What are the thoughts on adjusting claim values in alignment with the rising gold price?
I feel a lot are overvalued already as it would take a lot of time to pay off their costs in time, effort and gold recovered. I kinda view the overvalue price as an investment anyway that can be recovered when you sell off the claim yourself, so isnât tied closely to the price of gold in my mind.
3 Likes
Each claim is going to be different and also the claim ownerâs effort and ability. I see what you are saying and agree many are overpriced and I imagine not many underpriced.
But as the price goes up so does the ability to make it pay. But also as work is done on the claim the resource diminishes.
Also due diligence plays its hand in choosing a good claim. Some do the research and the prospecting, some jump straight in with gold fever and no investigation.
I feel like in some regards it is speculative to buy a claim and as prices skyrocket and claims become harder to come by, the price should somewhat align with the price. As lets say the price drops off remarkably, where does that leave a claim owner? I imagine with an asset they will have trouble recovering their investment on.
Its a tricky subject.
Obviously the costs of obtaining a claim, paperwork, fees, consents etc are the main base value of each individual claim.
Its an interesting discussion.
Well the big unknown is the amount of gold left in a claim. That is never known. Just because a claim was a good producer in the past, doesnât mean it is today.
JW 
4 Likes
True story JW, in fact often those are the ones liked to have been hammered the most.
1 Like
In my opinion many people only sell claims because they cant make a profit out of them so try to make up for it by selling the claim - in fact I would never buy a claim that already existed.
1 Like
Iv seen a few people sell for profit over the years. Claims put together back in the earlier 2000s when the price started coming back, those sold at profit over the last few years at higher prices. Thats part of the reason for the discussion.
As I said above, many different people buy for different reasons and also sell for different reasons, age and health probably the main ones. Pretty hard to exhaust a claim of its gold with handheld tools and small dredges if its any good. But every claim is different.
Fair enough, I wouldnt rule out buying an existing claim completely but I understand where you are coming from.
As I said âmany people only sell claims because they cant make a profit out of themâ or its not ârichâ enough for them. A few people can make claims pay profitably but for many its a pipe dream.
Many people skim the cream and then sell for a profitâŚand often a handsome profitâŚand there will always be gold there but the question is, âIs it worth it?â
I can show you one of our early claims and I can promise you that you will find nothing there or only a mere colour - two reasons 1) It is barren ground and 2) we worked it thoroughly foot by foot.
Now if I still had that claim AND I was an unscrupulous bastard/arsehole then I could show a couple of kgs from another part of that claim as an enticer and then sell that stretch of river at a wonderful profit and I daresay there are some who do just that.
1 Like
Agree 100%. Buyer beware.
JW
As an old timer once told me " gold makes people do some funny things".
Sorry but I realise there are rouges and it is definitely buyer beware. Going off topic here.
Its like buying a car, the value in a good model fluctuates with its popularity, but if the motors blown its not worth a pinch of shit.
Yes that is dead right. This site more or less proves that. I have found out a lot about human behaviour through this site - people who befriend you, make use of you then after you have taken them gold fossicking they go back behind your back or never want to know you after they have ysed you.
Golden Boy here shitted on me big time. I told him that l would send him to a certain spot on the one condition that he never told anyone and he agreed. He came back to my house that night over the moon with a 4 or 6 gram nugget and l made him promise not to show anyone or tell them where he got it.
Two weeks later a friend told me that he had flashed it around and spouted on about where he got it.
Kiwikeith had a few stories about people letting him down as well.
Gold does do strange things to people.
5 Likes
Motors can be replaced or rebuilt. So it depends on the car & the asking price. There are many collectible cars worth a bomb that people will spend a fortune on. Not so gold claims. The amount of gold won in the past is no indication of how much gold is left in it. But I guess people will spend a fortune still looking when they get a claim.
JW
1 Like
Yep absolutely mate, Iv experienced a bit of bullshit myself, it puts a real bummer on what should be exciting and enjoyable at the end of the day., honesty goes a bloody long way!
It takes a lot of hard slog, blood sweat and tears to learn gold and those bastards that try to shortcut it at others expense ruin it for everyone really. That goes for those that are not honest about what they portray their ground/claim to be (considering they have some idead). Hiking a claim under false pretences gets my goat thats for sure. But therin lies the question of effects on value of a claim I suppose. If the gold price has any bearing on that at all.
This is good stuff because its all relevant to worth. Im thinking about it diffrently myselfđ
2 Likes
Words of wisdom there JW. Once the golds gone it dosnt come back. Now if we had all parked up the holden or ford in the shed a few moons ago we could buy a couple of claims a piece now! There was the real gold, right undr our noses. 
companies like Nestles did this with their brands until the stock market (or gold price) crashed in the 1980âs then values went down. Bank wonât lend on it and most buyers wonât buy on it, so with the cost, what gain is there as I only see cost?
Like most âinvestmentsâ it is a time game. More so if you donât realise a loss/profit until you sell. In the mean time it just sits there gathering dust & maybe deteriorating, in the case of a vehicle. My boss just bought an old Holden Kingswood ute. It was tidy, newish paint job but not the original colour, 350 chevy motor standard. Paid 40k. I said, mate you having a mid life crises? No he said. That is when you buy a Porsche.
I just shook my head. I could have thought of better ways of spending 40k on an investment. I have noticed he just parks it outside in the weather. So depreciating already. There are classic cars, but man, you need to have a love for them. Not my cup of tea.
JW
1 Like
Just my 2 cents ⌠the way I see it the more active claims in existence the better I reckon. this sets a existing precedence for any new applications in that region and in the future ⌠in an age where regional councils are trying to shut out gold prospectors because of environmental concerns etc.
3 Likes
Its absolute madness, I could never bring myself to buy another old tank no matter how much I would love to, simply because I would have owned more than a dozen of them over time and brought and sold them for peanuts⌠but hey theres others out there that see value in itâŚ
1 Like
Well I know its slightly off topic but my first car was a HT holden station wagon that I bought off the MM and sold for $1500 ⌠now probably worth 100 times that âŚlol ⌠so last month my son and I bought a project car ( to entice him off the fkn computer) a 2002 Audi quattro A6 4.2 ltr V8 .for $1500 and a days work. Had been in storage as part of a divorce battle .looked in rough shape but assured that a lot of money had been spent on it in the last few years âŚput it on a hoist and holy sh#t this thing is fully workedâŚstraight piped⌠sounds amazing!.. cleaned her up inside and out its mintâŚfound a set of new Audi tyres and rims in the bootâŚalong with a full service historyâŚnew battery and fluids and thing goes like a cut cat!.. got my first speeding ticket in 10 years yesterday⌠result!..lol!
5 Likes
my first car was a mark 3 zephyr in absolutely mint condition, if only i knew
2 Likes