"new" California gold rush

slipgate

I read recently that only 15% of California's gold has been tapped. Are we in for a new CA gold rush?

atarian

Im sure with all the companies out there , there would be very little room for the little man to score the gold like in the 1850s. Big Business or Big Brother would end up being a big bully if gold is found.

Meltdown

It happens. That's the fun of gold panning, you never know what's going to be at the bottom of the pan.
Given the price of gold, it's regaining it's popularity as a pastime. I imagine it's still very tough to make a living at it.

fc

one has to wonder how much of the land that was freely available
to claim/mine is now private property, part of a animal habitat/protected,
and otherwise unavailable to even step foot on.

many places it is impossible to even follow a stream/river in MI/NH without
stepping on private property most of the way.

notwilight

Without knowing anything about it I'd guess that most of it is either too expensive to mine/prospect or tangled in some crazy california law making it not worth it. The new high school where my third grader should attend (in about 6 years) is being held hostage by a pair of nesting gnatcatchers about a mile from my home. --Jerry

lkeigwin

I have a friend in northern CA who makes his living panning/mining gold. I think he grows and sells some stuff for a living too.

If getting to the 85% remaining gold has even the smallest impact to the environment, it will never happen. There's a ton of money to be made with off-shore drilling, and enormous benefits, but that won't happen here either.

I hear some CA environmentalits are actually trying to breathe less too; you know, CO2 and all that.

Lance.

ksteelheader

I've got about 2500+ feet of stream running through my property here in PA and I've researched that in Colonial times gold was found in streams in this area. Maybe I need to get a new hobby??

GritsMan

<< <i>I've got about 2500+ feet of stream running through my property here in PA and I've researched that in Colonial times gold was found in streams in this area. Maybe I need to get a new hobby?? >>



Sounds like a great idea!

And re: environmentalists--the sooner we eradicate all environmentalists and endangered species, and drill and mine every possible place on the planet, the sooner we can build a real Utopia. What are we waiting for??? I can't wait to live in a world filled solely with rats, pigeons, and imported eucalyptus trees!

Nysoto

There is a lot of gold left in old mining areas, prospecting is an enjoyable hobby.

19Lyds

I can't help but wonder what they are basing that 15% figure on since that represents a large chunk of money in todays values?

You think they "know" where it is and are just not talking?

Nysoto

<< <i>You think they "know" where it is and are just not talking? >>


Gold is found in varying quantities in most locations on every continent. The capital cost of a new mine is enormous, compounded by environmental regulations. Only high grade ore, in locations that have cheap labor and do not have as strict regulations, would be profitable. Sustained higher gold prices could increase mining activity.

ricko

There are many people quietly making a great deal of money on alluvial gold. Cheers, RickO

Steve27

I saw a news story on this, the guy they interviewed was an out of work landscaper, he said he was making $50 a day panning for gold.

"Pan for Gold in the South Fork of the American River
never too young to learn how to pan for gold Folks in the know say that in spite of the best efforts of thousands of miners who extracted gold from the Sierra Nevada foothills in the last century, lots of gold remains.

The gold miner sloshing his gold pan has become an icon of the Gold Rush, and lots of people enjoy reliving this simple process of gold panning, although serious present-day goldseekers use more sophisticated techniques such as small-scale dredging. But the gold panning ritual lives on.

So where to pan? Possibilities are limited. On private property, you may pan as long as you have the owner's permission. At the area's main private campgrounds, for example, registered guests may pan. In Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, panning (hands and pan only) is allowed only on the northeast shore of the river by the Mt. Murphy Road bridge across from the park museum. A concession at the Bekeart's Gun Shop features trough mining and gold pan rentals."

metalmeister

Still alot of color in Calif. streams. You just need to know were to look