Will Your Gold Prospecting Equipment Ever Pay For Itself?

[Terry Soloman]

Back in the 1970s, 80s, and even into the 1990s, I would have answered this question with a very positive yes. Unfortunately for the average recreational gold prospector/miner, today I would say no. In fact, I would say the only people making money on recreational gold prospecting/mining, are the equipment manufacturers, claim sellers, and research software/book sellers.

Tell me why I'm misguided.

 

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[Hoser John]

Feast and famine used to be predicated on Mother natures whims, with a bit of hydrology, extensive research and good luck. NOW bureauratz rule the roost and have ruined it. Running black op does NOT pay like out in the open proud and free. There is not a single word in the 1872 Mining Law body of words about "hobby/recreational" therefore they have NO rights to protect them. Must go with prospector-covered as in the search for a paying deposit or miner as in reaping your just rewards....John

 

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[goldenmojo]

As soon as I switch to beans only and move in under a bridge the balance sheet is going to start looking way better.....

 

[Capt Nemo]

3 1/2 oz will break even right now with trips included. 3 g so far. Mostly been prospecting locations and not really mining. Now that I have a few good spots I can mine them given time. Since I've built everything except pans, I've gotten off pretty cheap, so most of the cost is in trips. Given a month to mine, I could break even and then some. Just need the time around my stagework schedule, and good weather to go. December and January are dead months but the ground is frozen. August is about the only dead month i have to work.

 

[goldenmojo]

Of course that new multisluice just might make a difference. Thanks Doc and the Crew at Goldhog.

 

[H-2 CHARLIE]

Every week a lucky joe wins the lottery and everyone else losses , same thing here .

 

[Laz7777]

I've made a meager living from gold in the last few years...I started doing this just over 6 years ago, with no working knowledge, a pan (no digging tools, what a greenhorn).
I live where I work, don't own much more than my gear and on a typical day can manage about a .dwt, sometimes more, sometimes less.
my gear in total (Isold my GB II) would be valued at a little over $200. a few pans, a wrecker bar, shovels and my a52.
in March 2013, I had a Keene SuperMini that I started out with. one day the river was pulsing from runoff, I didn't have it secure and coming back from my 6th or so bucket, a pulse pushed it out and it went into a hole by the rapids. i could see it, but it was way too cold to go after it. tried a branch to grab it, it went further in.
next day went into town and got my a52, $138 out the door. 2 days after I put the 52 in the water, and it paid for itself. I get 80% spot from my buyer and gold was in the $13-1400 range and I had pulled about 3 .dwt.
2013 was the best year I had, but I worked 11 out of the 12 months. 8 1/4 .ozt for my effort, I even got a touch of frostbite on my toe that reminded me of itself for 6 months.
anyhow, I've bled for gold too many times, froze my yarbles off, nearly got sunstroke and have endured many endless days of rain, including the spell that flooded the trail in/out in early December 2012.
and I wholeheartedly agree with Terry that there's just too much selling of gear to greenhorns, most of which aren't worth the idea on paper they started from.

 

[Laz7777]

Terry mentioned the selling of claims. I don't know what it's like anywhere but where I mine, but I've been on a few that were for sale, never saw muchof anything.
not that I make it a habit of claim jumping. it's just that you see a claim sign (some are bogus) and you walk through and notice there's been no digging.
I'll pan a little anyhow, just to see.
one claim I saw a sign on (no claim number) said "panning allowed", so I availed myself. found 3.5 .dwt in 2 days, but it was all in 3 spots, the rest didn't have but a grunion or two.
saw the same claim listed at my buyer, with the "gold in every pan" statement on it. dammit, I got all the gold that was there...spent 2 more weeks at that place and didn't find much more than in my first 2 days. asking price was 4 grand.
saw an ad in the Mining Journal for a claim I knew the previous owner of....the ad claimed "1/2 .ozt days are not unusual"!!!!! (exclamation points mine)..you couldn't draw 10 .dwt in a month there, from the mouth of the guy I know. he highbanked it and dredged when he could, sold it for a couple grand, asking price was 150K in the ad I saw....
and "no looky loos" in the ad as well...you mean I'm gonna hand you that kind of green w/out a peek?
P.T. Barnum had it right....there's one born every minute.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Oh if you want a really good laugh, go on Craigs list or E-Bay and look at the claims about claims in some of those ads! Some say that the land has been in the family for over 80 years, but if you look them up on the LR2000 or land matters there's nothing recorded in the sections.

I agree with Laz.... Ol' PT had it right!

 

[MIKE MCKEEVER]

SOME DAYS YES -- SOME DAYS NO
OLD PICS - I HAVE POSTED BEFORE - BUT I DONT TAKE THAT MANY PICS
3 OF THE PICS WERE 1 DAY DREDGE TRIPS--DAY JOB GETS IN THE WAY
LAST PIC IS THE 5" DREDGE WHERE WE GOT THE GOLD IN PIC 3

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

Oh if you want a really good laugh, go on Craigs list or E-Bay and look at the claims about claims in some of those ads! Some say that the land has been in the family for over 80 years, but if you look them up on the LR2000 or land matters there's nothing recorded in the sections.

I agree with Laz.... Ol' PT had it right!

If the land was private (assuming they had rights as well) why would they need to have it on LR2000. None of my land is on LR200.

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

3 1/2 oz will break even right now with trips included. 3 g so far. Mostly been prospecting locations and not really mining. Now that I have a few good spots I can mine them given time. Since I've built everything except pans, I've gotten off pretty cheap, so most of the cost is in trips. Given a month to mine, I could break even and then some. Just need the time around my stagework schedule, and good weather to go. December and January are dead months but the ground is frozen. August is about the only dead month i have to work.

Your profile shows WI. Do they have open entry lands there or what are you on about? I thought the place was mostly private. I did notice that they can pan up to a yard a year or something .... in the state waters.

 

[Reed Lukens]

Back in the 1970s, 80s, and even into the 1990s, I would have answered this question with a very positive yes. Unfortunately for the average recreational gold prospector/miner, today I would say no. In fact, I would say the only people making money on recreational gold prospecting/mining, are the equipment manufacturers, claim sellers, and research software/book sellers.

Tell me why I'm misguided.

It depends not only on location but on the knowledge of how to find and recover, Yes my equipment paid for itself but my knowledge of the land paid for the rest. I really don't know how many times over it has been that my equipment paid for itself. The gold that I've found with my 6" homebuilt dredge alone would pay for 30 more just like it. And this is normal here in California or it was until the dredge ban. So does that count for the rest of my equipment? My 4" Proline paid for itself in 2 trips and that was in 2004. Everything since then has been pure profit. In 2009 I found the 1800's hydraulic sluice box that had been buried under 40 feet of tailings after the flood that destroyed so many hydraulic miners last year. The riffles were still in place and we recovered a lot of gold that summer, as usual. Then the dredge ban went into effect and I switched over to using a trommel, it paid for itself in a day... Today, I'm 56, been retired since 2011, not drawing any retirement yet because I can't get 100% until I'm 59.5. I'm 100% retired on funds from my past mining adventures and this includes houses, cars, food, everything. Location was a major factor in putting my family where it is today, but my knowledge and determination to win or succeed is what made everything work. Was it luck? No, it was perseverance. My Great grandfather's mining paid for his life and combined with my grandfather, they paid for much of my father life and my beginnings. My dad hated mining because he grew up working hard in the family mines when he wasn't running the old Hardware Store and he always said no to me when I wanted to open up different family patented mines. He said that he would never do that me, and that's how much he hated mining. But I had the family gift and I watched him sell both of our patented family mines while I begged him not too. So I went over his head and talked to his best friend, who made him listen. In the end because of our friend talking to him, my dad listened to his mining plan, (or my mining plan actually, though he didn't know at first that it was from me), and he ended up being able to retire at 65 with having no retirement from any job he had ever worked. So mining has made our lives enjoyable even though for many years, times were hard. You're guaranteed broken fingers, bleeding blisters, and tired old bones, and plenty of hard times, but money can still be made from gold mining even here in California. The places that I mined the most are the same places that my Great Grand fathers both mined and made good livings for their families. If you haven't checked out the albums on my profile page, there's a lot of mining history in the different photo albums that I have on our great site here

 

[Ragnor]

Well my first gear payed for it's self well enough. Just pans and a shovel and a sluice. Didn't even have snuffers in those days. Gold was $250 an ounce. On a good day we would pay for gas money and on a really good day, well if I had ever sold the gold it would have more than broke even for the years gas and the equipment.

This round of equipment cost a wee bit more, but knowing the area, all I have to do is drag that dredge down a 900 foot cliff face and I will more than pay for my dredge and gas.

(only 600 feet verticle mind yah in 900 feet, lol, childs play)

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

Well my first gear payed for it's self well enough. Just pans and a shovel and a sluice. Didn't even have snuffers in those days. Gold was $250 an ounce. On a good day we would pay for gas money and on a really good day, well if I had ever sold the gold it would have more than broke even for the years gas and the equipment.

This round of equipment cost a wee bit more, but knowing the area, all I have to do is drag that dredge down a 900 foot cliff face and I will more than pay for my dredge and gas.

(only 600 feet verticle mind yah in 900 feet, lol, childs play)

Plan on leaving it there, right?

 

[Ragnor]

Plan on leaving it there, right?

I been looking at how they build those cable cars.......

 

[nh.nugget]

I made enough this year to pay for my home built dredge. one more good season and my sluice and pans will be paid for plus.

 

[triple d]

Im still looking for that one oz. nugget. Then it would be close to paying off. My equipment. Right now its still a hobby. And I don"t have to pay any taxes.

 

[Capt Nemo]

Your profile shows WI. Do they have open entry lands there or what are you on about? I thought the place was mostly private. I did notice that they can pan up to a yard a year or something .... in the state waters.

You can do 2 yards per year per stream. I can hit one for 4 as it changes names at the county line.

 

[Jimmydolittle]

It all depends on how you interpret "pay for itself". In gold found, it never will, I use mine for relieving the stress placed on my life, from time to time. I go to the nursing home twice a day, most days, to feed my helpless wife who has Alzheimer's. In the 5 years I've been prospecting, I might possible have $30.00 worth of gold. I may have a little more in a snuffer out in the barn, but this is about it.

 

[Hamfist]

If I stop prospecting and start mining... absolutely.