whats an average day net a couple of newbees in CA?

[steveh2112]

what's an average day net a couple of newbees in CA?

me an my wife are new to prospecting but i've read a lot and watch a lot of videos so i think i have a good starting point. i'm sure proper sluice and panning technique and finding good locations will take us a bit of time to get dialed in perfect, but we are both very keen to learn.

plus we'll be living in a van on the side of a river so we have 7 days a week, 8 hrs/day (ok, i guess we need to go shopping sometime) but anyhow, a lot of time to put into it.

so assuming we don't completely suck, what realistically could we expect to pull out of CA gold country rivers per day on average?

in weight and/or dollars?

i realize it impossible to say exactly, depends if i find a good spot, know what i'm doing, move a lot of dirt, etc, but what's a ball park figure? $5 a day, $20, $100?

any thoughts please?

thanks

 

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[Hamfist]

.5 gram take does not work out to 25 to 30 bucks.

Then I'm deeper in the hole than I thought! I haven't sold any of my gold yet. At least it's fun finding the stuff.

 

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[Goldwasher]

You can beat yourself up all day and pay for your gas If You Live Nearby. I'm going to guess 1.17 grams

I bet your pretty close Bill...Of flood gold...that's my baseline for the S. fork. You can get a gram a day with what is essentially minimal effort, DIGGING....its the GETTING THERE part
Throwing multi pennyweight days will come down to the prospector more than anything....there is ample gold left to make perseverance pay !

 

[winners58]

sell your gold on eBay 45-50 a gram depending on size
Join a mining club that have claims in the area you want to work
make sure you know where your at, get and learn to read maps
dont work on someone elses property with out permision.

 

[northern_sierras]

I bet your pretty close Bill...Of flood gold...that's my baseline for the S. fork. You can get a gram a day with what is essentially minimal effort, DIGGING....its the GETTING THERE part
Throwing multi pennyweight days will come down to the prospector more than anything....there is ample gold left to make perseverance pay !

Can you elaborate on your methods? Do you mainly crevice, sluice or snipe? If you are sluicing, what do you classify the material to and what sluice box do you use?

 

[Snowmaniac153]

Yes I'm new, what is sniping?

 

[KevinInColorado]

Sniping: use the search function here on tnet to read lots of posts about sniping. It's ( sometimes face down in the water) crack cleaning for gold.

 

[goldenmojo]

You can beat yourself up all day and pay for your gas If You Live Nearby. I'm going to guess 1.17 grams

I would say 1.17 gets the prize.

 

[Aufisher]

Another gram or two in the mayo jar, it starts adding up!