Did you know that more than 750,000 pounds of gold were mined during the gold rush of 1849? Today, that much gold is worth more than $20 million! The gold rush was started by just a few flakes found in a river.
Gold prospecting has dramatically changed since the 1840s but remains both a lucrative industry and an entertaining pastime. If you’ve ever wanted to try and find your own gold deposits, this article is for you!
Read on to learn all the modern ways of gold prospecting!
What Is Gold Prospecting?
Gold prospecting is simply the act of searching for undiscovered gold deposits. Hobbyists tend to do it by hand via gold panning or with a metal detector. Industrial gold prospectors use more high-tech equipment.
Gold Panning
Gold panning is one of the oldest methods of prospecting, and it’s what started most of the major gold rushes. Although today you’re unlikely to start a gold rush, panning for gold is still a worthy pastime!
With a panning kit from Sunny Mountain Prospectors, you can pan for gold in your local river. Essentially, you’ll start by digging up some dirt or scooping some out of the river. Then, you’ll sift it through the strainers to get rid of the dirt.
This will get rid of the debris and leave any gold flakes and nuggets at the bottom. If you think you’re unlikely to find gold, a retiree recently found a 4.5-pound gold nugget, so keep at it!
Metal Detecting
Gold panning works best around mountain rivers, but in other situations, a metal detector may work better. Most metal detectors detect all metals so there are plenty of false alarms. There’s nothing more frustrating than thinking you’ve hit gold when you’ve actually just found an empty can.
However, you can get gold detectors that find only gold by measuring inductance and conductivity. These devices can be expensive, though, so you’ll have to find a lot of gold to get your money back!
Industrial Gold Prospecting
The gold industry uses large equipment to find deep, hidden gold deposits. Core samples and pit mining are great ways to uncover geological formations of gold under the earth.
Sluicing and dredging are the industrial, large-scale version of panning where machines work through large amounts of dirt and shale to uncover gold deposits. After the gold has been detected, gold mining and ore processing can begin.
The Gold Market
Today, gold is worth approximately $60 per gram. A small gold panning operation in a lucrative area can yield up to seven grams a day! This suggests that if you know where to look, you can make a good amount of money panning for gold.
That said, as an amateur hobbyist, it’s best to keep your expectations low and instead pan with the aim of having fun and finding a few nuggets or flakes as souvenirs.
The Gold Rush in Your Yard
All the gold rushes in history have started in unassuming backyards or rivers. So if you pick up a gold pan, you never know where you’ll strike gold! There could be a nugget just waiting in your backyard.
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