Gold Panning in North Georgia

[betboy25]

Hello Group,

I am from North Florida and love to take my father up into GA to go gold panning. So far we have stayed in Dahlonega and done our panning with Crisson gold mines and tried a local creek(without any luck). We have been going up there for a couple of years now and are looking to expand our area. Does anyone know places that the public can go and try some panning and maybe use a hi-banker? Sometimes it is hard to tell what is private land and what is public. I heard that Town Creek is decent

I am trying to stay inside the law but also have some good memories with my aging father as well!

Any advice greatly appreciated.

thanks

Lee

 

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[Duckwalk]

If you can get permission, Pumpkinvine creek in Paulding county has excellent gold recovery. anything running into lake Allatoona is good aswell. most likely just hands and pans though.

 

[betboy25]

Thanks for the reply Duckwalk.... I had heard that the Lake Allatoona area is good. I havent been over that way yet. I am coming up the weekend of July 4th to try my luck somewhere...

 

[KevinInColorado]

Check these guys out: http://www.goldngemgrubbinstore.com/
Looks like they allow you to camp there and welcome hi banking.

 

[Carzie]

I live in Dahlonega and almost all the places you can work are on private property. I agree with Kevin, the best place is Gold and Gem grubbing in Cleveland if you just want a day trip. If you come here regularly you may consider Week end gold miners association. You can join for $90 and then $20 a month. The $90 covers your first 3 months and you can purchase a membership at Crissons gold mine. This will give you access to their locations in Auraria and Cleveland and lot's of other places.

 

[huntsman53]

Just for what it is worth! I stopped in at Crisson Gold Mine back in (I believe) 2006 while on a round Robin gold panning trip (stopped and panned at public access/right of way areas at bridges) through Northern Georgia. I purchased 3 cans (yeah, it was in cans back then) of their' Gold Concentrates and panned them out when I got back home. Well, besides being able to fart more Gold that was in all 3 cans total, the Gold and dirt/sand composition in the cans smelled like Gun Powder. I will leave you up to your own conclusions on that that but needless to say, I will never, ever go back there!


Frank

 

[Nitric]

Just for what it is worth! I stopped in at Crisson Gold Mine back in (I believe) 2006 while on a round Robin gold panning trip (stopped and panned at public access/right of way areas at bridges) through Northern Georgia. I purchased 3 cans (yeah, it was in cans back then) of their' Gold Concentrates and panned them out when I got back home. Well, besides being able to fart more Gold that was in all 3 cans total, the Gold and dirt/sand composition in the cans smelled like Gun Powder. I will leave you up to your own conclusions on that that but needless to say, I will never, ever go back there!


Frank

That's funny!! I wanna know what you eat, that makes that happen?

 

[KevinInColorado]

That's funny!! I wanna know what you eat, that makes that happen?

umm, black sand of course

 

[huntsman53]

Gold flakes in the wind!


Frank

 

[betboy25]

That's funny!! I wanna know what you eat, that makes that happen?

I have bought concentrate from Crisson for years... I seem to get decent gold till I talk to what others get from other places and it seems I get screwed. They claimed it isnt searched or anything but you can't tell me they would not pick up a half ounce nugget if they saw it in the dirt as they are packing their "nugget buckets" that they offer. There are nuggets in there but they are pretty small for nuggets. Seem more like pickers to me. Also something that seems really weird to me is that they claim to be a rock(quartz) mine but the "nuggets" they offer appear to be placer gold nuggets. I have a feeling they are salting their buckets with small nuggets that they have purchased and put them into these buckets which they charge way more than they paid for the pickers they put in there. I have bought more than 100 of their tractor scoops($90 a pop) over the past few years and have never hit anything bigger than a normal pencil eraser CUT IN HALF.

 

[KevinInColorado]

I have bought concentrate from Crisson for years... I seem to get decent gold till I talk to what others get from other places and it seems I get screwed. They claimed it isnt searched or anything but you can't tell me they would not pick up a half ounce nugget if they saw it in the dirt as they are packing their "nugget buckets" that they offer. There are nuggets in there but they are pretty small for nuggets. Seem more like pickers to me. Also something that seems really weird to me is that they claim to be a rock(quartz) mine but the "nuggets" they offer appear to be placer gold nuggets. I have a feeling they are salting their buckets with small nuggets that they have purchased and put them into these buckets which they charge way more than they paid for the pickers they put in there. I have bought more than 100 of their tractor scoops($90 a pop) over the past few years and have never hit anything bigger than a normal pencil eraser CUT IN HALF.

Salting nuggets - yes, of course they are. Only way they can guarantee happy customers. Pickers are probably from AZ or CA or most likely AK, not even GA.

Unsearched probably means unsearched. A friend sells salted unsearched paydirt from historic gold strike locations here in CO and I can tell you there's no time or attention given to searching the paydirt during the packing process. They make money in this biz by selling you the paydirt at 2-3x the cost of the gold they salt with.

 

[KiddoTheMiner]

if you want public property(I hate to break it too you)
there is none
in Georgia the usfs and blm own few lands and they are managed by the state so they are panning only
county lands, and state lands are off the list too(for liability issues)
you can join a gold club or do par to prospect(goldngemsgrubbin)
but I think your best option is too find where you want to prospect and nicely ask the landowner if you can
I say that because cluds and pay to prospect places are made with the sheer idea of old prospecting, the best deposits are gone even though no-one can take
everything
im not trying to discourage you, but you just have to try
there's plenty of gold and gems in Georgia to make up for it

 

[huntsman53]

Some but probably not all (but I could be wrong) of the Pay Mines purchase their' so-called Pay Dirt material elsewhere like Kevin stated and although some were former mines, there is little to no actual digging going on behind the scenes at most of these Mines (although there are some that still do). Also, the material that some of the Mines bring to the common or community panning area (several water troughs setup for panning in one area with one or more of these at some locations) in a front-end loader bucket and which is included in your' panning fee, has been pre-classified, then re-mixed with other material. In other words, they classify the material down to a specific size with them keeping the bigger Gold and nuggets, while you and the other panners get the smaller stuff. If you want untampered with (unclassified) material, some Mines offer front-end loader buckets of this at $100 or more or less and sometimes you can even watch them dig it out of the ground and deliver it to you. While there is no guarantee that you will get a lot of Gold from these buckets, many folks have and some have end found some sizeable Gold Nuggets from purchasing these bucket loads. In any case, you will usually get a lot more Gold from these bucket loads or from paying the extra to pan and sluice or run a highbanker or dredge in the creek or stream, than you will from the loads that they bring to the common or community panning areas.


Frank

 

[Duckwalk]

Pine Mountain gold museum in villa rica uses their own sands straight from the mountain. they crush rock and everything on site. the gold they use however is purchased from Cali. if you pan carefully enough you will find flour gold in the sands they use to let you pan with.

 

[betboy25]

Yeah pretty much what I thought. It is discouraging to say the least. I live in North Florida so I dont really have alot of time to search out areas and so forth. Dont have much time when I get there... I wonder if people are actually allowed to pan for gold on someones property(a stranger) by walking up and asking? I am a land owner in North Florida of around 2500 acres and I have had people call up and ask if they can hunt anytime/anywhere... I am a generous person and allow tons of folks to hunt that I know but to say yes to a total stranger seems far fetched... I wish it were true but the land owners would likely laugh in my face. :/

Shoot, I would even be willing to trade a hunting access for panning access!

 

[Duckwalk]

Eh, ive knocked on doors and been referred to other people on the same creeks that ive already got permission on. The worst they can say to you is, "nah, id rather you didnt". it may be a GA thing but ive only been turned down by one person out of the 6 or 8 that ive asked and he was very nice about it.

 

[betboy25]

Eh, ive knocked on doors and been referred to other people on the same creeks that ive already got permission on. The worst they can say to you is, "nah, id rather you didnt". it may be a GA thing but ive only been turned down by one person out of the 6 or 8 that ive asked and he was very nice about it.

Wow. Very interesting. That is very nice of folks.

I thought there would be alot of liability concerns and so forth. Plus alot of folks i would think would hate the idea of someone "taking" their gold or making money off of them and so forth... Knowing my luck I would knock and would recieve the barrel end of a 12 gauge pointing at me("Say hello to my little friend"... scarface) telling me to get the ****** off his property.

 

[Duckwalk]

If they are not getting gold already, why should they care? Most don't think that there is enough gold to even bother with in the first place?

 

[KiddoTheMiner]

Yeah pretty much what I thought. It is discouraging to say the least. I live in North Florida so I dont really have alot of time to search out areas and so forth. Dont have much time when I get there... I wonder if people are actually allowed to pan for gold on someones property(a stranger) by walking up and asking? I am a land owner in North Florida of around 2500 acres and I have had people call up and ask if they can hunt anytime/anywhere... I am a generous person and allow tons of folks to hunt that I know but to say yes to a total stranger seems far fetched... I wish it were true but the land owners would likely laugh in my face. :/

Shoot, I would even be willing to trade a hunting access for panning access!

I know plenty of people in Georgia would let you use their land just find the right person and ask nicely
and be willing to give them a portion of your gold(10 to 15 percent)

 

[huntsman53]

I will mention this and this is for anyone that gets permission to Gold prospect someone's private land. Always make sure to pick up your' trash and any other trash that you might find while prospecting, place it in one of your' 5 gallon buckets and show the land owner what you cleaned up besides your' own trash before you leave each time. This goes a long way in promoting good will with the land owner and may just be the ticket to not only help yourself but also to help others get permission to the land or a neighbor's land. Fill in the holes that you have dug in the creeks and/or streams and clear sluiced/classified piles of material to put the creeks and/or streams back to as close to natural as possible before you leave as well. If you plan on coming back to work certain holes that you started, then I have found that filling these with larger rocks is the ticket which not only accomplishes the things in the previous sentence but also makes it easier for you to access the same holes much easier the next time you visit. There are too many folks that get permission to a land owner's property that never clean up after themselves, leave trash laying all over the place and leave the creeks and/or streams as if a backhoe had come through digging holes and leaving piles of material everywhere. These selfish folks destroy any good will with the land owners and make it impossible for anyone else to ever get permission to prospect on the land owner's land.


Frank