Gold Mining!!
A new past time and reason to get the TC out!! A friend in Great Falls MT invited me over to MT to do some gold mining this July. I don't know a thing about it, but I will. I am fortunate enough...
Forum Discussion
Sounds like you'll be doing some recreational prospecting.
The only time I had ever seen a prospecting operation in progress was in Honduras at a very remote river system. It was a chap from Colorado, who had been prospecting on the same river for over 20 years (not continuously). Unfortunately, selling the "raw" gold (full of impurities) only yielded about ~60% of the price of bullion in Central America (the measurement of weight the indians used, is called a penneke). The unknown is assaying your gold (no matter where you prospect); hown much will you really get ?
I could see the fun in recreational panning; getting out into the outdoors, and the anticipation. But like Wayne wrote, gold prospecting will probably only ever yield a defecit as a business venture.
One thing I did try my hand at was opal mining (in the mountains of Honduras, near El Salvador border region). This was grueling work, looking for and mining into seams. The yield was terrible (compared with the security downside issues/stress: I had to be armed, or hire off-duty on leave soldiers), but the learning experience was precious !
Good luck; but most importantly, have fun out there :B
The only time I had ever seen a prospecting operation in progress was in Honduras at a very remote river system. It was a chap from Colorado, who had been prospecting on the same river for over 20 years (not continuously). Unfortunately, selling the "raw" gold (full of impurities) only yielded about ~60% of the price of bullion in Central America (the measurement of weight the indians used, is called a penneke). The unknown is assaying your gold (no matter where you prospect); hown much will you really get ?
I could see the fun in recreational panning; getting out into the outdoors, and the anticipation. But like Wayne wrote, gold prospecting will probably only ever yield a defecit as a business venture.
One thing I did try my hand at was opal mining (in the mountains of Honduras, near El Salvador border region). This was grueling work, looking for and mining into seams. The yield was terrible (compared with the security downside issues/stress: I had to be armed, or hire off-duty on leave soldiers), but the learning experience was precious !
Good luck; but most importantly, have fun out there :B
