Gold mining is the latest chapter in the winding career of San Jose native Sean Tucker. A fast talker with enviable confidence in whatever he chooses to put his energy into, Tucker began investing in gold in 2004, largely in the form of rare coins. The former professional cyclist had already remade himself from a dot-com ads salesperson to a treasure hunter in Colombia when the entrepreneurial chameleon decided he’d try to capitalize on some mining claims he’d invested in years ago in California.
Today, Tucker owns 2,600 acres of Mojave desert mining claims he plans to excavate, mostly for gold but also for silver. And he’s sunk about $6 million, between himself and some investors, into a new venture called Persistence Mine.
He estimates there are at least 500,000 ounces of undiscovered gold on the property — which would net more than $2 billion at current prices. That’s once it’s all mined, of course, a process that could take 15 years, he said. His company, Gold Discovery Group, would employ as many as 70 people when fully up and running, a veritable boom for a rural area once known for mining but now mostly blanketed in off-road trails and near ghost towns.
It could be a good time to bet on gold. Prices hit a record high earlier this year, and the Trump administration issued an executive order in 2025 to increase critical mineral production, plucking gold and other mining out of long-term decline…