What are the odds of striking it rich panning for gold in Alaska and the Yukon?

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bigreddwg

NOT VERY MUCH OR NONE AT ALL, whereas you might strike it rich, the realistic chances are it would cost you as much or more in equipment and supplies. there is a very limited summer (which is also not very warm) in which to pan for gold and the mosquitoes are huge and bite hard as do the deer flies that actually bite out chunks of your skin. Large conglomerates are the ones "working the gold fields/streams today". if you want to pan for gold for a week, go to Dahlonega, Ga. (first ever gold mine) which is closer and a heck of a lot warmer. also, the buffet at the Smith House is awesome. You can make more money working in the oil fields than the gold rivers which were mined over heavily in the 1880-90's.
i'm not saying you won't find gold(at least not in a week), but it will be very hard both mentally (no people/doctors for miles and lots of vicious wild animals)and physically( extremes of temperatures in weather as well as the ICY COLD river water you must use for panning).
lastly a third option that you can make money in alaska is the deep sea fishing in the Bering Sea, which is both DANGEROUS yet highly PROFITABLE if you are on the right ship and get a big catch.
if you like it hot, they are hiring in Dubai to build the million dollars islands for residences. go to the Travel Channel to find other places to mine gold (Ca) as well as gems (NC & Ark for the latter)

kellywatchthestars1

There is plenty of gold left. But most of the really rich areas where they would find enough to strike it rich, are owned by private corporations, the federal government, or native corporations. They have a better chance winning the lottery. I have lived in Alaska all my life, I have never met anyone who has striked it rich gold panning

Wayne

Very little, like impossible. I just saw a TV Excursion of what you are talking about. they fould nothing. almost starved, ate a Gopher, got lost. It was like, are these people for real. don't they know that over 125 years ago and more, all that gold rush stuff went down. and is over.

sickskillz883

i highly doubt youll find that much gold, most of it is all gone by now trust me they aint the only ones that tthought of this idea many have in the past and even if der is gold its prob hidden somewhere deep down where youll need some expensive equip for

dee d

very slim i am sorry to say

firehorsetwo

I think the chances of striking rich are really good! Isn't that why everyone is doing it?

Unless they are actually planning on selling their house and packing it in for the hills, let them have their dream. Who does it hurt?

D M

The chances of striking it rich from panning gold is zero. In fact you will loose money trying. So knowing the odds is a moot point. Significant quantities of visible gold is hard to find anywhere in known gold bearing areas. That is why there are fewer and fewer mines going into production. Most of the newer gold mines are usually underground mines which have to extract vast quantities of rock to find very small amounts of gold. Now you can pan for gold as a hobby in the rivers of gold regions in Alaska and the Yukon. If you are lucky you will be able to collect a few flakes. I've panned for gold in the Yukon and BC and found enough gold fragments to fill about 1/8 of a small pill bottle.

levyrat

I can't find any information on how much someone could make panning, but I found some information on employment in the Alaska gold industry. The estimated number of employees involved in placer mining was 710 in 1998. In 2005 it was 45. The number of employees in the recreational mining business dropped from 255 to 93 in the same period. It doesn't sound like a real gold rush situation to me.

http://www.dced.state.ak.us/oed/minerals/pub/IC52.pdf , page 6

There's always a possibility of someone striking it rich panning for gold, but they have to be real good or real lucky.

Or both...

JMB

Jambo

a fistfull of noodles

Lily

6 billion to 1....

wannaplaytoo2001

had a friend that did it for fun one summer in northern Canada...he studied up on it and did ok...OK not rich....I would be surprised if anyone made even $2,000 for entire summer

Lee J

Better odds playing the lottery. Should have been there 150+ years ago.

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