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What can you get gold from and how to do it? This question has interested alchemists since time immemorial. Scientists of that time tried to convert lead, iron and other elements that were not distinguished by nobility into noble metal. Years and centuries have passed, but the question is still relevant, the difference is that today getting gold at home is not fantasy, but reality.
What can you get Au from?
Getting gold at home is a complex but exciting process. Some craftsmen manage not only to mine precious metals without leaving home, but also to sell it at a very attractive price.
Gold in radio components
It can be made, or, more precisely, can be made from the following items:
- Computer parts.
- TV or refrigerator.
- Motherboards.
- Mobile phones.
You can extract metal yourself from old radio components, computer parts, microcircuits and motherboards. Phones and even SIM cards are used, but the percentage of gold content in SIM cards is negligible.
To make it clearer, it is worth noting that the surface of some parts that are used in the manufacture of equipment is coated with gold. You can also include jewelry that has been damaged or whose surface is covered with gold.
All products that are related to gilding and on the surface of which there is a layer of precious metal are suitable for processing.
There's gold in mobile phones You will have to independently sort the material that requires processing. Sorting rules:
- parts are sorted by size;
- remove unnecessary elements;
- sort the material using a magnet.
Gold mining at home or, in other words, refining begins with sorting. Initially, the parts are sorted by size, laying them out in several piles.
If there are foreign elements on the surface of the products, they are removed; this rule also applies to solder.
The last stage is sorting the parts using a magnet. Those that the magnet attracts are set aside separately, separating them from those that do not react to the magnet at all.
Since refining will be carried out at home, it is worth reducing costs. It is necessary to save reagents; sorting will help to do this. Once you've finished sorting the parts, you can start making reagents.
In addition to evaporation, you can obtain precious metal using the following elements:
- Mercury.
- Lead.
- Silver.
Mercury is converted to Au by the sun. Adolf Mitya somehow got the idea to experiment with minerals. He exposed them to a mercury lamp. Over time, a coating formed on the surface of the lamp; the chemist cleaned it off and analyzed it. There was gold in the raid.
Another Harvard scientist bombarded mercury nuclei with fast neutrons, in the process of which Au was obtained. All experiments were carried out in the laboratory and not at home, but they were successful.
Lead takes a long time to transform into a noble metal. This happens under the influence of the sun. Analysis of lead showed that when exposed to light from the sun, the element becomes radioactive and changes over the years.
Silver is transformed into Au according to the Mexicans, who believed that if a found vein is kept in the sun for several years, silver will turn into a yellow metal. The discovery did not receive scientific confirmation, but newspapers wrote about it. So the method can be considered dubious.
Evaporation can be done at home, but this will require reagents, without which the reaction will not take place.
Sequence and course of the procedure
You will have to make aqua regia - a mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acids in a ratio of one to three. The solution is prepared immediately before refining, since in the prepared state aqua regia loses its properties.
AU is inert, that is, it does not react with acids and alkalis. This property is inherent in all metals of noble origin. not so simple, for this you can use mercury or aqua regia. Mercury forms a compound with gold called amalgam, an alloy of two metals. But the evaporation procedure can be considered the most cost-effective and less harmful.
How to mine gold at home using hydrochloric and nitric acids:
- you need to prepare a solution;
- place parts in it;
- wait a little;
- filter the solution.
The solution has a characteristic smell of chlorine. When immersing metals with gold on their surface, it is worth keeping in mind that the reaction occurs at different rates. The solution oxidizes metals and gold, but Au oxidizes more slowly.
Gold recovery If the solution is heated, the reaction will speed up; when the solution cools, gold tends to be reduced.
You won’t have to wait long: the gold will quickly detach from other elements and begin to float on the surface of the solution in the form of flakes.
When flakes appear, you need to filter the solution; this is done using copper sulfate. Some precious metal will still remain in the compound.
The reagents used to carry out the reaction must be of high quality. If the shelf life of one of the components has expired, then refining may not work or the costs of carrying it out will not pay for themselves.
After adding vitriol to the solution, it is filtered through a cloth. It must be dense so that gold particles settle on its surface. After filtration, the metal must be washed to stop the reaction.
Since aqua regia emits chlorine during its operation, it is worth carrying out the Au extraction procedures in specialized clothing. The skin of the hands and the respiratory tract must be protected from toxic fumes that can be harmful to human health.
You will also need a form; it must be made of cast iron. The metal is immersed in a flask or dish and heated using a burner. must take place in a special oven.
It is necessary to use utensils that are suitable for melting gold; additional requirements apply to them. Since metal is poured in a thin stream without interruption, the container for pouring must have a spout, and the mold must be disassembled.
A home-made ingot is polished because its surface is not smooth. The ingot is polished using the following means:
- Pasta.
- Felt.
- A toothbrush.
Polishing will add shine to the ingot; for this reason, it is better to use a specialized paste; it will remove roughness from the surface of the precious metal.
The metal is polished with felt after using the paste; if there is no felt, then cloth or suede can be used.
A toothbrush will be needed if there is no specialized cleaning product. Toothpaste is applied to the brush and the surface of the ingot is polished with it. The procedure is also completed by polishing with felt or cloth until the metal begins to shine.
What can this gold be used for?
Au mined in this way is used for various purposes. Most often, gold is sent for melting down, making jewelry from the material. The quality of jewelry depends on the quality of the metal obtained. If the refining was not very successful, then the alloy will not be distinguished by purity.
The ingot can be used as a material prepared for resoldering jewelry, that is, for repairing other jewelry. If a jeweler works with solder at home, the resulting material will help repair more than one item.
The resulting ingot can be handed over or sold. There isn't much difference. In the 90s, many chemists earned their living in this way. Old TVs and refrigerators were also dismantled through refining. In the technology of the USSR, there was more precious metal, for this reason refining was considered a very profitable activity.
Extracting gold from radio components is not difficult, you just need to try, and the process is exciting. Many people carry out the procedure not for profit, but for the sake of the refining itself, which brings pleasure. But there are also those who want to hold a whole piece or ingot of precious metal in their hands.
The Russian Federation is considered the state with the largest area in the world. Therefore, it is not surprising that thousands of deposits of various precious metals and stones are concentrated here, and gold is no exception. Moreover, gold mining in Russia is carried out from alluvial deposits. Nevertheless, the places where this metal is mined are constantly changing, since today new methods of gold mining are being actively developed. Also, gold mining enterprises often return to those deposits that were recently considered unpromising and poor in terms of reserves of the extracted resource.
In every country engaged in gold mining, the geography of where this metal is mined is constantly changing. Just 30-40 years ago, more than 50% of gold mining sites were concentrated in South Africa, but after about 10 years, this country’s share in global metal production decreased from 50 to 30%. The reason for this trend was that Western countries began to actively explore gold deposits on their territories. Examples of such states include Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, the Philippines and Indonesia. Today, the main volume of world aurum production comes from China - this country annually produces several hundred tons of gold every year.
Map of gold mining in Russia
Gold is also actively mined in Russia, and gold mining in our country has its own characteristics.
Gold mining sites in Russia, as well as in all countries exporting this metal, can be divided into endogenous and exogenous. Endogenous deposits are considered to be the richest, with medium to high temperature hydrothermal deposits being the most common. An example of such is quartz veins.
Where is gold mined in Russia? To get the answer to this question, you should look at the physical map of the Russian Federation. All metal mining sites are close to the surface of the earth. Vivid examples of this include the Khakanja deposit in the Far East, Kuranahanskoye in Aldan, etc. In the northern part of the Krasnoyarsk region, gold is mined from magnetic copper-nickel deposits. Where is gold mined in Russia, in addition to the deposits listed:
- Rudny Altai.
- Chibizhk and Olkhovka, which are located at the junction of the Manusinsk Basin.
- Khabarovsk and Irkutsk regions.
Still, the largest-scale gold mining is carried out in the Urals. The largest gold deposits in Russia are concentrated here. In this territory, nature itself has created favorable conditions for the formation of gold - moderate climate, absence of severe frosts, etc. In addition, the appropriate infrastructure has been created here, allowing easy access to metal mining sites. By the way, not only precious metals are mined in the Urals, but also gems (over a hundred varieties).
The first deposit of the metal in the Urals was discovered by mankind back in 1745, and by the beginning of the twentieth century at least 100 gold ore deposits of the precious metal were known in Russia. In the Urals, the largest gold-bearing placer is considered to be the Bolsheshaldinskaya placer, located in the Moss swamp. This placer first began to be exploited in the nineteenth century.
Placer gold deposits have always been considered the most promising compared to primary ones, and there is an explanation for this: the development of placer deposits requires less financial costs and labor.
How is gold mined?
Despite the fact that metal mining techniques are constantly being improved in the gold mining industry, gold has been mined by panning for several hundred years. Such a simple method of obtaining metal is considered effective due to the fact that aurum itself has a high density, which means that it is significantly heavier than other elements of gold ore. Previously, gold was washed using sheep skins, which were placed at the bottom of rivers originating in the mountains. Thanks to this, grains of gold got stuck in the hairs, after which the skin was taken out and the metal particles were shaken out of it.
How gold is mined in Russia today, or more precisely, with what equipment:
- Minidrag: is a device that resembles a barrel. Using a mini-dredge, productive sand is washed out on river shallows.
- Mini-sluices: These are more complex devices for washing gold.
- Metal detector: this device is advisable to use for searching for gold in small deposits.
Today in Russia, not only large-scale but also small-scale gold mining is popular. In order to engage in amateur metal mining using a metal detector or mini-dredge, it is enough to conclude an agreement with the owner of the gold mining license. After this, you can search for gold in man-made dumps without any obstacles. Many will most likely be interested in the answer to the question of how gold is mined in Russia in small deposits, as well as where to look for such. The thing is that there are so many small metal birthplaces in the Russian Federation that it is impossible to trace their geography.
There are many benefits to gold panning for gold miners. First of all, in order to mine gold, you need to start purchasing inexpensive devices for this purpose. In addition, a person is given a wide choice of places to extract metal, and the knowledge necessary for this activity can be gleaned from a large number of thematic reference books, Internet resources, etc.
Enterprises in the gold mining industry
Today in the Russian Federation there are several large enterprises engaged in gold mining:
- OJSC Polyus Gold: this enterprise engaged in industrial gold mining is considered one of the largest in the world. Specialists of OJSC Polyus Gold work at gold deposits concentrated in the Amur, Magadan, Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk regions.
- Kinross Gold: a company with Canadian capital engaged in gold mining in Yakutia.
- OJSC Yuzhuralzoloto: 100% of the company’s assets are distributed between Chelyabinsk, Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Republic of Khakassia. The company today practices not only open, but also closed solar metal mining techniques.
- OJSC Severstal: a giant in the Russian iron and steel industry, which also specializes in the extraction of precious metals. A large number of branches of this enterprise are located in other countries, and these are countries not only of the CIS, but also of Europe.
The list of gold mining companies operating in Russia does not end there.
As for individual entrepreneurship in the field of gold mining, in Russia it cannot be called developed and in demand, and all because obtaining a license for such activities requires a considerable investment of time and finances. Therefore, many miners today practice illegal gold mining. There was a period in the history of the Russian Federation when anyone could mine gold, and without appropriate permission from the state. This period lasted from 1992 to 1998.
Today, a person who is engaged in illegal gold mining risks paying a fine, the amount of which ranges from three to five thousand rubles, plus will lose his equipment intended for gold mining. If it is revealed that a person is storing gold, the proceeds from the sale of which exceed a million rubles, then in this case criminal liability is provided. The same applies to the exploitation of a deposit owned by a gold mining company.
Russia is a country that will always be included in the list of leading states in which industrial gold mining has been established. This is possible not only due to the rich reserves of the precious metal, but also because new gold mining sites are constantly being explored in Russia, and relevant technologies are being improved.
The method of mining gold largely depends on where exactly it is located. In most cases, prospectors look for this precious metal along the banks of rivers and streams, since the presence of water is a necessary condition for its effective separation from waste rock.
Before panning, miners first look for an area with a fairly high gold content - usually several grams per ton of rock. To do this, pits several meters deep are dug along the banks, and the rock removed from one depth or another is washed. If gold is found, its content in the rock is determined and a decision is made to begin mining.
Mining gold using a simple pan pan
The simplest washing tray is made of wood or metal and looks like a large cup with a rounded bottom. Films about artisanal gold mining often show how the gold miner scoops up gold-bearing sand with a tray and washes it in the water of a stream or river. But in practice, gold-bearing sand is very rare; it is usually a mixture of gravel, small pebbles, sand and other rocks.
It is this mixture, mined in a pit, that is scooped up with a tray. When approaching the water, you need to lower the tray into the water and begin to rotate the rock in it with smooth movements. It is interesting that large stones do not sink to the bottom of the tray, as one might expect, but move to its edge and fall out. Gradually, all the pebbles, including the smallest ones, are washed out of the tray; what remains in it is the so-called concentrate - particles of high-density solid minerals. It is black in color, and gold particles are very clearly visible in it - if there were any in the washed rock.
Mining gold using a drill
More professional and profitable is gold mining using a walk-through - a wooden tray made from several boards. It is installed near the stream, water is supplied to it. As a rule, it flows by gravity through a makeshift water pipeline; water is taken a little higher upstream.
The tray is slightly inclined; ribbed rubber mats are placed on its bottom. A sheet of iron with holes punched in it is placed on top. Rock is poured onto it and stirred with a shovel - small fractions fall into the tray for washing, and large stones are raked off the sheet to the side.
During washing, gold particles are retained on the mats, and waste rock is carried away by water. After a certain time, usually several hours, the mats are carefully removed and the gold is collected from them.
Modern equipment for artisanal gold mining
Currently, many companies offer modern, efficient equipment for artisanal gold mining. In the catalogs you can find a wide variety of installations that can significantly facilitate the work of a miner. There are both simple tunnels, light and convenient, and complex expensive equipment that pays for itself only if it works in gold-rich areas.
In order to find a deposit of “wild” gold, you need to know what can indicate to you the presence of the precious metal.
Learn all about geology
To begin with, it is extremely important to know the basic facts about the geology of a particular area. The most important thing is knowledge about the types of rocks that accompany gold. Look at data on large deposits and find out if there are similar ones in your area. Often gold is found within one rock or where two rocks collide.
By the way, rock collision sites are the most promising for searching. As geologists report, at such “contact points” there was usually previously high pressure and temperature, and these are the conditions for the appearance and concentration of gold. You can find the “contact point” by changing the color of the rock.
Related breeds
Having met them, there is a high probability of finding a gold-bearing vein.
This black sands (magnetite, hematite). Gold is almost always associated with iron. Rivers with golden sand often have black sand mixed in. So black, reddish, or even orange soil is a sign of gold. Metal detectors on such soils usually “go crazy”, producing a sea of erratic signals, so it is better to use special ones created specifically for searching for gold.
Then, a sign of gold can be the presence quartz. Gold veins often form within quartz rock. But quartz is the second most abundant material on the Earth's surface. It can be found anywhere. But if quartz is found in areas where gold mining has already taken place, this is a reason to be wary. In reports on gold mining, phrases about gold veins in quartz are often found.
We also note that quartz, which contains precious metal, is by no means snow-white, as we are used to. Due to the same iron content, quartz has a somewhat “rusty” appearance with reddish and brown spots.
Oxbow rivers and dry riverbeds
Considering that many rivers in Siberia are gold-bearing, it makes sense to look for their oxbow lakes or dry riverbeds. Searching here is not difficult with flowing water; gold nuggets can easily be found with a metal detector. But it’s still better to first find out on which rivers they washed or washed gold especially successfully. The dry riverbed can be found half a kilometer from the current riverbed.
High Banks
You can also look for gold on the high banks of gold-bearing rivers. A natural process where the river bed deepens and gold deposits remain above the water mark. And such sediments often go unnoticed by miners, since most gold miners are concentrated around the water's edge and in shallow waters. The sediments on the banks remain intact.
Ancient river beds
It happens that few people even know that a river once flowed in this area. And it dried up at the end of the Jurassic period, for example. And then, 200 million years ago, the river was gold-bearing, carrying thousands of grams of precious metal in its stormy waters. Over many millions of years, the terrain has changed, for example, a hill may form in place of a river, but gold can still be found.
Finding an ancient riverbed is actually quite easy if you know how to look. For example, compare rocks. Smooth, polished pebbles in the mountains are just a sign that the stones have been in the flow of water for a long time. Such pebbles, for example, are found in the mountains of Georgia - where they are looking for gold.
Who doesn't dream of finding treasure! But few people know that in the city of Zeya, Amur Region, the chances of sudden enrichment increase significantly. Here, with regularity of several months, local residents find caches of gold bars. If you believe the testimony of these lucky ones, the treasure can be found here on the side of the highway, near the river bank, or just under a bush.
A common story for this place: a certain Bagaudin Estemirov was wandering through the forest and found in the bushes three knitted socks in which gold bars were neatly wrapped. Only 18 pieces for a total amount of 10.5 million rubles.
Unspeakable luck. But for some reason, local residents and operatives are not surprised by such stories.
MK found out the ins and outs of all these finds.
On October 20, 2016, 35-year-old resident of the city of Zeya Marina Moskaleva was incredibly lucky. On this day, citizen Moskaleva became richer by 19 million rubles. To be absolutely precise, another plus 246 thousand 41 rubles and 63 kopecks. That’s exactly how much the 24 gold bars that the woman found (at least that’s what she claims) are worth on the side of the Zeya-Tynda highway. The gold was lying in a plastic bag under a bush, five meters from an abandoned traffic police post.
It’s hard to even imagine how Marina Nikolaevna rejoiced at such enchanting luck. But common sense did not leave her either. The lady threw the bag into the back seat of her car and drove home. And four more days later she set off in the same car with 24 gold bars in the back seat “to go about her business” (at least that’s what is written in the criminal case). But Moskaleva never reached her destination. She was stopped by FSB officers who noticed a large black bag in the car. And there...
In general, the gold was confiscated and the lady was charged under Part 1 of Art. 191 (“illegal storage, transportation of precious metals”). The court sentenced her to two years of suspended imprisonment and a fine of 200 thousand rubles. The bullion, naturally, was confiscated and turned into state income.
But here’s a coincidence: in the same Zeya, happiness smiled on 45-year-old Alexei Egorov. Alexey Valerianovich does not work anywhere, at least officially, and therefore he has a lot of time to wander through the surrounding forests. During one of his walks, a man came across a bundle of 2.4 kilograms of gold while crossing the Gilyuy River. Citizen Yegorov could have gotten rich by more than five million rubles, but he also fell into the hands of the FSB.
There are more than one or two such stories in the vicinity of Zeya, and indeed in the Amur region. For example, Magomed Tochiev (also, by the way, unemployed and, apparently, a very lucky man) was walking through a forest area within the city in March 2016 and came across a cache. And it contains 6 kg of gold. There are only 17 bars totaling more than 13 million rubles.
But probably the most enchanting story happened with Bagaudin Estemirov, who in the bushes found three black knitted socks containing 18 gold “hemispheres”. They weighed more than eight kilograms, and cost about 10.5 million rubles at the exchange rate at that time. By the way, Comrade Estemirov is not only incredibly lucky - he also has a business sense. At least a limited liability company engaged in the extraction of non-ferrous metal ores is now registered in his name.
It’s hard to believe, but in Zeya there are people who have found treasure not for the first time. The chairman of the Zeya District Court told us about such “lucky ones squared off.”
“That year, a decision was made in the case of one man who found three kilograms of alluvial gold in a three-liter jar in a hard-to-reach forested area. This comrade has no obvious source of income and does not work. I started looking at his personality, and it turned out that he had been convicted twice for similar crimes. But at the time I considered this case, his convictions had already been expunged.
Gold in the vicinity of the wonderful city was regularly found before. For example, in October 2010, in the village of Svetly, in a garage cooperative behind the Pyramid shopping complex, a certain Knuni Bagdasaryan found a plastic bag with placer gold walled up in one of the reinforced concrete slabs. The weight of the package was small, only 700 grams. But by selling it, the man would then be able to enrich himself by a million rubles.
But, despite such wonderful stories, for some reason there is no pilgrimage of treasure hunters to Zeya. And local residents even move to other cities, where, although they don’t find treasures on every corner, there is work and the opportunity to feed their families.
It is 600 kilometers from Blagoveshchensk along the highway to Zeya. You can get there by car in about six hours. A harsh town on the right bank of the river of the same name. Among the local infrastructure facilities, it is worth mentioning only the Zeya hydroelectric power station, which supplies electricity even to China, and several gold mining enterprises. In fact, the city itself was founded by gold miners. In the 1860s, after private gold mining was allowed in the Amur region, mines opened in these remote taiga regions. In 1879, the first artel called the Zeya Warehouse appeared here.
“Do you really think that we really have gold lying around here on every corner?” These “lucky ones” wash it illegally or steal it from the mines. And when they are caught, they say that they have found them,” Andrei Lozhechkin does not even hide his surprise at the metropolitan journalist’s lack of understanding. And he adds to clarify the situation: “All these people are “black miners.”
There are several schemes by which illegal gold miners operate. One of the most common is this: an artel launders gold in one place, skims off the cream, and then moves on to another. Free prospectors come to this site and mine the remains. However, it is not so easy to find a dump that is not completely used up, where you can still wash a kilogram or two. Especially without guidance. But the coordinates of promising sites are often leaked to free miners by their legal colleagues. It’s clear that it’s not a thank you.
In Central Russia, they don’t even imagine the scale of underground gold mining. This is a whole industry - with its own laws, schemes and methods of getting rid of unwanted people.
“For the 18 bars seized, the counter was set at a decent price...”
Freelance gold miners are also called “predators.” These people are extremely reluctant to talk about their work. If they agree to an interview, they ask not to indicate their real name. For Alexey, searching for gold is not a means of earning money—it’s a hobby. He hunts in the Moscow region and regularly publishes reports and photographs of the wealth he finds on his blog. It turns out that you don’t need to go to the Far East to buy precious metal. Alexey assures that even in the Moscow region, if you know the places, you can mine several tens of grams of gold.
— For example, near Iksha, until the war, collective farmers mined 150 grams per season. And in Moscow, during the reconstruction of Kudrinskaya Square, three nuggets weighing about 700 grams were found. So you understand, this is great luck. Usually prospectors deal with gold dust and grains.
Alexey knows many people in this shadow segment. He agreed to tell us how the “predators” work.
“Most likely, the people caught in Zeya are not even direct miners, but buyers or carriers of the recovered metal. They buy gold from miners at bargain prices. Moreover, it is clear to everyone who understands even a little about this business that these people were hired for a reason. An extra buyer appeared - and they decided to merge him into the operational development of the FSB.
What “extra” means is also clear to all those involved in this business. The fact is that for the last few decades, all illegal gold mining has been covered by the Chechens and Ingush. They buy sand from miners at half price. And even cheaper. It is clear that sooner or later there will be people who will want to sell their gold for a higher price. These are the kind of people they hand over to the FSB.
We have been trying to reach those involved in the “found gold” cases for several weeks. To no avail. No one answered the phone. Alexey is not surprised by this.
“I think they have no time for journalists now.” Because if 18 other people’s gold bars were confiscated from you, which you were supposed to deliver to the customer, they gave you a decent counter. These people now shy away from any shadow.
In the illegal transportation of gold, the main thing is reliable people and well-functioning logistics. Alexey said that some particularly enterprising businessmen make chains from “black” gold for coupling railway cars, which are then painted to resemble steel. At the destination station, the precious chains are removed and real ones are installed.
“Some very complex scheme,” I notice.
- But throughout Russia, gold can travel freely, without inspection.
The work of miners is harsh. Few people understand what people sacrifice for the sake of metal, which will later turn into earrings and rings. For several months, gold miners live deep in the taiga, in tents or dugouts.
“One prospector told me how he went into the taiga, abandoned his provisions and went to put the equipment on the stream. He returns to the parking lot, and there all the cereals are torn, the cans of stew are open. The bear was in charge of his camp. It would be logical to return, but this guy went into the taiga for a week. In general, he decided to stay. For two weeks while I was working, I ate only fish.
— And how much do miners produce per season?
— If a single person lathers 100-200 grams, that’s already happiness. If we assume that they sell gold at a price of two thousand rubles per gram, then in a season they will be able to raise a maximum of 200 thousand. For those who work in illegal cooperatives, gold allows them to survive the winter. But still, this is not the money for which you can risk your health and freedom. An ordinary worker can easily receive these. But he doesn’t live in the taiga - in an apartment. It is not overgrown or dirty. And there is no risk of being put on trial.
“You can sell the washed metal in stores for your own...”
Direct gold mining by private owners is not prohibited in our country. There is no article for this in the Criminal Code. The maximum, according to Alexey, for which a hard worker can be brought in is for muddying the water in the river or cutting down a tree. But for all this there is an administrative penalty.
— But the storage and transportation of precious metals is prohibited in our country. But if they find gold in your hands worth less than 2 million 250 thousand rubles, only a fine will be imposed for this. If it’s more, you already fall under the Criminal Code,” explains the blogger.
However, operational services are unlikely to go to the places where miners work. It's too far. For example, one former gold miner from Zeya (he now holds a fairly high position, and therefore asked not to indicate his name) told us that “black miners” often mine in places that can only be reached on a winter road. In spring and summer there is simply no road there.
— In winter, equipment and people are brought there. In late autumn, when there is frost, they are taken away. In summer, you can only get there by helicopter. Sometimes food is delivered to prospectors on all-terrain vehicles. And then imagine: FSB officers reached a secret place deep in the taiga and spent a lot of money on this special operation. And what did they see? Several people wash basins in water. What can they be charged with? - Alexey says in turn.
“Surely the gold itself lies somewhere nearby.”
- Who will put it in the open? They hide it, of course. And if the operatives find the bookmarks, it doesn’t matter. You can always tell that it's someone else's. “What if it’s not yours?”
- “And so, someone dropped it.”
- But there is special equipment nearby.
- So what? I'm just testing the equipment. This is not prohibited by law.
But you can’t take this illegal gold to a pawnshop. If natural metal is brought in to be handed over, the jeweler or pawnshop employee is obliged to inform the authorities.
— Now all pawn shops have cameras. In the event that some ignorant person brings panned gold, the receivers are obliged to hand over the recording from them to FSB officers. You immediately fall under the clause of sale,” explains Alexey.
But their own stores have been created to accept shadow gold. There are these in every city in the gold-bearing regions.
“No one will dig you out from under the collapsed pit...”
— All this is rented out in the so-called “Chechenzoloto” and “Ingushzoloto” popular markets. Usually this is some kind of grocery store where the buyer sits. The miner is given 50 percent of the market value of the metal. They can also give you food. It is clear that if you do not share with people in uniform, then your store will be closed very quickly. However, there is no zest in this scheme - it is standard, as in any illegal business.
— Russia is perhaps the only country in the world in which private individuals cannot mine gold. Only an enterprise that has received the appropriate license is allowed,” explains Rudolf. “It costs millions, it’s too much for an individual to afford.”
Actually, it was the ban on private mining of the yellow metal that gave rise to shadow gold mining. The volume of this business is amazing.
— For example, in the Irkutsk region, 16 tons of gold are officially mined. And exactly the same amount goes into the illegal cash register,” Kavchik assures. — Even special cover enterprises are being created. Imagine: there is a bulldozer in the taiga and a gold collection office has been built. But nothing is produced at this enterprise. Freemen bring gold here and sell it at half price. And this is just one of the schemes for the “gray” metal turnover.
—Where does this illegal gold go then? Is he being taken out of the country?
— I’ll say this: what kind of money do you think terrorist attacks in the Moscow and St. Petersburg metro come from? Perhaps even from the “golden ones”.
The ban on gold mining did not always exist; it was introduced only in 1956. Before this, private mining was even encouraged.
— During wartime, there were special cleanup days, during which schoolchildren were driven to the river. With the help of trays, they mined several grams of gold, which they then handed over and received their couple of rubles. They sent money “for the front, for victory.”
But as soon as the country recovered from the wounds of the war, those at the top became concerned: would some Soviet citizens earn more than others? After all, gold mining is an opportunity to earn beyond your needs. Although not the easiest. As Rudolph explained, a cube of rock typically contains one to two grams of gold. Five at best. Imagine: only two grams in a coma of earth measuring a meter long, a meter wide and a meter high.
- But you must carry this cube of rock with your own hands to the river, wash it in ice water. In a day, a miner can master a cube, at most two. That is, the maximum production of a worker is 5-10 grams of gold per day.
And for this you risk not only your health, but also your life. Cases where miners died under rubble are not so rare.
Often, when mining grandfather's pits, prospectors find the remains of their predecessors.
- In a word, this work is not up to everyone. And in our country, this real man is labeled “black miner.” In New Zealand, for example, this employee would be a wealthy and respected person.
By the way, not only men, but also women become prospectors. Although, of course, Amazons with a pick and a shovel are rather an exception to the rule.
“Such women are loved and appreciated. And luck often smiles on them even more often than on their partners. I once wrote down the story of a female prospector: “I went to the taiga to get my children ready for school; I really needed money. She probably really asked the Almighty to help, she believed, she didn’t ask for herself, but for the children. And this time, luck smiled at me in the form of several small gold nuggets with a total weight of almost one hundred grams.”
— What was the biggest nugget you found?
— My record is a nugget the size of a chicken egg. Rare luck, we thought for a long time what to do with it. It seemed that I was rich, at least enough for a car. In fact it turned out to be 175 grams. This is approximately 200 thousand rubles at black market prices.
Rudolf comes from the Irkutsk region. And there, too, as it turns out, the courts are overwhelmed with cases from the “found a bag of gold under a bush” series.
— This is a widespread practice in all gold-bearing regions. The country is in crisis, there are no jobs in these small towns, but we need to somehow feed our families. If a prospector is caught, he knows from the experience of his colleagues: say what you found, and there will be less hassle. By the way, if this guy had put a note in his pocket: they say, I came across a treasure, I’m going to hand it over, he wouldn’t even be given an administrative punishment. He is a good citizen. It’s like with weapons: write a note saying that you found an unregistered gun in the forest and are going to turn it in, and you’ll be fine with bribes.
— What is the income of the richest free miner with whom you ever communicated?
- No one will say how much he earns, this is the law of fortune. If you talk, your luck will run out forever. But in New Zealand I met a gold miner. I found his mini-dredge (equipment used for mining - “MK”) on the bank of a small stream, and the prospector himself in a nearby pub. He works four hours a day and does not deny himself anything, including a pint of beer after a working day. Every day he mines approximately 7 grams of gold. If you convert this into rubles, you get 15 thousand. And this person does not feel like a criminal.
Our prospectors can only dream of this for now.
Although for several years now a package of amendments on free income has been lying dead in the State Duma. If it is adopted, in Russia, as in many countries, gold mining will be completely legal work. All freestyle wrestlers really hope for this project. After all, in essence they are not criminals. They just want to do their favorite and not the easiest job.
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Equipment for gold mining with your own hands.For free!
