I read that article last night.
I'm on my way right now.
I'm on my way right now.
An ounce a day
- Thread starter Spirit
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Gunter1 said:
Id say thats well above average for most of us Gunter. If I can get over half a gram a day on a panning outing Im more than happy. River Sluicing I can move a bit more material so between .3 to .8 is about average if im in a good spot at my Local.
Its the thrill of the case and not knowing what the next pan or crevise will hold. Its nice to be able to cover fuel costs for the day at least.Gunter1 said:
:goldnugget:
silver said:In my dream I sit upon a throne of gold.
Just for you to sit upon and .........
And how many actually do so by selling their gold?jethro said:Its the thrill of the case and not knowing what the next pan or crevise will hold. Its nice to be able to cover fuel costs for the day at least.Gunter1 said:
The thrill of the chase is what it is about, and just occasionally finding a nice piece is the prize. Sure beats stamp collecting, although each to their own. Have fun but don't give up your day job.
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Well...at Sofala NSW back in the Mid 1800's you would have easily panned an ounce per day just in the town.
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Spirit said:
Those stories and TV shows sell dreams and prospecting gear (metal detectors) in particular, do you know of any tradie that learnt his trade in a day, it usually takes years and someone that know what they are actually doing to get them up to where they need to be to make a living, prospecting is no different.
cheers dave
goldtrapper said:Well...at Sofala NSW back in the Mid 1800's you would have easily panned an ounce per day just in the town.
If so, they could not have panned for many days
layful: Seriously though, in the Victorian gold rushes each person needed to get an ounce per week just to live.
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Like now really, you could live reasonably well on an ounce per week, but like back then not everyone was getting an ounce per week :goldpan: ickshovel:
ickshovel:In the early days of the rushes they HAD to get that (on average) because of inflated goldfield prices - that would have been what , $19 per ounce at a time when each child was costing ten cents per day to go to school, and a Miner's Licence cost $7.50 per week. 50,000 people averaging 1 oz per week is 50,000 ounces per week is 2,500,000 oz per year, which given the huge amount produced in the first couple of years (when everything was alluvial) sounds about right. They tended to be many of the same miners migrating from field to field as the easy gold was exhausted. There were less than 100,000 people in the whole of Victoria in the first year of the Victorian rushes (people, not gold diggers), peaking over the next 3-4 years closer to 250,000. In 1856 three million ounces were mined (so one ounce per month average for every person in Victoria). Many people on the goldfields were supplying the miners, not mining themselves. It probably fell off rapidly after 1855-8. Many must have been feeling it by 1854, hence the Eureka rebellion against licence fees.davsgold said:Like now really, you could live reasonably well on an ounce per week, but like back then not everyone was getting an ounce per week :goldpan:
So pretty good at the start.
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davsgold said:
spot on Dave
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goldierocks said:In the early days of the rushes they HAD to get that (on average) because of inflated goldfield prices - that would have been what , $19 per ounce at a time when each child was costing ten cents per day to go to school, and a Miner's Licence cost $7.50 per week. 50,000 people averaging 1 oz per week is 50,000 ounces per week is 2,500,000 oz per year, which given the huge amount produced in the first couple of years (when everything was alluvial) sounds about right. They tended to be many of the same miners migrating from field to field as the easy gold was exhausted. There were less than 100,000 people in the whole of Victoria in the first year of the Victorian rushes (people, not gold diggers), peaking over the next 3-4 years closer to 250,000. In 1856 three million ounces were mined (so one ounce per month average for every person in Victoria). Many people on the goldfields were supplying the miners, not mining themselves. It probably fell off rapidly after 1855-8. Many must have been feeling it by 1854, hence the Eureka rebellion against licence fees.davsgold said:Like now really, you could live reasonably well on an ounce per week, but like back then not everyone was getting an ounce per week :goldpan:
So pretty good at the start.
Not sure where you getting your "$19 per ounce" from, (maybe USA numbers) when you seem to be talking early days, " after 1855-8" I think you will find gold price in Australia anyway was 4 (pound) and ounce, $8.00 in our money equivalent to make it easy to understand. And I think the price remained pegged at that for a long time.
So a troy ounce was always a troy ounce, and anyone getting a troy ounce a week in the 1860's to the 1900's was doing ok, same as now anyone detecting/panning and getting a troy ounce a week is doing ok :goldnugget: :goldpan:
If you have machinery and running that on leases etc then a troy ounce a week may not even pay the fuel bill
Horses for courses really
Davsgold, the price was fixed in US dollars at the time of the gold rush. Its price in pounds was a function of the British pound value against the dollar. However you are correct that it was around 4 pounds. I converted to present day dollars because that is our currency. None of which affects the calculation of how much a miner had to find - that came from statements at the time that a miner on the Ballarat goldfield had to find an ounce per week just to live. The price of licences and schooling that I gave were simply conversions at the rate at the time. Doesn't really matter.
" In 1834, the United States fixed the price of gold at $20.67 per ounce, where it remained until 1933. Other major countries joined the gold standard in the 1870s".
" In 1834, the United States fixed the price of gold at $20.67 per ounce, where it remained until 1933. Other major countries joined the gold standard in the 1870s".
We can only dream about the returns in the early days of the mainly alluvial fields. Methods would have been mainly dish and cradle back then. Imagine 2 ounces in a pan!
Tuena 1851:
Tuena 1852:
Tuena 1853:
Tuena 1851:
Tuena 1852:
Tuena 1853:
DrDuck said:
I have seen reports of 2000 oz in a day out of a single shallow hole - however such extremes were obviously reported on because they were very atypical. However one report from Ballarat was interesting from the early days of the rush - that while men were busy producing real gold, they had their wives producing an ounce a week scrabbling around in worked-out areas.
Most gold in Victoria was palaeoplacer gold, not placer gold, and was not panned from flowing streams but produced from shafts of varying depths. That in flowing streams was rapidly worked out.
G
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Utter Codswallop!
G
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goldierocks my comment was referring to the original post, only going on those I know who never find anything, but have a wonderful time looking.
