Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/05/03/meet-a-lone-prospector-who-pan.html
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That’s around $900 Canadian.
Oh, so not worth much then /s
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“Hello, Mr. Pocket!”
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I guess his ZZ Top tribute band isn’t generating enough money to keep him in the lifestyle he prefers.
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Part time South Dakotan here, Black Hills, people still pan for gold and stake claims, and support themselves with that panning and sluice box type effort is my understanding. I have a few spots I like to pan, but have never found anything 
(on paper it looks like a great area).
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Coloma? My wife does that one with her students every year. Her camp nickname is “Gold Pan Ali.”
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Having lucky $900 and $1000 days seems great. But unless I can average $200-$300 a day, the cost of the living expenses, travel, equipment, property, and taxes isn’t going to be worth it.
(technically I have property in gold county, but I never bothered to see if there is anything there. I guess I don’t have gold fever)
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He looks like he’s having fun.
Why not - you get to be outdoors in a nice setting - maybe do some fishing while you’re at it.
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I’ll bet a YouTube channel about panning for gold makes more money than panning for gold.
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This one was near Sonora. Sounded very fun and the kids learned a lot!
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I’ve done it in Colorado at a place that gets silt from the river for you to pan and walked away with a few flakes. I think the glass vial it is in costs more than it is worth.
They have had some tubs of silt and the kiddo did some panning to expose the flakes (for fun, not to take home).
I guess there are some rivers in the state where one could find some gold, but, it’s like fishing, only fun when you find something.
But we are going to hopefully goto Arkansas to a quartz mine this summer. Depends on if she gets a part in this play or not.
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It seems like you could have a gold-panning robot that just stands in a river panning 24/7 (assuming you could power it with solar panels and water wheels).
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Panning is for fun or to test a sample or to clean up gold mixed with other stuff. Hobby prospectors like Dan will shovel loads of dirt from a spot they think is good into another machine that is designed to wash away (most of the) rocks and sand while collecting the gold. They’ll take what’s left in the machine and pan away any heavy sands to get the few flecks of gold that were in the hundreds of pounds of wet sand and gravel that they started with.
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“Recreational” gold prospecting, as opposed to procreational gold prospecting.
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In case the Canada Revenue Agency is watching.
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God, I still can’t believe they gave Jimmy Kimmel the Tonight Show.
I wonder how his monthly average stacks up to the guy who combs the pavement for gems and gold flakes in NYC’s diamond district?
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