Where to Find Gold

The Legal Aspects
The mining law of 1872 expresses that every citizen of the United States of America, or any other person that states the wish to be one, can claim pieces of public land to himself with the purpose of exploiting the mineral resources of the land. This is generally true for lands that are administered by the federal government that has not been available for any other kind of use.

A large portion of lands of the National Park and Bureau Land Management (BLM) can be used for mineral development purposes. Most of the lands that have gold in the western states are located in public lands, so they are open to gold-seekers.

Some specific areas that are closed to mining claims (meaning that one cannot present a mining claim in those lands) are the following: national parks land, military land, Indian reservations, reservoirs, permanent lakebeds, city-owned lands, state-owned lands, private lands, state monuments and some sections of forest land that are left aside by the authorities for development purposes. The wildlife areas and primitive ones are also closed.

Just because the section of land is closed to land claims for mineral exploitation does not mean that one cannot seek for gold in those areas, as it does not mean that one cannot claim to oneself the extracted mineral of a section of the same.

In some of these places, as well as in the special state retirements, it is possible to seek gold; it is a matter of contacting the person in charge to find out about it. This also happens with private lands that are property of the Indians.

Maps that outline the areas that are primitive, national parks, Indian reservations and private lands, as well as the lands considered National Parks and that are open to mineral development by individuals are available. The maps are usually provided by the US Forest Service (or District Foresters) in charge of the jurisdiction of the area one is interested in. Much of this information can also be accessed through Internet.

Some sections of rivers that flow within the National Parks have been absolutely forbidden to mining exploitation, but are open to gold-seekers interested in exploiting them. Some of the US Forest Service Districts have divided sections of rivers for recreational use, so that visitors can seek for gold in a recreational way, without having to worry in filling in claiming forms and others.

Information about these public open spaces, along with the information concerning laws and local regulations can be found by contacting the BLM or the US Forest Service Districts within the area of interest.