Alaska Gold Rush Diary

Chapter 57 Mysterious Man

Zhou Xin was absolutely certain that the golden smell was coming from the suitcase.

Through the intense, almost overwhelming aroma, he could confirm that the suitcase was almost entirely filled with gold.

Moreover, the heavy feeling of him dragging the suitcase confirmed his judgment.

"Who exactly is this person, and why is he carrying a huge box of gold around?" Zhou Xin was filled with doubt.

The man's face was completely covered by a baseball cap, making it impossible to discern his features. One could only roughly guess that he was around 50 years old.

Zhou Xin didn't want to cause any trouble, so he bought a few cases of beer and left the convenience store.

When the two woke up that afternoon, they found the sky unusually dark.

The rolling dark clouds made five o'clock in the afternoon seem like evening.

It's arid and rainless here. Although it has rained a few times before, the rainfall was very light and stopped after a short while.

But judging from the current state of the sky, a major rainstorm is clearly brewing.

"Looks like we won't be able to work tonight," Edward said.

Zhou Xin nodded: "And it looks like this rain is going to be really heavy. The markings I made will probably be washed away. Let's get some rest tonight!"

Although the heavy rain tonight made it impossible to work, it also meant that the daytime temperature would be much cooler tomorrow.

We can continue working tomorrow during the day and catch up on the lost progress.

Soon, a rumble of thunder echoed in the sky, and the surroundings became even darker.

The two quickly moved the generator, battery, and refrigerator to the center of the curtain to prevent them from getting wet in the rain.

They then added more windproof ropes to the curtain and added ground stakes.

No sooner had they finished than a fierce wind swept in, carrying dust, withered branches, and leaves.

"It's so refreshing!"

The two stood in the open field, enjoying the blowing of the strong wind.

As the first raindrop fell, a torrential downpour soon followed.

Lightning flashed and thunder roared, and the wind howled.

The two lay on the bed, listening to the sound of rain hitting the shipping container, feeling quite at ease.

The two chatted for a while, then each picked up their phones and started playing.

Zhou Xin, resting his head on the pillow still fragrant with Zhang Jianing's scent, recorded today's purchase expenses as usual.

So far, they have spent more than $40,000 since arriving in Western Australia, and with the money paid to Zhang Jianing, he has already spent $70,000 to $80,000.

Fortunately, the returns are also very considerable. Their current harvest is 343.5 ounces, which is worth more than $77 based on the current gold price of $2261.

However, the tax authorities here charge a 10% personal income tax, while the buyer will charge a 2% handling fee.

After deducting the above fees, Edward will still be paid a 10% share.

In other words, he will eventually earn around $61.

This income is absolutely substantial.

The gold nuggets found here are different from those found in Livinggood; they are of very high purity, and the purity has a very small impact on the total income.

However, this is still far from his goal of opening a mine and establishing a gold mining factory in Alaska.

He has already started thinking about his next steps.

If you want to stay here to mine for gold, you have to spend a lot of money to rent land, because there isn't much unclaimed land left for free gold mining.

Moreover, Western Australia is about to enter its hottest season, making the wilderness even more difficult to stay in and significantly reducing gold mining efficiency.

In other words, the gold rush season in Western Australia is coming to an end, and it's time to leave and start over elsewhere.

Alaska is currently in the frozen season, and the gold rush season there is far from over.

Before coming to Australia, he considered three options, and he ultimately chose to come to Western Australia.

The other two options are to go to the rainforests of South America or to the mountains of Ghana in Africa.

Both places have their advantages and disadvantages when it comes to gold panning.

Although he now has some start-up capital, he can only engage in small-scale gold mining.

He has a "golden nose," meaning that as long as there is gold in these places, he can be sure he will find it without worrying about making a wasted trip.

Now, with Edward as a helper, they can modify a small ore washing machine to pan for gold in streams and other places, instead of relying on manual labor.

While efficiency is improved, people will also feel much more relaxed.

After a little consideration, he decided that his next step would be to venture deep into the South American rainforest to pan for gold!

After making up his mind, he first sent a message to Zhang Jianing, and then opened YouTube to watch some videos about the South American rainforest.

More than an hour later, he discovered that the internet was down.

"Oh no, I forgot to protect the Starlink equipment!"

Edward had obviously also noticed the internet outage, and he slapped his forehead and exclaimed.

To get a better signal, they mounted their Starlink equipment on a relatively high rock not far from the camp.

While packing their things, they both forgot about this.

"I'm going out to take a look!"

Edward got out of bed, covered himself with a plastic sheet, and ran outside.

A short while later, he walked into the house, soaking wet and dejected.

"Damn it, the equipment was blown to the ground and broken by the strong wind!"

The two fell silent for a moment.

There was no cell phone signal here to begin with, and without the Starlink equipment, they couldn't connect to the internet either.

This means that for the foreseeable future, they will be in a state of information isolation and cut off from the world.

"Let's work for another week, and no matter how much we gain, we'll end this gold rush."

Zhou Xin made a decision.

This land has poor gold content, and continuing to waste it won't yield much more.

Let's just leave by hand before Christmas.

He had already had this idea a few days ago, and now that the Starlink equipment was damaged, it made him finally decide to take the plunge.

"Then we won't be able to achieve our goal this time!" Edward said, somewhat dejected.

The two had been struggling lately and were still far from their goal, leaving them feeling rather down.

Edward felt somewhat defeated upon hearing that Zhou Xin had finally decided to give up.

"It's alright, our gains this time are already quite considerable, considering we've only been here for less than three months."

Zhou Xin understood that everything is predetermined and cannot be forced.

The two of them had tried their best, but unfortunately the gold was too scattered and its size was completely random, with luck playing a big part.

Compared to gold mining, gold panning is much more reliable and stable.

This further solidified his idea of ​​panning for gold in the South American rainforest.

Then he told Edward about his plan.

"Really, Xin? Does that mean we can continue harvesting gold?"

Upon hearing Zhou Xin's arrangements, Edward's spirits lifted again.

"That's right, this time we're switching from manual to mechanized gold mining, so you need to assemble a small ore washing machine as soon as you get there!"

Edward patted his chest confidently and said:

"Don't worry, assembling and repairing machinery is exactly what I do best. I'll definitely assemble a perfect machine for you!"