As featured in the upcoming 2020 September/October Gold Prospectors Magazine
By Adam Broach
My fellow GPAA members, I am thrilled to have been able to acquire a new GPAA lease in Alabama, one in the southern part of what was called the “Devil’s Backbone Mining District.” The name refers to the huge quartz outcroppings along a ridge that was the site of at least 10 gold mines.
The Adkison-AUPROSPECTORS lease is nestled in a valley of beautiful woods with a large creek flowing through downstream from an old placer mine and due south of a large gold deposit found in the early 1980s by a geologist who is a friend of the AUPROSPECTORS. The alluvial fan leads right to the creek on the lease. On the western boundary quartz samples taken contain sulfides and hydrothermal gold! I encourage you to visit the Online Mining Guide and read member-submitted reports under the Prospecting tab; consistent gold has been found throughout the lease.
On the road to the lease, you can peer out your right window and see for miles and miles of untamed wilderness with the occasional cell tower in the far distance. Just beyond those towers is home of one of the Southeastern Conference’s powerhouse sports teams in football, men's basketball and baseball: the Auburn Tigers.
In the fall, if football is something you love, tickets to see the Auburn Tigers can be purchased and you can not only enjoy prospecting but take in one of the richest experiences in college football at Jordan-Hare Stadium a mere 14 miles away with over 87,000 fans. GPAA members, let me tell you, you will see a tradition that is uniquely Auburn: just before kickoff, Aurea, War Eagle VII, one of Auburn's Golden Eagles, takes flight and circles the stadium, landing at mid-field to a booming "WAR EAGLE, HEY!" You may catch a glimpse of Spirit, Auburn's majestic bald eagle making her way around the sidelines.
Air shot of JHS Plainsman Park AU Arena
As of press time, the 2020 Auburn football schedule was up in the air due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, five home games are planned, against Arkansas, Kentucky, LSU, Tennessee and Texas A&M. For dates and times, visit auburntigers.com.
If basketball is your sport of choice, Auburn Arena is across the street from Jordan-Hare Stadium where Coach Bruce Pearl led the 2018-19 squad to be the first team from the state of Alabama to reach the NCAA Final Four.
In spring, Hitchcock Field at Plainsman Park comes alive when Coach Butch Thompson's team takes the diamond. In 2019 the Auburn Tigers baseball team reached the College World Series for the first time since 1997 in memory of my late friend and Voice of the Auburn Tigers, Rod Bramblett, who tragically lost his life along with his wife, Paula, just weeks before the NCAA Playoffs. World Series-winning pitcher of the San Francisco Giants Tim Hudson is an assistant coach there.
The Adkison-AUPROSPECTORS Lease is an untamed wilderness right now with a crude road built by just a few members during the heat of summer to open it up to the membership. I've seen good gold come up, as well as relics of days gone by. Josh Ingram dredged up two nice pickers in one day; others have done very well also.
We still have over half the creek yet to be explored due to the wilderness and we are asking for your help. I understand the hesitation of getting out with everything going on right now, but this shall pass!
We are planning on the weekend of Oct. 3. I am offering free camper parking with limited electric hookups and freshwater at my home just 5 miles away from the lease.
If you need a camper/RV spot please let us know in the RSVP comments. We are asking for as many volunteers to join as possible. If you have a chainsaw with the appropriate PPE, a tractor with front-end bucket, skid steer, or even an excavator or mini-excavator, those pieces of equipment would be greatly appreciated to help out!
Any donations made to the AUPROSPECTORS are tax-deductible as we are a 501(c)3 non-profit, and an appropriate receipt for your tax purposes will be issued. Your credit card/bank statement or records are sufficient to claim donations up to $249; for any donations above $250 we will provide you with an IRS-proper receipt with our federal EIN, your donation and appropriate IRS required language.
My personal 5" Proline dredge will be there for anyone who wishes to take a spin on her and grab some of that yella stuff! A raffle will be held for some nice prizes, too.
GPAA member Terry Phillips winning a gram of gold at the June AUPROSPECTORS chapter meeting with Vice President & State Director Miner Mike Finlay behind.
For more information and to RSVP, visit auprospectors.com. We hope to see ya' on the creek.
Adam Broach is the GPAA State Director for Alabama and President of the GPAA AuProspectors Chapter in Auburn. He can be reached at adambroachgpaa@gmail.com
