Can You Make A Living Gold Prospecting With A Good Gold Detector In The Western Deserts Of The U.S.?

[KD0CAC]

If you have to ask , I would say no .

If you could answer the question , maybe .

Also a lot depends on how you live , the more stuff you want / need , the less likely you can make a living .

I made a living placer mining .

Detecting require much more knowledge / skill , basically that breaks down to the more you know , the less volume [ tones of earth ] you need to process - either placer or detecting .

 

[Steve Herschbach]

Since I ran my prospecting as a for profit business for many years, I thought I would add some detail. Keep in mind this thread is about the U.S., not Australia, where the odds of finding a large patch, or even just a large multi ounce nugget, are far greater.

The outright cost of the detector is not the issue, what is important is on going daily costs. The detector is a part of this, but not the greatest part. That will probably be vehicle expense. Every day you are in the field, you probably have a vehicle expense (depreciated daily expense of total vehicle replacement value, insurance, licensing fees, all upkeep and service, etc). You will spend fuel for the trip, and that cost starts the day the trip starts, and is averaged out over the total trip length. You have food every day. You have a housing cost. If you sleep in your truck, it’s part of the vehicle expense. If you buy a trailer, that turns into a daily cost, figured in much the same way as the truck cost. If you add an ATV, again, costs go up. If you are a true business person, you don’t ignore all in costs… they must all be accounted for. Most people ignore labor costs. Really? You work for free? If that’s true, I’ve got some jobs for you.

Then there is that detector, and any and all other associated gear. It all adds up to a daily expense. Now, if you sit in camp a day, that expense must be counted. Expenses do not take days off. Travel days also accrue the daily costs, like it or not. All costs accrue against all time involved, whether you are detecting or not.

When people ask questions like this it is not generally from a true “make a living” perspective. It’s more like “can I pay for my detector?” Well, sure, that’s not a huge feat. But doing that does not mean you are now making money, unless you ignore all the other costs involved. And even run as a business, surely you want to live somewhere in the off season. Or maybe have health care. Can you not only cover all true expenses, but make enough profit to support a life outside of that? You are not going to live in that truck 365 days a year, and never need money for a doctor, or a place to rent in town.

If I wanted to, I could go out and live in a truck/tent combo, and by working 8-12 hour days seven days a week maybe average 1/2 ounce of gold a week, two ounces a month. $3000-$4000 income at good prices. I’m not making those numbers up - it’s a pretty good number based on my experience and skill level, and the current depleted state of the U.S. goldfields. In theory covering my all in costs while in the field, but if I am truly figuring those costs, it’s not leaving much of a profit. That’s mainly decided by how minimal I go to keep the expense low. A big RV and side by side ATV? No. Live in my truck and hike.

But let’s pretend it’s all free. I work like a dog and live like one, and four months gives me 8 ounces, and I sell it for a great premium of $2000 per ounce, so $16,000 for four months hard labor. Is that a living? And mind you, I doubt few people could even pull this off, only those who know the trade, and how to get top dollar for the gold, which by the way is a job also, selling by the nugget for top dollar. It’s gotten harder every year. I used to find a 1/2 ounce a day pretty regularly (even ounce plus back in the day), now it’s a struggle to do 1/2 ounce weeks. Frankly, with my physical condition declining, even that is not something I feel up to anymore. It’s a job for a tough youngster, and I’m past that point.

The only way to make this work is to be a true prospector, and not be looking for the gold directly as the money maker. You should be looking for a marketable property. Looking for gold on claimable land, claiming the land, and marketing the claim to a mining company. That’s real prospecting, not finding individual nuggets with a detector. I made my real money prospecting by staking claims in Alaska, that I leased to a Canadian company, that put in a large drilling/exploration project on the claims. That, and eventual sale of most of the property, bought my house in Reno. And I still have claims in Alaska under lease giving me some trivial income.

But making a true, direct, living in the U.S. with a detector, genuinely figuring true costs involved in a businesslike fashion? No. Just no. Part time slave wages at best. Or a hobby activity that can cover a decent part of the costs involved. Sure. That’s being real.

For most it’s going to be a hobby, for good times in the great outdoors, with some gold found. I just found a couple ounces in Alaska, had a great time, but I’d be kidding myself saying I’m making money at it. Flight to Alaska, places to stay in town, charter planes, vehicles used, food, gas, atvs, etc. etc. In a loose way I had a month long adventure and good times, and more or less can figure I covered most of the costs involved, but that’s about it.

None of this changes in Australia, except for the getting gold part. The patches are larger, the gold is larger, the odds far better…. if you really know your stuff. Don’t think you will be a visitor to Australia and make it. I’m talking true local prospectors who know the trade and the land. The true costs issues still apply, but the chances of finding substantial gold to cover true costs is much better than it is in the U.S. And even they will admit the old days are gone, the gold getting harder. It’s just the way it is.

[donP]

How do you make a Million dollars Gold prospecting, Start off with 2 Million.

[IronDigger]

No

[delnorter]

Well said Steve. Substantial amounts of gold are hard to find and hard to recover. Really, that’s why it’s so valuable.

Mike

[Rob in (ca)]

Just saw a U tube video the other day (make money clad & jewelry hunting) purchase a vanquished 440 ($220)  ( great detector) hit the Tot Lots / Sports fields 4 hours a day.

Not long you would have the detector paid off …..all profit from there on out.

[klunker]

33 minutes ago, HotSauce said:

No

yes.

[Erik Oostra]

10 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

The detector is a part of this, but not the greatest part. That will probably be vehicle expense.

No kidding.. and that's not counting vehicle breakdowns.. I just managed to limp my 4x4 back home after I broke down heading for the goldfields in North Queensland.. I was planning on a month long prospecting trip with my son, but unfortunately water got into the transfer case after a few too many deep creek crossings (faulty breather).. The expense of fixing this has stopped our little expedition in its tracks.. You'd have to make a very good living out of prospecting to cover unforeseen breakdowns such as this (and also have the basic know-how to fix your vehicle when in remote areas)..     

[Hard Prospector]

Might want to consider watching;  "Freddy Dodge's Mine Rescue"  for extra perspective here.

[geof_junk]

I know quite a few Pro Gold miner, that the detector was their tool of trade in Aus. including my own brother in law. This was in Aus in the 1980-2003 in Victoria and 2004 - 2012 West Australia from 2012 onwards detecting has been restricted due to my wife an myself health . Note I am talking about metal detecting with out a claim or mechanical equipment like graders etc. I was asked on a few occasion to tee up with them. As I have been fortunate to have had a career in Operations of large power generation my salary exceeded 3 ounce of gold a week, but unfortunate not tax free, at times I had to pay 66% in the dollar on overtime and some of the base salary, I declined the offers.

Most of these Pro Gold miner guys had found nuggets exceeding 30+ or a kilo nuggets, but in the end they found it much easier to work for wages than prospecting in the end. If you took todays price of gold times 40 years of my wages the figures are in the millions (before tax). Even though though most of the time time the value of gold was a hell of heap less than today. When I retired early my Super Annulation was at the max of 6 times my final salary tax free, this allowed me to chase gold in West Aust. for 8 old years with out touching my Super Annulation.

My brother in-law took up the offer with thse very successful prospector that asked me to join with them. He spent 6 months and managed to get out with no lost of money, including  living costs. A few weeks later the other 2 prospector had another good hit of 20 Oz spit 2 ways (not 3 ways) that let them keep going for a couple years before they went back on wages. Note this was back in the early 1980s (When gold was everywhere) but the gold did set them up well for the rest of their life.

If you have luck and determination you can have a great time working at place that you enjoy, and not be to far out of pocket for a bit of time, but it not a winning lottery ticket that you can relieve on. Take note of what Steve has said above and decide how much you can afford to loose and taking the account the length of the workable time that can be worked ( Only 6 months max in West Aust. deserts )    ............    Good luck.