It's really good fun getting down and getting dirty in the mud and clay looking for gold and other stuff like sapphires , zircon and topaz. Sure beats sitting in front of the TV. Most people I know don't do it in the hope they'll gonna strike it rich. It's just old fashioned 'Rock Hounding' Just so long as it's not miserably cold and wet. But you have to get into some back breaking hard yakka if you're after gold because it's right down under most of the gravel and dirt and in amongst the bedrock material.

I doubt that the poor have the resources to get out where the gold is.