Hi all, Bern's my name

I am a neophyte to fossicking and looking to benefit from the vast knowledge of diggers here. First question, is it possible to make a living as a fossicker, panner, prospector, or should I keep my day job?
Cheers
Bern

It is not possible to make a living as a gold prospector no more!
Thats what everyone wants to do? There is not much gold left? The government has heavily regulated the goldfields, there are tons of other prospectors competing
for the very limited resource, "gold".

You will loose money at an alarming rate looking for gold, you will not recover your outlay or expenses!
If you abide by the laws and enjoy looking for gold you will have a great time, getting gold here and there is a bonus!

Sorry to disappoint but that is the truth of it!

Keep your day job!

Kane

Thought as much, would be just too easy. Sounds like fun all the same.

G'day Bern and welcome to the forum and to the world of prospecting. As was said it is getting harder to find these days but there is still plenty left in the ground if you are lucky. As a hobby it is very enjoyable to be out in the bush and away from everyday hassles. The gold found is a bonus for most of us.

Cheers.

Mike.

Thanks for your input.
Cheers
Bern

Hi Bern, good question! I guess it's all highly dependant on your personal situation and circumstances and your level of need to make a living and your definition of "a living" to begin with, if you are free and willing to adopt a certain lifestyle that is required to be out there you can join the ranks of those who "make a living" prospecting.

Wayne.

It does sound like a hard living, could take the fun out of it.

G'day Bern

Mate it is virtually impossible to make a steady quid in all of the eastern states
these days with the exception of Qld maybe.
But i can assure you it is still relatively easy to make a modest living prospecting
in WA, that is, to a very experienced operator with the right skills, gear and connections.
I would say keep your steady job and use it to get geared up and then bring your prospecting
and geological skills up to notch then have a re think after a few (10) yrs about it again.
Full time work is hard to come by mate, treat it with care before you make any decisions.

Giday Bern, no sense asking me as I am new to most of this too. I notice your question covered a lot of fields and the way I read it, it didn't just cover gold fossicking. There are loads of other types of fossicking that you can add to the search and $ income if you including crystals and they are way easier to come by and still have a good market. Take that into account and maybe you can get by comfortably. My thoughts anyway.
Welcome to the forums mate, I hope you learn a lot. I've only been here a couple of days myself but can tell you that it will take you weeks to read everything in here and you will earn just about ll you need to know about the hobby though take notes because after a while it all jumbles together and is hard to recall any one thing, or it is for me anyway. What kind of detector do you have and where have you been using it?
Greg.

Hmm neophyte hey? Welcome to the forum Bern. I'l cut it short for ya. Don't even think about quitting your day job.If you intend getting into this hobby,treat it for what it is,one enjoyable hobby,where the gold you find is a bonus.

Cheers kon61.