Wanting to move!!

[Jwilson534]

Ok, I have been looking at land to buy and would like something I can prospect on. I have been looking at places in Georgia mountains and a buddy has talked about Arizona. Anyone have any thoughts on some places I may look at that would have good prospecting. Georgia was big on my list because I like to fish and hunt also.

 

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[oredigger62]

Az is awesome , and would also have to consider South Carolina as well as Georgia. Sc and Ga are good choices for hunting , fishing , the beach and also Artifact hunting in addition to prospecting. Almost every state has it's own assortment of gemstones and minerals. I will ALWAYS vote for Az as i absolutely love the Phoenix area. It was a large expense leaving Ohio so i researched many areas. Every state has some pros and some cons...

My experience on clubs. When joining a prospecting club you are basically buying access to their claims. The GPAA in most areas have much more friendly members than many clubs. When i arrived in phoenix i joined Roadrunners... was the worst choice i made. The people are way too secretive and keep in their little groups. As a new member you want to mingle with other members. As a rule they act like you are going to steal all the gold or something. About 30 of us bounced at the same time over what we fell was crooked stuff going on. GPAA , LDMA , and HGS was all better choices depending upon where you live in AZ. As for club claims , it it pretty much the same anywhere. They are almost always overworked.

Your choice of location has an effect on the equipment you need as well. Just an example... SC/Ga you need a sluice and many gold metal detectors work fine . In Az the choices are dry washers and an expensive P.I detector or a GoldBug II . Sluices and dredging equipment isn't used as much due to general lack of water. At the end of the day it all requires a lot of research. When i graduated and left WV in 1980 it was easy to just pick up and move. It is a little more difficult nowadays. Good luck to you...

 

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[Laz7777]

have a friend who thought roadrunner was great. said they had some remote claims that produced well.
I just looked up their website and it's completely blank, not sure what that means, maybe the site is down for maintenance.
anyone who knows anything about gold will generally be secretive. I'm not going to give out a good spot after I've worked my azz off to find it.
I've belonged to 2 clubs in AZ, never found anything on one, found just a little on the other. clubs are social events, don't confuse them with real mining. maybe a good way to start for some, but there's more satisfaction finding yer own.

 

[DizzyDigger]

Ok, I have been looking at land to buy and would like something I can prospect on. I have been looking at places in Georgia mountains and a buddy has talked about Arizona. Anyone have any thoughts on some places I may look at that would have good prospecting. Georgia was big on my list because I like to fish and hunt also.

If I was in your shoes there's only one place I would consider...

ALASKA!

Best hunting and fishing in the world, and for the brave ones there's
many tons of AU to be found.

p.s. JMHO, but I'd avoid GPAA like the plague.

 

[oredigger62]

have a friend who thought roadrunner was great. said they had some remote claims that produced well.
I just looked up their website and it's completely blank, not sure what that means, maybe the site is down for maintenance.
anyone who knows anything about gold will generally be secretive. I'm not going to give out a good spot after I've worked my azz off to find it.
I've belonged to 2 clubs in AZ, never found anything on one, found just a little on the other. clubs are social events, don't confuse them with real mining. maybe a good way to start for some, but there's more satisfaction finding yer own.

I agree Laz , but most newbies want to meet others with similar interests especially when they move across the country so thats where the club comes in. I was very happy when i first moved to Az. I had dropped in to a prospecting forum owners shop and he offered to take us out to his spot and show us how and where to look and why. We were happy with RRPC until late in 2013 when they cut the claim size in half and dropped all the remote claims that you couldn't get to with a car. In the winter months their claims were overloaded with snowbirds , but we always had our own places anyway so it wasn't a big deal. I was the one who handled refreshments for the monthly meetings , but like i said many of us left after the november meeting after some shady stuff went down. I had over a hundred invites out to peoples claims that year and only 1 was from that club. People in general are good people , but if your age is say 40 and the average age of a group is 65 you are always going to have walls to climb. I really had a blast every time i met people over from california doing a little digging. They were so much fun . So if you ever see me poking fun at californians it is just fun , nothing serious. HH

 

[goldenIrishman]

Like Lazz I've lived in both Georgia and Arid-Zona. Both have their good and bad points. Let's take a look at each of them here.

GEORGIA: (The Good) If you love greenery then Georgia is your place. I've never lived anywhere greener. Lots of good people in Georgia and most are very friendly and hospitable. (The Bad) However there's a reason that it's so green there. It's called HUMIDITY!!!! All summer long it felt like I was swimming everywhere I went. You get out of the shower and you never dry off. Another bad thing from a prospecting point of view is that there's no public lands like we have out west. So unless you can manage to get permission from the land owner to prospect/mine on their property you're stuck with club claims or "Pay to play" locations. Most of the gold is in the northern part of the state. There's also lots of poisonous snakes in Georgia and not all of them come equipped with early warning systems.

ARID-ZONA (The Good) Lots of sunshine most of the year. While people in N. Georgia are freezing their collective butts off, we're running in the 60s. Yeah, we get snow every once in a while but it never sticks to the ground more than an hour or so for the most part. Land prices are very low and you can get a lot more for your hard earned cash. I live in Golden Valley (mentioned by Lazz) and when we were having our place set up we found gold in the trench that they dug for the propane line. There is also gold all over this area if you're willing to work for it. People here take more of a kicked back attitude. It's an open carry state and it's common to see people walking around in WallyWorld with their pistol on their hip. There is also tons of public lands that you can prospect. Just do your due diligence to make sure you're not prospecting on claimed land and you're pretty much good to go. Arizona is also one of the most "Miner Friendly" states in the country. (The Bad) The summer heat. This takes some getting used to but for the most part is tolerable. Like they say, "It's a dry heat". This is true except for during the monsoon season when the storms come up from Mexico. Then the humidity can be ALMOST as bad as Georgia. The good point of this bad point is that we get some really awesome lightning storms.



Mohave County is close to the size of Rhode Island and is about a 50/50 division between private and public land. I've been finding more and more areas that can be prospected with a very good chance of success. Wet processing is by far the hardest way to go since you have to haul water just about everywhere you can prospect. Recirculating sluice systems are very common but a hassle to set up in the field at the best of times. Drywashing is much more common as is detecting. I've found gold using both methods but being the glutton for punishment that I am, I still prefer wet processing and all the hassles that go with it. Last but not least, the poisonous snakes here all have that early warning system installed.

 

[Laz7777]

it's sad to see that happening with RRPC, oredigger. my friend lives in Oregon and still has property in Chloride, AZ, but basically hasn't been there for over 10 years.
another benefit of AZ is low property taxes in many places.
another AZ advantage is that the unofficial state vehicle is the RZR, handy for prospecting, riding down desert trails whooping yer azz off, or taking a short trip to the store.

BTW, gIrishman, there's one "z" in Laz ....never been in AZ during the spring/summer, at least you're at a higher elevation and you can shave about 10 degrees off of the temps in Phoenix.
I've lived in the Tampa Bay region of Florida for 18 years, and you ain't seen lightning until you've lived there!! and fuggetabout the humidity....it beats Georgia hands down...but I miss saltwater fishing, oh well.
you said at least it's a dry heat...I heard it bleaches yer bones a nice shade of white that way

 

[goldenIrishman]

Sorry for the typo LAZ. Pre-coffee writing does that. I look at Chloride/So-high from my front door. There's been rumors running around of the mine there re-opening. I myself want to get over there and check out the landfill for my hobby of building and flying R/C gliders and sailplanes. It looks like it would make a great slope flying site. Nice long ridge formed by the back-fill that is facing right into the predominate wind. Right now I've got two designs I'm working on developing. The first is a 72" slope ship and the second is an 18' span Cross country thermal ship. When it comes to R/C flying I'm kind of old school in that I only fly what I build myself.

Oh... Still too much meat on my bones to prove your theory on the whitening effect of that dry heat, but time may tell is it's right. And your right on the temp difference. Bullhead City and Phoenix are usually about 15 degrees hotter than G.V. which I won't complain about at all.

 

[Cassews]

Just remember to find out if that property is deeded and also when looking make sure you aren't on someone's private claim (as we have claim jumpers on a claim of ours, but our opinion is if they need it that bad; have at it -its not right but what are you gonna do-live there 24/7? After all our area replenishes itself after every run off). Might not find someone as nice, but be met with a gun and nothing is worth that one, yep we are an open carry state.

We have a person trying to sell a non patented area from Craigslist in which he has stated its non patented for big $$, those of us that know its a scam try to tell others but he has raked in a few people from the gold prospecting club on the Western Slope of Colorado. Sad part is its BLM property and anyone who has private claim knows you only have the rights to the mineral rights when its BLM.

Be aware, might be good to check with your local gold prospecting club in that area. Good Luck in your adventure.

 

[russau]

MY LAND MATTERS is the place to be BEFORE YOU BUY!