Nuggets of News Blog 

Gold can hide down in the deepest part of a crack or crevice or behind a boulder and often is best reached with a hand dredge, also called a "sucker gun" or "suction gun." This gold prospecting tool is ideal for working below the water line when a motorized dredge cannot be used. It helps you get the gold out of some really tight spaces, a hand dredge is well, handy, when you're prospecting along a river. If you've found a rich spot that is hard to access, these two hand dredges can produce some decent gold! Also check out the many accessories that make your hand dredge even better!

X-Stream Hybrid Pro
The pump uses two leather cups back-to-back, attached to the plunger handle, to move material into the pump and out through the hose. When wet, these cups will seat in the barrel of the pump. When first using your pump, placing the leather cups in water for a few minutes will allow them to conform to the diameter of the pump barrel and work more effectively.

The check valves have white marks on the “top” side. For the system to work most effectively, these marks should be pointed upwards. The flappers in the pumps hang on hinges which work best when the hinges are at the apex of the flow.

Clamps are not necessary unless you plan to use the system in strong current and want to be extra cautious. For users in deeper water or stronger current, consider wrapping a leash around the lid and tie it off at your waist to prevent the bucket from breaking away.

Avoid moving overburden with the hand dredge. Cut into the heavy sand with a shovel, then use the X-Stream hand pump to remove the target material from the bottom of the area. Don’t press down into heavy sand, but rather just hover the nozzle at the top layer so it can get sand and water, and the experience will be smoother. Keep the bucket as low as possible so you’re not pushing material uphill to get to the bucket.

The plastic valves can freeze and break if freezing occurs while they are still filled with water. Keep the pump inside warm and dry areas while not using. More about the X-Stream Hand Dredge here.

Quick-Sniper

The Quick Sniper is a tool that uses some new ideas to help you collect the hard-to-get gold from heavy sands under boulders, in crevices, and behind obstructions. The “NOZZLE” of the Quick-Sniper is where the magic happens. Inside the nozzle is a short white plastic pipe that extends into the tube. This allows you to pump the handle four or five times before you need to take steps to collect sand and gravel. Instead of pulling the handle and then ejecting the material into a pan or bucket after each pull, the cavity created inside the tube will hold your heavies, allowing water and the lightest material to swirl out and go back into the water before you pull again. Shaking the pump gently will transfer the heaviest of sands and gravel deeper into the cavity. Then, after you have repeated this action a few times, pull off the cap and dump the contents of the pump into your pan or bucket. The flexible tube extending from the end of the nozzle is designed to pull out, allowing you to extend the reach of the tube about 4-5 inches. If this tube is sliding too easily, wrap some electrical tape around the inner end, and it will be more secure within the Quick-Sniper.

The leather cup inside the tube is designed to provide years of effective service. When  you are preparing to use the Quick Sniper, just soak the leather cup for 10-15 minutes in cool water, then insert it back into the pump for ready use. The top rim of the pump is rounded out so you can remove and replace the leather cup without damaging it. The cap is designed to remove easily so you can dump your material into a pan or bucket. Some people prefer the cap to be tighter, and this can be achieved by wrapping black electrical tape around the top of the pump body two times. The friction will keep the cap in place and will easily release the cap with a gentle outward “pop” of the plunger.  More about Quick Sniper here.

Over the years, metal detecting has continued to become one of the most popular forms of gold prospecting, especially with folks new to prospecting. Panning, sluicing, and highbanking can be lucrative ways to recover the shiny stuff, but when you’re first bitten by the gold bug, you might opt for the simplest, quickest approach — swinging a detector. Not only is it physically easier than processing heavy dirt and rock, it offers the added bonus of finding more than just gold, such as coins, jewelry, relics, and other buried metallic treasures, too.  Aside from record gold prices, another reason that people are eager to try metal detecting is because it gets you out of the house and away from crowds. It’s a fun hobby you can do with your family surrounded by fresh air!

The basic premise of metal detecting is allowing the detector to introduce an energy field into the ground, and allowing that field the opportunity to return any target information that it finds via the detector’s control box. The two most common types of metal detectors to consider:

VLF (very low frequency) metal detectors are the most common type of detector. They work by sending out energy that is either reflected off or conducts through an object containing metal. The device then measures how long it takes for the signal to return. Frequency refers to how fast a metal detector sends signals into the ground.  As the name indicates, these detectors use very low frequency coils (generally below 30 kHz.) The outer coil serves as the transmitter and the inner coil serves as a receiver.

PI (pulse induction) metal detectors send energy into the ground and measure the decay of that signal. Anything that slows or speeds the decaying signal is a target. This technology sends powerful, short bursts (pulses) of current through a coil of wire. Each pulse generates a brief magnetic field. When the pulse ends, the magnetic field reverses polarity and collapses very suddenly, resulting in a sharp electrical spike. This spike lasts a few microseconds (millionths of a second) and causes another current to run through the coil. This current is called the reflected pulse and is extremely short, lasting only about 30 microseconds. Another pulse is then sent and the process repeats.

Generally speaking, the higher the price of a metal detector, the more features it will have. More features translate into more knobs. The more features and/or knobs that a detector has, the more you are able to tune the metal detector to the type of hunting conditions that you are likely to encounter. With that being said, the downside to a large number of features is that even though you are able to fine tune the detector to match the local conditions, there are also more ways of setting up the detector incorrectly. Setting up a machine "wrong" may result in a decrease in depth and sensitivity and your $900 metal detector may be outdone by a $200 model!  It is critical to read the owner’s manual that comes with your detector and learn to use it properly for maximum results. Keep in mind when shopping for a detector that gold detectors are not necessarily higher in cost, but they are built with a higher sensitivity to detecting gold nuggets, have better ground balancing and discrimination abilities, and could be the best option for you.

The #1 question that everyone asks is “What is the best metal detector?”  Unfortunately, there is no one single answer. Each metal detectorist  has specific needs that cannot be met by one single detector. The easiest way to find the "best" detector is to evaluate YOUR detecting style, your experience level, what items you hope to find, and the time that you will spend metal detecting. After taking all of these things into consideration, then you will be able to find a metal detector that fits your needs and your budget.

If you’re wondering how deep a detector can detect, realize that there are too many variables to be able to unequivocally quote a depth for any particular brand or model. The size of the target, how it is positioned, ground mineralization, ground moisture, and more are just some of the factors that affect the depth of a detector.

When treasure hunting with your detector for  coins, relics, or jewelry, use your imagination as  to where to hunt — anywhere people are likely to have lost something or left something behind is a likely place to dig up good finds—playgrounds at schools and parks, picnic areas, campgrounds, new construction sites, ghost towns, old homesteads, woodlands, plowed fields and pastures, sports fields, showgrounds, and racetracks, swimming holes, beaches, jetties, and piers. Right under your feet might be a good place to start; you never know what you'll find in your own backyard! Remember to always know local laws  before using your metal detector. Many state and national parks and historic sites do not permit detecting. Be sure to first ask permission to treasure hunt on private property.

If you want to get out there this year and get your share of the gold but the idea of panning, sluicing, highbanking, or using another piece of gold mining equipment just isn't your idea of fun, that's OK. Consider a metal detector instead. Since the lure of uncovering a gold nugget of any size is addictive, you'll see people in known gold bearing areas swinging a detector, listening intently through their headphones for that magic tone that says DIG. Go ahead and join the fun! Today it is easier and more productive than ever to go treasure hunting. The metal detecting hobby has gone to a whole new level using state of the art technology that makes metal detecting equipment more high tech than ever.

Gold is gold, so there isn’t necessarily a better type of gold, however, mining for lode gold has many more challenges than mining for  placer gold. The formation of gold generally starts as a vein in rock. This is referred to as “lode gold” and is formed when molten rock in the earth’s crust heats groundwater under great pressure. In fractured bedrock with appropriate rock chemistry, super-heated water (hydrothermal) at approximately 400-700 degrees Fahrenheit dissolves certain elements and molecules from cubic miles of crust and transports them in a circulation loop. When this hydrothermal solution cools or chemically reacts with local rocks, the elements and molecules will come out of the solution and solidify (precipitate), forming ore deposits. The hydrothermal solution will begin precipitating on the sides of the opening and slowly fill the entire crack over time. This is how gold veins can form.  These geologic processes take place over millions of years, and can happen many times over many years in the same location.  Since the gold is locked up in rock, it is usually pretty hard to get to— usually requiring specialized mining techniques to mine and extract. Lode mining takes a lot more equipment and generally a lot more expense and is usually undertaken by large commercial operations instead of the average prospector.

Placer gold is the gold that most prospectors are more familiar with.  Placer gold isn’t really any different than lode gold. It is simply a concentration of gold that is created over time as it erodes from hard rock veins.  When exposed at the surface, a mineralized deposit will break down and erode due to reactions with oxygen, water and wind, coupled with temperature fluctuations. Since gold is very dense, it will move downhill much slower than the surrounding sediment. It tends to become concentrated on or near the surface of the lode, forming a “residual placer” close to the original bedrock exposure. Gold found downhill from the immediate outcrop above the nearest watercourse is called an “eluvial placer.” Once it reaches the nearest waterway and is transported by flowing water, the gold now forms an “alluvial placer.”  The origin of the dust, flakes and nuggets found by panning and sluicing is usually from a vein up on a nearby mountain.

An ore body is a mineral deposit that can be mined, processed and sold at a profit. All ore bodies are deposits. Few deposits are actual ore bodies. Valuable gold deposits in placers are referred to as “pay streaks” instead of ore bodies. Over time, eluvial and alluvial placers can become covered with sediment. When buried long enough and deep enough, these deposits will turn into “fossil placers.”  Sometimes the fossil placers are re-cemented into sandstone or conglomerate rock and then must be mined using hard rock techniques.

Hard rock ores have mostly fine to micro-fine gold in solid rock; placers contain fine to coarse gold particles in a softer bulk material or matrix. That makes placers much easier to mine and process. Moving soft soil or river gravel is obviously much easier than breaking rock. For small scale miners, though, a rock crusher can pulverize 2 or 3 inch sized rocks into powder in no time!  But for the average prospector, panning and sluicing will be more fun and more profitable, and as time goes on, you may wish to upgrade your mining efforts with a highbanker or power sluice, dredge or trommel. Good luck!

Depending on where you live and where you like to treasure hunt, you might still be buried under feet of snow. Or maybe spring has sprung and temperatures are on the rise there. No matter the weather, you probably have extra time on your hands this time of year, so put that time to good use. Even though you might not have been out in the field for the last few months, you can still be prospecting and getting prepared for a new season of gold hunting! In other words, use your downtime wisely, so you can hit the ground running as soon as Mother Nature allows.

Inspect equipment. Did you properly clean and store your sluice and/or highbanker at the end of last season? In advance of heading out into the field this year, make sure the pump still works and the matting is in good shape. Run water through all hoses to check for cracks or leaks. Are the riffles bent? What about the header box or hopper? Check bucket handles to see if they’re still sturdy. Do you have adequate sizes of classifiers and gold pans? Inspecting all the parts now and taking inventory will save time in the field later. Ongoing supply chain issues can cause delays, so order early if buying replacement parts or new equipment online.

Prepare your tools. Sharpen digging tools, picks, shovels, chisels and other specialty tools that require sharp edges. Now is also a good time to mark screwdrivers, magnets, crevice tools and other small implements with some bright colored paint. It’s amazing how easily tools can get “lost” in the dirt. A strip of bright yellow or red can help you more easily spot them. Double check the seals on snuffer bottles, hand dredges, and vials to make sure they’re tight. Pack your backpack or tool kit with everything necessary for a full day’s work.

Maintain your metal detector. If your metal detector is still under warranty or giving hints of potential issues, the off-season is ideal for sending it to the manufacturer or taking it to an authorized repair shop to be fixed or tuned up. Check your rechargeable battery and make sure it is fully charged. Better yet, purchase a new battery as a back up. It’s also time to dust off the operator manual or search YouTube for “how to” videos pertaining to your brand and model. You’ll likely uncover some helpful tips and tricks, or learn a new recovery method.  Is this the year to add a new coil or pinpointer? Now is a good time to consider upgrades and make those purchases earlier than you expect to use them.  

Do your research. The best kind of research brings together different forms of info from a multitude of sources. It is the info gleaned from combined sources that can help you to determine the best possible place to locate precious metal or gems— old mining district reports, mining history books, topo maps, aerial photos. Consult the Bureau of Land Management's LR2000 searchable database. The legacy system is undergoing upgrades; as the new systems is implemented, information will be easier to find. It can take a lot of time to research new areas, but when you find a new spot with good gold, it will be well worth your time and effort!  It’s also a good idea to have alternate sites in mind just in case you cannot access your primary sites due to unforeseen closures.

Whether you detect for nuggets, dredge, sluice, or pan for gold, advance preparedness during the winter and early spring will produce better rewards when the 2022 gold hunting season starts. Hit the ground running and avoid equipment malfunctions later by putting your spare time to good use now.

If you’re ready to head to a sunnier climate this winter to do some desert prospecting, understanding the weather and topography can add to your success. Before loading up and heading to the Southwest, only to be disappointed by bad weather, first check out the weather patterns for the last 60 days and the predicted weather for the next 30-60 days. Why is that important?  Well, it mostly comes down to rainfall— how much and how fast. For example, if there will be a lot of rainfall over an extended time, soils will be loosened and gravity will do its job and cause deeper, and sometimes more concentrated, pay streaks. In general, cool season precipitation (October through April) is the most extensive source of rain in the desert regions. Rainfall is more widespread and of relatively long duration during the cool season. On the other hand, warm season precipitation (May through September) results largely from convective precipitation in the form of short monsoon-type thunderstorms. 

There are three major desert areas that make up the American Southwest:

The roughly 200,000-square-mile Chihuahuan Desert stretches from the southeastern corner of Arizona across southern New Mexico and west Texas to the Edwards Plateau. It runs deep into central Mexico,The Chihuahuan Desert is the most moderate of the three deserts, made up of low and high desert regions and grasslands. It sees the most rain on a regular basis throughout the year with anywhere between 8-12 inches, and areas in New Mexico receive up to 17 inches per year. Unfortunately, because of the Chihuahuan Desert’s higher altitude in southern New Mexico, and the rain patterns there, winter prospecting is a real challenge, especially dry washing. October - March averages 2 inches of rainfall per month, with an average daytime temperature of 55 degrees, making it hard for the ground to dry throughout the season. The pay layer in the Chihuahuan Desert is most likely going to be deeper and more evenly distributed and more highly concentrated than in the Sonoran Desert, but there will be a lot of effort needed to stay on track sampling to find the richest pay layer.

The Sonoran Desert occurs primarily in Mexico. In the USA, most of it can be found in the southern third of Arizona, with small areas in southeastern California.The Sonoran Desert region of Arizona receives between 3-20 inches per year, but these numbers are skewed for the actual low desert gold-bearing region of the state. The Sonoran Desert encompasses a large section of high desert area, ending a few miles south of Prescott, Arizona, following a higher elevation line to the east and west. The normal rainfall in the lower elevation gold-bearing areas of Arizona averages 6 inches annually, all of which falls in about 30 days and includes the monsoons. Yuma is considered the driest area of the state with only 3 inches of rain on average.

The Mojave Desert is primarily in southeastern California and southwestern Nevada, with small portions extending into Arizona and Utah. It has a large amount of high desert elevations and has skewed numbers for the majority of the gold-bearing areas. Lowland areas at less than 1,000 feet elevation average 3.7 inches per year of rain, while Granite Mountain at 4,200 feet above sea level averages 8.5 inches annually. Rich pay layers have been found northwest of Barstow, California by testing and eliminating low to no pay overburden. This area is known for seismic activity with several earthquakes and aftershocks occurring west of the 117 degree meridian, which helps in concentrating gold.


When prospecting in the desert, it’s a good idea to test larger areas in compass headings— testing every few feet north to south to find highest values, then east to west of that spot. Doing so provides you with a line in the desert for further testing. Because of the extended days of rainfall in the Chihuahuan and most of the Mojave compared to the Sonoran Desert, you’ll likely discover a shallow and slightly more compacted layer of good material that is worth processing. However, this “pocket gold” layer can be directly above the really good pay layer you want. Finding gold and digging straight down without continued testing and sampling is not taking advantage of the forces of nature, especially that of water following the path of least resistance and taking the heavies along for the ride. In other words, don’t settle for just any pay layer— follow and use the over burden to get to the BEST pay layer!

If you are planning a desert prospecting trip far in advance, it’s a good idea to start checking weather patterns in April, which is when desert prospecting begins to wind down. That way you will be very prepared when the following fall and winter rolls around. That also gives you time to form a Plan B if the weather is not conducive to your Plan A. If you are a member of Gold Prospectors Association of America (GPAA), there are hundreds of opportunities across the Southwestern states to get on the gold at a GPAA claim. Knowing a little about desert geology is a great start to understanding more about the “why” and “how” gold deposits are formed. And weather is a key factor in knowing “where” gold settles after it breaks from the lode and residuals. Get out there and get your share! Good luck getting the GOLD!

Do you work on a small gold mining crew that’s relatively new to the mining world? Would you be happy to be filmed while you work?

Raw TV, the producers of the Discovery Channel's popular TV show GOLD RUSH -- starring Parker Schnable, Rick Ness, Fred Lewis and Tony Beets -- is looking for the next generation of gold miners to appear on a new TV show! Gold Rush is a reality television series that follows the placer gold mining efforts of various family-run mining companies, mostly in the Klondike region of Dawson City, Yukon, Canada. The show is in its 12th season as of 2021.

A producer at Raw TV in London would like to hear from miners who work on a placer gold mining operation based anywhere in the lower 48 states, Alaska, Yukon or British Columbia, who would be happy to filmed as part of a brand new TV show. The producers are looking for people who have been mining for at least one season and have a crew of at least three. You would need to have an existing camp set up with your own heavy equipment in place including wash plant, excavator etc.

If you, or anyone you know, might be interested, get more information and complete the online form before February 28, 2022 at: https://www.raw.co.uk/takepart/2387

Are you relatively green to the mining game and hungry for gold? Do you know any young guns out there who are mining? Or any old-time miners whose son or daughter is setting up their own small operation? If so, this just might be the fun opportunity of a life-time! Given the popularity of Gold Rush, numerous "aftershows" and specials and spin-offs have been produced that document behind-the-scenes action featuring additional footage, as well as studio interviews with miners and crew. Some of these spin-offs  include:

• Gold Rush: White Water series follows the "Dakota Boys"—Dustin and his father, "Dakota" Fred—as they mine McKinley and Cahoon Creeks in Haines Borough, Alaska, using an unconventional dredging method: diving into whitewater collection pools at the base of high country waterfalls.
• Gold Rush: Dave Turin's Lost Mine follows Dave Turin, formerly of the Hoffman crew, as he looks to start new mining operations at disused gold mines in the Western United States.
• Gold Rush: Parker's Trail followed Parker Schnabel on trips to other countries such as Guyana, Papua New Guinea, and Australia.
• Gold Rush: Winter's Fortune featured Tony Beets, Rick Ness, Dave Turin, Fred Lewis, and Dustin Hurt starting their off-season prospecting, scouting, and preparing for the 2021 season.
• Hoffman Family Gold is a new standalone series that will premiere in February 2022, focused on Todd Hoffmann's return to gold mining. It will take place 100 miles north of Nome, Alaska and will include his father, Jack, and son, Hunter.

As you can see, gold mining spin-off shows are plentiful and now might be YOUR turn to become a gold mining TV celebrity! If you, or anyone you know, might be interested, get more information and complete the online form before February 28, 2022 at: https://www.raw.co.uk/takepart/2387

Sluicing is one of the most popular gold-recovery methods, and a sluice box  is often a miner’s first purchase after a basic gold pan. There are many options to consider— riffles, matting, brands, and sizes.  You might want to stick with traditional z-riffle sluices with ribbed matting and miner’s carpet, try the new mini or vortex Dream Mats without riffles, or a combination of different types of miner’s moss. No  matter what you choose or upgrade to, sluicing techniques are fairly straight forward. The three main things to concentrate on for best gold capture are: proper selection and set up, material classification and processing, and monitoring. These three key steps will allow you to maximize gold recovery.

Proper Set Up.  This is by far the most important aspect of gold separation and recovery and includes angle, horizontal leveling, and water flow. Improper sluice angle is probably the most common error most miners make. The old rule of thumb of setting your sluice to “one inch per foot” is just a starting point and can result in too much water velocity. Too much water leads to improper breakdown and separation of heavy concentrates and material moving through the box too quickly, which can mean loss of fine gold. A Sluice Setter Digital Pitch Gauge can help, and so can focusing on water velocity instead of just the angle. Try the “one second per foot” method. Measure 12 inches down your sluice and mark that spot. As you feed material into your sluice using a side-to-side motion, count “one thousand one.”  Your material should be passing the 12 inch mark as you finish that count. If it needs to be faster, increase the rear angle. If it needs to be slower, decrease the rear angle. As material travels down the sluice, be sure you are utilizing the entire capture area. If material is being forced to one side or the other, leaving one side clogged with too much material, while the other side is not processing at all, it could mean the sluice is not properly leveled horizontally.

Material Classification and Processing.  In order to capture small gold in quantity, finer classification is usually necessary, even though it’ll take more time to do so. Processing speed and the volume of material to put into the sluice (by hand or by scoop) must be matched to the volume and velocity of the water. If too much material is introduced into the flow, the water velocity will slow down causing the sluice to back up and lose gold. Gradually add smaller amounts of material to the flow using a wide scoop.

Monitoring Your Sluice.  When using stream flows, you are bound by the characteristics of that waterway—water speed, depth, and the ability to change your sluice angle. Mechanical flow is not limited by nature since you can control it. But no matter who is controlling the water (you or Mother Nature) monitor two factors while running gold-bearing material: how the sluice is processing the material, and the capacity of your sluice. How much can the sluice hold before it loses the ability to separate heavy materials and capture gold? If you see movement of heavy material down the sluice or movement of captured gold, it’s time to remove your sluice from the river, clean it, and reset it. When processing difficult material, set up a regular cleaning schedule so you don’t lose gold.

Applying these three main techniques while sluicing — proper selection and set up, material classification and processing, and monitoring — will allow you to adapt to changing conditions no matter the type or brand of sluice box you prefer. And remember that old saying "practice makes perfect" — using the same gold-bearing paydirt over and over again means you can learn these techniques and tips much quicker and recover more gold!

Millions of viewers admit that their guilty pleasure is watching the TV show "Gold Rush" on the Discovery Channel. Every Friday night for over a decade now, viewers have been enlightened and entertained by Gold Rush, Bering Sea Gold, White Water, and a couple of newer shows— Dave Turin's Lost Mine and Freddy Dodge's Mine Rescue.  Although they’re off the air now, Under the Ice and Jungle Gold also captured  attention a few years back. Aussie Gold Hunters is also interesting, and takes place in Western Australia.

Thanks to these reality TV shows, you’ll get to know more about Parker Schnabel, Rick Ness, Tony Beets, Dakota Fred, Emily Riedel, and Shawn Pomrenke than your own next door neighbors! And the scenery just can’t be beat either. Whether it’s the wide open spaces in Montana, Colorado and Arizona, or the snow-covered mountains of Alaska and the Yukon, the mining locations are nothing short of spectacular. Who wouldn’t want those views from their workplace every day?!

Reality television can be a compelling and very influential form of entertainment. It shows real people, real experiences (with some “Hollywood” thrown in) and viewers somehow relate to them, especially to the “stars” you either love or love to hate. The challenges of inter-miner-relationships that unfold in front of the viewing public can remind you of your own family dynamics, too. That being said, can you actually LEARN anything VALUABLE about gold mining by tuning in?

The answer is YES — especially when things go wrong. Seeing how a “gold guru” solves problems can teach all of us a thing or two about dealing with equipment failures, bad weather, uncooperative government agencies, and team dynamics.  Although you may never run 300 yards of material an hour at your own mine site, if a belt tears, you can get a basic understanding of how to fix it thanks to the various repairs you see being performed by the crews on TV. Muddy water running over your sluice? Watch how the experts evaluate their pump and settling pond to get clear water flowing again. Finding gold in your tailings? Maybe the water flow is too fast or the riffles aren’t deep enough and gold is being washed out. When you see a miner stuck in the middle of nowhere without a replacement part, you just might remember to take along extras on your next trip. You’ve probably struggled with the pitch on your highbanker, and had to rely on duct tape a time or two. The celebrity miners face the same challenges, only on a much larger scale. And no matter who you are, some days you just don’t find gold, or perhaps not enough to pay for your fuel and other expenses.

Perhaps the most important lesson to take away from these TV shows is about pivoting. If the ground or stream you’re working doesn’t produce, despite the time and trouble you’ve already invested, re-think your strategy. Another valuable nugget you can take away from reality TV gold shows is preparation.

Do your research first.  Successful miners don't just go out and find a random chunk of land and start digging. They review geological maps, talk to experts and test soil samples first. Before they start they already have a pretty good idea that they will find gold where they dig. They just don’t know how much they’ll find and how much effort and time it will require to get it out of the ground. The Bureau of Land Management’s new Mineral Land Records System (MLRS) is a geospatially enabled online land information system that allows miners to more readily research land status, discover mining claim activity, file new claims, pay fees, and more. And don’t forget good old-fashioned library research, too.


Plan for repairs. The heavy equipment used for gold mining includes bull dozers, dump trucks, and wash plants. The miners have teams of people that have the expertise to run and repair the equipment. Much of the drama on the Gold Rush shows occurs when their equipment breaks down.  Even if all you are using is a shovel, stream sluice, and gold pan, you can’t find gold if your equipment is not up to snuff. Take extra sluice box matting and a few sizes of classifiers and pans on your next trip. If you just bought a Gold Cube or Desert Fox spiral panning machine, for example, set it up and learn to use it at home first. Become familiar with how a metal detector works before you try and use it in the field.

Be productive.  Gold miners generally have a short season in which to find gold. They start when the ground thaws or the ice melts, and their season ends with the first winter snow. Consequently, they must make every minute count. Your operation might not be 24 hours per day, 7 days per week like on TV, but if you get the research done during winter down-time, you can hit the ground running in the spring and summer.  If you test your equipment before you use it for the first time, you won’t be slowed down by surprise repairs quite as often.

Gold mining is a challenge, but as long as you’re reasonable with your expenditures and your expectations, it’s a heck of a lot of fun in the great outdoors. And it also gets you off the couch… just remember to record those reality shows so you can watch them at a later date when you’re not out in the gold fields "making it happening" as Gold Rush’s Tony Beets likes to say!  Good luck!

A brief description of the Discovery channel’s most popular gold shows:

Gold Rush.  The series follows the placer gold mining efforts of various family-run mining companies, mostly in the Klondike region of Dawson City, Yukon, Canada.   Parker Schnabel, Rick Ness, and Tony Beets are the celebrity miners we’ve watch for 11 seasons.


White Water.  Back where their gold-mining adventures began, `Gold Rush' alumni Dakota Fred and son Justin persevere in the face of long odds, risking their lives for a fortune they may never realize. Assisted by a team of intrepid divers, mountaineers and bush mechanics, the Dakota Boys explore the white water rapids of McKinley Creek in Alaska, diving deep in raging torrents with a suction dredge. Not only could one wrong move prove deadly, but the guys also face wild animals, extreme temperatures and hypothermia.

Bering Sea Gold.  The gold rush in Alaska isn't confined to the state's precious ground. It's taking place on the sea ... or more accurately, on the bottom of the frigid Bering Sea. This series follows several gold dredges of all shapes and sizes, and their eccentric and driven crews who risk their lives to find as much gold as possible before winter sets in and it's too dangerous to dive.

Dave Turin's Lost Mine. Dave Turin spent years working alongside Todd Hoffman, earning the nickname `Dozer Dave' because of the many hours he spent bulldozing for gold. In this show, Dave is his own boss, and he's on a mission to find an abandoned mine to resurrect in the hope that old-timers left gold behind. He explores the history of each mine, a search that culminates in Dave picking the one that he can turn into newfound riches.

Freddy Dodge's Mine Rescue. A gold mining veteran with more than 40 years of mining under his belt, Freddy Dodge has earned the name “Gold Guru.” In each episode, Freddy “rescues” various small-time mining operations. He reveals hard-earned practical knowledge about where to look for gold as well as perfecting the miners’ equipment and techniques. He is joined on the show by expert mechanic and former Gold Rush miner Juan Ibarra.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is responsible for managing approximately 245 million acres of Federal surface estate and 700 million acres of subsurface mineral estate. In the past, miners would have accessed the BLM’s Legacy Rehost system, commonly known as LR2000, to do research. While helpful, that system was also frustrating to use, so you’ll be happy to know that LR2000 has been decommissioned and the NEW Mineral Land Records System (MLRS) has taken its place.

MLRS is a geospatially enabled online land information system that allows miners to more readily research land status, discover mining claim activity, file new claims, pay fees, and more. Signing up for a MLRS account is useful if you have business with the BLM involving mining claims. MLRS is free to use, and there are no additional fees to create an account.When you sign up for an MLRS account, you get access to several useful tools that will enhance your BLM experience— file and manage your claims, receive real-time status updates, access advanced mapping tools, and interact with the BLM online.You should register with MLRS if you are a:

• Recreational miner
• Small mining business owner
• Large mining corporation employee
• Mining association member
• Person who is interested in bookmarking research maps or saving your search results

Your account type is determined by your needs.

• Create a personal account if you own your claims as an individual and will be the only user within the account.

• Create a business account if your claims are owned by a business, you plan to add employees to the account, and/or you will be using a business email.

As the capabilities of MLRS grow in the future, an even wider range of mission-critical BLM services and products such as permits, leases, rights-of-way, the ability to provide electronic signatures on documents, and more will be available. In the meantime, check out the new system that offers state-of the-art mineral and land records transactions, tracking, and mapping. With the new system, you’ll get your research done much faster than using topo maps, and that means more boots-on-the-ground prospecting time this summer!