Costs for prospecting trips to be covered by gold found ?

[ozziii]

Well I'm glad I don't have to rely on my gold finds to feed myself, I would have starved long ago,haha.
A gram or 2 each time I went out would be great to cover fuel etc & help save for upgrades but I'm reasonably new to detecting & yet to find my first piece so just learning as much as possible in the hope it gets me something.

 

[Moneybox]

Ha Ha.... Fat chance we have of making a living at this game. The last trip totaled about 25,000 km at an minimum fuel consumption of 21L/100km and we left with 4 new tyres and two good ones. We bought two while away ($800) and returned with 1 new, two stuffed and 3 good used ones. We brought home with about 30 tiny nuggets.

We head out again tomorrow and the GPS tells me the spot we have planned is just over 1000km up the road. We found a speck of gold there before amongst some very rocky quartz ground. The ground is basically flat but the lose rocks about 75-100 in size are too close together to fit the 8" coil between. We've collected several different sized rakes and I intend to rake a path through, detect and then move another strip of rocks. It'll be slow hot work but hopefully there's a decent reward for our effort

The tax man is the least of our problems. If you're going to pay tax you first have to show a profit. That means that you can offset any money made against previous losses. We're hoping to have to pay tax

 

[SCROUNGER]

If you get to the stage where you have to pay tax on your finds then it becomes 'work' imo, and its appeal would soon fade when that happens unless your making an absolute motsa

 

[Wally69]

Paid for fuel and food a few times but much richer for getting out there.

When I am away I plan for 40oz per day, but as the golden ale does not sit well in my gut these days, I compromise at about 15oz per day.

 

[SCROUNGER]

Paid for fuel and food a few times but much richer for getting out there.

When I am away I plan for 40oz per day, but as the golden ale does not sit well in my gut these days, I compromise at about 15oz per day.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/1916/1450314811_image.jpg

Now that's gold wal :lol:

 

[rc62burke]

The way I see it if you have never broken even or profited you are not looking in the right places! I made a profit from the 3rd trip & am still in front (2009 till now)
Lee

I would be interested how many nsw people reckon they profit from a day trip chasing the alluvial gold . I am sure If I travelled further the rewards would get better. I am pretty sure anyone that averages more than a gram or two a day in the areas I go are probably catching fish 8ft long aswell. I have seen about 8grams and the bloke went back and dug in every direction and only recovered a quarter of that.
But hey either I am one of the honest ones or maybe I am doing it all wrong

Mate I get the feeling you don't trust what i am saying? never mind!

I travel 500k one way spend 1 week to 2 weeks camping out & treat it like a job when I am out there, up early break for lunch back to camp for dinner, average 8hrs / day I have never worked it out at an hourly rate, but I am getting paid by my day job & having a good time in the bush so the gold is profit excluding the fuel to get there, food? well you've got to eat no matter where you are.

cheers
lee

 

[Guest]

Lee spot on mate. We work in the same way by treating it like a job when out there . But not on Sundays thats a rest day. cheers Jembaicumbene