Small scale gold mining (for profit)

[IGBT]

How might a person advance past the hobby stage of gold mining and get a little business going producing enough gold to show a profit?

 

[ckelly78z]

You may want to look into finding an open claim in an area known to have produced gold in the past, try to figure out where old stream beds were, and start digging/panning. If you are serious, drill some test holes with an auger, and test at different depths.

You will need motorized equipment to dig at this scale.

 

[highdesertranger]

it's tuff to be a small scale miner. no one is going to make it easy for you. first off you need to find paying open ground, that's not easy any more.

I use My Land Matters(MLM). for a fee twice a month they send me a list of all closed claims in the western US not including Alaska. this is a good way to find open ground. you can use My Land Matters for free also but the info is not updated as fast. you can also get all this info from the BLM's LR2000 but trying to use that alone is excruciating painful. BTW MLM uses the LR2000 but they do all the legwork for you, in other words they make it easy.

anytime you start to use power equipment like tractors, Bob cats. large wash plants then the permitting, fees, and strict rules kick in. not that, that is a bad thing but you better be darn sure the gold is there.

now up until a few years you could make money fairly easy by running a small scale dredge. however the best dredging ground is in California and California saw fit to make it impossible to dredge.

any fine points you have question about feel free to ask.

highdesertranger

 

[1shemp]

From what I have read about gold panning,it's a great hobby.But if you are needing money,you would be better off working at McDonalds.

 

[highdesertranger]

gold panning is strictly for sampling and clean up it's not for production. highdesertranger

 

[IGBT]

I wasn't talking about gold panning.   I don't need the money, I want to own or part own a small scale gold mining operation and I want to build some of the equipment (mostly experiment with wash plant design and cleanup).

I have a small Kubota excavator that is nearly new, but it only has a 24 inch bucket and a 9 foot dig depth.   That would be REALLY small scale.

It may be that the permits and such nowadays don't really allow for anything between hobby and large commercial mining.

 

[highdesertranger]

a Kubota would qualify you for permits and fees. you got to stick to hand digging to get around that. now how easy it is to get permitted depends on what state you are in. some states are miner friendly some are not to put it mildly.

just out of curiosity,

what state do you plan to do this in?
is it on public or private property?
have you done a sampling program to confirm the presence of gold on a scale to bring in this equipment?
is the gold beyond the digging reach of the Kubota?
have you done an assessment on how much per hour/day it will cost to run your operation?
balanced against how much gold you expect to recover in the same time period?
employees?
partners?

many more issues to deal with.

highdesertranger

 

[IGBT]

I had been thinking Idaho or Alaska.

The permitting issues would probably be the show stopper though.

 

[highdesertranger]

both good choices, as both are miner friendly states. it never hurts to ask about permits, do your research.

also beware of slick talking shysters trying to sell claims that are worthless or at highly inflated prices.

I have to ask what is your experience in this field?

highdesertranger

 

[IGBT]

I have just experience sluicing and gold panning.

I am an engineer though, so I like building things and solving problems.  I could build a good wash plant, including all of the mechanical and electrical components, plus I have welding experience.

 

[highdesertranger]

so how many yards per hour are you shooting for? how many of those 24" buckets make a yard? guessing I would say 5. I am just asking to get an idea of the plant size.

what type of plant are you thinking of? Trommel? Shaker?

I would try to keep the plant as simple as possible.

highdesertranger

 

[IGBT]

Yes I had in mind a simple trommel constructed on a trailer for mobility.  Pull it around with the excavator.

5 yards an hour sounds about right.  I would want a claim that had at least $30 of gold per yard so I could mine about a half an ounce a day.

The ideal spot would be an area where bigger equipment is just not worth bringing in, because there is not enough material to justify a big operation.

 

[highdesertranger]

sounds good. seems like you have done your homework. keep me up to date I would like to see your operation in use.

remember sample, sample, sample.

highdesertranger

 

[Qxxx]

I don't know anything about these matters, but RVerTV put up a video talking about Miners Depot in Quartzsite. If in the area, you can join for $20, attend events,  and have access to 400 claims in the area.

 

[highdesertranger]

unless something has changed this year, the Quartzsite metal detecting club doesn't have 400 claims. they do have almost 400 acres of claims so maybe Russ misstated the 400. they have 8 claims. this is what Blake the owner of Miners Depot sells membership in. still for 20 bucks a year it's a great deal and Blake and his wife are good people.

if you have any interest in prospecting or rock hounding in the Quartzsite area stop in and talk with them at Miners Depot.

https://minersdepot.com/

highdesertranger

 

[Qxxx]

Yer right, I looked at the video again, and Russ does say "400 acres of claims". (continually bumping up my ain't right tally).