He predicted that panning and sluicing will work best for early explorers in June - once the water levels drop enough to “not have to worry about drowning.” Party like it’s 1849Īt the Placerville Hardware Store, Fausel said that he is trying to teach his customers some of the rules, so that “we can all keep doing what we’d like to do” in California’s strict regulatory environment.Īs treasure hunting season gets underway, Dayton said that he expects to see tourists flocking to the region “to get out and do something fun,” particularly since the price of gold is so high. That code of ethics advises gold seekers to “respect the country code,” as well as avoid trespassing, refrain from contaminating water supplies, fill holes, stay away from archeological monuments and report all finds to landowners. The Gold Country Treasure Seekers - a club in which Dayton is a member - stressed in a recent Facebook post that prospectors must abide by a “detecting mining code of ethics.” Most states require that markings be “conspicuous and substantial monuments,” such as stone mounds or wood or metal posts. Mining claims can still be “staked” for locatable minerals, such as gold, on public domain lands.īefore staking a claim, however, prospectors must check both federal records and markings on the ground for prior claims, according to the Bureau. There are more than 5,000 mining claims - for gold, silver, gemstones and other minerals - on California public lands today. citizens to explore, discover and purchase certain mineral deposits, per the Bureau of Land Management. Public lands administered by the federal government fall under the Mining Law of 1872, which allows U.S. You can only use your hands and a pan,” Dayton said, noting that this rule applies to most state park lands.Īt state parks, one person can gather only up to 15 pounds of mineral material each day, and such material cannot be sold or used commercially for profit, according to the Parks Department. “We call it hands-and-pans - that means you cannot use a shovel to dig. Sluicing, meanwhile, involves flushing a gravel-gold mix with water in a tilted box designed to trap the gold, which is heavier than the gravel.Ĭalifornia has a lot of region-specific regulations, however, with many areas only allowing panning. Sniping requires lying down in a creek bed and prying the gold piece by piece from the bedrock. He stressed, however, that he likes to “do it all,” including methods such as panning, sniping and sluicing. Over time, he explained, the quartz that was “down inside the Earth has made its way up to the surface,” furnishing this region with gold.ĭayton is a jack of all trades when it comes to gold prospecting, although he said that metal detecting is his professional specialty.
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