out of the realm of possibility and you get plenty of exercise.

Aluminum cans? if you live in gold bearing areas your chance of making $20 a day are far greater than with aluminum cans. You would need to find 200 cans to make $20 in a day. Ive done the can thing and you are lucky if you get $5 in a day. There are hunters already got there garbage cans and places picked out for the can thing and they can tell you if they hit $10 a day they are doing really well.

 

[keepmehumblelord]

Question is misleading! - substitute "do you or can you" to "does a person or can a person" Remember there are about 22,000 mining claims in Cal. alone.
A good percentage of them have not paid year after year to simply "have fun" out there. And I'll guess that 50% or more have never heard of tnet!

Ok full pan I changed the supposidly misleading question to Does a person or can a person. I know the guys with claims and machinery are make money otherwise they wouldnt be spending the money. Im talking more towards someone who wants to put lots of hard work into finding the gold and it can be on a GPAA claim etc but only with minor equiptment. I should change the question to WHO ON HERE IS MAKING A LIVING GOLD MINING? There are many single veterans from the war that are homeless unfortunately (by the way if you do want to help out the vet's there is a website to help them and out the ones who have been injured during war you can help them out at Home - Wounded Warrior Project and i think it would be great to get some of the vets in GPAA groups for the friendships and the chance to find some gold) and many others who just dont have a job and are not collecting money from the states so I was hopeing for this thread to encourage those who dont have a job and are able to get out to the river and make some extra cash.

 

[Fermion]

Aluminum cans? if you live in gold bearing areas your chance of making $20 a day are far greater than with aluminum cans. You would need to find 200 cans to make $20 in a day. Ive done the can thing and you are lucky if you get $5 in a day. There are hunters already got there garbage cans and places picked out for the can thing and they can tell you if they hit $10 a day they are doing really well.

Congradulations! You just answered your own question. If there are aluminum hunters that have already staked out places to collect aluminum cans, and this has been going on for about 40 years, exactly how many gold rich areas do you think there still are for gold hunters when that hunt has been going on for the past 3000 years or so.

$5 a day after expenses is probably considered a good wage on gold prospecting from what I read and see of people's trips.

 

[Fermion]

It is a great bummer for that to happy to sticky and not fair by any means. Yes there are thiefs and corruption but anyone who has a car a house etc will always have a chance of someone stealing there car breaking into their home etc. There are thiefs and those thiefs are not nice people. Hope sticky gets help or equiptment back or insurance can cover it.

I think it is somewhat Sticky's fault, since he named his kids Banner and Post-It.

 

[MadMarshall]

I suspect it would be easier and more steady of an income to try to get a job of more conventional means other then prospecting. Hard work is certain and pay off can very drastically when prospecting. I am often tired and sore and grumpy and though I have had my good day's I often think of my self as a sadist to put myself thru so much just to get a little money. the truth is the reason this works for me is that my only goal is to pay for my next adventure. Everyonce in awhile this is easy but most of the time and I do mean most of the time I am just trying to get enough to pay my rent.utilities/food and heaven forbid car break downs /flat tires ect ect.. Just recently had 2 flat tires both withen 5 days of each other and it's hard to buy a tire when I need one to get me to the gold. and all tv computers xbox and most other worldly possesions belong to my brother as all my earning go to making prospecting work. It all depends how you measure sucsess. I am sucsessfull in the since that I get to spend the majority of my time in nature and looking at rocks/breaking them and also I live to find old trash/cabins/mines and whatever else I happen to find. I am also blessed in the fact that my family loves to spend their extra time with me not so much in the winter but the summer time I see alot of my kin on their days off and thats a blessing in itself. If it's about extra cash I think you may want to explore other options...

 

[soupfreak]

If you found an area that was producing gold in the ounces, then it might be worth it. Otherwise best to stick to it as just something fun to do. Knowledge and experience will dictate how you approach it in the future.

 

[keepmehumblelord]

It is a wonderful thing to be outdoors and make a little money while you are at it. Every once in a while you will find that nugget and its like a bonus. Has anyone ever found nugget high above the water levels like 30-100 ft? I always see people down at the rivers but never people on the sides of the mountains looking for gold. Any reason why? I know the old timers use to find nuggets high above the rivers. Why arent we seeing this going on today? Ive considered taking my metal detector and trying up on the sides of the mountains. If anything it would be just as good as a chance as the river since many mountains didnt get hydro washed. I guess it would depend on the mountains depth of soil. I know some mountains are exposing bedrock high up and one would think there would be gold in those crevices. Any opinions would be great.

 

[Fullpan]

Ok full pan I changed the supposidly misleading question to Does a person or can a person. I know the guys with claims and machinery are make money otherwise they wouldnt be spending the money. Im talking more towards someone who wants to put lots of hard work into finding the gold and it can be on a GPAA claim etc but only with minor equiptment. I should change the question to WHO ON HERE IS MAKING A LIVING GOLD MINING? There are many single veterans from the war that are homeless unfortunately (by the way if you do want to help out the vet's there is a website to help them and out the ones who have been injured during war you can help them out at Home - Wounded Warrior Project and i think it would be great to get some of the vets in GPAA groups for the friendships and the chance to find some gold) and many others who just dont have a job and are not collecting money from the states so I was hopeing for this thread to encourage those who dont have a job and are able to get out to the river and make some extra cash.

Now you're talking! I know there's a dozen guys here that are making a profit - what I don't know is are they full-time (40/hrs/wk or more) There's also
more than that hoping to dredge again with claims that are really profitable, but don't think its worth it to hand mine (spoiled on the absolute blast that
dredging in good ground is) What you are asking, - I've done it. I was lucky, hardworking, and willing to learn. Gold was my sole source of income for
nearly ten years. There are several posts here about my experiences. The comments about homeless vets are FIRST RATE - I agree 100% I was a homeless vet, by choice, for a time.

 

[AbTexEx]

To your question...

Yes and no

I will be the first to admit it is one hellofa ride
I think the key word in this article is experience

Prospecting for Gold in the United States

AJones

 

[Jason in Enid]

Can you make a house and car payment along with electric, water, fuel, groceries, etc? No. Can you make enough to buy a few $1 cheesburgers from McD's every day? sure.

Very few places are replenished at a high enough rate to be viable for constant hunting, and driving all over to keep hitting new places will eat all your profits.

You will make FAR more money at a minimum wage job than through metal detecting.

 

[Hefty1]

It is a great bummer for that to happy to sticky and not fair by any means. Yes there are thiefs and corruption but anyone who has a car a house etc will always have a chance of someone stealing there car breaking into their home etc. There are thiefs and those thiefs are not nice people. Hope sticky gets help or equiptment back or insurance can cover it.

Well... I can you tell that you didnt even bother to read the first page...
10 to 1 he will go broke mining. Just my op...

 

[1more4me]

I voted no -simply cause there is a difference between a Livin and Surviving... Some could, can, and do- but gold being money- and money being so much like women- and women can never be satisfied---- I can therefore deduce that you can Never find Enough Gold.... Sure I'd find a little then buy a bigger dredge, find more and drive to the dredge in a new hotshot truck, etc ,etc, then one day not find enough....
But I hope you all do! Good Luck
PEACE

 

[Fullpan]

Jury's still out, but lookin' grim - Hi Mark, did you make the meeting in Auburn?