Do You Own a Mining Claim, or Do you Mine Gold? Each 20 acre mining claim, be it placer or lode; consists of nearly 900,000 square feet of exposed rock, alluvium or both. Today, we answer our most frequently asked question: Where do I start? Some folks drive out to their new claim, park their 3-bedroom, 2 bath RV, unload their equipment and start moving dirt or breaking rocks looking for gold. This method may work but we do not recommend taking such an expensive gamble. We su