Gold Mining | Homesteading Skills

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Want to know more about gold mining? If you want to know the some facts about gold you can find in the United States and some basics, you’re in for a treat!

Gold Mining

The hard cash you need to pay for your homesteading dreams can be picked up off of the ground! (literally!)

Have an area you want to build your homestead, but can’t find regular employment there? Maybe your ideal homesteading location’s scenic unspoiled natural beauty is perfect for you and your family’s future plans, but you have no way to pay for it without working full time, and your full-time job is hundreds of miles away? There is a saying among the natives of beautiful Northern Idaho: “You can’t eat the scenery!” Some homesteaders who live away from convenient employment are able to make enough hard cash from the sale of homemade honey, herbs, art, crafts, etc. to pay for the modern necessities that can’t be made at home, but for most these money making trades aren’t practical.

How would your life and homesteading plans change if you had a source of hard cash that didn’t require an employer or managing customers and a business.

Would you be surprised to know that at $1,122.00 an ounce, gold could allow you to fulfill your homesteading dreams?

A young prospector with about $50,000 worth of gold he collected while prospecting. Note: Small pieces of gold can be sold to a jeweler for twice their value by weight. A large “trophy size” gold nugget can be sold for 3 to 4 times its value by weight.

The average person will protest that gold prospecting is impractical:

1. You have to travel to faraway places like Alaska to find it.
2. Gold prospecting is a dirty, financially risky business in which a few succeed.
3. You have to invest in expensive heavy equipment and chemical processes to be successful, etc.
4. After the 1849 California gold rush, all the available gold was mined and is now gone.

What if all of those ideas propagated by the media are the exact opposite of the facts of locating/collecting gold resources in the lower 48 states?

The logo of the U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior.

Would you be surprised to know that the U.S. Geological Survey, the United States’ premier earth science agency, published a National Resource Assessment in 1998 that included estimates of undiscovered gold? The U.S. Geological Survey’s report focused on gold deposits that were “of sufficient size and grade…to have economic potential.” The USGS reports on the mineral resources of the United States for the benefit of the U.S. industry, so the minimum “sufficient size and grade” considered for this national resource assessment was the minimum to have economic potential for a mining corporation. Of course the minimum “sufficient size and grade” for an individual spending their weekends prospecting would be considerably less! And at over $1,000 an ounce, it would take very few ounces of gold recovered on a weekend to meet the “economic potential” requirement of an individual.

Gold Mining Facts

Some facts from the 1998 USGS National Resource Assessment on GOLD:

1. The U.S. Geological Survey says that 13,200+ metric tonnes of undiscovered gold is waiting to be collected in the lower 48 states (424.4+ Million Troy Ounces worth approximately $514 Billion).
2. There is over 2 and ½ times more gold waiting to be discovered in the lower 48 states than can be found in Alaska!

United States map with states highlighted where gold finds have been documented.

3. The U.S. Geological Survey says that 77.2+ million ounces of undiscovered gold is waiting to be collected east of the Rocky Mountains (worth approximately $92.6 Billion).

4. The U.S.G.S. says that 347.2+ million ounces of undiscovered gold is waiting to be collected west of the Rocky Mountains (worth approximately $416.6 Billion). (No surprise there!)

5. Much of the gold waiting to be discovered in the United States isn’t “gold” colored. (You could be standing on it and not know!)

Some other interesting gold facts:

6. Gold has been found in over 75% of the United States.

7. The first gold rush in U.S. history occurred in 1799 in North Carolina. There have been at least 10 major gold rushes in U.S. history. Most people know of the Carolina gold rush, but there have been nine others spanning the width and breadth of the lower 48 states and Alaska.

The Carolina Gold Rush became one of the most successful industries in the 1800s.

8. One of the largest gold deposits in the western hemisphere with proven gold reserves of over 100 Million+ ounces ($67.5+ Billion) was discovered as recently as the 1960’s.

9. A Gold mine is Wisconsin State produced $2.0+ Billion worth of Gold, Silver, and Copper between 1993 and 1997.

10. A Gold mine in Nevada produced 2.8 Million ounces of gold and 10.8 Million ounces of silver between 1984 and 1993, worth $3.55+ Billion.

12. A 20.2 lb. Gold nugget was found in southern Alaska in 1998. “The Alaska Centennial Nugget”, 294.10 Troy Ounces, was found by Barry Palmer as he operated his bulldozer.

Alaska Centennial Nugget found near the town of Ruby, Alaska in 1998, 20.17 lbs.

13. A 6.07 lb. Gold nugget was found in Butte County, California in July, 2014 by a small-budget Gold Prospector and sold to an anonymous collector for $400,000.00!

Gold nugget found in the mountains of Butte County, California in 2014, 6.07 lbs

The U.S. Geological Survey also publishes statistics and information for minerals of economic importance of each state. There are economically significant mineral deposits in every state that can be developed for a profit and can provide the hard cash to support a homesteading lifestyle. The information needed to begin your search can be found at: USGS Minerals Information, State Minerals Statistics and Information.

It is not difficult to learn how to locate, identify, and collect gold and other economically valuable minerals. Geologists spend years learning to identify rocks and understand the geology of the earth. But if you are interested in understanding the geology of a particular area or region, the work required is much less.

A former USGS Scientist’s recently published eBook, “The Essential Introduction for New Gold Prospectors, Second Edition” introduces its readers to the essential skills necessary to locate, identify, and collect gold and other economically valuable minerals. This eBook has received the highest possible review ratings from gold prospecting experts, a professional reviewer, and other eBook purchasers. Amazon.com offers the eBook for immediate download that can be read with the Kindle app. For readers who prefer an eBook format that can be downloaded and viewed anywhere, a high quality, enhanced version of the eBook in PDF format is available from the author’s website. An eBook in PDF format can be downloaded from Amazon.com, but the quality of that PDF formatted copy is poor.

There is also a free eBook available from the author’s website that discusses the history of the gold resources of the United States and gold prospecting. “The (Secret) History of Gold Prospecting in the United States, and the 38 states where gold has already been found!” This free eBook does not have the multitudes of links to additional reference materials (Gold research, maps, reports, videos, etc.) that “The Essential Introduction for New Gold Prospectors, Second Edition” does, but it does provide many important facts about the gold resources of the United States in a format that is easy to read and interesting.

What will you find on your property, in your neighborhood, down the street? Will it be a stream with gold in its gravel just waiting to be dug up? Or a $2 Billion+ massive sulfide gold deposit like the one found in Flambeau, Wisconsin in 1993? (A gold deposit that looked like ordinary red and black rock—not “golden” at all?). Unless you acquire the basic mineral identification skills presented in “The Essential Introduction for New Gold Prospectors, Second Edition” the odds are very good that you will never become aware of the mineral wealth at your feet that could allow you to reach your dreams!

Want to see what modern day gold mining looks like? Then check out this video from PigMine 2:

Does it make you feel more confident to give gold mining a try? Let us know below in the comments!

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