Guest on GPAA Claims and Leases
Your active GPAA Membership benefits include spouse or significant other and all children under the age of 18 residing within the household.
As a GPAA Member and to preserve your GPAA Membership benefits, you may invite up to 4 guests while you are prospecting on a GPAA claim or lease. Your family members and guest must be accompanied by you as the primary GPAA Member and understand that as a family member or nonmember they cannot return to the site without you.
Your guests are limited to gold panning, or they may assist you in limited prospecting and must help in the federally required reclamation. Guests are not allowed to operate their own equipment or any members additional equipment.
GPAA Code of Ethics.
GPAA Code of Ethics must be adhered to by all GPAA Member and their guest.
These Code of Ethics have been in place since 1970. Please follow this link to GPAA Code of Ethics. https://www.goldprospectors.org/Forum/aft/7665
Prospecting and Mining on Private Lands outside of your GPAA - LDMA Membership must only be done with the express written consent of the landowner. Failure to have permission constitutes trespassing.
National Forest Service Lands
- Rockhounding and gold panning may take place on most national forest lands – provided only small quantities of material are removed for personal, non-commercial purposes.
- Recreational rockhounding and gold panning are not allowed in Congressionally-designated wilderness areas or in the corridors of designated wild and scenic rivers.
- Materials must be removed using small hand tools without mechanical means or motorized equipment. Removing mineral materials with a pick, shovel, sluice box or similar large tools that can cause significant impacts to resources is considered mechanical so therefore not allowed.
- Gold pans may be used for gold panning in the beds of streams, but the banks of streams cannot be disturbed by digging or removing materials.
- Any disturbance to or removal of historical or archaeological artifacts is prohibited by federal law
- Suction dredges are not allowed by forest closure order.
Further information and current regulations can be found by contacting
Uwharrie National Forest includes the Uwharrie Ranger District Office, located at 789 Biscoe Road, Troy, NC 27371. (910) 576-6391