New to Forum: Seeking some Guidance and Advise.

[Ziggenation]

Hello, I'm Jeff from PA.

I am on the friendly metal detecting forum and thought I would check out this site. Glad to be here!


I lived in Tacoma, Washington for 12 years. I've been back in Philly for about 6 months. While I lived out west I spent 3 summers dredging on a 5 inch set up. I have maybe 150 hours on the nozzle. I want to spend this winter getting into better shape, drop some pounds and be ready for the this summer season. I have decided that I want to put 100% into being a professional prospector. The problem is, I don't know...or....can't decide where the best place for me is.

I've thought about trying to hook up with an operation in Nome, but not sure if I could secure a position in advance or do I just show up and hope to find work. I also don't know if there is enough good gold up there for these small dredge operations to be successful.

I also gave thought to trying to land a job with an operation inland (AK). The unfortunate part is I have NO experience with heavy equipment operation or repair. A major lack of skill in this area puts this idea out of my mind. I am a diver.

I also gave a little thought to places like AZ or CO, but again, i'm a diver, not a hard rock miner.

I know making a living doing this is hard and takes time. I'm dedicated to making it work. I'm just such a newb to "professional" mining and was hoping for some guidance and advise.

Thank you kindly!

Jeff

 

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[Clay Diggins]

Welcome to TNet Jeff!

My first advice would be to broaden your skill set. Restricting yourself to just working a nozzle will leave you very few options. It's kind of like the new kid showing up to the game and saying "I wanna be quarterback". That new kid might be a great quarterback but what do you think the odds are that anybody will give him a shot at the glory position first time around?

You say you want to be a "professional prospector". That is a valid job description but there are very few positions as prospector. Those that do exist go to trained and successful geologists. Companies want to dig minerals - not look for them. In our group we only have one full time prospector. His job is to make sure we have a job to go to when the deposits we are currently working start to peter out.

My point is that there are thousands of jobs for miners for each job as a prospector.

Gold is where, when and how you find it. In an historical perspective suction dredging is probably about near the bottom of the scale in actual gold produced. I'm sure drywashing and even sluicing have produced more gold than suction dredging. Suction dredging is one of the most efficient ways of mining but it's scope is limited to probably less than 2% of all mineable gold deposits.

If you can move a shovel and live with dirt in all the non fun parts there are plenty of grunt jobs in the mining industry. You probably won't make a decent living in the first few years but you might just get the opportunity to learn and work your way up to something better paying and more interesting. Mining can be very lucrative but it's like any other skilled job - you don't get to be an astronaut until you've worked your way up through the ranks.

Be flexible, stay healthy, work hard and respect those who can teach you and you have a good shot at becoming a full time miner.

I hope that helps? Good Luck!

Heavy Pans

 

[Ziggenation]

Welcome to TNet Jeff!

Hey thanks so much for the welcome and some awesome advice. It really hit home for me and made total sense. I guess I should have worded my intentions a little differently. I want to be a miner. I love dirty grunt work and getting some additional skills is going to be a requirement if I intend to make an honest shot at this.

Thank you very much for your time in responding, it was really helpful to just lay out my experience and intentions and get an honest and well presented advice.

Jeff

 

[Bonaro]

Hi Jeff...Clay gave good advice but I would add that if you want to find a job as a diver on a dredge, Alaska is the place to be. In that pursuit I would definitely try to find a place to go before you just go. I see people advertise for dredge drivers on the forums and AK newspapers and online classifieds are a good place to search.

There is one on this forum, recently posted...
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/gold-prospecting/437521-steve-phillips-nome-trip.html

 

[goldenIrishman]

Clays advice is 100% spot on Jeff. You're going to need to broaden your skill set and not try to go for the quarterback position right off the bat.

Mining is a very honorable profession with a LOT of history behind it. It has helped our country grow into the powerhouse it is today. It is not, nor has it ever been an easy job and to be good at it you have to be able to listen to those that have been in the field for some time and learn from their experience instead of repeating their mistakes. Some of the most important things to remember is to always work in a safe manner, and to take care of your body. If you don't, you will either end up dead or old before your time. All forms of mining can be and usually are dangerous in many ways so safety should always be one of your main goals. Digging or sucking up a ton of gold isn't going to do you a bit of good if you're not around to enjoy the fruits of your labors!

Remember... Work safe and work smart and you can go a long way in this or any other field.

THE OTHER JEFF

 

[IMPDLN]

Tough way to make a living. Most the time larger operations are like any other business. Clay gave you some very awesome info to start. At a large operation they have everything from equipment operators to engineers. Some people just drive trucks back and forth all day or night as many operations run around the clock. Some guys might be mechanics and some guys might set charges. Even women drive the large dump trucks and operate some of the equipment. Like any other job, you just need to possess some kind of skill they can use, apply for an opening and go from there.

Now I am no expert when it comes to dredging. However it seems to me that most smaller operations need people that have other skills besides just running a nozzle. Smaller dredging operations usually need people that are kind of jacks of all trades. You need to be mechanically inclined as well as having diving experience. Being able to cook meals and being able to handle roughing it in the back country are also fairly necessary I would think. Especially in Alaska, I would think most operations want to get what they can with long hard hours since the season is usually rather short. Cold water dictates that workers will have to rotate on and off the nozzle so you would likely have to be able to do anything and everything involved with an operation like that. Even such things as cutting or gathering fire wood and maybe digging an outhouse.

I agree with Bonaro that you shouldn't just show up expecting to find work. You'll likely just end up stuck on a bar stool with many other people. Do your research and think about all the possible scenarios. I myself will stay with what I know, driving a tow truck, and prospect as a hobby. Of course I will be mining should I find something good while prospecting, but I won't quite my day job. Dennis

 

[jvan]

As repeated, Clay is the man that knows exactly to the T what hes talking about, so his free advice is highly valuable... I am new to this as well and he has helped me a great deal and has made things much smoother for me....

What you see on tv is fun, but hard back breaking work... But FUN!

Good Luck

 

[russau]

Its also smart to bring some job skills with you to ensure $$ is comeing in to feed/house yourself and family if that is the case!