Friday, Jun 12, 2009 at 16:09
I know of only one, in Oz who makes a full time living at it.
Most who make a living at any type of hobby (fishing detecting 4wding etc) seem to do so by selling stories to publications about their exploits to satisfy the vicarious need for those who work 5/7 etc and can't get away to do it themselves - i.e. "armchair experts".
Really speaking most of their time is spent photographing and filming what they do rather than actually DOING their hobby (be it detecting, fishing etc).
So - if you wanted to make a quid from detecting while yopu travell - then you need to be selling stories to publications about your trip and detecting and also selling "how too" DVD's for the plebs who need someone to metaphorically hold their hand before they get the confidence to have a go.
This means a web site set up to take online payments linked direct to your bank account and lots of "DVD product" to sell from the site - and the ability to post regularly while your travelling the DVD's that have been purchased.
Pretty hard to sell DVDs about detecting for Gold unless your regularly FINDING gold with your detector - which means you have to have invested a LOT of time into actually getting GOOD at it (which few manage to do).
(Also people have a propensity to burn copies of your DVD's despite copyright and give them to all their prospecting mates for free - making it then hard to continue to sell more, to what is only a small market in Oz).
I would think it highly unlikely you will make a killing to finance your travells from detecting - finding an ounce a week per person on good ground is about the BEST you can hope for - unless you stumble across another hand of faith nugget.
A LOT of the BIG nuggets supposedly discovered by those with a detector back in the 70's were most likely "manufactured nuggets"- and the invention of the detector was just a convenient excuse to "explain away" the posession of a quantity of gold from the Kalgoorlie Gold stealing squad of the Police dept.
Typically these were folks who had a lifetime working underground in productive mines and perfected ways of accumulating small amounts of gold every day, in their work.
Nearing retirement - the advent of the detector in the 70's was the "convenient excuse" such people needed to "explain away the sudden accumulation of a large quantity of gold" without arousing suspicion.
"Ohh look - I stepped out of my car in a roadside car stopping point to have a leak and decided to test my detector and I found this 3 kilo nugget of gold" type articles were legend in the print press at that time.
Often most likely it was accumulated gold from those who worked rich veins underground and wore brylcream in their hair every day and rubbed their gold dust encrusted hands thru their hair every day - then had a gold trap in their bathroom vanity P trap and another in the outlet from the clothes washing machine etc.
Others put a little in their coffee thermos every day - some inside their shoes and so it goes.
Nearing retirement it all gets smelted at
home into a
home made nugget and suddenly they FIND a huge nugget miraculously with a detector and it's in the press so everyone believes it.
Conveniently it also increased the sales of detectors markedly, a "win win" situation, allowing the finder to then offload their detector at a good price as well!
Guy I knew who worked in the Gold Stealing Squad for 20+ years related a tale of a truck driver who trucked the ore to the crushing plant for a big corporation mine.
He had a small gold lease on a side road off the main haul route from the mine to the battery. He was returning very low grades of ore from his lease with his loader digging an open cut.
He woukld stockpile low grade ore on his lease at the weekends - then during the week - he would once a week take a detour on the way to the battery from his employers mine with high grade ore, tip some out on his lease and load up the shortfall with his low grade ore.
Over the years he accumulated a LOT of high grade ore stockpiled on his lease that he eventually (after he had retired from truck driving for the mine) started to take to the crusher (battery) and get quite good returns ~ one ounce to the ton.
He sold his lease based on the returns from the battery for a LOT of $
When the new owners tried to crush the ore they won from the open cut they got VERY little, and became suspicious...and called in the Gold Stealing squad.
They eventually worked out how he had done it.
A LOT of gold thats still being found is really just being "laundered" by the mere posession of a detector.
Not saying alluvial gold isn't still found in qualtity - because it is - but if it was easy then everyone would be doing it.
Nothing to stop you detecting for fun on your trip BUT if your expecting to "pay the fuel bill" from gold nugget proceeds - then you could well end up stranded without fuel on your first week out!
I think you'll find you spend as much (more) on fuel as you find in nuggets UNLESS you find a virgin patch thats productive and hasn't been detected before.
MOST of whats being found, is small stuff of a few grams on KNOWN patches that have been worked with old technology detectors and the NEW machines are finding the small pieces left behind.
Thats my opinion - others mileage will vary.
There ARE ways to increase your odds and cover more ground etc, really its about finding the gold the old timers missed while loaming their way to the mother load/source/reef.
Theres still gold to be found - but relying on it for travel finds would be most foolish in my opinion UNLESS your selling your stories and DVDS etc along the way!
One such freelance journo i knew well - would get a minimum of 6 articles from weeks trip that he would sell to a minimum of 6 publications...for prices averaging $200 - $300 per 3000 words with pics, occasionally an extra $200 for a cover quality picture.
1 story to a state based fishing mag, one to a national fishing mag, one to a womens interest mag (usually on the history of the joint and
wildflowers seen along the way) one to a in house flight magazine for an airline etc etc etc.
Thats how you make travell money from Gold detecting round oz - not from actually finding gold.
http://www.aurumaustralis.com/
Thats an example of an Aussie guy who makes a living from his detecting AND his writing / DVD's etc
If you think your up to the task then bye all means give it a go.
IF your any good then industry sponsorship will follow and you MIGHT just eeek out a living - showing others "how too" do what it is they dream of doing.
What you need to be aware of is that your then turning a hobby into a profession, such that it becomes WORK due to the "fiscal imperative" (you don't eat if you don't find gold & sell product" and thus its no longer an enjoyable hobby...
You could give it a go - personally I wouldn't but thats just me, coz i'd like to keep it just a hobby! (Yeah - I'm allergic to work)!
You could sell your stories to Australian Gem & Treasure magazine maybe.
http://www.isubscribe.com.au/title_info.cfm?prodID=23300
Best a British luck with it!
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