Next time you bitch & moan that you have to work hard for a living spare a thought for others less fortunate... In the years after the Soviet Union’s collapse, Murat Duisheev, like hundreds of other men from Kyrgyzstan’s Naryn region, began panning for gold in local rivers. The work is physically taxing, seasonal, and dangerous, and Murat eventually decided to end his prospecting career and become a physical education teacher. But when he realized it took him a month at his new job to earn what he’d previously made in a day, he returned to the gold-hunting game. That was over two decades ago, and today, at 71 years old, Murat still makes regular trips to the river. Kyrgyzstani photographer Danil Usmanov was first introduced to the Naryn region’s gold prospectors in 2017 when he visited the area to document its informal mining sector. That same year, a local filmmaker released a short documentary about Murat, triggering a wave of visits from parachute reporters of whom he quickly tired. This spring, hoping to get a more in-depth look at Murat’s work, Danil returned to spend several days with the gold-panning former gym teacher, eating meals with Murat’s family and following him and his crew out to the river. Full story here https://meduza.io/en/feature/2023/11/03/going-for-gold Thanks to "mcjtom" from Thailand for sharing this on another forum.
Prospecting is great fun as a hobby. Although it would be very hard work doing it full time. There are probably a few rivers in Australia we're it would be possible to make a living off of it though
Yes, there are probably a few remote rivers in the high country and northern Australia where you could probably scratch out a living by panning for gold. Although realistically to make a decent wage you would need to use mechanical gadgets such as high bankers and dredges to help you process more material than you could by panning alone. The gold dredges have been banned for about 30 years and the high bankers are going the same way, as the powers that be don't want people being able to make a living for themselves outside their controlling system. There were probably hundreds of people who made a good living back in the heydays of 1980s dredging for gold just here in Victoria in places such as the Goulburn, Buckland, Mitta Mitta, and Big Rivers. Back in the late 1970s and 1980s, it was not uncommon to recover an ounce of gold for one day of dredging!
I have as much fun prospecting for new places as I do going to my claim. I really enjoy the hunt more than anything.
Well, keep at it, by the time you are finished you might have enough to cover your thumbnail. For those of you who are scared of the coldness and hard work required to win gold from the rivers don't despair. I heard in a prospecting shop a couple of days ago that a 40 oz nugget has been found recently near Maryborough in Victoria's golden triangle. So grab a detector and try your luck finding gold the cheat's way, who knows you may get lucky
