Could be both, you would have to be really good and luck though for it to be a business.

Depends. Do you mean the old-fashioned version of prospecting, where you wander around out in the brush, a geologist's hammer in one hand, a pan in the other and a lame mule bringing up your supplies in the rear?

That's a hobby.

The way it is done now is with quite a lot of high tech gear, a PhD in geology and can be quite profitable. I've met several professional "prospectors" who used different techniques - some starting with satellite images filtered through various reflectivity algorithms, followed by on-the-ground sensing and sampling.

Others have used water well sampling.

Now there is something I always wanted to do but never could get any info on where to do it in NV.

Anyone have any suggestions as to where to look for gold.. I know full well I wont get rich doing it.. but it does sound like a fun activity and who knows, you might even find some.

careful Chinga....with a question like that I predict a million offers to 'Buy my Gold Mining claim.......it's guaranteed."