One benefit of gold trading is that it does not have high volatile fluctuations. Needless to say, a profitable trading transaction means buying at a cheap price and selling at a very high price. In that sense, gold offers a great range bound price activity at the commodity exchange. A good speculation also takes place which keeps attracting interest.
Buying a Gold Mining Claim
With the rising gold price in the last couple of years, there has been a greater interest in gold mining and people keen on buying a mining claim. Just like anything else in life, it is crucial that you do your due diligence before making any significant purchase. You should do this because lots of mining claims sell for large amounts. There are lots of valid claims out there that are worth purchasing, but the industry of mining claim sales is also ravaged with a snake-oil salesperson, offering claims which have hardly any mineral value. Below are some findings and questions that you ought to ask before thinking of buying a mining claim.
When was the claim filed?
Most high priced mining claims have been around for quite some time, sometimes several decades. If a claim was only filed a couple of months before sale why would the original claim holder sell it so soon? Is there any sign of earlier mining activity in the field? If there is no proof of prior mining and a claim is just a few months old, you should be very suspicious of the mineral values offered on the claim.
What sort of claim is it?
There are actually patented and unpatented mining claims, with the largest percentage of claims being unpatented claims. This implies that you are buying mineral rights to the land and that is all. The land itself remains public and open to campers, hikers, shooters and anybody who wants to recreate on the land. There is a very common false impression that possessing a mining claim gives you your own private piece of land all to yourself; this is simply not the case. You are going to only own the rights to the mineral resources on the land, and that is all.
Will the seller permit you to sample the claim just before buying? If the seller refuses to, refrain from the purchase. Give it some thought, would you buy a pre-owned car without firing it up and taking it for a test drive? Obviously, you wouldn’t. Why then would you buy a claim that you were not permitted to sample for a couple of days before opening your wallet? Anyone selling a valuable claim should really welcome you to sample the property, which would show its worth. You should not buy a mining claim site unseen.
Know that it usually costs less than $200 to file an unpatented mining claim. If the seller is requesting a lot of money for their claim, the burden is on them to prove to you that there is sufficient gold there to justify the price tag.
Jason Butler
Jason Butler is an Atlanta native, as well as businessman, blogger and teacher. Not only is Jason a prolific flipper, marketer, writer and side hustler his number of years in higher education and student support have given him expert knowledge in understanding the economics of the student loan industry.
Hahaha, I thought this post was going to be metaphorical, but wow, buying an ACTUAL gold mine. Thanks for highlighting the difference between the different kind of claims that are out there.