Anyone have Gold Claims Colorado?

[mountainman22]

I was wondering if anyone has any claims in Colorado that they'd let me pay them either with found gold or cash to let me prospect on them? I dont use any powered equipment. Just a sluice and a bucket/shovel/pan. If so please pm me. I am new and really want a good spot I can bring my six year old boy. I bring him a lot with no luck, so he is really eager for "his own find". Thanks

 

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[nuggetshooter323]

Join the GPAA and use the club claims in the claim book. There are claims near Buena Vista, and Granite. There are several others, but those are the ones I go to all the time because they are so close. You can join the Gold Prospectors of Colorado(GPOC), they also have club claims you can use as a member. The GPAA and the GPOC memberships are totally worth it, plus you get to go on outings and meetings to learn from people who are knowledgeable. The GPOC meets in Colorado Springs, and the GPAA even thought it's a national club, there are local chapters you can meet at. I personally don't go to the meeting, I just join for the claims. You can do either, or a little of both, whatever your comfortable with.

 

[mountainman22]

Thanks nuggetshooter hadnt thought about that too much. Do you find pretty good gold on these claims?

 

[KevinInColorado]

Oh heck, you are in Canon City, just down stream from good BLM managed spots you can go to for free with decent gold. Look on the BLM web site for Cache Creek and Point Bar recreational prospecting areas. Or go into the BLM office right there in Canon City for info...then take your kid and go git the gold!!!

 

[nuggetshooter323]

The gold is good, but you need to run a lot of gravel because the gold is fine.

Thanks nuggetshooter hadnt thought about that too much. Do you find pretty good gold on these claims?

 

[mountainman22]

Fine like flakes or dust? One thing I've been wondering is how slow do I need to feed my sluice? I feed about one huge heaping shovel full as fast as I can. It ends up piling real bad but eventually washes away. Do you go small hand shovel full at a time or does it really matter? I have a homemade sluice its 4' x 12" . Sorry for all the questions

 

[jmoller99]

Home - Vista Mining - pay to dig site near Leadville Colorado

 

[KevinInColorado]

Vista Mining is a great idea. If they are closed for the winter season (as Cache Creek is), I can also recommend https://sites.google.com/site/coloradogoldexperience/ aka Goldstrike adventures.
Don and Ryan there run guaranteed gold adventures on historic gold creeks/rivers in metro Denver ...which is pleasant right thru the winter. Whether Vista or Goldstrike, I strongly recommend you go get a lesson on how to run that sluice. NO you cannot just dump a shovelful of dirt in the top of the sluice.

 

[rluckadoo]

Just moved to Colorado from the Carolinas. I am a registered geologist and have been gold mining/dredging/nugget shooting/prospecting pretty much all my life. However.....this is my first time in Colorado and am looking for some possible areas and folks to get out and prospect. I found this post in a search of the treasurenet site and wanted to jump in. My first love is dredging. I have a couple really good dredging claims in Siskiyou County Northern California that I used to spend 4-6 weeks dredging each summer. But since the moratorium, haven't been able to work them properly in a couple years. I am interested in joining a club that has some nice true dredging claims. Real underwater dredging claims. I own two dredges and all the equipment, diving gear, etc. that goes with them (4" Keene new over/under sluice and a 3" Keene Hibanker/Dredge combo). Just need somewwhere to put them in the water out here.

Also, when the weather is too cold for dredging, I love nugget shooting. Got a gold bug II and a Tesoro Lobo Supertraq. Any suggestions for areas open to prospecting where the gold size would be detectable would awesome, and would like to partner up with someone to go detecting if anyone is interested.

We literally just moved here (transfer with my employer). My belongings are still in SC and will be coming here mid-February as my company is putting me up in a Residence Inn until the big move. So, by early March, when we get settled in (Larkspur, CO) I will be ready to get out and try to find some gold. Any comments, suggestions, etc. to this post is greatly appreciated!

Look forward to hearing from you!

 

[UncleMatt]

Colorado is a big state, can you be more specific?

 

[KevinInColorado]

Welcome to CO! There is a lot of gold here but VERY little use for nugget shooting...keep the MD for finding pay streaks (magnetite) and trips to AZ, etc. There is a little MD nugget shooting on private claims...ask the guy who runs Colorado Gold Camp about that, I think he may have a claim to hit. CGC definitely has claims to dredge. You can also use your dredge in Clear Creek canyon on the Jefferson County Open Space...no paperwork, fees or anything...just follow their rules as there are rangers on patrol!

No dredging allowed in metro- Denver although we are working to improve that....fingers crossed.

Mine it and recycle it!

 

[Goodyguy]

Fine like flakes or dust? One thing I've been wondering is how slow do I need to feed my sluice? I feed about one huge heaping shovel full as fast as I can. It ends up piling real bad but eventually washes away. Do you go small hand shovel full at a time or does it really matter? I have a homemade sluice its 4' x 12" . Sorry for all the questions

12" wide sluice needs a faster water flow than a 10" and it's better to feed a sluice at a steady pace without overloading it at any one time. The real key is to classify the material being fed to as uniform size as possible. That way you don't have larger gravels knocking smaller gold loose from the sluice.

Run your +1/4" material separately from your -1/4" material. Adjust flow and angle accordingly.
Larger material requires faster water flow and more sluice angle than smaller material does.

GG~

 

[rluckadoo]

Kevin, thank you for the info! Looking forward to some CO prospecting very soon. That is what I thought on the nugget detecting. Most of the info I have been able to pull from the web on Colorado, says the gold is mostly small here, with a few exceptions. I will definitely check into the public dredging area. Wow! What a difference from the folks in California who don't even want you dredging on your own claims, much less open public ones! Unreal!!!

Thank you again!

 

[KevinInColorado]

A real pleasure...hope to meet you in the creek!

Mine it and recycle it!

 

[nuggetshooter323]

Welcome to the State of Colorado where the mining law of 1872 is still respected and the polititions have to say "pretty please" and then put it to a vote of the people before they even have a snowballs chance in hell of passing any taxes or "levies" as they like to call them, although who knows how long that will last. Whenever you like, PM me and I'll give you some areas and ideas for nugget hunting.

Kevin, thank you for the info! Looking forward to some CO prospecting very soon. That is what I thought on the nugget detecting. Most of the info I have been able to pull from the web on Colorado, says the gold is mostly small here, with a few exceptions. I will definitely check into the public dredging area. Wow! What a difference from the folks in California who don't even want you dredging on your own claims, much less open public ones! Unreal!!!

Thank you again!

 

[UncleMatt]

I had a friend of mine in the real estate business up in Durango, CO compile a complete listing of all mining claims currently for sale on the Western Slope in SW Colorado. PM me if you're interested.