Real deal or BS??

mjarvis

Full Member
Jan 4, 2013
218
28
Gold river
Detector(s) used
Bounty hunter. Whites MXT, whites pinpointer
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
I've considered buying some bags of concentrates but my gut tells me other wise. When you see the Alaskan gold bags from the cheap stuff to the " for sure" bags makes me wonder how " real is it or how good is it?" There's lots of company's and people selling concentrates but my question is how many people have bought these bags and are they as good as they say?? I'm not interested in throwing 50 to 100 bucks out the door just to see if it's good so I'm asking the T.net people if they have tried the mail order bags. Thanks for the info
 

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juneaupanner

Jr. Member
Sep 28, 2012
72
51
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
In my honest opinion you doubtfully will get your moneys worth. However it may be easier to pay someone to send you a salted bag of driveway dirt than it would be to dig it up yourself. Adventuring, finding gold on your own and putting the effort fourth to come up with any quantity is much more worth while IMO.
 

rebel003

Full Member
Feb 17, 2011
149
71
Winston, Georgia
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
You should never expect to get more than 50% to 60% of gold based on the amount you spend. think of it like going out to a nice steakhouse, you pay $20.00 for a steak you can buy at the grocery store for $12.00, the balance pays for overhead, labor, logistics and profit.
If you want a sure thing then there are some who sell based on the amount of gold they know to be in the dirt.
Getting your own is way better than paying someone else and hoping not to get screwed :skullflag:
 

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Goldwasher

Gold Member
May 26, 2009
6,077
13,225
Sailor Flat, Ca.
🥇 Banner finds
1
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SDC2300, Gold Bug 2 Burlap, fish oil, .35 gallons of water per minute.
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BUY GOLD....ADD FREE DIRT= PAN CHEAPER..Considering where you live you should just hit the riverbanks more dude I promise you'll start to find more and not want to buy, dirt and gold through the mail. If you want to find a paydirt company that cosistantly throws nice pickers your way, and it is a fun way to collect then have at it.I worked at a panning concession in Alaska one summer and the bags we sold and taught people with were filled with classified material, right from the cut. we would show up with a truck and our empty bags....The old bearded fellow would hop on his loader go grab a load from their mines stock pile...run it over a grizz for us and we would fill bags for a few hours while we watched them do their thing(YES BEST JOB EVER) So though they weren't salted the gold had been fairly dispersed. It was classified to an inch or so, so it wasn't like getting a bag of sand. It was actual placer gravels. We found a few Mammoth teeth, some cool mineral specimins, I never scored a nugget, But weighed out way to many 1+ and even like a 2.9 gram clinker For some lucky retiree who had never even panned. .5 gram pans were the average with a lot of nice flakes. We taught with and used steel pans with the tourists, However after hours:headbang:... me and my buddy/co-worker knew what was up and would pull out our Garret Gravity Traps and pan away.....It took about two and a half months to fill a plastic film caniste (Each)r...like 3.5 ounces all from what the paying customers lost out of their pans.Just scooping in the troughs and panning an hour or so after work. It was 1998 so I think the price of gold was at most in the mid 300 probably less. So I doubt any mine selling paydirt these days would be selling their dirt the same way.
 

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mjarvis

mjarvis

Full Member
Jan 4, 2013
218
28
Gold river
Detector(s) used
Bounty hunter. Whites MXT, whites pinpointer
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
In my honest opinion you doubtfully will get your moneys worth. However it may be easier to pay someone to send you a salted bag of driveway dirt than it would be to dig it up yourself. Adventuring, finding gold on your own and putting the effort fourth to come up with any quantity is much more worth while IMO.
Hey June
I couldn't agree more. I've been curious about it but I wasn't about to buy a bag.
 

KevinInColorado

Gold Member
Jan 9, 2012
7,037
11,370
Summit County, Colorado
Detector(s) used
Grizzly Goldtrap Explorer & Motherlode, Gold Cube with trommel or Banker on top, Angus Mackirk Expedition, Gold-n-Sand Xtream Hand pump
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Others here are right. If you want a thrill, enter a fund raising raffle at your local prospector's club and try winning a nugget that way. At today's prices, nobody can afford to give you "your money's worth" in gold. Still, for those who can't go to the creek it may be worth doing. Of course most of us spend twice what we get in gold when we go out on our own (not me of course ;-) )so buying pay dirt is no worse than going digging from a financial pov! Comes down to doing what you enjoy I'd say :-D

...now I'm off to the creek to dig!
 

keitha43

Jr. Member
Jun 14, 2013
61
39
Moore, Oklahoma
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
I enjoyed panning some Alaska pay dirt. Quite a few people go to claims and either get nada or less gold than you will find in those bags. Especially in states that don't have much gold like here in Oklahoma! Plus it is good training on panning. I miss out on the outdoor experience but don't get "skeeters" as big as model airplanes attacking me.
 

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