Is There Still Gold Hidden in Them Thar Hills?

The completely cockamamie get-rich-quick schemes that propagate across the internet always leave me pining for a simpler time. A time when, if you wanted to suddenly strike it rich and tell your boss to shove that Slack message where the sun don't shine, you’d take to the West in search of gold. No navigating crypto wallets, or signing up unsuspecting family members for multi-level marketing schemes, just a human by a babbling brook with a sieve and a dream.

Now, the gold rush has long passed, but did the era of gold-panning end because the well had run dry? Had the country’s shiny specks in a riverbed been brought to extinction? Or is it still a viable, if unlikely, path to riches today? 

Well, as far as I can tell, fewer people are hitting it big, but there’s still plenty of places you can actively pan for gold in the U.S.

In fact, plenty of federally owned lands not only welcome modern prospectors, but embrace it. A lot of them have regulations in place banning the use of anything more modern than the old pan-and-sieve method, probably to keep somebody from trying to drive a backhoe into Prescott National Forest, but you’re welcome to shake sediment to your heart’s content. There are even associations, with their own website, where prospectors can gather and swap tips of the trade. 

The idea of a gold prospector’s online forum might seem strange, but I bet it’s a more positive environment than Twitter.

What, though, are your chances of hitting it big? 

Looking at a list of the world's largest gold discoveries, it’s true that most of them are clustered around the mid-1800s, but there are still a handful from the modern era. As recently as 1995, a honkin’ 899-ounce gold nugget was found in Western Australia, which comes out to roughly $2.2 million at the current gold spot price. 

Of course, with modern costs of living, it does feel like the chances of it ever being more than a hobby is unlikely. To make a salary of $60,000 prospecting, you’d have to happen upon about a pound and a half of gold a year, and I’d have to think those type of deposits are a bit below surface level. But hey, you can try, and on the bright side, gold-panning has a floor of making zero dollars, unlike options trading.