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Soaring precious metal prices, accompanied by a national economy that is suddenly on the skids, is spurring a modern-day gold rush across northern California, and other sections of the western United States and Canada, that veterans of panning and sluicing have not seen in many a decade.
It is not quite the stampede of 1849, the year that marked the beginning of the first Gold Rush, when some 300,000 adventurers rushed to California in covered wagons and by sea. Where the '49ers' were rugged and wild, the '08ers' generally turn up on weekends with metal detectors in minivans.
But, as gold prices reach historic highs and with the (northern) spring thaw beginning, the traffic in these areas is expected to be heavy.
Just ask the Gold Prospectors' Association of America, which has seen its membership multiply by three as gold prices have surged.
The Mojave Prospectors' Association organised special events for gold-panning enthusiasts, including an outing to a stretch of the Mojave Desert in Arizona yesterday where president Al Adams buried 300 tokens with the letter "g" for gold in the gritty soil.
"More people are looking for a hobby, and the price of gold being nearly US$1000 an ounce is why attendance is so high," Adams said.
Commercial claims for gold prospecting are rising too. The Bureau of Land Management revealed that claims had risen to 2274 in the first quarter of this year, compared to 132 claims in the same quarter of 2005.
But it is not just California where the glitter of gold is drawing new crowds. "Every dang fool with nothing to do is gonna be up in the woods getting flat tyres and getting lost," grumbled Bill Dobell, 59, of Granite in northwestern Oregon.
"Theoretically, if a guy was a good panner, he could probably go out and make a couple of hundred bucks a day," said veteran miner Ed Hardt, 74, who is president of the Eastern Oregon Mining Association.
But there is another way to cash in on gold's soaring value: trading in all those unwanted baubles. Jewellery makers and pawn shops across the US have reported a surge of customers.
"I haven't seen anything like this in nearly 30 years," says Klaus Degler of Rocky Mountain Coin and Jewellery in Denver. "Metal detectors and gold pans are flying out the door too."
- Independent
