Bogus - probably not but certainly not a good deal. Never buy a pig in a poke.
The claims are less than a year old. The pictures were taken last year just after the claims were made.There has been no effort to prove the claims have any minerals. Some were made as recently as this January. These claims were obviously located just to sell them. Locating claims just for resale is illegal.
Prices of $7,000 and up are a joke for an unproven claim. A 20 acre claim costs about $240 to locate. The only value of an unproven claim is what it costs to locate. Several of these claims were "located" in the dead of winter last month.
Claims over 20 acres are offered for sale to individuals. There must be one claimant for every 20 acres. Transfer to a single individual will be challenged and the claim will be void unless you can scramble and find several other people who have an interest in mining that particular claim. I'll bet your "financing" doesn't depend on whether you still own the claim.
Lode claims for sale that obviously have no exposed mineral in place. Lode claims being offered as having placer potential. No real evidence the sellers even know the difference.
Main selling points are camping, cabins, streams, meadows and access. None of those things will belong to the buyer. The "cabins" are more of a PIA to the claim owner than the bonus they are being sold as. Lot's of luck trying to mine a meadow. A road through the claim just means you are going to be fighting off higraders. Lots of pans full of "gold" shown but no mining equipment in evidence.
There is an offer to go on a "prospecting adventure" with the seller "All mining equiptment supplied". Real claims should always be sampled alone. Never use the sellers equipment or let the seller "help" you sample the claim. This is a big red flag.
Is Travis Hollon a scam artist? Probably not. His Uncle Mark is, or used to be, Alan Trees partner in Dredge Builders Warehouse. Several of these claims for sale are Mark's. The seller not being a scam artist is not a selling point - it just means they will actually produce valid paperwork for the unproven claim.
Are these claims worth the asking price? Probably not. No one knows, including the seller, they haven't been proven. Unproven claims are just a hole in the ground that hasn't been dug yet. If you are fascinated by undug ground you might as well make your own claim just about anywhere. The price for your own claim is a lot less than the Hollon's are asking and the odds are about the same you will find gold. But you will only be out $240 - not $7,000 or more.
Never buy a claim based on pictures or the seller's pitch. Visit the claim. Go alone and do real sampling with your own equipment. If you can't pay for the gas from what you find on the claim in a day it's probably not worth buying at any price. There's lot's of land out there that won't pay gas - why pay someone else for your labor?
Great opportunity? No.
A great opportunity comes for the prospector when they discover a paying deposit and locate it. This is more like the "great opportunity" you get from the lottery - a one in 120 million chance not to lose your money. Unlike the lottery your "bet" is $7,000 or more. Not good odds in the world of mining.
Heavy Pans
