Friday, August 15, 2008
Oh, Give Me A Break
I am sorry, but where I live, California, suffers from enough weirdness all on its own, that we do not need our incredibly eccentric few held up as trends - like the BBC did in this piece.
What is kind of sad about all this is that there has been a significant gold rush just across the border in Nevada for the last several decades. There are significant reserves of ore in California that simply can not be accessed because of regulation and plan old NIMBY politics. It is one of the bigger economic tragedies of our time, there are billions of dollars involved.
There are a number of prospector types in California and they are colorful and interesting, and very poor. They have chosen a lifestyle and bully for them if they enjoy it, but a "gold rush" in California? - Not in the near future.
What is really sad about all this is that even in the old days prospectors never did that well. It takes big money to make money in mining - big equipment, big mines, loads of dirt. In most working gold mines today they recover less than an ounce of gold (in some cases a lot less) from one ton of ore. Think about that for a minute. That means for me to make, say $500 a day, I have to shovel and process a ton of ore each day. At guy with a mule and shovel ain't gonna get that done.
The numbers were a little better in the old days, but the prospectors that got rich, got rich because they sold their claims, with royalties, to the big miners. That simply is not happening today because the big miners cannot work in California. Far as I know the only mines working in California today have been in continuous operation since the 1850's are are "grandfathered."
This story is cute, and "prospecting" is a great and beautiful way to make your camping trip more interesting. But "gold rush?" Bah - humbug.
Technorati Tags:gold, california, mining, economics
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In America, record prices are fuelling a new Gold Rush - 160 years after thousands descended on California, seeking riches.A few paragraphs later in this piece which favors romanticism heavily over the truth, you get just a hint of the trouble:
With uncertainty in oil and stock markets, gold is seen as a stable investment - it hit a new high of more than $1,000 (£500) an ounce earlier this year and some think there is money to be made once more.
"You can pay your bills, if you live meagrely," says John Gurney, who gave up his job six months ago to become a full-time gold prospector.
Each 20-minute session usually turns up a few tiny flecks. [emphasis added]Why would any self-respecting prospector limit himself to 20 minutes of work at a time? Well, he is either working someone else's land/claim and they are regulating him, or more likely he is on BLM land and they are regulating him.
What is kind of sad about all this is that there has been a significant gold rush just across the border in Nevada for the last several decades. There are significant reserves of ore in California that simply can not be accessed because of regulation and plan old NIMBY politics. It is one of the bigger economic tragedies of our time, there are billions of dollars involved.
There are a number of prospector types in California and they are colorful and interesting, and very poor. They have chosen a lifestyle and bully for them if they enjoy it, but a "gold rush" in California? - Not in the near future.
What is really sad about all this is that even in the old days prospectors never did that well. It takes big money to make money in mining - big equipment, big mines, loads of dirt. In most working gold mines today they recover less than an ounce of gold (in some cases a lot less) from one ton of ore. Think about that for a minute. That means for me to make, say $500 a day, I have to shovel and process a ton of ore each day. At guy with a mule and shovel ain't gonna get that done.
The numbers were a little better in the old days, but the prospectors that got rich, got rich because they sold their claims, with royalties, to the big miners. That simply is not happening today because the big miners cannot work in California. Far as I know the only mines working in California today have been in continuous operation since the 1850's are are "grandfathered."
This story is cute, and "prospecting" is a great and beautiful way to make your camping trip more interesting. But "gold rush?" Bah - humbug.
Technorati Tags:gold, california, mining, economics
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