Sluicing for a living possible?

[MAnoob]

Does anyone do it? can you make 20k a year or more? Just curious it's gotta be a tough living if it can be done at all

 

[russau]

sluiceing for a living? id say absolutly not! go big or go home is the saying. the more gold you want will cost you more to get! even some guys i heard about that have a 6 inch dredge have been ,because of rough times, force to try to make a liveing by dredgeing and they have been just getting by! but dont quit your day job to try this.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Does anyone do it? can you make 20k a year or more? Just curious it's gotta be a tough living if it can be done at all

Not unless you can find a place that is equal to the pre-rush gold fields, back when you could measure your days in ounces from just a shovel. So in other words, no. Those days are gone forever and so is anyone making a "living" from a pick and shovel.

 

[Hoser John]

AMEN RUSS--just figure out how to stop eatn'-sleeping-needing a vehicle or a home then ez to live by sluicebox. By DREDGEBOX I've done it easily and raised 4 kids but now rules,regs,restrictions,thieves,bureauratz killed it. Dream of gold at night,go to your day job and weekend warrior style most fun. Join a small local club and have a ball and quality of life that can't be beat-John

 

[goldenIrishman]

Prospecting for a living is like any other business. It's all about location! People say that there's no big strikes left to be had and I have to disagree with them. It's just a matter of finding them is all. Research is one of your best tools in that respect. If you're back east I'd say not to even try something like this. Historically the amount of gold there has never matched what was found out west.

Like any other "Business" being a full time prospector takes start-up capital and knowledge on what you're doing. You're not going to start a business building jets for the Air Force if you have never built one before are you? Same goes for being a full time prospector. You first have to find the gold and then you have to know how to get the work done in the most efficient manner. Depending on the area, you're going to have to do a LOT of research into claims, history of finds in the area, geology, etc etc etc. then it's time to go out and see if you can find the gold. This can take months or even years to do. Then it's a matter of getting your "production" equipment into the site and running it effectively enough to be able to make a profit. And by profit I mean making enough to cover all of your overhead like fuel, food, equipment repairs and everything else that comes up. (And everything else WILL come up) To be able to make enough money at this to be able to ride out the down time, a pick and shovel isn't going to make it. You're going to need equipment to move the dirt and that means $$$$. Plus a system that can handle all that dirt effectively. You're little backpack highbanker on a re-circ system isn't going to make it. And of course there's having a good source of water. There are many areas in the desert that have tons of gold still but every commercial attempt to mine those areas has failed because of lack of water.

There is also the permits needed to keep you legal as well as the time and cost required to get them. Nothing is more of a PITA than having to deal with govt. employees with an attitude!

Depending on your area you also have to keep in mind the whims of the weather. Are you going to be able to make enough profit during the working weather to tide you and your family through until all that snow melts and you can get back to your claim to get more gold out? Working a sluice in water that is one step above freezing is not fun or easy! I've done it and hated every minute of it.

Sooooo... Can a person make a living with a sluice box? Sure they can but it's not going to be an easy one a lot of the time. It's going to take dedication, study and a lot of hard work but it can be done if you've got the guts and strong back to make it happen.

 

[Old Bookaroo]

MAnoob:

Let's back into some numbers.

If your goal is $25,000 a year, and you can sluice 40 weeks a year (I don't know what part of the country you are interested in, but I doubt anywhere is really "year 'round"), you need to clear $625 a week.

You're going to have some business expenses involved to "net" $625. Let's say you need to gross $850 a week to net that, and that you can work 4 days a week. In reality this would probably involve working 6 or 7 days out of 7 a week, but there are going to be quite a few "non productive" activities - moving locations, set-up, going in for supplies, and all the rest.

Nuggets have a value above spot gold. Let's say you can sell your gold for $1,900 an ounce (I use that price because it keeps the arithmetic easy for me).

To make $25K a year you'll need to find half an ounce a week.

The numbers I used aren't as important as the calculation. This is the analysis I would perform to answer your question.

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo

 

[Clay Diggins]

Find the unclaimed gold deposit first. You will then have answered your own question. Don't forget to deduct the cost of finding the deposit from your expenses!

400,000 people make their living from mining in this country. We are the third largest gold producing country on earth. Mining is alive and well. The vast majority of that mining is big companies with big investments - but that's not the whole story.

For the single prospector things can be pretty good if you know your stuff and are willing to work hard. There are countless gold deposits that are too small for a mining company to make a profit from but with plenty of gold to make a good living for the dedicated, full time, educated, single miner.

Most of these small gold deposits are truly tiny. Ranging from a few square feet of placer ground up to 4 or 5 acres. Small workable hydrothermal deposits may only be a few feet across and 20 - 120 foot deep. I was involved this past season with a 30 acre placer but those are rare. The average take from working one, in my experience and from knowing a lot of working miners, is around 72 - 76 ounces but that amount can vary wildly. Some miners concentrate on finding deposits that will keep them mining for several years. Working a single decent small deposit can pay the bills for a season and leave you enough to start the next project.

Having several discoveries lined up for subsequent seasons is a must for the full time single miner. This is one of the several reasons that productive mining claims may lay unworked for several years. Hi grading a valid claim because no one is working it may just lead to a starving small miner later. Another reason to find your own rather than assuming another person is just sitting on a claim.

Picking a method of gold recovery before discovering a deposit limits your possibilities so much that I'd have to say you have a slim to no chance of making a living. Limiting yourself to sluicing alone is probably the worst scenario. There might be one or two persons somewhere making a living for a short time from sluicing alone but I doubt it.

Sluices are tools used in mining - not a lifestyle choice. You don't mention trommels, trackhoes, and abundant water but those things could well improve your odds in most cases involving sluices. I for one would never choose sluicing as a primary method of gold recovery even though they are generally the most efficient for placer deposits. Many times recovery of the fine gold doesn't pay as well as getting the coarse gold and moving on. Obsessing over getting all the gold values have sunk many a paying gold operation.

Go with the demands of the deposit you discover. Work the deposit for what it's worth to you and move on to the next discovery. Always make time to find new profitable discoveries. Don't relax and think you have it made because you had a good season. Keep up the hard work, don't make wishful choices, always be ready for the next thing (even if it doesn't involve a sluice) and stay healthy and safe.

Life isn't always easy for the single miner and it takes a broad range of specialized knowledge and experience but it is possible to make a living even today. Good luck in your efforts and I wish you...

Heavy Pans

 

[Fullpan]

this is a pic of my "mining operation" on a large gravel bar in NorCal - I tried to process 80-100 buckets of screened gravel thru a sluice every day. I knew from sampling that I could get 3 dwts a day of mainly flood gold. That's about 5 grams or 100 plus dollars. I managed to process about 10% of the bar before moving up to dredging equip. The flood/fine gold is still there as far as I know. If 500/wk works out to 25,000/yr - you've got what you need - except the all-day trips to town for supplies, camp chores, and hiking up, then down 1,000 foot canyon trails every week - mining ain't easy !!

 

[Fullpan]

this is a pic of my "mining operation" on a large gravel bar in NorCal - I tried to process 80-100 buckets of screened gravel thru a sluice every day. I knew from sampling that I could get 3 dwts a day of mainly flood gold. That's about 5 grams or 100 plus dollars. I managed to process about 10% of the bar before moving up to dredging equip. The flood/fine gold is still there as far as I know. If 500/wk works out to 25,000/yr - you've got what you need - except the all-day trips to town for supplies, camp chores, and hiking up, then down 1,000 foot canyon trails every week - mining ain't easy !!

Then subtract at least 3 months for winter .

 

[MAnoob]

Thank you for the input it's what I thought it would be not to many lone miners out there. It's defiantly a hard living and I am on the east coast MA to be exact so nobody is making a living anywhere near here I guess I should have addressed it as a west coast question.

 

[TheNewCatfish]

I'm a recreational panner. I don't like to work more than four or five hours a day. Five buckets of dirt is about my limit. On Rose Creek in Arizona near Prescott I was averaging about $10 dollars worth of gold per bucket. That easily payed for all my expenses, but i wasn't ever lookin to strike it rich. Another fella "Bob" was workin bedrock on the same feeder creek and was gettin close to $200 a day. But he started workin at sunrise every day and worked till sunset. I suppose it just depends on how hard you're willing to work and how good you are at finding the gold. There were lots of people digging a few hundred yards from our location who weren't finding hardly anything. We called 'em "gorilla miners", because they moved lots of dirt with no purpose or reason behind it.

 

[goldenIrishman]

... And here I am looking to file a claim after my speech above. It may be time to get my head checked. Could it be too many years of Rock N Roll?

 

[Reed Lukens]

if you have no house, no expenses, no bills, & live at the river on your paying claim, $24K with a sluice isn't needed. Last year like that I averaged around $600 a month and had plenty of money left over for the winter. But you have to concentrate on sticking to your budget. Wild food that you pick yourself makes for happy days, so eat plenty of greenies

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcAJzGCJ3Q7yKW1aDzym2cRP04AkIK0q4

 

[tweeta_bear]

... And here I am looking to file a claim after my speech above. It may be time to get my head checked. Could it be too many years of Rock N Roll?

lmao dont blame it on the music... that just messes with your ears! lol rock and roll music should make ya work harder and faster... mosh those rocks!

 

[goldenIrishman]

Hummmm.... I guess that would make the trommel the "Mosh Pit" with all that rock rollin around in it.

 

[wakeforestgold]

see in any business you need money. the more money you invest the better result you get.
a business profit is not based on your wants and needs, it is based on skills.

a lot of people who are into business they own or lease claims and work on it. some others take some dirt from some mines and sell it on ebay a very profitable business. check ebay for gold ore or paydirt.

for me i do it for fun like panning gold or collecting or searching for coins. i do business in the stock market a risky business but lucrative if you know how to trade. thanks and good luck

 

[2cmorau]

one-or-the-other San Buena Ventura or Buenavista (have to find journal), Bolivia 1995 hired four young men to help with dredging in the Mohos region on a tributary Rios Tabacuni, off off from the Rio Tuichi.
Caught them stealing again so i sent all four them home, with another helper he was my interpreter and assign to hire another crew.
I was in the area on my own for about a month, dredging, gathering fire wood, hunting, bartering for veges from a nearby village, cooking etc.
I learned a valuble lesson when i waited for the return of my intrepreter and new crew, you can't dredge seven days a week and do all your chores on your own.
Even in a proven ground you will work your back side off sluicing and return to camp soo exhusted opening up a can of beans is work in-of-itself. Find a partner, Take it slow and easy, keep your day job
Good luck in your ventures

 

[Armchair prospector]

Tom Massey said it best, "Give a guy a shovel and in 20 minutes he'll be tired of digging" or something like that. Dreams of working for yourself with no customers to deal with is the ultimate goal. But reality sets in reeeeeal quick. All you need is one big strike or nugget to make you do something crazy like quit your day job. Hey I am just east of the "sand" fire. I hope anyone playing in the middle or north forks of the Cosumnes with their toys gets out ok.

 

[Hard Prospector]

I'll be retiring from my day job in a two years and I'm gonna give small time commercial mining a shot but only on a part time basis. Wet and dry placering in the mountains (summer) and desert (winter) will be my program and have been accumulating the necessary equipment (dry washers, detectors, highbankers, hand tools, Bazookas etc.) for quite a while in preparation for this venture. The "mining shed" in the back is really filling up and I prospect and sample at every chance so I can hit it hard when the time comes. Having my kids grown, secure retirement investments and a supportive wife allows the opportunity to follow this dream. Adventure and the physical/mental challenges along the way are just as important as the gold at this stage in my life. When the journey stops being fulfilling is when I'll know this ride is over.