Do You Own a Mining Claim or Do You Mine Gold?

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 suggest taking the following steps to increase your odds of hitting the motherlode…

First, if possible, spend a day walking your claim and locate your claim boundaries. It is a disaster to hit a hot spot only to discover you are on another guy’s claim.

If you’re seeking placer gold, survey in a grid and mark each site you take a small test sample. After you process the samples you will probably identify several ‘hot spots’ where you would set up your equipment. Alternately, instead of surveying in a grid you may want to focus on the desert washes taking test samples along regular intervals and carefully marking those locations. Collect at least a 5 pound sample from each site. Carefully run these samples. The results will be used to identify a good starting point for your placer operation.

If you are seeking lode gold you need to take rock chip samples from exposed outcrops. Carefully marking the samples and sites so that you can easily go back to them. Crush and then pan these samples, if free milling you will see fine gold in your pan and that is a great starting point. If no free gold is visible but you have a lot of sulfides in the pan you may need to send the sample off to a reputable assayer.

Placer or lode, by following these few simple steps you will definitely increase your odds of hitting a workable placer paystreak or a rich gold bearing vein.

If you are recovering a lot of black sands from your placer operation you might consider sending off a few pounds to an assayer. Magnetite often has fine particles of gold locked in and you might have been throwing away hi-grade cons.

Nearly 900,000 square feet is a very large area and carries a heck of a lot of dirt to move or rock to break. Why not take the time to make that discovery?

Our placer and lode claims have been tested and gold has been recovered. We do not waste our time and funds to survey in the corners, file paperwork and pay County and BLM fees if a claim does not prove itself gold bearing and valuable.

We welcome and will promptly answer any questions, please ask...

Steve Karolyi

Mine Finder Gold Team

(623) 374-5413