There’s gold in them hills again in California, according to local gold hunters who have been stunned by their recent finds in the Sierra Nevada foothills.
“It’s going to get crazy,” gold hunter Mark Dayton said. “It’s the biggest event of my life.”
Dayton is a metal detector expert and regular member of the Gold Country Treasure Seekers club in Placerville, California. In interviews with CBS and The New York Times, he revealed that he gathered US$750 ($1,025) in gold in just a few hours’ time.
And he’s not the only treasure seeker who has been turning up unprecedented yields of gold.
During last month’s meeting of the Gold Country Treasure Seekers club, Dayton said one of the members produced two pounds of gold nuggets he found with a metal detector.
“There was US$50,000 of gold up at that table,” Dayton said. “We’ve had more gold in the last two meetings than I’ve seen in the last two years.”
Meanwhile, Albert Fausel said he found about US$100 ($140) worth of gold in just 20 minutes poking around a creek bed. Fausel is the third-generation owner of Placerville Hardware, which opened in 1852 during the California Gold Rush.
“So now, instead of selling dynamite, I’m selling metal detectors,” Fausel said.
Fausel says he also gearing up for a predicted gold rush.
“I haven’t seen this in my life,” he said.
There’s always been gold in California, even after prospectors picked over the state for seven years during the gold rush of the 1800s. The problem is it’s not easily accessible.
But the historic storms that battered California this past winter sent torrents of water surging down mountain streams, eroding soil and earth and unlocking precious stashes of never-before-seen gold. And as spring and summer heat up, snow at the top of Sierra peaks will flood downstream, bringing more erosion, and more gold.
“As the water comes down really quickly, especially in steep canyons,” Dayton said, “It hits the banks and washes fresh dirt right off… and liberates new fresh deposits of gold right into the water.”
This year’s predicted gold rush was also helped along by the devastating wildfires that ravaged California in recent years — as it loosened the soil.
“It’s going to be a magnificent year,” said Tony Watley, president of the Gold Country Treasure Seekers club. “Everywhere we are seeing new erosion.”
The current price of gold is hovering just about US$2,000 ($2,700) per ounce, so close to the precious metal’s all time-high price of US$2,075 ($2,800). In the past six months alone, the price of gold has risen about 20 per cent, Forbes reported.
With such good prices, it’s no surprise gold hunters are gearing up for an important season.
“This year’s going to be unprecedented,” Dayton said.
The gold hunter predicts that the best time to go seeking one’s fortune will be in June and July, as water levels in rivers begin to lower.