i aspire to be a gold panner

im practicing right now with a bag of cookie mix i poured on a big plate and i have a big spoon with slits in it im panning away the powder and just eating the chocolate chips and im a natural.


mmmmmmmm...

 

dangit no more gold.

 

Go get 'em.

There's gold in them thar Hills!

 

consarnet! dangnabit!

 

youre darn scootin!

 

Dunno if your serious... however I do have a friend who staked a gold claim on Vancouver Island. No, I won't say where. But as long as you can show that you've been "working" the claim (in his case, simply panning for gold- a convenient loophole), it's only a small yearly fee $100 or $200 if I'm not mistaken. Don't quote me on that. He found a small cave, excavated a few feet back to accommodate some furniture... now ten years later he's got beds to sleep about 3-5 people, chairs, couches, an impressive library (deteriorating, unfortunately... the Island's climate is not friendly with books), and a wide array of outdoor gear and other assorted weirdness. Mostly scavenged. And he always welcomes visitors, provided they help with fire wood, or have a nice bag of herb. The guy's ancient, and yet he can outrun even me up and down those cliffs. Almost no one has found him there in all that time except for some security guards hired by loggers in the area. They'd warn him to get out, tell him about how many "accidents" happen in logging.... Caveman just showed them his rifle and quoted some statistics about hunting accidents.... heh. No more security. Hell, I don't even think he pays his claim anymore. The guy is one of the few people in the world I admire.
I'm sure it works a little differently where you live, but I guess my point is that with a little research, cleverness, hard work and ingenuity and perhaps trickery, you can subvert the shitstem and get out there and do it. Again, I don't know how serious you are, but if you are it may be something worth looking into a little more.

 

And yeah, he is the perfect image of the gold rush era prospector. Sit around and tell ya bullshit stories for hours. Pull out some ancient map, show you where all the old gold mines are...

 

Gold deposits obey certain rules, which knowledgeable prospectors are aware of. Gold is the heaviest metal on the earth and finds its way to the bottom of softer material. But, occasionally, just occasionally,there is a quirk of nature. Sometimes a nugget exceeds all others in size and weight. Sometimes it's so large that over a period of time it sinks down even further into the dense thick clay.