ModernMiner said:
Here's a great place to go to pan, and it will only cost you about $5 for the whole day:
http://www.huntforgold.com/thermalcity2.htm
My family and I had a blast there. It closed for the season though.
Good luck,
MM
I'd be leary of the tourist traps that aren't in the USGS database. NC has over 250 gold mines in the database, tho most have been abandoned and filled during road projects. None have been classified as major import.
MT Creek down the road from the Cotton Patch mine has never yeilded gold of any value, everyone tries there and goes back to the Cotton Patch.
Cotton Patch charges $12 per person to pan ore they dug and classified, this includes six 2-gal buckets of material to pan in their panning sheds. They also sell 5 gal buckets to take home for $20 per (your bucket) or $25 (their buckets). Visit the Store and purchase a .5g guarnantee bag of ore which includes a 12" pan for $30 (bag is about 10-20#).
The so-called "Lucky Strike" mine appears to be a tourist trap as it is not on the USGS mine lists and no mining information has ever been recorded.
The McCullough mine (renamed Northern State mine) is now state owned near Jamestown & High Point, they charge flat rate $6 a pan to use at their sluice setup. Not much gold found by tourists, but they have a nice mine tour and precious gems have been panned.
Serious gold prospectors and panners join the gold organizations for an annual fee to get discounts at perpetual digs and events held at the local mines.
The NC Gold list suggests prospecting sites for panning placer in rivers and streams below the active mines, most of the gold rates from .2 to 1 in the east, and prime as you move west. (The most valuable gold content increases as you travel west towards the Blue Ridge foothills).
You can add a Google Earth USGS overlay which will pop all of the recorded mines into your area of interest, save them in your favorites to check out as you travel! This is handy when you adjust altitude and viewing angle to fly over the areas of mountains an streams to prospect the areas.
Hope this helps,
PD
