No pickaxe needed. Why Canadians are sifting for gold in unusual places

Juan Blanco calls it the modern-day gold rush. 

The precious metals dealer says he’s recently seen a “huge uptick in just foot traffic” of people looking sell at his Calgary shop Instant Cash for Gold.

“There was a day this week we had a lineup all the way downstairs to the first floor. It was insane,” he told CBC’s Cost of Living.

Amid economic uncertainty, gold offers some stability. And as its price recently hit $5,000 US per ounce for the first time in history — up over $3,000 US from five years ago — Canadians have been searching high and low.

But you don’t need a wide-brimmed hat and pickaxe anymore. Maybe try a wetsuit instead. Some are diving into rivers, while others are sifting through thrift stores and grandma’s jewelry box.

“People are looking for gold wherever they can find it,” said Blanco. 

Traditional gold hunting

Paul Larouche of Vancouver Island first went gold panning in 2006. It started as a hobby. But as Larouche started posting on social media, sharing his finds with the world, he began to attract some attention and followers. 

Now, Larouche is hunting for gold and posting about it on his YouTube channel full-time. He’s found gold in British Columbia, California and New Zealand. He says hunting for gold can help you quickly build a retirement fund.

“You just have to be lucky and not be afraid of bears,” he said.

Larouche doesn’t sift by the shore though. He goes deep, donning a wetsuit and scuba gear to get to the bottom of rivers. He says those places are somewhat untouched, as people didn’t have wetsuits to dive in the frigid waters a hundred years ago.

His biggest find in Canada was a 14-gram nugget of gold, roughly half an ounce.

“There’s a lot more unexplored areas than there are explored areas, especially in B.C. So yeah, there’s a lot of gold to be found,” said Larouche.

Hunting in the city

Blanco says people coming through his shop have found their gold in storage lockers, at estate sales, garage sales and in the costume jewelry section of thrift stores.

“People are always hunting for it, because as much as gold should be stamped for what it is, a lot of times it’s not,” said Blanco.

“You can find pieces … that no one has any idea about.”

That’s exactly what Pauline Crawford is doing. She runs a YouTube account called Diary of a Thrifter, where she goes treasure hunting around thrift stores in Calgary. 

Recently, she bought a lot of jewelry for $35. Last week she sold a gold necklace she found in the lot for $400. She sold another for $500. 

“I was floored and shocked. I was like, ‘What, $500 for that little thing?’” said Crawford.

She says she probably goes hunting about four or five times a week, and says the more often you go, the more likely you are to find treasure. She does it for the love of the treasure hunt, but says the extra money isn’t too bad either. 

“Gold is where you find it,” said Crawford. “There is nothing more truer than that statement … the guy who goes and really searches for it, and doesn’t give up will find gold, whether it’s a thrift store or in a river.”

Why gold?

While the price of gold did start to drop in February, it’s holding at over $5,000 US and, according to JPMorgan Chase Bank, could reach $6,300 US by the end of the year.

“This has really turned into … I almost have to use the word ‘frenzy,'” Douglas Porter, chief economist at BMO Financial Group, told The Current host Matt Galloway in January.

“It’s really gone beyond, like literally, into uncharted territory.”

He says the price of gold started to rise during a run of inflation during COVID-19, dipped a bit, then really started to pick up steam over the past year.

He says part of the bump comes from high-end investors who have lost confidence in the U.S. dollar and other currencies, due to global uncertainty.

“Gold has always been there. It has its ebbs and flows. But it certainly seems to be the biggest beneficiary of the move away from the U.S. dollar,” said Porter. 

But Porter suggests not putting all your hopes into this modern-day gold rush. 

“Be very cautious,” he said, warning that the price of gold could drop just as quickly as it rose. “It makes sense for any investor to have at least a small part of their portfolio in gold or in gold-related shares, but I would be very careful.”