View Full Version : Any prospectors on the board?
Tis almost the time of year where it is warm enough to get out and look for some gold. Anyone else prospect recreationally?
GlockDog47
03-10-2013, 16:00
Never have but I would like to give it a try....
I've got some pans. With my skills it's more of an exercise in cooling off than finding gold.
JM Ver. 2.0
03-10-2013, 16:31
DF, send me a text. I have questions.
[MOD: Ex-Members phone number removed]
DireWolf
03-10-2013, 16:33
I've been thinking about getting into this for a little while now but haven't got around to it...
Rooskibar03
03-10-2013, 16:42
COAR 15 panning party anyone?
BushMasterBoy
03-10-2013, 17:41
I heard some big nuggets have been found around the tailing piles of Fairplay. They were found with a metal detector. I spent a whole summer high banking on the Arkansas near Granite got about a gram of dust and a tiny nugget the size of a BBmixed with quartz. I almost bought 14 acres along the Arkansas river last year, the property sold for $40k. I was going to dredge it. If you are serious about placer mining a dredge is the only way to go. I have seen some nice crystalline gold come out of Farncomb Hill near Breckenridge. The Farncomb gold was found with a metal detector.
Fentonite
03-10-2013, 18:26
I have a mining claim above Idaho Springs, but have never done any prospecting. Mostly it's just my little hideaway. There is a little (very little) stream that runs through it in the summer, and I've thought about monkeying around with a pan. Maybe that'll be this years' project...
RedDogFabrication
03-10-2013, 18:42
Need to swap out the motor ib my trommel but other than that my equipment is ready from last year.
brokenscout
03-10-2013, 19:24
Has anyone ever found gold in So Co
Kraven251
03-10-2013, 19:25
Sounds like a bit of fun, never done anything with it myself, but would be an interesting learning experience and a fun way to kill a couple weekends.
electronman1729
03-10-2013, 19:34
COAR 15 panning party anyone?
Im in
I actully work in the mining industry
BushMasterBoy
03-10-2013, 19:37
Has anyone ever found gold in So Co
140 lbs nugget..
http://coloradowest.auraria.edu/book-review/gold-camp-called-summitville
I used to in WA, I'd be down for a little panning.
Would like to try. Might be fun to get the kids out
The biggest nugget I have found... Panning in the creede area
The biggest nugget I have found... Panning in the creede area
Thats more than what I've found. I goofed around with a pan and even a mini sluice box borrowed from a board member. Didn't find diddly....
I'm gonna try some more this year and I might even get a mini sluice and give it some more time.
I've done a little in clear creek and around FairPlay and found a little here and there. I've seen GPAA out side of fair play and I know Tom Massey has done a show in the FairPlay/buena vista area.
RedDogFabrication
03-11-2013, 00:46
Here is my custom trommel running at Jeff-Co open space on upper clear creek.
http://youtu.be/JeHYRMg2ybY
I'd have better luck with pan handling.
I'd love to get out with a few members and just make a day of it. Sounds like fun. Geology major at CU here
BREATHER
03-11-2013, 04:50
Been out a few times, I haven't found anything yet....
I'd love to get out with a few members and just make a day of it. Sounds like fun. Geology major at CU here
Yeah, that would be fun. I'd like to try panning some time.
Dabbled a little in the Clear Creek but didn't do much good. I have dreams of taking a bush flight into some small Alaskan creek and camping out for ~ a month or two one of these years. May never happen but it sounds fun.
RedDogFabrication
03-11-2013, 14:46
Some of my take from last year. I did not find a lot but concentrated more on Equipment development and prototyped my trommel.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/amorton-25rs/IMAG0706.jpg
ronaldrwl
03-11-2013, 15:02
Very cool RedDog. But I think after watching the Alaska Gold drama on TV I'm curried of gold hunting.
brokenscout
03-11-2013, 15:11
Whats a good entry level metal detector? PM, post, just looking for one. Thanks
Reopening this because I've been playing with a sluice on clear creek and its kind of like gambling except there's more work involved. The house is still winning btw.
BushMasterBoy
05-14-2017, 17:57
I bought a dredge and a 20 acre claim on the Arkansas River near Texas Creek. Unfortunately the water flow has just jumped up to 1100 CFS from 360 CFS. I will have to wait until fall now, unless we have a drought this summer.
I'd love to try, it's still out there. The Hoffmans on Gold Rush moved their operation to CO. And I remember show a couple years ago about gem hunters here.
I find gold every time I go, but it's hard to weigh flakes so small.
I have 8 acres up by Cripple Creek that has a what appear to be a couple of test holes. If anyone would like to come and look around and tell me if I maybe sitting on a gold mine that would cool.
BladesNBarrels
05-15-2017, 12:33
I have 8 acres up by Cripple Creek that has a what appear to be a couple of test holes. If anyone would like to come and look around and tell me if I maybe sitting on a gold mine that would cool.
Do you have a mining claim or own the land with the mineral rights?
Recreational seems to be okay, but you may have problems with commercial usage.
Do you have a mining claim or own the land with the mineral rights?
Recreational seems to be okay, but you may have problems with commercial usage.
Own the land no mineral rights just really curious if there is anything there.
BushMasterBoy
05-15-2017, 13:46
I would be interested in looking at it sometime. I could tell by a Google Earth aerial photo of the likelihood of a precious metal discovery. I can do a basic fire assay too. It would interesting to search the area with a metal detector too. Feel free to PM me.
My wife's family mines recreationally with heavy equipment. Have a lot of claims around Lake George. No gold just Smokey quartz and amzanite crystals. They have had pockets worth over 50,000. Colorado in that 30 square mile area is the only place in the world you can find those two crystals formed with each other. At least that's what the rock nerds tell me.
My wife's family mines recreationally with heavy equipment. Have a lot of claims around Lake George. No gold just Smokey quartz and amzanite crystals. They have had pockets worth over 50,000. Colorado in that 30 square mile area is the only place in the world you can find those two crystals formed with each other. At least that's what the rock nerds tell me.
This made me think of the Prospectors TV show, as Lake George and the Dorris family were on it.
I think I was a miner in another life.
They were approached to do the same show but turned it down. I think they wanted to keep it something they enjoy on the weekends.
I have 8 acres up by Cripple Creek that has a what appear to be a couple of test holes. If anyone would like to come and look around and tell me if I maybe sitting on a gold mine that would cool.
Sound like bushmasterboy has some experience. Coar mining party at lurches place.
BlasterBob
05-16-2017, 07:47
I have 8 acres up by Cripple Creek that has a what appear to be a couple of test holes. If anyone would like to come and look around and tell me if I maybe sitting on a gold mine that would cool.
My great grampa and another guy had two gold mines in the Cripple Creek/Victor area back around 1905. I have always wondered where exactly they those mines are located. I do have some of their old records.
BushMasterBoy
05-16-2017, 14:01
This is my mining claim on the Arkansas River. I can only mine casually until I complete an "Environmental Assessment " report and have it approved by BLM office in Canon City. That means no motorized mining equipment. I can't dredge until it is approved. However, casual mining is approved. Casual mining by definition is panning and using a sluice box. You can shovel river material below the high water line into a sluice box. The gravel bar on the north side of the claim is fair game. I have not found a single speck of gold on this claim. I have found gold on nearby areas of the river.The gold is usually really fine, like a dust. I have claim markers on the side of Highway 50 marking the boundaries of the claim. The markers have CMC 288123 written on them. All locatable mineral rights between the two markers in the river are legally mine.
Any and all COAR members that want to casually-recreationally mine my claim by pan or sluice box are more than welcome. If you have a gold pan and a shovel you can legally camp there too. Camping can only be on the north side of the river. Access can be by ATV, motorcycle, bicycle, horse, etc. No digging or undermining the river bank. No camping or digging on the island. If anybody is interested in using the claim let me know by PM. There is too much information to put it all here. This is very rugged country. There are bears, mountain lions, rattle snakes etc. For the most part there is no cell coverage. You have to be very careful of rocks that slide down the mountains. You will probably need a GPS that can show lat & lon to find the claim. Hopefully I can get the EA approved this year and run a motorized dredge. Feel free to PM if you want to use the mining claim.
70567
70568
Sound like bushmasterboy has some experience. Coar mining party at lurches place.
Sounds like a party in July maybe.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.3 Copyright © 2025 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.