south carolina gold

[mick jackson]

I have some pics of the micro gold im finding. Im gonna try and figure out how to post them.

[Caliche Chris]

Cool, I'd like to see what some gold from SC looks like

[Au Seeker]

Cool, I'd like to see what some gold from SC looks like

Most all gold from S.C. is very small, but it all adds up to big gold if you melt it down!!!

That being said I have seen some nice little nuggets that are from S.C., but they're rare unless it was dug from a deep vein.

[Bedrock Bob]

That dusty gold can make some really rich layers. It seems like the bread and butter is the dusty stuff in a whole lot of areas. I bet in New Mexico there is a hundred ounces of flour to every ounce of freckles. There are many rich placers where there is nothing larger than sugar granules but the daily cleanup is fantastic when you hit a concentrated spot.

Edited November 3, 2013 by Bedrock Bob

[mick jackson]

I cant seem to figure out how to post pics in here.

Edited: By Au Seeker to add photo, click photo to enlarge, Mick can elaborate.

[Caliche Chris]

Looks nice and yellow to me Mick! I love finding big pieces of gold as much as the next guy, but yes, it is nice when you have a good bit of the fine stuff built up. I wonder if the gold from SC and that area of the country is more or less pure than the stuff in the western states?

[Au Seeker]

Chris, most but not all of the gold I've encountered here in the east is 90% to 95% pure gold.

[Caliche Chris]

Hey that's awesome skip! Is it a real pain to mine over there? Or is it like here where anyone can get tools and find somewhere to dig, even if it's not great ground.

[homefire]

Yep, Flower fold is all over the place here in NM. Anything more then course salt is sort hard to find. Nuggets are Precious.

[Au Seeker]

Chris,

It's more restrictive to prospect here in the east, unlike the west where public land has always been and still is public land, in the east all "public" land is "acquired" land, meaning that it was private property until the government purchased the land to turn into National Forests and National Parks and therefore not the same as the real public land in the west, that's the reason no one can stake a mining claim in the east under the 1872 Mining Laws, you can however lease an area to operate a mining activity, but only in National Forests and after jumping through many hoops full of red tape, posting bonds, etc. very much like operating a mine on a mining claim in the west, but you have to pay the lease fee.

That being said you can prospect in National Forests, but with many restrictions, in some NF you can only use hand tools, no motorized equipment, and in other NF they restrict you too only a small trowel and pan, in some others, hands and pans only, meaning you have to dig the material with your hands, the last two scenarios means not even a small stream sluice can't be used, metal detectors are not allowed in most all if not all of the NF.

You cannot prospect in National Parks or most State Parks at all.

So that only leaves you with but a few options if you want to run dredge or highbanker, pubic access from a public road via bridge easements on Navigable Waterways and some small streams and only within the easement while in the stream, usually about 50' to 100' from the center line of the roadway, if you can get off the road to park without risking a ticket for parking there, next would be "Pay to Play" businesses on gold bearing rivers or streams, the only other option which is usually the best is to get permission from a private property owner to prospect on their land, and hopefully with permission the use a dredge and or highbanker, much of the land in many gold bearing areas are in the hands of private property owners.

There are numerous "gold clubs" across the east that lease private property for their members to prospect on.

[Caliche Chris]

Very interesting Skip, it does sound like a lot more goes into finding a spot to mine over there. I'm from Kentucky and most of my family still lives there. It's good to know when I go back there will still be some gold near me in case the fever gets to bad.