HISTORY
Where the story begins...
In 2004 and 2005, I sustained an injury while overseas with the United States Army. Upon my return home I needed several major spine surgeries. After my surgeries, something was needed to pass the time while recuperating and having to learn how to walk again. I'd pass the time watching videos online about gold panning and saw that you could purchase gold pay dirt online that can be panned at home. There, I started panning in my bathtub as this was the easiest way to do it while I was working my way to full health. Quickly realising this wasn't going to generate the desired return, I decided to explore this further and once my fitness was back to normal, I decided to go up to the hills and pan my own dirt. I came across a place in Orange County that was long forgotten about called Trabuco Canyon and it was there that I was bitten by the gold bug. Panning turned into sluicing, sluicing into dredging and that’s where the love story began.
Hiking 7 to 8 miles into the wilderness with a 4-inch dredge, I found my spot and filed my claim. I spent many months moving rocks during the dry season and prepping for the wet season where I could run the dredge. The rains came and the dredging operation began. After moving hundreds of yards of gravel, dirt, rocks and huge boulders out of the way, wahoo I had hit the bedrock!! There, I found the mother load of a pocket and my gold business started.
In 2009 the state of California banned gold dredging in all rivers, creeks, and lakes. I had to change tact, I researched lode mining and that's where the love really blossomed between Gold and me. After relocating to Temecula in California, I found myself a mine after a full year of prospecting. Together with two other gold enthusiasts, we pulled out tons and tons of rock. The gold was good, but at the time it wasn't hitting the quota. As the years went by, we worked a few mines, but they didn't produce the amount of gold we needed to maintain the mining. I decided to call time in California and headed back south to a mine that was waiting for me to get started. This particular mine had previously been worked and it wasn't that the gold wasn’t there, or wasn’t good, it was just that when gold fever takes over sometimes folk want to look for the big strikes that never come. Even though we had something good, paying, and consistently hitting pockets of 20 ounces a ton it just wasn't enough for some. So, we decided to part ways and I have been working the mine independently which continues to run a daily average of half an ounce to 3/4 of an ounce per ton of rock. After I moved through and did some core drilling, I found that I had missed a vein initially. Now I am working this new vein it is producing a solid 1-1 1/2 ounces per ton and I’m still hitting new pockets. It is from this point True Gold Token has been born.