Prospectors hardly flakes

Three years into his hobby, Jared Hundrup is starting to hit pay dirt.

The Post Falls resident isn’t about to quit his accounting job at Mountain Gear. But he has managed to pan enough gold on summer weekends to nearly recover the $500 or so he’s poured into equipment.

Not that Hundrup is selling the gold, or has even weighed his findings. Like most weekend prospectors, he isn’t in it for the money.

“I didn’t do it for supplementing my income; I did it for the fun of it,” he said. “For me to go out and dig, it’s kind of therapeutic, I guess.”

The combination of soaring gold prices and retiring baby boomers has spiked interest in prospecting, said Bob Lowe, president of the Northwest Gold Prospectors Association and owner of a 35-acre prospecting park near Prichard, Idaho. About 175 people are members of the club. Many of the newest gold-seekers, though, soon discover that the payoff takes a back seat to the experience of spending time outdoors.

“There’s a lot of interest in gold because of the price increase,” said Lowe, who also runs a prospecting supply business out of his home in Garwood, Idaho. “But a lot of people do get discouraged early on. They’re thinking they can pull up a couple of shovels of gravel and just find it.”

Like Hundrup, most people who eventually find gold don’t want to part with their discovery.

“I don’t know anybody who sells it. The people you actually see digging are digging because they enjoy it,” Hundrup said. Those who do make a big find tend to keep quiet about it, he added. “They’re real tight-lipped.”

Gold now fetches about $650 an ounce. Prices have roughly doubled since the U.S. invaded Iraq. The surge has tripled the interest in commercial gold exploration on public land in North Idaho, said Jeff Johnson, minerals and geology program leader for the Idaho Panhandle National Forests.

A decade ago, it was typical to see one exploration proposal a year for larger-scale mineral exploration, Johnson said. Currently, there are five pending proposals. “We’re pretty busy,” he said.

Because permits are not required for small-scale gold panning or prospecting, it’s difficult to track the amount of activity by weekend gold seekers, Johnson said.

“There’s always been an interest here. Gold prices pique the interest a little bit, but most people are out there for the experience and the adventure,” he said.

Last year, 1,280 mining claims were filed on federal land in Idaho – about a 15 percent increase from the previous year, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

More people are also taking up the hobby of searching for buried treasures using metal detectors, said Clay Soliday, president of the Northwest Treasure Hunters Club. “The metal prices have definitely helped the interest. The one thing that’s deterred a few people are the gas prices. So, it’s kind of a tradeoff.”

Earlier this month, Soliday drove to Priest Lake in North Idaho, where he waded the cold waters with his metal detector. He found two silver rings and a silver quarter – worth enough, perhaps, to fill his vehicle’s gas tank.

“I’d never sell them, though,” he said.

The real payoff, Soliday said, is spending a day in a beautiful setting and holding out hope for unexpected treasure. More than anything, this is the reason a growing number of retirees are drawn to the pastimes of prospecting and treasure hunting.

“There’s just a lot more people with time on their hands,” said Soliday, of Reardan, Wash.