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ladyhk13
01-15-2014, 05:40 AM
Have any of you been watching Gold Rush or Prospectors (I think that's the name..they search for gems)? My BIL bought us a gold lease membership a couple of years ago which we have never made the time to go out and actually use but since watching these programs I'm wondering if it could be a nice untaxed and under the radar nest egg.

Have any of you panned for gold or searched for gems before, and not talking about those places where they dig you a bucket and sell it to you and a thousand other tourists either. I'm talking out in the creeks or mountains kind.

Metrocruiser
01-15-2014, 06:41 AM
Hi ladyhk13
We have been panning a few times just before my 1st child was born. We were just doing it on gov owned land and we got a bunch of garnets. We have plans to start up again soon now that my kids are growing up a little.
Id like to get a claim somewhere and try a sluicebox.

ladyhk13
01-15-2014, 07:10 AM
We went a couple of years go out in Nevada while family was visiting from Germany and had a blast. We gave all the gold we panned to the children to take back home with them. They were thrilled. I would actually love to go up to a little town called Chicken Alaska for a week or two but it's so far away and with dogs it's impossible to go away from home now. So we will be hanging around Tn and Ga for the most part.

Metrocruiser
01-15-2014, 08:29 AM
I have not done much research into proper and acceptable methods but what I want to try is to build a sluice box and find a nice place to set up a camp for the weekend. Find a nice spot in a river bend and run the sb all weekend long saving up the heavy stuff into buckets to pan at a later date and or during if I can get the wife to get her hands dirty. All I'd need is a speck of fools gold and I might get a good 12 hours straight outta her lol.

Id love to find a safe place where we could offroad in, camp, shoot my rifles and prospect.

bacpacker
01-15-2014, 04:17 PM
I haven"t tried it yet. But I have researched a couple areas not to far from our house (less than 100 miles) that was a good area a couple hundred years ago. It might still have a little left in it. Just need to go spend some time there scouting around to find a spot. IMO it is a great idea.

ak474u
01-15-2014, 05:14 PM
I've done diamonds in Arkansas, found a little one once. Garnets in Idaho did pretty well, opals in chihuahua mx, tourmaline, topaz, beryl, in NM and CO, agates and jasper all over the southwest, and lots of other gems around the country. Haven't done it in years, but I wanted to be a jeweler when I was a teenager, and my dad has a geology degree, so we did lots of digging around. We did a few days of metal detector mining with a retired miner in NM, who had a played out claim he had bought years ago. He did cuts into the ancient river beds with a dozer, and dug nice nuggets out of the walls of the cut got a few little ones. He had also found a doubloon on a hilltop in the area years before. I'd love to know who dropped that.

ElevenBravo
01-15-2014, 08:46 PM
The only gold around here, is...

https://4b1e874935ea5d25a97e-f099844d0e354c7ab50c55a966be6870.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.c om/product/abg76239fmj.jpg

Id *LOVE* to pan, for the fun of it... Doubt Id make a buck two ninety eight... but it would be a thrill to find a flake even!

EB

ladyhk13
01-15-2014, 10:46 PM
BP we have a claim on Cocker Creek. It's off if SR 68. How far is that from you?

AK47...I would love to do gems but I don't know what I'm looking for in the raw. Stones look so different before they are tumbled or cut and I've tried to do internet searches on gem mining but nothing useful comes up.

ak474u
01-15-2014, 11:22 PM
BP we have a claim on Cocker Creek. It's off if SR 68. How far is that from you?

AK47...I would love to do gems but I don't know what I'm looking for in the raw. Stones look so different before they are tumbled or cut and I've tried to do internet searches on gem mining but nothing useful comes up.

Lots of the stuff we got was on tips from old timers. Some of the places we went were private ranches, and more than a few were owned by college geology departments iirc, the Univ of New Mexico gave us permission to mine at several places through our gem and mineral club we attended at the time. Lots of states have day fee areas that you got permission by mail. Idaho had a 1 day per year pass for non-residents to dig garnets for like $7 per person, and you got it at a ranger station. There's probably a book out there somewhere that has all of the better known spots, and how to get access. We went with a guy once who was the retired president of Johnson and Johnson, that guy had all the good spots, we never left empty handed.

Grumpy Old Man
01-15-2014, 11:38 PM
Panning for gold is a whole lot like work! But, if you really want to pan I would book a summer vacation to Nome AK.

http://www.blm.gov/ak/st/en/prog/nlcs/white_mtns/summer_recreation/gold_panning.html

http://akaugold.com/

ladyhk13
01-15-2014, 11:40 PM
We have a book that covers the nation where we can go that comes with our claim. Non members cannot come onto those areas unless accompanied by someone who has the claim. Anyone can go onto public lands but do need to get a permit from the rangers station but I don't think dredging of any kind is allowed and digging on the banks may be restricted. I kind of want to stay away from the public stuff due to crowds.

bacpacker
01-15-2014, 11:55 PM
Thats one of the area's. But I haven't had time to even take a look around or get any info other than some history books.

Sounds like I need to look into claims as well. Didn't know they were available.

ladyhk13
01-16-2014, 12:03 AM
Panning for gold is a whole lot like work! But, if you really want to pan I would book a summer vacation to Nome AK.

http://www.blm.gov/ak/st/en/prog/nlcs/white_mtns/summer_recreation/gold_panning.html

http://akaugold.com/

That would be cool but it's so far away from home and we have 2 big dogs that we can't leave and have no one to watch them. So we will stay in this area which actually has gold and gems.

- - - Updated - - -


Thats one of the area's. But I haven't had time to even take a look around or get any info other than some history books.

Sounds like I need to look into claims as well. Didn't know they were available.

Yup, contact BWRR by pm and he can give you the info. Maybe we can get together this summer and go there, you can go as our guests and we can all check it out.

mitunnelrat
01-19-2014, 08:24 AM
Apparently some minerals can be found on the beaches in MI, but they're not really my thing. The gold is way north of me... I've thought about foraging for wild ginseng or metal detecting at old school yards for coins. Those would be my two best bets at the moment.

If you have a corrugated culvert in your claim area you may want to check that. I hear the troughs are good for catching gold.

Stormfeather
01-22-2014, 05:27 PM
Sandi's dad is huge into gold mining & panning. Sandi has a really nice bag of dust from the last time she went. She knows all about it, and I actually thought about purchasing a few claims just for S&G's just to have them.

ladyhk13
01-22-2014, 05:31 PM
Sandi's dad is huge into gold mining & panning. Sandi has a really nice bag of dust from the last time she went. She knows all about it, and I actually thought about purchasing a few claims just for S&G's just to have them.

That is really cool! What state are they panning in?

Metrocruiser
01-24-2014, 10:09 PM
Apparently some minerals can be found on the beaches in MI, but they're not really my thing. The gold is way north of me... I've thought about foraging for wild ginseng or metal detecting at old school yards for coins. Those would be my two best bets at the moment.

If you have a corrugated culvert in your claim area you may want to check that. I hear the troughs are good for catching gold.

Wow finding a stash of wild ginseng would be nice. We have actually been thinking about finding a bol and growing ginseng there.

Taz Baby
01-24-2014, 11:16 PM
Last year I went to one of those buy a bucket thing just because I have never done it and wanted to see what real gems in the rough looked like. Well I got one of there buckets that was mixed with what they dig on there land and what they buy brought in from NC. Anyhoo while the guy was therre helping me, he would say "OH my" every once in a while and pull out gems before I flushed the dirt. Comes to find out I got some that even surprised him and They are big. But my problem is I don't know where to have them appraised at a honest place. So if any of you know of a honest gem appraiser or cutter or what ever you call them let me know please. I have garnets, sapphires, turquoise, moonstone, agates, rubies and a whole lot more. Mostly small but all cutable as he said.

ladyhk13
01-25-2014, 02:15 AM
Taz e did that years ago when my son was little and he got some of those gems as well. The guy told us to get a tumbler and put them in that and it would knock off all the junk down to the real stone. We got one but haven't done it yet, don't know what to do with them afterwards either. We wouldn't have known the stones were gems if we weren't told since they look so different in raw form.

ak474u
01-25-2014, 04:39 AM
Taz e did that years ago when my son was little and he got some of those gems as well. The guy told us to get a tumbler and put them in that and it would knock off all the junk down to the real stone. We got one but haven't done it yet, don't know what to do with them afterwards either. We wouldn't have known the stones were gems if we weren't told since they look so different in raw form.

Depending on the size and shape, they can be set in a pendant by wrapping with silver wire. Lots of stuff I cut when I was a kid had been wrapped for my wife over the years, I've got quite a few gifts up my sleeve before I run out of material. I've got the tools and the wire to wrap stuff myself, but no time to teach myself.

ladyhk13
01-25-2014, 09:36 PM
I know we have a lot of stuff here in the eastern part of Tn western NC but I can't tell the difference between a regular rock and a gem encased in stone. It's not like topaz or aquamarine that comes out of the ground looking like a gem, garnet, emerald, ruby and such just looks like a rock until tumbled or cut. That's the hard part. The guy shined a light through them and looked at the color and told us what gems they were but I'm sure it takes a trained eye to know what you're looking at....something I don't have yet.

Stormfeather
01-27-2014, 04:50 AM
That is really cool! What state are they panning in?

Her father pretty much does all California & Nevada, her family is from the Sacramento delta area, and he has claims all over the state. Ive never done it with them, but have always wanted to try it

ladyhk13
01-27-2014, 05:37 AM
Her father pretty much does all California & Nevada, her family is from the Sacramento delta area, and he has claims all over the state. Ive never done it with them, but have always wanted to try it

That is awesome! Would love for her to give some advice.

Stormfeather
01-27-2014, 02:23 PM
Will tell her to stop in a check out the thread, shes been super busy with my being gone all the time.

ladyhk13
01-28-2014, 02:12 AM
I understand. When she has some time it would be great to hear from a pro ;)