Looking for a place to live off of gold dredging in va,or nc, can it be done

[1bigpopsont]

Im looking for someone who lives in va or nc that makes good money off of dredging. and possibly point me in the rite direction with some tips on how to start in those locations and if its even possible to get gold that good. I would be living in my truck for the summer on location if possible

 

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[pong12211]

Depends on how much money you need to live off of . Best of luck

 

[meMiner]

My two cents. The best advise is to try it for fun first. There is lots to learn about an area, how to dredge, how to find economic paystreaks and what equipment would be best for the particular situation. Nobody is going to give you x marks the spot. Alternatively, get on a crew as a diver, tender or rock man. If I was American and wanted to dredge for the summer with a chance of making wages, I would think seriously about Alaska and not the east coast.

 

[BurntBear]

The biggest problem would be having access to gold-bearing areas to dredge. If you have access to rich ground, you can make some money for sure. The gold here has very few impurities, making it more valuable than some other gold deposits. Also, Tennessee has some serious gold to recover.

I know I've shown this before, but this is some of the potential from Tennessee gold deposits. This was not mined all in a day, I assure you, lol. But there are some rich gold deposits here in the Appalachians.

 

[Reed Lukens]

You can easily get good gold there BUT most of the good gold is on private property and you will need to know the people to get their permission. So in this case you need to either know or be known locally to friends that will introduce you to the property owners.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Back East it is going to be tough just finding an area to work let alone one with good gold. The main reason for this (IMHO) is the lack of public lands that are claimable like we have in the western states. As others have stated before, you're going to have to know someone in that area and get permission to work the streams/rivers that go across their property. If you don't have contacts set up already, what you want to do is going to be one step removed from impossible. Most of the people on here are not going to try to B.S. you into thinking that what you want to do is going to be easy to pull off. The location alone is going to make it hard. I think I speak for most of us when I say we only want you to be successful in your efforts, but to do that is going to require you to do a ton of research, make some contacts in the area and make sure you have your duck all in a row BEFORE you head there!

 

[BurntBear]

Well said. Also, if you are serious about recovering gold; North Carolina, Tennessee and South Carolina will likely be far more productive than Virginia. Virginia does have it's share of gold deposits; but there is a lot more further south.

 

[Desertphile]

One gram of gold is worth about US$40 right now, and a "fair" placer site will yield that in about 6 hours of work. That is enough to live on if one does not pay rent, nor buy much gasoline, nor pay for medical care, nor car insurance, nor electricity. It will pay for a mill site fee and perhaps work clothes as they wear out.

Seems like a bloody hell of a poor life. Not even Walmart employees are paid as poorly, and a bloody hell of a lot of them need welfare to meet basic needs.

Another problem is income tax. If the sale of gold exceeds US$600 (if I recall correctly), one must +report that income. If one is running one's own gold-recovery business, one must pay the business tax: about US$800 a year (which goes chiefly to Social Security).

Living off one's mineral claims can be done, but it's a sucky life.

 

[Bonaro]

One gram of gold is worth about US$40 right now, and a "fair" placer site will yield that in about 6 hours of work. That is enough to live on if one does not pay rent, nor buy much gasoline, nor pay for medical care, nor car insurance, nor electricity. It will pay for a mill site fee and perhaps work clothes as they wear out.

Seems like a bloody hell of a poor life. Not even Walmart employees are paid as poorly, and a bloody hell of a lot of them need welfare to meet basic needs.

Another problem is income tax. If the sale of gold exceeds US$600 (if I recall correctly), one must +report that income. If one is running one's own gold-recovery business, one must pay the business tax: about US$800 a year (which goes chiefly to Social Security).

Living off one's mineral claims can be done, but it's a sucky life.

Amen to that... If you want to live in the manner to which you are currently accustomed then the answer to your question is NO, it can't be done.
If you have no mortgage, car payment, health insurance or family to support and if you are willing to sleep in the dirt and eat spaghetti every day then yes, you can do it.
However being successful enough to live off of being independent miner is just like any other job...you have to be good at it or you do not succeed at it and this means you need experience.
Do this for fun and learn all about it. Gain experience and knowledge. If you have to rely on someone to "point you in the right direction" then you are not prepared to go in that direction. If you can cover all of your expenses while doing this for fun then maybe you can make it full time.
Good luck and good gold to you

 

[Peyton Manning]

on a related note: Can someone tell me where I can detect a one ounce gold coin each day?

 

[Mgumby16]

I live in Virginia right in the middle of the gold pyrite belt and I do not know nor have heard of anyone living off of gold dredging in the area.

I will say that I have very good luck locating gold bearing private property and going to the owner and asking for permission to prospect on their property. You will have better luck asking in person then over the phone.
There are also a number of public waterways that you can dredge on, no need to ask for permission just access them via public ramps.

I have found some decent deposits at least from what I know of what other people are recovering. The current area I am working is averaging 2 grams a day during the winter with one 7.5 gram pocket in a day. And that is not going to be enough to live off of.

I'm not saying it couldn't be done but as the other guys have said it would be best to start it as a hobby learn as much as you can and locate as many high grade deposits as possible then if those prove rich enough you could possibly live off of it for a period.

Best of luck to you!

 

[azblackbird]

A few years ago I was heading out to chop some firewood in the desert here in AZ. Went to pull into my old staging spot near the river bottom where I unload my Rhino, and lo and behold I see this huge diesel pusher motor home. It was easily a $300k motorhome sitting right out in the middle of the desert. As my S.O. and I were humping Rhino loads of cut wood in and out of the river bottom back to my truck, I happened to see a guy coming down the road on a Rokon. He pulls into the staging area and heads to the motorhome. We waved at him and then headed back into the wash for another load of wood. After we had a full P/U load, I loaded the Rhino on the trailer and the S.O. and I sat down and had a soda and some snacks.

The guy from the motorhome comes over and starts talking with us. After a little chit chat, come to find out he's a professional gold prospector/miner (meaning that's how he made his living). He seemed kind of reluctant to talk about his profession, but I'm the type of guy that given enough time, most people will open up and tell me their entire life story. Come to find out he lives full time in his paid off motorhome, was debt free, and doesn't owe anybody a dime. He said he comes from a mining family and worked in the corporate world for awhile, but got tired of all the BS. I asked him what kind of wages he made as a gold prospector and he told me he averages about $60k a year. Some years he said he made over $100k, but $60K was pretty much his average. He said he hits all the Arizona gold districts in the winter, and then heads back to Idaho and Montana during the summer months and hits all those gold districts.

I asked him about his Rokon and he said that little bike has paid for itself a 100 times over by the amount of gold he's found with it by being able to get into places that very few have ever been. Right then and there I knew I had to have one! In fact that gentleman was basically who got me interested in gold prospecting. Since then, I've been trying my damnedest to get the S.O. interested in living in a motorhome and traveling around looking for gold... guess I may have just leave her at home. Once I get my business back to where it's self sufficient again... I'm gone!

 

[Prospector70]

on a related note: Can someone tell me where I can detect a one ounce gold coin each day?

Atlantis

<3

 

[1bigpopsont]

Thats what im talking bout azblack!!!!
and thanks everyone for the feed back and advice.
i do know to get good land out east will be hard and yes
alaska would be great aswell as out west i just thought
i could find a spot out here to pay for a western excursion

 

[Desertphile]

A few years ago I was heading out to chop some firewood in the desert here in AZ.

Was that near Heber, Arizona? Was there something weird hanging in the sky? Did a blue light zap you right between the eyes? Did you wake up aboard a space ship, and did they take your hand and show you all around?

(Heh! I loved that song when I was a kid.)

 

[G-bone]

Boy the way Azblackbird laid it out, I could totally see me and the wife doing this at retirement and really enjoy it.
I often joke with my boys that once there both 18 - the houses get sold and mom and I buy a nice RV and we're gone.
Everything paid off and we travel. Follow the seasons. Got the dirtbikes on the back, maybe a little jeep.
Use Prospecting as supplemental income and FUN.

As far as the original post and the comment regarding taxes and required business license.....
Think of the write-offs too.
Boy this year sucked and I am claiming a loss.
I had to drive across the country to do my job, so the millage gets written off.
And your equipment and insurance etc......If it got that big for you.

 

[H-2 CHARLIE]

AZBBird how did the man in the motorhome hunt for gold ?
What methods and tools he uses ?

 

[azblackbird]

AZBBird how did the man in the motorhome hunt for gold ?
What methods and tools he uses ?

If I recall I think he had a Minelab 4000. He said he detects and dry washes in AZ and dredges in Idaho and Montana. I had to think a little about this. At the time we met him it was around the middle of October of 2010, because after I seen his Rokon, it wasn't but a week or two later that I saw a couple Rokons for sale on CraigsList in Vegas and couldn't drive up there fast enough to pick them up. I've always wanted a Rokon, but never really pursued getting one until I met this guy. Once I saw his nice ass motorhome, and then he tells me it was all paid for with the gold that he found by getting way back deep into the boonies on his Rokon. That tripped my trigger right then and there, I was hooked!

I had to also remember that at the time I met the gentleman, him telling me that he averages $60k a year or so, that gold prior to 2010 was in the $500 to $800 price range, so he would have had to average around 100 ounces a year to make those wages. I suppose if your diligent about it, and make it your full time job, a guy if he got into the right areas and knew what he was doing could feasibly make those kind of wages. He said his family mined in Idaho, so it would probably be fair to say that he was well experienced at mining, and wasn't just some newbie wandering aimlessly around the country.

 

[meMiner]

I thought for sure by the end of your story that you were going to tell us that the Rokon for sale in Vegas was from the same prospector that you met. LOL

Anyway, sounds like the fellow was living the retirement dream, moving north and south with the seasons. I was thinking about something similar for myself when that time comes.

I would only suggest that you take his gold income statement with "a grain of salt". He might have misplaced a decimal point somewhere.

 

[IDdesertman]

I would only suggest that you take his accept his gold income statement with "a grain of salt". He might have misplaced a decimal point somewhere.

I'd have to agree with that. I know quite a few "full-timers" out swinging metal detectors for gold that are extremely good at it that travel north and south with the weather, pretty much gold hunting year-round. Most of them sleep in the bed of their pickup or a camper, and have a pretty modest setup, old pickup and a dirtbike or 4-wheeler. I believe most of them are retired or have some other source of income so they are not entirely dependent on gold they find. I'm also pretty sure none of them would tell anyone that they had just met how much gold they find.

Everyone has their own experiences and skill levels so I have no reason to say that guy was full of it, but its definitely not the norm.

And that is in the West where there is decent access, as to the original poster, it is going to be a real challenge on the east coast to expect to live off of gold finds with so much private land. BUT what the heck, its fun to dream about! I'd just suggest that he goes it slow... rather than quit the day job and expect the gold to start piling up..