That's a good illustration of why mom n' pop mining and exploration died in the US back in the 1970s or so. Whatever mining remains in North America is high volume-low value large corporate surface operations. That's why all the high-grade underground action shifted to Mexico and South America - they're "mining friendly", as they say. Plus there's still a lot of ore to be found down there. There's still a few stalwarts stubborn enough to keep trying it in the US - like azdave35's pal. However, unless you have killer ore, it's pretty much a fool's errand nowadays, although a small guy can do OK with Alaskan placer if he wants to go remote. I know an old guy who has a decent-sized native silver discovery located on FS land in the Burro Mountains a few miles south of Silver City - requiring only surface trenching, mind you - that he gave up on because of the red tape and uncertainty. The game has mostly ended.
actually there are alot more people than you think still mining...at least in arizona