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Top 10 Gold Panning Locations in USA

Gold panning

Lode gold and placer gold can be found in almost every state in the United States, and to find that gold, try panning. Panning for gold requires the miner’s pan which is shallow and has sloping sides and a flat bottom and a shovel. The pan is used to wash possible gold bearing gravel or sediments and panning is the simplest and most economical method for mining gold. It is somewhat tedious, however but you can become proficient with practice.

To find the best gold panning locations it is a great idea to look up geological reports and maps.

1. Turnagain Arm district is a seaway area just south of Anchorage where there are many Alaska gold mines and placer operations. Panning for gold around the Crow, Palmer, and Sixmile creeks can be highly profitable with amateur prospectors finding small amounts of gold in almost every panning.

2. Gold panning locations in California include state park and recreation areas. Private claims cannot be panned and permission needs to be obtained from the California Department of Natural Resources to pan for gold on public lands.

3. Cochise County Arizona gold panning is found in the placer deposits of upper Gold Gulch. The copper mines of Copper Queen, Calumet, and Denn have by-products of gold and nuggets have been found in panning claims downstream.

4. Montana gold panning locations are located in southwestern Montana. Alder Gulch near Virginia City as well as gold mining investments in the Butte area has yielded high deposits of the gold. You can pan in Colombia River tributaries near Butte and gold yields have been recently recorded in this area.

5. Idaho has several current placer mining operations and flour gold has been panned in the dredging areas of the Boise Basin. The Salmon and Clearwater River areas are also good places try your hand at a gold sluice.

6. Pan for gold in southeast Oregon where steams drain from the Blue and Wallowa Mountains. Gold mines in the Sumpter Region on the upper Powder River as well as the Burnt River have recently yielded gold.

7. South Dakota allows panning on French Creek near Custer and on the Columbia and Snake River tributaries.

8. Eastern panning locations include those states that have streams draining from the eastern slopes the Appalachian Mountains.

9. In Beaver Utah you can see gold mining claims throughout the area. Non-claimed gold panning sites in the Fishlake area abound and are available for panning.

10. Jarbridge, Nevada has dozens of non-claimed gold panning locations and these are marked by the US Geological Services. There have been some substantial pannings in this area.

Gold mining is alive and well in the State of Alaska

Gold mines for sale in Alaska vary from placer mines to underground diggings. You can find information from the Alaskan Department of Mining in Juneau or follow leads on the web.

1. McCumber Creek includes three claims that are active and are listed in Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources. This claim has an average potential for economic prosperity and this site is ideal for dredging. Wash-plant mining is also an option. Gold is located in bedrock and in the streams. There is a livable cabin in the vicinity and the old workings of previous gold mines for sale are also available.

2. There are gold mining claims for sale in the Wrangell Mountains in Alaska and include a five acre home site surrounded by water. This gold mine for sale in Alaska is going for $580,000 and recreation gold mining is the main draw of this claim. Wonderful recreational possibilities.

3. One of the best gold mines for sale in Alaska includes the Pedro Dome Mine in the Fairbanks area. This has over $128 million of gold reserves on record and more probable resources are available. Three hundred acres with drill logs and exploration data are available and the site is production ready for hard rock mining. The asking price for this mine is $50 million. There is also 39,870 ounces of silver ore available for mining.

4. For investors in Alaska gold mines there are patented BLM placer claims that total 170 acres. One hundred and forty of these acres are available for mining and the entire property is located next to Nome. This is also a great potential investment in real estate.

5. In the Salcha River area, gold mines for sales in Alaska include 17.74 acres of a working mine. This sale of this mine includes dragline and dozers and other mining equipment and tools. Although this mine is in the interior of Alaska and somewhat difficult to get to without an airplane, the selling price is only $300,000K and the Bureau of Land Management has estimated that gold reserves are of high quality.

Gold mines in Canada near the Alaska border include active mines that began in the 1930s and are still producing valuable reserves of gold and silver ores. There are tremendous valuable mineral deposits in the area of the Northwest Territories of Canada and Alaska and recent diamond mines have been opened. Highly valuable gold and now diamonds make this remote area one of the richest mining areas in the world.