Finding Gold via Metal Detector (Anchorage, Nome: RV park, lease, how much)

[dietrich2424]

Good morning guys/gals.

My question is to anyone with a knowledge of gold hunting in Alaska.

1.) How effective do you think it is to visit old abandon mine's in Alaska to go over their tailings with a metal detector (This is a high quality detector not a $300 model.)

2.) Is Northern Alaska the best? including NC, NE, NW. Do you guys know of any restrictions, rules, place I can look up this data. Im assuming SE is pretty good too.

3.) Are their alot of abandon mines within driving distance of Anchorage, maybe a couple of hundred miles maximum?

Any information you could supply me would be greatly appreciated and thank you again for taking the time to read my first post!!!!

Chris

[hogfamily]

Due to the high gold prices there are few places in Alaska that you can hunt for gold that are not already claimed. And don’t dare get caught gold hunting on a claim, you may get shot or put in jail for claim jumping. (Not kidding about this!)

Your best bet is to go to one of the public recreation, GPAA claim, (need to be a member), or mine for a fee place such as Chicken Gold Camp, Crow Creek Mine, or if you have a lot of money Gains Creek or the GPAA operation near Nome.

BLM: Alaska Recreational Gold Panning and Rockhounding

THE HISTORIC CROW CREEK GOLD MINE Girdwood, Alaska

Chicken Gold Camp, Chicken, Alaska: RV Park, Cabins, Caf, Gold Mine & Dredge

Ganes Creek, Alaska :: Home Page :: Clark-Wiltz Alaska Gold Mining


Here is a good site for prospecting info:

AMDS Adventure Forum

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by dietrich2424

Good morning guys/gals.

My question is to anyone with a knowledge of gold hunting in Alaska.

1.) How effective do you think it is to visit old abandon mine's in Alaska to go over their tailings with a metal detector (This is a high quality detector not a $300 model.)

2.) Is Northern Alaska the best? including NC, NE, NW. Do you guys know of any restrictions, rules, place I can look up this data. Im assuming SE is pretty good too.

3.) Are their alot of abandon mines within driving distance of Anchorage, maybe a couple of hundred miles maximum?

Any information you could supply me would be greatly appreciated and thank you again for taking the time to read my first post!!!!

Chris

The best places to ask for such questions are at mining and metal detecting forums. There are a couple of forums in Alaska, but you will have to search for them.

That said, in order for you to metal detect in Alaska you have to get permission to do so. The problem is that most of the land belongs to the Federal Government, the State, and the Alaska Native populations. In a lot of these areas one has to be very careful, since they aren't open to the public. However, there are areas that are open to the public after you have attained the required permits. Other areas are already staked-out, and you just can't go out there and start detecting. Besides, with the high price of gold, you won't find very many placer mining parcels that are free for claiming.

And yes, the best metal detectors are very expensive, and it seems that Minelab has a market corner in that respect. But I would recommend that you ask your questions at an Alaska gold forum (detecting/mining).

[RayinAK]

You can start here:

Prospecting Information Index

[stiffnecked]

Minelab for PI detectors and White's MXT for VLF detectors. Depending where you go in Alaska you may need both. Depends on the mineralization of the soils. Where are these abandonded gold mines you speak of??

Info here:

AMDS Prospecting Forum

[ZBs]

The gold here is mostly in rock and has to be mined professionally. I would go to Australia.

[hogfamily]

Originally Posted by ZBs

The gold here is mostly in rock and has to be mined professionally. I would go to Australia.

Really?

[4theluvofgold]

Nice relayed pictures. I suppose this is where I would excel to answer hence my name.

Use Alaska Mapper, it is a browser based program made by DNR (Department of Natural Resources)

Become familiar with it and learn it. It will be your guide on what is taken and what is not, gives land statuses like state, federal, parks, leased, claimed and so forth.

Many miners focus on the pure Placer aspect of their claims. Many wouldn't mind if you detected but with a split/fee stipulation. On placer claims I work I get 60 to 85% of the gold by weight. The remainder is the fee.
If you network and make the proper connections it is definitely doable project as most placer miners work their known equipment. You can make deals to detect benches above where they are working, their tailings to inspect recovery. But you must be serious and have the proper equipment to even be considered to do this.

2 Metal detectors would be best. One type is Pulse Induction. These are the pricey ones that get the larger pieces deeper. They have plenty of knobs and is only as good as the operator of it.

VLF are the ones that can detect smaller gold but not as deep as the PI.

There is my starting suggestions.

[dietrich2424]

Thank you all, you guys are awesome and honestly this is the most information forum for a state thats on here. Keep up the good work.

[Dakster]

This city slicker has a question. How much gold is on the rocks and what is the method used to separate the gold from the rocks in the above pictures?

I am assuming that in Alaska you cannot use mercury to do it...