Is this confirmed in any way?

As of right now, not that I know of.
From what I understand gold tools exist and are craftable using the gold ores.
However, these, too, inevitably break.

^that's kinda dumb, IMO

Yeah, especially since gold nuggets are so rare, I feel it would be a reward to finally build an unbreakable tool. One can dream, I guess.

I have heard that if  you customize them or change their color, it will reset the amount of times they can be used, therefore making them sort of unbreakable, but also not really.

I think i am the only one that actuallly enjoys this, it keeps me busy and away from just fishing all of the time because i would literally play this like a fishing sim if my rod didnt break because thats how i played most the other games donno why but i love fishing, but this function gets me outta that comfort zone and engages me into other things, its probably an unpopular opinion tho

apparently not in NH from what i gather ... i have no proof but it seems they break

Has anyone counted amount of uses for each tool? Is it a set amount or random?

This is what I've heard:

"Flimsy Axe: 30 hits (10 trees)
Stone Axe: 100 hits (33 trees)
[Metal] Axe: 100 hits (33 trees)
Golden Axe: 200 hits (66 trees)

[Metal] Axe & Golden Axe cuts down trees, Stone Axe only harvests.

Flimsy Shovel: 40 hits
[Metal] Shovel: 100 hits
Golden Shovel: 200 hits

Upgrading your item resets  the hit count
Customizing your item resets  the hit count

That means that changing the handle color of your shovel RESETS the hit count to ZERO"

I must be incredibly lucky, one of the first rocks that I hit dropped a gold nugget for me. I haven't seen them anywhere else as of yet.

kind of wish they didn't make golden tools break. especially the ones you allegedly earn from catching all fish / bugs ? (not sure if its the same in NH)