This is one of these journeys that needs a bit of work. I can pretty well do all of the steps at a low level. It moves along a step at a time till I hit a step I need a ladder for. Acquire gold.
Are you serious 
The rest of the steps you can do at a relatively low level, except harvesting gold. Getting to where can harvest gold is a quest all on it own.
I’d suggest changing it to collect gold and make it any gold. And change grind bar to grind bar or coin.
On Siptah it’s very easy to harvest gold. Maybe that was that they had in their mind when they put this journey step like this.
Could be. Not at all an easy journey step on exiles.
And getting gold coins then putting them in the grinder for gold powder doesn’t work ? I haven’t started this journey. I’m stuck in the beast master one because “feeding your pet” doesn’t validate.
Wouldn’t know stuck at “acquire gold”.
You actually have to select the food in their inventory then click “use”.
Thank you for the solution. It worked. My nemedian war dog is ready to be levelled with human flesh. 
Dude, you can go and collect obsidiuan the moment you leave the desert. You also get gold.
All you need is a stone pick and a good pair of legs to run when you enter the volcano by the hidden way. And ice that you get on the way there @DeaconElie .
Edit: I’ll make a clip so you see how.
Probably it would even be easier to dive for gold in the sunken chests in the jungle, @DeaconElie , no? Or that doesn’t count for this journey step? I haven’t completed it yet
If it’s not the case, here’s how you mine gold from the start.
Go to the Dragonmouth. You can get there without getting extreme cold if you go through Bjornar’s stand and then North. So, you don’t need cold protection. Ok, once near the Dragonmouth, don’t enter. Go through the right climb. Then go towards the Hidden Way. Close you have Ice.
If you don’t have cold protection (all you need is food you can buy in Sepermeru if you came through there) the moment you get extremely cold, leg it, but manage your stamina. You’ll have to climb two small ledges. Take some aloe potions or bandages, just in case.
Well, just watch. But, you can aquire gold from chests underwater on the jungle area. If that doesn’t count, there’s this:
My personal interpretation of the journeys revamp is that Funcom is trying to encourage players to frequently switch between different journeys as they progress in the game. So instead of focusing on only one journey and doing all the tasks in sequence, I think it’s expected to advance many (or even most) journeys in parallel, getting to the next step when you’re ready.
If my interpretation is correct, then the difficulty of this step would be intentional.
For those of us who are “veteran” Conan Exiles players, these journeys are easy to accomplish in almost any order we want, even with a new character, because we know the easiest ways to do things. In this case, we know how to get to the volcano and harvest obsidian that we might not even need at that point, with a really shіtty tool, just so we can tick this particular journey step off our list.
But for those who are new, these journeys are supposed to guide them to discover the game and overcome challenges, and they’re supposed to structure that journey of discovery in a way that Funcom believes would be beneficial for players.
Personally, I think the challenge involved in this step is not really out of line, but I can’t give a good opinion until I start a fresh character (which I don’t plan to do right now) and try to put myself in a newbie’s shoes (which isn’t as easy as we would like to believe, even with a new character).
I love what they did with the journeys, @CodeMage . They teach the game fairly well. It’s a roadmap.
Minibosses also drop gold when harvested. Easiest of all is spawning right above the ymir teacher.
I’m curious, do you know whether harvesting gold ore from an elite will complete this journey step? My hunch is that it wouldn’t work. When I did the revamped journeys, I couldn’t complete this step by picking up gold in any form from any container, and it was only marked as completed when I completely mined an obsidian node.
Doesn’t count that is the point. The journey step specifically says from an obsidian node, which I think is absurd.
Then, check the clip I made for you and be done with it, @DeaconElie . 
Oh I know how to get there, but that is still a Rolls Royce parked in a Hyundai parking lot. The one step is just way out of proportion in difficulty compared to the rest in the journey.
Indeed.
But their idea is as @CodeMage said, probably.The journey steps are a way to teach the game. That one is probably supposed to be completed later on. I still haven’t completed it and I already built a base and defeated a purge. I’m trying to follow them step by step, taking my time as if I was a newbie, but I made a few detours.I’m actually enjoying it.
Certainly wouldn’t be the first time I disagreed with CodeMage.
I think journeys should be steps, nice even, each step reasonable close to the same height as the last. Now I have a few journeys waiting for me to get high enough level to unlock something or have the points to unlock it. I get that. But that one step just seems way, way out of sync with the rest. If the step is to “acquire gold” it shouldn’t mater how I acquire it, should it?
How absolutely nightmarish.
Switching between journeys is more than a touch cumbersome. If the idea is to complete a step, then rummage thru the whole menu comparing which one to designate next (especially as several journeys are numerous tiers in sequence, such as Archer then Sharpshooter and Armourer, Expert Armourer, and then Master Armourer) that is just a touch on the obtuse side of design.
On a more general level, it’s a silly step anyway.
Gold ore does nothing for the alchemist/potion maker
Acquiring gold dust would make more sense.
Edit: Also, the reward is trivial for the effort. Four dozen glass bottles… If one can mine in the Volcano, one can certainly melt crystal and cast flasks. Not like the potions that matter (the aloe ones) even use bottles.
I think you can toggle them to switch automatically or something. I haven’t tried. What I can tell you is that they would have tought me the game pretty extensively when I went blind through my first playthrough, without using external sources. The way they were previously seemed a bit pointless then.
This one does not dislike the new journey system overall.
It is just a bit clunky and often involves backtracking.
The complaint is in the specific.
Mining gold is not as pertinent to the Potionmaker. Gold is for gold dust which is for alchemical base. Why not have the step be acquire (or even grind out) gold dust?
Edit: Because a later step is to grind gold dust. Oops. And why is finding Silver after finding Gold?
The rest of the steps are all along the river. Having one so far afield (with little to do a long the way) is odd. Especially as other Journeys are broken into far more intuitive lines that can be completed step by step in succession.