Gold prospecting in South Carolina

Cstyle00

Greenie
Dec 20, 2012
13
3
Hey fellow prospectors and treasure hunters. I started this thread to see what people had to say about gold still in South Carolina. I aq'uired a small tract of land in Smyrna, York County. Land has been untouched since the California rush (except the little old lady that lived there since 1912). Basically I'm wondering has anyone ever picked up a nug in SC. I understand that it would be rare and would be quartz, not like a nug found in the west. If anyone knows of the Dixon Mine, Martin Mine, Horn Mine, or Southern Gold Mine which all closed in 1939 I think by Roosevelt because of the war. I'm near there. They were pulling some good size nugs from the myths. So let me know of your stories of gold found in SC.

Using a White's GMT. So far about 20 hrs. prospecting. Digging everything under 85% iron somtimes I dig targets anyway off of fence lines. Slow going lots of nails and .22 cal. bullets in rocky soil. Found a few buttons with no markings and some worn down axe heads about 14" down under large roots. Makes you wonder what happened to make someone be so careless with such a valuable asset of the time. I'm going to search it all of course, consentrating on the tickest areas of the forest first since the leaves are down and try to hit as many ridges and hillsides before summer slows things even worse. I'm detecting the area first then I'll dig some prostpecting pits. What gold have you guys seen in SC?
 

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Foothills Gold

Full Member
Jun 1, 2013
102
46
Marietta,S.C.
Detector(s) used
Garrett
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
What's it cost to camp and pan at thermal city

10 bucks to pan at the troughs. 10 to sluice in the creek. 35 for a scoop of dirt if you have a highbanker. Camping I'm not sure. Seems like the prices are on their website. Personally, I think you'll be disappointed . Just my personal opinion. Some seem to be obsessed with the place.
 

Dain8404

Jr. Member
Jan 31, 2013
88
33
Colby, KS
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Not obsessed. For me, i dont live around any gold bearing areas right now. I see it as a great place that allows me to sluice and dig the way i like to and not restricted to panning only. I dont have the availability to just "ask the guy down the road". Its nice to have a "for sure" place to enjoy my hobbie. Let alone a place that actually produces gold.
 

Astrobouncer

Hero Member
Jun 21, 2009
823
343
Exactly Docster. I am obsessed no doubt about it. No worry about getting shot by a hunter shooting out of season or someone shooting at movement (both have happened to me, wait till Dr Phil uploads one of those videos). No worry about hiking in 30-45 minutes past snakes and bees to get to the gold. Easy access to the river and drop off a dredge/highbanker without killing your back. No worry about crazy landowners on the other side of the creek. Or meth heads/ growers/etc. If I want to bring newbies there no problem at all, whereas a lot of the land owners wont let me bring friends.

When I first started going there I was hugely disappointed expecting gold nuggets to just jump in my pan and I couldnt even find a buck worth of gold in several trips. But as I grew as a prospector I learned to appreciate what was there and work with it, reading the river to find the good spots. And working around a place that's been worked so much, you realize that it really doesn't matter how much its been worked, the gold just keeps coming as the mineralized quartz cobbles break up and release more. Then mother nature re-concentrates the gold into pay streaks (via floods) just waiting for an astute prospector to come along and clean house. The good prospectors there prosper, and the new ones learn all this and eventually do well too. Or they get frustrated and think there's no gold and leave (seen this happen a couple times even though I tried to show them otherwise).

I think Thermal City is great because its a microcosm of the other 'real world' gold fields. You get out of it what you put in to it. If you spend the time sample panning in the river for a couple hours to a day, you will eventually find a hot spot for gold. Then you bring in the dredge/highbanker/ sluice to clean it out. I pulled about 1/2 to 3/4 of an ounce there last year, and I didn't go probably 8 times or so (I still havent even bothered cleaning up all the cons from last year, on my days off I just go get more cons). I have personally seen several 1/4 ounce (or more) cleanups from other prospectors, seen pickers (fingernail size nuggets too) you wouldn't believe from the panning troughs. I guarantee if you pan long enough at the troughs you will hit a pan like you wouldn't believe. I have seen 500 colors to a pan there before and seen multiple guys doing pans like that. Don't take my word for it ask Jack (hes a regular), Terry (another regular) or Dr Phil (my buddy but he loves it there too, mostly cause he just follows me around while I lead us to the jack pots) how much gold they pull out of there a year just from the troughs. Dr Phil had a pan there one time that was gold clear from one side of the pan to the other (18 inch pan) from the troughs. And hes probably only done the troughs 4-5 times or so ever cause I usually find us killer spots in the river.

No where else can I (and others) go and find that kind of gold for 10 bucks. Plus the majority of the gold there is usually bigger then the stuff I find in SC. Does it always end up a whole bunch of gold like that? No not always everyone and everyplace has its bad days. But honestly the only time I have ever left there with just a little gold was because I didn't put in the time to find a better spot and settled for a mediocre one. That was also before I realized there was always a good spot if I looked for it hard enough.

Oh and did I mention the gold in quartz? Its there if you know what to look for. If you guys have seen my videos you should know exactly what to look for there as I point it out in several videos. I have quite a collection of gold & quartz specimens and it grows almost every trip if I take the time to look for them.

And lastly, the people there are great. I have done lots of the remote/hard hiking/lone wolf prospecting. Sometimes its nice to head to a place where everyone is familiar. Its like the show Cheers for me, but with gold recovery equipment instead of alcohol to bring people together. Crystal Jim is quite a character, same with Dwight, Bob, Lloyd and the rest. There's always some newbies to help, or some tourists panning for the first time to help. Always some regulars to joke around with and compare finds. And lots of people having fun doing their own thing who will gladly stop and chat about prospecting if you are so inclined.

So yeah Im a Thermal City guy through and through. They don't pay me to advertise for them or anything, I pay money to go there just like everyone else. I thoroughly enjoy every trip and cant wait to go back.
 

KevinInColorado

Gold Member
Jan 9, 2012
7,037
11,370
Summit County, Colorado
Detector(s) used
Grizzly Goldtrap Explorer & Motherlode, Gold Cube with trommel or Banker on top, Angus Mackirk Expedition, Gold-n-Sand Xtream Hand pump
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Great write up AB. You've converted my thinking from disdain (as in "sounds like a tourist trap") to deciding I will visit Thermal City next time I'm anywhere near there :-)
 

Kruzman

Jr. Member
May 23, 2013
66
26
North Carolina
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
My wife took me there Mothers day last year :) for a few hours. I panned the troughs for a while, lot of empty pans, then 4 big chunky flakes from one shovel. I was told after I left a new pile was dumped, and people hit it big that evening. the troughs really can be the luck of the draw. I also panned the river a little, and was consistently getting small flood gold in almost every pan. if I go back again, I would probably take my 2in and suck up all the surface black sand amongst the cobbles. like skimming the cream if you will, there's plenty of it, and should add up fast if your box can catch -50. All in all I enjoyed myself.
 

Astrobouncer

Hero Member
Jun 21, 2009
823
343
Glad to hear it Kevin and Brad!

Kruzman you have touched on another subject altogether and thats the panning troughs. I could write a book about different gold recovery methods there as well but it all comes down to being very observant when you are panning there. Take note of both the composition of your last scoop of dirt, and the exact location and use that to lead you to more gold. Sometimes its just like real world prospecting, you can hone in on a pay streak with the material they bring just like you would in the river. I make a mental grid of the dirt piles, and if I find gold in one shovel location, I try every adjacent shovel scoop. If the gold is better I take note and continue working that way. Less gold and I try another direction. Also by noting dirt compostion like colors of the dirt and gravel present, I can usually zero in on some more gold (but not always!). Using these techniques, I rarely do bad at the pile. And lastly, dont believe the guys there panning. If they say they are getting nothing, but they are moving a lot of material, they are probably cleaning house. I always show people where the good color is if I am there, as it seems to come back around for me when I do.

Also Kruzman, that technique you mentioned about working the flood gold works great there. Usually unless I am either on bedrock, false bedrock or around boulders I will hit that first 6 inches and expand. Lots of times you go down much deeper and theres not much there (until you hit bedrock which can be quite deep) as the train works like a shaker table for the heavier gold, but the flood gold hangs up in that top 6 inches and is plentiful. One of my last videos Dredging at Thermal shows the kind of cleanups you can expect doing that and I dont think it was even a full day of dredging with the 2 1/2.
 

Foothills Gold

Full Member
Jun 1, 2013
102
46
Marietta,S.C.
Detector(s) used
Garrett
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Dang Astro, your first paragraph is exactly why I go in the woods ! ;-) I love running up on snakes, even the 2 legged kinds, bees, packing in heavy equipment and having my heart about to blow out of my chest from the 2 hour hike ! Every prospector should experience all of it at least once in their life. Good times ........
A lot of folks when they think "gold mine " think big chunkies in every pan, hitting the mother lode and having more gold than they can carry ! I wish we all could find a gold mine like that. If finding gold was easy it wouldn't be worth a dime. Anyway, it is a cool place. Just not worth it to me.
 

djpitr

Full Member
Oct 18, 2012
169
152
S.C.
Detector(s) used
Gold bug 2 , XP Deus , ctx3030
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Thats exactly what i hade in my mind :) i love the outdoors and all that comes with it , now lets think about it .... If you guys owned gold mine , or creek " full of gold" would you let people go there for $10 ??? :D or would you mine it yourself .
Its Business , and all the nice stuff that you can buy , pans, highbankers, sluices, to make it easier for you to get " all that gold" that just waiting there for all of us . Right :D
 

djpitr

Full Member
Oct 18, 2012
169
152
S.C.
Detector(s) used
Gold bug 2 , XP Deus , ctx3030
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Lets say .... I will tell you i have creek behind my house full of gold , i will go and make it easy for you , and go fill up bag of gravel ( i will guarantee you will find at least 1/2 gram of gold in it . Anybody wants it for $40 ? Come on any takers ? Easy Gold :D how manny bags your want ?
 

DamienA

Tenderfoot
Feb 3, 2014
5
0
York, South Carolina
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
I live in York county south Carolina and im wanting to gold pan the small creeks around my house. Do you think I will have any luck? And has anyone ever gold pained around here or used a sluice? Thanks
 

sluicelee

Jr. Member
Feb 21, 2013
57
35
Upcountry, SC
Detector(s) used
Teknetics Delta 4000, Garrett AT Pro, Falcon MD20
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hey DamienA, your in a great area for gold. York county runs along the carolina slate belt, so theres a chance you could find some gold in the creeks around your house. Surrounding counties in your area are also known to have gold. Happy prospecting
 

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djpitr

Full Member
Oct 18, 2012
169
152
S.C.
Detector(s) used
Gold bug 2 , XP Deus , ctx3030
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Hey DamienA
Its not about how big or small the creek is , or if there is any creek , you could have old dry creek bed , or just nuggets laying around on the ground from the vein . :)
You in good area , test it and you will see , look at the rocks in the creek , they will tell you a lot.
Or invite some of the more experience prospectors to your property and they will tell you .
Good hunt
 

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