Not a good idea.

In the hole state of Arizona, you can probably count the number of people making a living off small mining on two hands.

So I would say, no don't quit your day job.

I have been to dozens on places, if you have any around Wickenburg, I may have even been to the ones you looked at. None of these panned out in the day I spent at each of those places. I found a lot of copper type minerals from mines located prior to strip mining, but there's no way to make money off coper as a small miner.

I have met a couple of people who did something like you were saying and moved down here to mine gold as a primary living, and did not make any money off it. Lost plenty. I also know a lot of people that will show some gold of what they've found, but often its a season's worth, or year's worth, or even a lifetime's worth, but never enough to pay the bills. I met a couple in Lynx Creek that was falling behind in bills, so decided to spend their time panning at the creek to catch up. At the end of two weeks they showed me a grams worth, $30. They would have been better off never heading out there.

Some people will try to tell you otherwise. Be very cautious with any life decisions.

I totally agree with what Chris said. When I was younger I started doing pretty good at gold mining and was doing it full time for a while, but that was while I was dredging, but with all the shut downs and regulations that would be tough to do now. I have a buddy that is always wanting me to team up with him and buy a claim and start mining full time. I've also seen way to many people try and fell and loose everything, I'm sure it could be done with the right plan and the right claim but it's something I'll never try again. I enjoy finding gold but it's a lot more enjoyable when I'm out there knowing I don't need to find ounces every month to make ends meet. I get as much enjoyment out of the prospecting side of this hobby as I do finding a the gold I do find. Even when I come back from one of my gold prospecting trips the first question ever one ask is "did you get rich" and I tell them I had a safe trip and it was great to get away but their never impressed with how much gold I found, if any. But my adventures are priceless and hope I have many more years of them. Maybe someday I will find another paystreak, gold patch or gold pocket and there will be enough gold in it to retire so I can prospect full time. There are a lot of people out there with the same ideas you have and I hope you can find the right team, if you never try you will never know. Good luck.