An ounce of gold per week...the great debate!

gecko109

Is it possible under very favorable circumstances to be able to extract one ounce of gold per week if you are one person with a small operation? The short answer is a resounding YES! But "favorable" circumstances means living in northern California, and investing about $5,000 into equipment, most notably a gold dredge. With the right equipment, location, and most importantly KNOWLEGE, a miner working by himself should be able to dredge about a quarter ounce per day of 18-20kt gold. This would make his weekly quota of 1 ounce very doable. But lets not forget that there are only a few months of the year that are open for legal dredging. This is due to fish spawning regulations. Therefore, to make that ounce a week consistantly for 52 weeks straight is not possible. Below is a picture of the larger "nuggets" I have recovered in a creek in central Indiana using a 4" suction dredge (about a $3,000 piece of equipment). This cache of gold represents well over 100 actual hours of labor (fun), and the total weight is a mere 5 grams. There is not much gold in Indiana, and anyone who is familiar with panning/sluicing/dredging in that area will be very impressed with my results. The dredgers out in California would probably just throw these back and let em grow!

adamlaneus

I've done lots of camping all over California, deserts, sierra foothills and northern river canyons.

Gold mining looks very difficult to me. Cold, exhausting work. You must be in good physical shape.

Also, there are scary characters around. The type that prey on miners. I think it is wise to be armed if you are dealing with gold in the middle of nowhere.

Living in and around Panamint valley makes you shrivel up to some extent; it's dry out there. Everything dries out like you would not believe.

I've seen a hard rock miner's truck up close in Panamint valley. A very nice lifted ford with all sorts of stuff for survival out there. A real 4x4 vehicle that can do those little awful mining roads. I bet much of this persons gold goes right into that equipment.

I think gold miners do it for the love of gold more than anything else. It is not what I would call easy money.

I still can't get over the fact that the Spanish were here in California for hundreds of years prior and didn't find that gold in the foothills.


Hard rock gold mine:

vplite

Nice picture.

I have panned in CA (by hand) but only for a few hours. I cam up with 0 minus the cost of my pie tin. It was fun.

Some of the serious dredgers could eek out a living, and gold was $40 then.

Tvac897

Interesting question.

Robb

Awesome project, gecko! Would love to see pics of your equipment and gear if it doesn't give away your location.

Maybe we'll see the Indiana Gold Rush of '08? Prolly not.

gecko109

I'll get some pics of my gear (dredges) maybe Friday. I have not been out this year as of yet, and my equipment is all over the place. Anyone who is in the Chicago area and interested in going sometime, just PM me. I guarantee we will find GOLD. Cant guarantee how much, but can promise we will find at least a little.

57loaded

many spots (ie streams) already have legal staked claims, with some very ingenius security measures, unknown to even the black ops of the CIA and Homeland Security...lol

nice photo

DaveG

I had no idea there was gold in Indiana!

Has there ever been any commercial mining activity in the state?

(Nice picture, by the way!)

BECOKA

If I was single and out of work I might consider it. It would be like getting paid to work out.

percyb

I reckon it ain't just the corn that's glittering dare in Indiana! Nice photos. Are you sure those aren't fillin's from corpses?? You a grave robber?

lasvegasteddy

one must be careful in those nor cal hills as i had a shotgun stuffed in my nose once and was told i obviousley had taken the wrong hiking trail

SeattleSlammer

so YOU were the one on the wrong trail! I always felt bad about that. Sorry, I get jumpy in the woods.

SeattleSlammer

gecko, I think it's ultra cool that you've actually pulled gold from the ground. Now that's making money the old, old, old fashioned way!

Amigo

opps, gotta try reposting

lasvegasteddy

biggest nugget i've seen was an 8oz pulled out of bodie crevicing by a buddy of mine

Amigo

Gecko, that ain't no stinkin nugget. This is a Nugget.

1 pound 2/3 oz pulled out with a 4" dredge in Arizona. I'm bashful so I covered my face, not to mention it was several yrs ago b4 I gained all my weight. This so far is our biggest nugget obviously. It is probably the largest nugget ever dredged in AZ, although bigger nuggets have been found via metal detectors in the State. I have zillions of photos but thought I'd post just a few



This is our fines found during the same year the large nugget was found. In all total including the nugget, we had as I recall slightly over 2 pounds (no, not oz's) , although I'd have to check my records to be positive. It was all found on private property. We didn't have to mess with no stinkin government regulations, dredged during the rain , sleet and snow in the dead of winter that year. yep, ya gottsa be in reasonable shape to move the most pay dirt.



This is working with a 3" dredge



This is panning out the fines from the sluice of the 4" dredge as seen by the suction hose

unknowncomic

I live in Northern Calif. almost in the middle of gold country. I have seen 2 oz. nuggets pulled out of the Trinity river by a dredger friend of mine. I have also seen small nuggets found with metal detectors. I personally have panned a little gold but not enough to be worth all the effort. Its still here guys. LOTS of it .
Of course you have to be careful of all the dope growers, drop outs and just plain weirdos in the hills .
There are some ingenious "security" devices hidden in these hills and valleys too.
By the way , the Spanish did find a lot of the gold here. It was the Indians that mined it though.
If you want an interesting read, look up the history of Shasta County CA.

ricko

I have panned gold in CA, AZ and New Zealand... lots of fun. Yep, there is still a lot out there.. but it does take work. Have a couple of decent nuggets.. mostly found fine stuff... Cheers, RickO

gecko109

Amigo, I imagine that I'd do quite alot better if I were dredging in an area that has native gold. However, im limited to local trips to Indiana for now, and am very proud of the nuggets...ok ok...pickers that I have recovered so far. Do you have any close up photos of that 1 pounder? That is an ultra impressive "once in a lifetime" type of find!

Grouchy

I'm always amazed at the breadth of experience and interests on these sites. When I lived in California in the 50's a frend of mine (7'1" tall) and I opened old mines for a Italian miner who had claims that had been closed during WWII We found lots of gold. This old guy had many mason jars filed with gold he had found in the Panamints. We did it as a hobby on weekends even took our wifes with us. My wife got good at killing rattlesnakes with a single shot 410. Our Italian friend had single handedly dug and blasted these drifts. He was about 5'1" making it very difficult for my friend to work in any of the tunnels. The Italian had made a good living and had several cabin one of which we lived in. My wife even lurned to make cakes on a wood burning stove. The scariest part of doing this was when we came upon an area in the tunnel that went thru a fault line and the hard rock turned to a gravel like material.

Grouchy

Cladiator

I remember hand panning the Stanislaus river with my Dad when I was a kid. We'd go camping for a week and when we gave up trying to get the fish to bite we would break out the pans. Was great fun and never left empty handed, gold and trout always came home with us. Good memories.

lope208

This is an awesome thread. Thanks!

renman95

I took my two boys, 7 and 9 years, gold panning along the Gunnison River just north of Delta and Montrose a couple of months ago.

The Boy Scouts had this all arranged, all the equipment was there. We had the local gold miners club there to teach us. It was fun.

There are no nuggests in this region just specks...but a lot of specks. They said one could get a quarter ounce a weekend, but that's a full weekend.

They meet every second Tuesday and talk...haven't gone but may someday.

What I would like to do is take the boys when they get older to one of the Alaska camps for a week. I've seen it advertised in the middle of the night on the "gold prospecting" show.

Ren

TexasNationals

As a fellow GPAA member, that ain't to shabby! I run a sluice (wet and dry) and pan, that is when I lived in AZ, not much here in N. Texas and I miss it. Thinking about taking a trip to Nome.