Flying with Gold

[easy goer]

It's been quiet on here lately so I will give everyone something to chew on. So after 3 long years of planning I am off to Nome this summer to dredge for 40 days. So that is the easy part. Heavy sarcasm.

So on my way back home I will undoubtably be bringing back some gold. My question is can I fly with it on my person? Will TSA allow it? It will undoubtedly fit in my carry on bag. Hell, even if I only get a gallon or so of gold I don't want to put it in a checked bag.

So can I fly with fine gold and nuggets??

Thanks

Easy goer

[Joe S (AK)]

To answer your question first - Can you carry Gold on a flight - yes. Put it in your checked luggage, realizing that there USED TO BE 100% inspection on all bags leaving Nome (used to be no x-Ray machine). Nome flights are very used to cons with Au in them being carried home ((Beware bag weight limits)). ALSO, flights to / out of "OME" are frequently cancelled (usually not two in a row).

Before you leave - a web search at the USPO site for "Flat Rate Box"
https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... Rate+Boxes
could give you / will give you a good option. Be sure to bring some trash bags and box tape with you so that double bag and sealed twice as well as the box, itself should stop losses en route. 70 Lbs and no more!!!!!! per box (less is much better). Partially panning down cons (or a mini sluice) helps a lot on OMG weight. 7 mile on West Beach is where I spent a month (seemed like a lifetime) in '05.

Best of fortune! - be prepared to have to re-learn Minute Gold Panning for even invisible sized Gold!!!!

??? PM me.

Joe S

[Geowizard]

Easy,

I usually ship in 5 gallon buckets!

In reality, hundreds of prospectors fly out of Nome every year with little or NO GOLD!

You asked: "So can I fly with fine gold and nuggets??"

Domestic flights;

"Be Up-front. It's perfectly legal to transport gold coins (GOLD) across state lines if their price is assessed at less than $1 million—just don't try to sneak through a TSA checkpoint with gold coins (GOLD) in one of your bags, thinking they'll go unnoticed."

https://www.usmoneyreserve.com/news/exe ... old-coins/

You can ask for a "private screening" at TSA.

Personally, I have read too many accounts of GOLD and precious GEMS being liberated from their rightful owner enroute to a destination. Delusions of grandeur and good humor aside, a prudent prospector/miner transports GOLD to a reputable refiner in small quantities and doesn't run the risk of transport.

One refiner often used in Nome is;

Oxford Metals
400 W 1st St
Nome Alaska 99762
Located Behind Polaris

Phone: (907) 304-1699

https://oxfordmetals.com/nome/

The way it works;

You set up an account.

You arrive and get buzzed in the door;

They perform an assay usually by XRF, weigh the GOLD and print a check. Any overage or deficit after actual refining goes on your account.

Other options at the refiner;

You can ask the refiner to do a bank transfer to your bank.

You can place the GOLD "on account" and sell at a later date.

You can get the GOLD refined and convert to GOLD or SILVER coins.

You can mint your own coins with your design.

Any questions - ask the refiner.

Registered Mail;

I know miners that ship GOLD by Registered US Mail. It is done in a sealed container and shipped in a secure (steel) lock box. You specify the insurance.

FED-EX;

Fed Ex has a process to ship GOLD or other valuables with appropriate insurance.

It's NO nonsense and NO BS.

I have shipped 5 gallon buckets of black sand cons as checked baggage. You will go through a special screening process.

BTW, I wouldn't discuss personal MO on an international forum.

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Selling options;

Edited...

Easy paydirt;

One additional option is selling GOLD as Emily and others do.

Paydirt in the form of blacksand is marketed through all of the prospecting venues imaginable. Relatively worthless blacksand is "sweetened" with a gram of unrefined GOLD known as "pay". One gram of unrefined GOLD has a fiat value of less than $63 today based on current LME spot GOLD prices at Friday's close. Bags of paydirt are marketed on ebay, dedicated websites and elsewhere at $200 a bag for GOLD panning enthusiasts to pan GOLD in the privacy of their own garage!

https://beringseapaydirt.com/

I think "Easy Paydirt" has some distinct brand name possibilities!

The business model is sweet! At $200 per gram, one troy ounce goes out the door for $6,200.

- Geowizard

[easy goer]

Thanks for the replies!!

I should have stated my original question more clearly. If I show up to get on the plane with a small plastic container with essentially clean gold and some nuggets , think like a baby food jar but plastic. Can I put it on the belt with the rest of my carry on stuff, send it through the magic machine and pick it up on the other side and fly home with it on my person?

Where I live that type of thing is a rarity. I don't want to turn it into an ingot or coin if I don't have to.


Thanks,

Easy goer

[Geowizard]

The Container;

Plastic is good because glass containers break and the GOLD gets scattered.

I make a point of collecting white plastic pharmaceutical bottles with child proof caps. GOLD is not visible in this type of container. By the time it reaches the x-ray machine on the conveyor, it has been cleared and can be safely stowed back into your carry-on before going on the conveyor. I prefer to wait near the exit of the x-ray machine to maintain physical control of the carry-on.

It's understood that many prospectors and miners want to keep their GOLD for show and tell or for the simple purpose of having and holding the hard won proceeds from the effort it takes to recover the GOLD!

My expanded discussion was intended to include the many readers that encounter the same or similar situation and the avenues available for going forward.

- Geowizard

[chickenminer]

Easy...
I have a guy that leases ground from me. He lives in Hawaii and every Fall he carries his poke back home with him.
He carries it in his carryon. When he goes to run his carryon through the scanner he tells the TSA people what is in the bag and requests a private screening. Of course he doesn't want to show it in public.
He has done this every year. Just be early for your flight!

[Jim_Alaska]

Good advice Dick, that sounds like the way to go.

[chickenminer]

Jim,
Yes it has worked well for him. I also know quite a few miners here that do not want that hassle with TSA and
like Geo suggested, they ship their gold back home using USPS Registered mail.
I personally have had a bad experience dealing with USPS, sending gold and trying to recover insurance !!!
Trust me, they do not take your word for what is in the package or its value !

[easy goer]

Appreciate all the information. Now, not to be critical but some of you fellas are losing a few miles off the old fast ball! I was waiting for someone, anyone, to point out that a gallon of gold would weigh about 160 pounds!! Not a peep!!!

I was waiting for some ribbing for the guy from the only State in the Union that doesn't have gold, to think he was going to fill a gallon jug with gold.

Now don't underestimate coon asses from Louisiana we generally get what we go for. I don't know how many of you are familiar with the Boudreaux and Thibodeaux? Thibodeaux was sitting on his dock when Boudreaux pulls up in his boat filled with duct tape. Thibodeaux looks at him, and asks "what you doing with a boat full of duct tape?" Boudreaux replies "I'm going duck hunting! You wanna come?" "You can't hunt ducks with duct tape, and no I ain't coming" replied Thibodeaux. Later in the day Thibodeaux sees Boudreaux fly by in his boat, and low and behold its full of ducks. "Well I'll be damned!" says Thibodeaux.
The next morning Boudreaux pulls up in his boat again, this time with a boat full of Gatorade. Thibodeaux says "Let me guess, you gonna catch gators with Gatorade?" "Yep, you wanna come?" says Boudreaux. "You can't catch gators with gatorade. So Boudreaux leaves. Later that day Thibodeaux sees Boudreaux fly by in his boat, and it was filled with gators. "Well I'll be damned!" says Thibodeaux.
The next morning as Boudreaux pulls up in his boat again this time with a boat full of pussy willows. Thibodeaux thinks for a second and says..."Hold on let me get my hat"

I am bringing an ice chest full of goldfish, does anyone want to go??

Easygoer