• TrackenDaKracken@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    I think finding the gold would be a strong motivation to discover a way to launder it. I don’t know how to do it, though.

    • ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net
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      3 hours ago

      Long term plan, but…

      Begin legitimately prospecting a piece of land legally in Alaska, document that you do so, do some substantial digging/panning etc.

      Melt a large bar down into much smaller amounts that are worth only around $500 to $1000 in weight. Sell the melted gold at a local gold precious metals dealer in small batches over the course of many months/years. Claim the profit on your taxes as spoils from your prospecting.

      This technique would not work with huge amounts or quantities, and even as I described it, it may bring an audit, since it is likely most prospectors are not that successful.

      • stoly@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        Except that you’d also have to prove that you know how to refine it to explain why you’re selling pure gold.

        • ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net
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          29 minutes ago

          That’s not insurmountable to learn, even something like watching Cody’s Labs videos on gold reclamation would be a good starting point.

          Overall it would still be tricky to fully pull off without raising suspicion unless the amounts were kept consistently low, at least if you kept it to a 1 person operation.

          If you started a gold mining company, hired people to run it legitimately, you could fudge the books on how much was actually mined, sifted, and processed, and that probably wouldn’t get a close inspection.