In my experience, it's difficult to go somewhere new and immediately find gold. I have to get to know the place. Read the ground and try to imagine what it looked like 1000 or 10,000 years ago and how the rocks, reefs and sediment have eroded and flowed. If you can learn to do that, you'll begin to find gold on a regular basis. I was lucky in that even though I had always wanted to look for gold, I was introduced to it in Australia where I was able to go out day after day for months and months at a time. My introduction was a 5 day trip and was with two fellas who knew their stuff. That first trip I came back with a 3 grammer and a 3.67 ounce specimen. I though "hell that was easy!". I went right out and spend a couple of thousand on a detector. Then I didn't find another piece for a year of looking almost every day! Very, very gradually the periods in between finds got shorter and shorter.

Now 4 out of 5 days when I can get out, I return with some amount of gold, almost always nuggets. I Recently found a nice crystalline 3/4 ounce nugget at 10,000 feet, on top of a ridge West of Denver, about 11" down under the dirt . In the same hole there were three separate rocks with chunky gold veins running through them. All up, I think about 2 ounces total out of one hole. It was probably my forth or fifth time being there, but somehow I just had a feeling that there was something there. Don't just stick to the GPAA claims. Learn to understand gold. Do your research on local historic mining regions and go have a look. The old timers knew what they were doing. If they didn't find gold, they didn't eat. Don't give up because there's still plenty out there.

Finding gold is great but as far as I'm concerned I'm in it for being outdoors.campfires.seeing different landscapes.simular to my love of surf fishing.not about the catch but the ocean therapy I get.

I totally agree - it is therapeutic to get outdoors and go on the hunt. I have found literally pounds of lead so far, but only three tiny specs of the good stuff. Obviously, I have no clue what I am doing but reading, watching, and trying to learn so hopefully over time I will find some more. If not, at least I am not stuck in the office...

if you are finding lead the gold will come .I teach people how to pan with lead shot.good luck.

Hi Brad,

Glad to hear you've been successful at both claims so far. If you haven't already, please leave reviews on the claims you've visited in the online Mining Guide. It's easy to do, and your feedback will help other members to also find success in the field. Simply click the Properties tab at the top of the page to get started.

Great job! Keep it up!

 

Greg

I have found gold on every property I have been on, not always alot, but I haven't been skunked yet. ALSO, if you are doing this to get rich in $$ you made the wrong investment. Its rich in other ways. If you are not finding gold on these properties maybe you should do a little more research and learn yourself some stuff. There are alot of knowledgeable people out there and it never hurts to ask questions.

I am really new at this prospecting thing. I figure that if gold was easy to find it wouldn't be worth much or everyone and their brother would be out raking it up.


I haven't been to a GPAA claim yet but plan to visit one or more in November but I already consider my membership to be money well spent. I have found quite a bit of useful information besides where the GPAA claims are in the Mining Guide. Do I expect to find a lot of gold the first time I visit a GPAA claim? Not really, but it would really be nice Some have said that there is a steep learning curve to prospecting and I believe it. I have already learned things that I had never thought about.


I am still getting over losing over half of one lung and figure that I need an enjoyable way to get some exercise and check off something else on my bucket list. I am really enjoying learning about something I don't know much about and am looking forward to meeting some of you along the way. (From some of the posts on this forum there are some that I can do without meeting as well )


Instead of complaining, why not try to figure out what you don't know yet. One thing I have learned over my years is that the person who catches the most fish is the one who goes fishing the most.

Lloyd you will get some exercise out of it .I am getting over lung cancer and it is my exercise.Good luck.

I started looking for that yellow stuff back in 1971. I didn't find any but the guy that took me panning found some. Being in the Marine Corps I moved around a lot for over twenty years but every place I was stationed I looked for it but found very little. After retiring I went to work in Yellowstone National Park and lived in Livingston, MT and did a lot of panning. I started finding gold after meeting the Massey brothers and talking to them several times I slowly started finding more. As I learned what to look for it was like the lights started coming on. Learn where to look and what to look for. I found out about the glaciers that came down out of Canada a million years before, and where they stopped and started melting, I started find plenty in the places where it was so visible I felt so dumb for be so blind. If gold was easy to find there would be no one looking for it. Don't give up. A guy in CA was making a flower bed in his yard, where he had lived there for several years, and found three nuggets that were all over one ounce. So like it says, Gold is where you Find it.

oh yeah, definitely frustrating at first, especially when you haul alot of equipment around.. so much knowledge goes into it.

If you want gold for money, you can buy it instead.

I went to a private creek in Colorado and spent four days with a suction dredge, and only found tiny bits of four gold. Everything looked like there should be gold there, and the other three partners agreed. We have hashed this over extensively since, and we all agree we just weren't going deep enough to get serious results. I have since joined GPAA but have yet to go to a GPAA claim, mostly due to the distance, but I am willing to try it since I think I know more than I did then. Not ready to give up.

It seems to me that many people think that they will get rich off of prospecting. That is the furthest thing from the truth. In all reality, you will put more into it than what you would get back. However, there are other benefits of prospecting in of its self. The first and foremost, you will meet other individuals who have a like minded purpose. If you join a chapter, you will make new connections and hopefully new friends along the way. It is hard to tell how much I have put into it already; but the time outdoors has always been a big bonus for me though. As I read earlier, the learning curve is going to be steep. If you want to get gold for each dollar you spend, then go and buy the nuggets and such elsewhere.

I think everyone who joins this and everyone who goes out should be doing it on a hope of making a living, but no when to draw the line and cut their losses, and move in a different direction There should be no such thing as recreational prospecting. Otherwise, the Mining Laws of 1872 just don't apply. I do think very, very few will become successful with this, nut that's fine, its like a learning thing. Use those contacts to go off to bigger and better things and grow the community. At least that's my plan.

Even the crappy claims you learn something every time you go out. Now locally, I avoid the claims that seem to have 2000 feet of alley fill before bedrock. With some of the valley fill as deep as 7000 feet to bedrock in the Phoenix valley, if the claim is located in a very flat area, miles from any peaks, that is a big signal to avoid as much as possible. Use those crappy claims as much as you can to make contacts, and hopefully someday you'll be able to get a working one. If you fail, at least tried living the dream for a while.

You make a good point in regards to making a living. Maybe that is better suited for out west or in the New England States where the consentration of gold is much better. Ohio is known for fine gold and flour gold with the occasional pickers. The good news to that though is that where I live at, I am only 7 hours away from where I can go digging in Canada (6 hours from Niagara Falls ON). However, there are plenty of creeks and streams in the area that I live in and I have already secured permission from the land owners and the parks commission. The only catch with the parks commission is that I have to give a detailed plan on what equipment will be used, how it will be used, and the like. I was surprised that they agreed to allow me to do that honestly. With that being said, I imagine they just want the environmental impact to be minimal.

There are no "recreational" or "hobby miners/prospectors" We are all SMALL SCALE MINERS!!!!!!!

Use that term anytime you talk about what we do. Nothing less will suffice.

Ed Tomlinson Welcome,

If you did not get to bedrock, you probably left gold behind
Dont give up, but find and get to bedrock
Thats the secret
And yes we are small scale miners .

Bill