Gold Mining in Public Areas

There are listings of areas open to the public gold mining and where people are able to search for valuable minerals in the United States. A good number of the locations that can be found listed are free of charge whereas there are other private mines that charge a fee and some are club sites that involve club membership etc. One such example of a place where public gold mining can be done is in Plumas County in California. This area has clubs that offer free gold panning lessons and usage of equipment for first time panners. The training in these clubs offers people panning, sluicing and dredging and members then mine together and divide the proceeds. Gold panners that have experience and equipment are also able to search for gold on public national forest lands that have not been staked. Nonetheless given that most lands are staked, research must be done to find out about claim locations that are on file. Another example of a place that is open to public gold mining is located in Alaska in the Independence Mine State Historical Park which lies 60 miles northeast of downtown Anchorage. This park offers free brochures and maps along with explanations. Recreational gold panning is allowed and visitors can even borrow gold pans at the visitor center. The Phoenix Gold mine in Colorado allows their visitors to pan for gold, silver and other precious stones and only ask for a small fee per person. Any findings that are made can be kept by visitors. Given the mining history of this specific area, the best panning areas are on private lands as a result of patenting claims that many have taken on. The way to find out if an area has a claim or is patented is to first think about what type of panning you are interested in doing and then seeing if this area is a private land or a public gold mining area. The Bureau of Land Management will provide information on this matter. People that run into areas that area available for claims they can file a Notice of Intent in order to carry out mining operations undisturbed.