Price of gold leaves prospecting tools in short supply

EDMONTON — It's been over a century since the last gold rush in Alberta petered out, but the record-high price for the precious metal has sparked a run on panning supplies and prospecting tools.

"Every day since Christmas, we've sold a gold pan. I've never sen anything like it," says Kathryn Walters of Bedrock Supply in Edmonton. "I definitely see gold fever this year."

And it isn't just pans that people are buying. Books on how to find gold are becoming almost as tricky to find as gold itself. New print runs have been ordered, and photocopied versions are filling the void until they're ready.

Neil Dougherty of Touchwood Enterprises in Edson, Alta. says sales of the top-of-the-line metal detectors he stocks have doubled in the last two years. They cost $5,595 and he sold 23 of them last year.

"I have more phone calls than I can answer in the next few days," Dougherty says about the rush of new customers.

Some customers plan on taking the detectors as far as Sudan, Dougherty says. But others, according to Walters, don't plan on even leaving Edmonton and intend to pan on the shores of the North Saskatchewan River.

In the 1890s, gold seekers worked the river's banks and many industrial operators used massive steam-powered barges to dredge and sift the gravel in search of the powdery "flour gold" the river contained.

By 1907, the gold was gone and many of the original panners had moved north to the Klondike. But hope lives on.

James Blower, in his book "Gold Rush," wrote that the river's gold was believed to have flowed from "a great many small pockets" rather than from a single source.

"The old miners often said that the gold would never depleted, but continually build up to await another rush for the precious metal," Blower wrote.

This past week, with the price of gold surpassing $1,500 per ounce, many Canadians are thinking now is the time to start hunting for gold again.

Randy Fish, a 52-year-old former dairy farmer from Cannington, Ont., caught gold fever a couple of years ago and sold his cows to work for a man who has a claim in B.C. He says he bought a metal detector last summer to hunt near the claim during his off-hours, and ended up finding half-a-dozen pieces that total just under two ounces in weight.

It sounds like a way to get rich quick, but Fish says it isn't.

"I sort of had it in my head it'd be a little easier but all the surface gold has been gone for a hundred years," Fish says about why he decided to buy the metal detector.

"For the investment, I got about half of it back."

According to the Alberta government's mining ministry website, a $50 licence that's good for five years is required for anyone who wants to set up any equipment for washing sediments, such as a sluicebox or a rocker. There are other regulations, which include prohibiting the use of a backhoe or using mercury near the river's edge.

The richest deposits have probably been located and mined, the website warns.

"This means that amateur prospectors today are unlikely to strike it rich. But searching for gold and reliving a little of Alberta's history can still be fun," it states.

Doug Baker of the Edmonton Gold Prospectors Association says it's best to treat gold panning as a hobby rather than an income. He says a TV show, "Gold Rush Alaska" on the Discovery Channel, is as much responsible for the recent interest in gold as the sky-high price for the metal.

"Unless you've got a front-end loader and you're a commercial operator, you're not going to be making any money at it," says Baker, a retired Telus employee, who's been panning for gold for 10 years.

"I don't even have an ounce to my name. I may have half an ounce," he adds. "False hopes -- that's the word for it."

Walters says that someone who spent a summer panning could conceivably have an ounce of gold by the end of the season. There have also been improvements in pans, such as plastic and even square designs, which make them more efficient than the traditional steel ones.

She says she's on her fifth order of pans so far this year.

"The ice isn't even off the river yet," Walters says. "There's a lot of dreamers out there."

Fish, meanwhile, says family obligations may keep him from travelling to B.C. to hunt for more gold this summer. He admits it will be hard on him with the price of gold so high.

He says he hasn't cashed in his gold, though.

"I kind of like to have it. And since I've had it, it's gone up $300 an ounce," he says.

(Source: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20110423/gold-supplies-prospecting-110423/)