Bought a piece of property and found gold... Now what?

[Yesterdaysgvl]

Hello prospectors, I posted this in the wrong forum at first... I am new at this... I bought some property to build a cabin and while walking up a steep hill to check out an area for a home site I picked up these tiny quartz rocks, took them home and hit them a few times with a hammer then panned the bit I broke up (Didn't get them broke up very well so just a little bit to pan. I was just goofing off.... Well looks like there's gold in them there hills. Most of the property is ancient creek bed and bottomland with not much buildable area except up a steep hill. The hill is layered with distinctive layers of different clay colors and rock content and quartz to the ancient stream bed with two springs leaching from part way up the hill from underground and making there way above ground crossing the ancient river bed to the creek... in the middle of the clay layers there is an odd hard rock formation (could it be a vent pipe, if so what do I do next?)

I'm looking for advice on what steps to take to enjoy (maybe even profit from) my piece of land. It is in the Southeast, but isn't in an area where most would expect to find gold.

I'm thinking of getting a pyramid pro pan, does anyone have any experience with them.. All I own is a gold pan my brother in law gave me, so what all should I purchase (BTW, I'm poor so cheap is good) Any recommendations for low cost ways to extract gold and how to get it out of quartz? I think I have a lot of learning to do...

Sorry for the low quality phone pics...

 

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[arizau]

I'm going to start this out by only talking about placer gold and leave the potential for lode gold ( float gold from a nearby lode deposit may be what you have already found) to others.
First, test pan the stream bed material and other areas on the hillsides that have river run (rounded) rocks or iron stained soil to see if you have placer gold. At that point you can consider if you want to buy or build more equipment.* If you do not have a stream that is capable of running a sluice of some type then the pyramid pan is an inexpensive and efficient concentrater requiring only a pool/s of water. There are many posts on this site (try google too) on how to build sluices. A fluid bed (bazooka) type is a good choice and sluices are capable of running much more material. At some point in time you may want to graduate to a highbanker setup to run even more material.
Keep us updated and/or ask more specific questions as they occur.
Good luck.

* More pans, various size classifiers and some type of concentrator is where I would start.

 

[Bill_saf]

Just my 2 cents

#1 keep it to your self dont go around town talking about it!
#2 hard rock? cheap way but long way get a pick, shovel, sledge hammer!
#3 you have the pan get a small tube to pan in to as a saftey pan,some water ( I know du)
#4 build a small sluice out of what ever you have on hand

later as you get some money rock crusher.
oh and dont forget a assy!

I know some will say file a claim that's if you can in the state your in. then if you go bigger youll have to think about all the permits. If you discharge water, or do leeching EPA regs, Blasting of rock you may need to hire that out or get your lic for blasting. all this will bring the headache's.

Like I said just my 2 cents

 

[diverrick]

What state is this in, if you don't mind.

 

[arizau]

In your searches keep your eye out for more quartz gold pieces and save them. They may be of more value as specimens if there is gold showing.

 

[Bill_saf]

A word of caution remember this it a public form and ppl that buy mineral rights may come an go and you don't know they were here.
since you just bought the land you only have the surface rights or you could also have the mineral rights to look on your deed it should say if not youll need to look at land records going back to the 1st owner to see if any mineral rights where sold on that land. The reason I'm saying this is if you dont have the mineral rights and some one else does thay can come in and take the minerals and you have no leg to stand on!!! Been there done that.

 

[goldenIrishman]

The first thing you should be doing is to make sure of one thing. THAT YOU HAVE THE MINERAL RIGHTS TO THE PROPERTY!!!!! Many pieces of property are sold now days that the buyers do NOT get the mineral and water rights as part of the purchase. It's silly I know but it does happen. Once you know you have the rights to the minerals THEN you can decide on the best way to extract them. Until you know for sure, I'd avoid doing too much digging. This may not be a problem in the South East but out west, just because you have ownership of the property doesn't mean you have the rights to the minerals under it.

 

[goldenIrishman]

GMTA Bill

 

[bobinsd]

If I were you I would get in touch with Turd. He'll know what to do.

 

[rodoconnor]

Yesterday , when you go to build ,save all the spoils from any trenching. Footings, water lines , leach lines etc. Have your operator pile it up off to the side for you. It could get very entertaining. Good Luck.

 

[CA Gold Hunter]

So if you have a property and don't own the mineral rights, someone can come along and claim them then start mining on your property?

 

[Bill_saf]

So if you have a property and don't own the mineral rights, someone can come along and claim them then start mining on your property?

Yes they Can!!!! and you Don't have any thing to say about it........

If and I do mean IF they are good about it and fair they would come up with some kind of royality payment to cross the surface land and to put in a road but they don't have to.

If they have mineral rights next to and under they can come in under you from next door and you get NADA. and thats for Gas, OIl, Coal, any Mineral

Think about this for a min You own a farm been there for 15 years every thing is going good you get woken up one morning to the sound for trucks unloading heavy equipment and there first D-10 is now in your drive way.

 

[chlsbrns]

NC, SC and GA all have mineral rights. People can sell their property and retain the mineral rights. In some States after a period of time and under certain circumstances you can obtain the mineral rights using adverse possession.

You need to read or have a lawyer read your deed and/or get a title search to find out if you own the minerals if your property is in NC, SC or GA.

If you do own the mineral rights and find that there is a substantial amount of precious metals the easiest way to turn it into $$$ is to lease the rights to a mining company for a royalty.

 

[CA Gold Hunter]

Yes they Can!!!! and you Don't have any thing to say about it........

If and I do mean IF they are good about it and fair they would come up with some kind of royality payment to cross the surface land and to put in a road but they don't have to.

If they have mineral rights next to and under they can come in under you from next door and you get NADA. and thats for Gas, OIl, Coal, any Mineral

Think about this for a min You own a farm been there for 15 years every thing is going good you get woken up one morning to the sound for trucks unloading heavy equipment and there first D-10 is now in your drive way.

That sounds pretty ridiculous. I wonder how often it happens. Seems like a bad idea filing a claim on someones private property, I'd imagine the homeowner wouldn't be to happy about the situation.

Wouldn't they be trespassing even though they have the mineral rights?

 

[oregonmp03]

I'd just make sure the next guy who tries to take mineral rights finds the last guy who tried to take mineral rights during his first day of digging.........

 

[chlsbrns]

That sounds pretty ridiculous. I wonder how often it happens. Seems like a bad idea filing a claim on someones private property, I'd imagine the homeowner wouldn't be to happy about the situation.

Wouldn't they be trespassing even though they have the mineral rights?

Property Owners Deprived of Mineral Rights - ABC News

Reading the small print: Do the mineral rights under your home belong to you? - Chapel Hill real estate, realtors in the Chapel Hill area including Carrboro, Durham, Chatham County, Hillsborough, Apex and Cary.Chapel Hill real estate, realtors in the

 

[etex]

There are oil wells all around my house. Don't own the mineral rights, wish I did.

 

[Bill_saf]

That sounds pretty ridiculous. I wonder how often it happens. Seems like a bad idea filing a claim on someones private property, I'd imagine the homeowner wouldn't be to happy about the situation.

Wouldn't they be trespassing even though they have the mineral rights?

NO trespass that's how it is.

google Mineral rights

you'll come across some info on s / ILLinois where coal mines had the rights to the coal and had cave ins and building's where gone by the time the surface land owners found out that they didn't own the mineral rights it was to late. And Illinois is not the only sate that this happens in.

 

[Clay Diggins]

Yes they Can!!!! and you Don't have any thing to say about it........

If and I do mean IF they are good about it and fair they would come up with some kind of royality payment to cross the surface land and to put in a road but they don't have to.

If they have mineral rights next to and under they can come in under you from next door and you get NADA. and thats for Gas, OIl, Coal, any Mineral

Think about this for a min You own a farm been there for 15 years every thing is going good you get woken up one morning to the sound for trucks unloading heavy equipment and there first D-10 is now in your drive way.

Nonsense. Look up the law before you make statements that mislead a property owner. Mineral owners can't legally take the minerals without giving notice and compensating the surface owner for any losses. Surface owners can't legally take any minerals if they don't own the subsurface mineral estate.

The original poster needs to look over their deed to see if the subsurface estate was included in their land purchase. Often it is not. If it's not clearly stated in your deed then you don't have the mineral rights (subsurface estate). Even if you don't own the minerals you can't have your property used or damaged by mining without compensation.

IF the minerals were reserved by the United States when the original patent passed and the patent was a Stockraising and Homestead grant then a United States Citizen could notify the BLM and the Landowner in writing, with a 30 day notice, that they intend to prospect a portion of the property.

IF the landowner is willing AND the prospector posts a significant bond THEN the prospector has 60 days to discover and stake a valuable mineral claim (90 days minus the 30 day notice period). Even then a Plan of Operation must be approved, significant bonds posted, and the landowner must be paid for any and all losses to his land, buildings, roads, improvements, crops and livestock before and during mining.

You are right that IF the miner can access the minerals from outside the property and not disturb the landowners property they don't have to notify them. This mostly concerns drilling for oil or gas which are never included in mineral claims. Oil and gas deposits are sold or leased - never claimed. The landowner loses nothing they owned in this scenario so there is no need to notify them.

Royalties are paid to mineral owners. Surface landowners can't get royalties for minerals they don't own.

Before mining or prospecting your private property check your deed. You may have bought more than you thought when you got the property. Most people never really read their deed and don't know what the extent of their ownership is. I hope yours includes the gold you found.

Heavy Pans

 

[CA Gold Hunter]

I'd just make sure the next guy who tries to take mineral rights finds the last guy who tried to take mineral rights during his first day of digging.........

That's all I could picture when I think of some guy coming onto private property up in the sticks to mine his claim lol.

Nonsense. Look up the law before you make statements that mislead a property owner. Mineral owners can't legally take the minerals without giving notice and compensating the surface owner for any losses. Surface owners can't legally take any minerals if they don't own the subsurface mineral estate.

The original poster needs to look over their deed to see if the subsurface estate was included in their land purchase. Often it is not. If it's not clearly stated in your deed then you don't have the mineral rights (subsurface estate). Even if you don't own the minerals you can't have your property used or damaged by mining without compensation.

IF the minerals were reserved by the United States when the original patent passed and the patent was a Stockraising and Homestead grant then a United States Citizen could notify the BLM and the Landowner in writing, with a 30 day notice, that they intend to prospect a portion of the property.

IF the landowner is willing AND the prospector posts a significant bond THEN the prospector has 60 days to discover and stake a valuable mineral claim (90 days minus the 30 day notice period). Even then a Plan of Operation must be approved, significant bonds posted, and the landowner must be paid for any and all losses to his land, buildings, roads, improvements, crops and livestock before and during mining.

You are right that IF the miner can access the minerals from outside the property and not disturb the landowners property they don't have to notify them. This mostly concerns drilling for oil or gas which are never included in mineral claims. Oil and gas deposits are sold or leased - never claimed. The landowner loses nothing they owned in this scenario so there is no need to notify them.

Royalties are paid to mineral owners. Surface landowners can't get royalties for minerals they don't own.

Before mining or prospecting your private property check your deed. You may have bought more than you thought when you got the property. Most people never really read their deed and don't know what the extent of their ownership is. I hope yours includes the gold you found.

Heavy Pans

This seems much more reasonable.