Internet Paydirt

I have seen on some of the gold forums about people buying paydirt and some others try to… dissuade them from buying it. I do buy off ebay every once in a while so I figure I would write something up about why I do it.

You know it cost money to get to gold bearing areas if you don’t live in the middle of a gold belt. Since I am still fairly new to gold prospecting, it is still fresh in my mind of how much money I have spent on different equipment to include camping gear, hiking gear, sluices, pans, snuffer bottles and so forth. I think right now I am at a point where I will only buy one more thing, Waders or high water boots. Then you got to figure in travel cost and Vehicle maintenance. Oh, and you have to eat. If your going to a Pay to Play place.. there’s that fee too. It all adds up. For me, Coker Creek in lower Tennessee is about a 4 hour drive and then I would have to be a GPAA Member before going to hunt. That’s another cost. The Marion, NC trip was about 2 hours but and a small fee to Camp and Pan or sluice or Dredge. There is always some kind of cost associated with trips to go prospecting. Even if your riding along and it’s free, then it cost time.  Enter the internet.

Today I sniped off some cheap paydirt off ebay. The shipping is costing me more than the auction. In total for 2 pounds of paydirt, it is costing me under $8. When it gets here, I can process it at my leisure, when I have time. The weekend trip to Rock Creek Recreation Area, where I found no sign of gold cost me way more than that. It made up for it in Family time though. If I was going to a gold bearing creek though, there would not be much family time as I would be working as much as I can. I do realize the sellers of paydirt are in it for a profit. Not a big deal to me. I usually try for ones that are unsearched or right out of the sluice. I want the unknown and I am trusting that they are honest about not searching the dirt and not salting it. I got dirt from someone and in the end I had 3 flakes. It cost me more money than what the gold was worth but I am ok with it. What I saw in the dirt pretty well convinced me it was right out of a sluice. Even in the field, you don’t hit the motherload every time.

Now I am not saying go buy those $300 for 1 pound concentrate bags. For that cost, me and my gear will go to the field. If you think it is worth it then by all means get it. I just won’t do it. I am just wanting something to entertain me at home and keep up panning skills or test my equipment. If I get the urge to buy, I hit ebay and search “gold paydirt”. I set the order to time ending soon and look for a price I am willing to pay. I think about how much max I will bid then wait till the 2 minute mark to start bidding. Sometimes I win and sometimes I lose. It’s a gamble, like gold prospecting. If you’re just in it for the Gold and not the thrill of the hunt, do yourself a favor and buy your gold outright.

I am in for the thrill of seeing that bit of flake being uncovered from the black sand. If I cannot got out to test some creek or on a long dry spell, I will order what I can as cheap as I can just to hunt that damn yellow metal.

And about that 2 pounds of paydirt I won, I am going to try to video running it through the Bucket sluice concentrator. I wont know if there is gold and you will see what I see. Hope there is some and the camera picks it up in the drop riffle.