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Howdy all, I went to this site https://mapper.dnr.alaska.gov/controller?do=load_map&map_id=21679#map=4/-16632245.12/8816587.34/0 and it shows what it determines are Public Claims all along the beach, up and down Nome. Some are Alaska Native Holdings LLC, others have names in them. My question is... are these private claims to the BEACH? or is this for offshore dredging. It says the north boundry on many of them are the "Mean High Tide" level to a point offshore depending on the size. Does this stop normal guys like me from legally being able to go out and high bank beach sands in those areas? Any help on the subject is grateful. Let me know if my question is unclear and I can try to be more detailed. I'm kind of new at looking into Nome AK and may want to head that way in a couple years. Will

I’ve been to Nome before and the lower part of Alaska but never been to AKAU Resort. The last time I went to Alaska I put over 12 thousand miles on that cargo van before I got home. I know a while back someone said they were going sometimes this year to this resort but I’m hoping someone has been there on here before. Of all things my wife is telling me I need to go but when I ask if she is going to pay for it she says you got the money. You would think if she really wanted to get me out of town she should be willing to fit the bill. Please let me hear from you if you been there . Chuck

I’m up visiting my old shop in Alaska. We are doing a massive expansion of the mining department into its own building. The idea is to create a mining and metal detecting superstore. The doors are actually open but the reality is we are still stocking up, doing the signage, and just generally getting ready for the busy season that starts in April. It’s close enough now though and since I’m here I thought I’d give you all a preview of all the neat toys on display. Scott Posey, Mining Manager AMDS Mining Superstore 3032 Commercial Drive Anchorage, AK 99501 907-277-1741 mining@akmining.com https://miningsuperstore.com/

These photos are some I've never seen. Enjoy and tell us of your Alaska experiences. Photos show the race for Alaska's gold over 120 years ago (msn.com)

Hey all. We are recreational gold miners in Alaska. We have a small YouTube channel with some videos of our exploits. It’s been a journey. We are just getting started for the year and still waiting to access our main claims. Two Dudes One Dredge Channel https://youtube.com/channel/UCoPsZnjywJ9hQjJ9r283w5g

First time post here. I purchased a new Keene 6” dredge last year and got the 4gal reserve air tank. I’m thinking that this season my partner and I will both be in the water. One as a support rock mover and the other dredging. Last year we only ran one diver. If we add another airline we need to get a bigger reserve tank and that goes to the Keene 9gal. Anyone have experience with running two divers and is the 9gal mandatory? Can you run two small tanks if you split it right out of the compressor? Can I just have a stainless 9gal tank made locally without paying the Keene premium? here is a link to our channel and what we are all about. https://youtube.com/channel/UCoPsZnjywJ9hQjJ9r283w5g

I always wonder what happens to the really cool finds that people have... so this is kind of a interesting read and if you hurry a chance to get a really cool Opal🙂 Alaska Premier Auctions

I saw this video posted by Chicago Ron about his visit this summer to the AKAU operation in Nome. From YouTube: “1 week trip to Nome Alaska with 7 other hunters. We tried everything they had. 2 days working the slick plate, groups of 2 for half a day. High banking and panning, and lots of detecting tailing piles that had been pushed with a dozer. Mike got the find of the trip with a 7.93 ounce specimen worth well over 20K. I had the most nuggets with 7 and we all got gold and had a blast! Already planning the return trip End of July 2022” Nome Alaska Gold Hunt August 2021 Warning Adult Language!

I also am back from Alaska, although its from a different part of the state than Steve was in. I am back from Gold King Creek, about 50 miles south of Fairbanks. It was quite an adventure. They run an operation for tourists as well as running a regular commercial scale operation at the same time. I did metal detecting and shoveled gravel into a highbanker. Shoveling gravel is taxing and with my back still only at about 90% from my car accident, after a couple weeks of shoveling all day my back was in sore shape. I balanced off shoveling by metal detecting. I found 179 pieces of gold while I was there, but the total weight for all my detected gold was only 5.2 grams. The gold from Gold King is small (as is common for many Alaska placers). Now don't get me wrong, I had a ball detecting all of those 179 pieces, and there are a few rare larger bits in the area. One lady found a nugget of about 3.5 grams before we arrived with an SDC 2300 - very unusual. I think the biggest the commercial operator got while I was there was about a gram, and that is from 65 ounces he produced in the two weeks I was there. My biggest was about 0.2 grams, and average for the 179 pieces was about 0.03 grams. That's a testimony to the sensitivity of the GM 1000. I did get some good gold by shoveling into the highbanker also. The gold does not occur on a real bedrock but on a hardpan of deep clay, real bed rock is 180 feet down and likely has no significant gold ( based on where the gold is coming from). Overall, I think it was a big success, I really enjoyed myself, the folks who went in with me had a great time, and I got to meet a lot of new folks, including some of the staff who were avid detector prospectors from Arizona. On trying to depart, I got stuck there for a day by low fog - which prevents planes from flying in. Very normal for an Alaskan prospecting adventure. I've now taken care of the things I need to do for the ICMJ magazine and am getting back on track to take care of all the other things that go with life here in the lower 48. There will be an article in the ICMJ on it with a lot more detail for those who subscribe, and I have a video about working on hardpan or false bedrock on my Youtube channel.

Last weekend I made the drive from Anchorage up to the Taylor Highway and past Chicken to the Jack Wade public gold panning area. Look up Steve’s excellent posts on the area for more descriptions and pictures of nuggets, no gold on my trip. It’s still pretty early so Chicken wasn’t even open yet and some ice shelfs were still along sections of the creek. Got great weather, just some passing downpours but in a T-shirt with no mosquitos most of the time. I did take waders to cross the creek,as it was running a little high with snowmelt. This was the first trip I dedicated a lot of time as a serious search for gold and was just as much about learning the detector. Mostly I have worked beaches, campsites, a few roadsides, so I know it can find the tiniest bits of melted aluminum can, bullets and coins. As expected I dug a lot of trash, but I did find some interesting nuggets that are definitely not gold. Most are iron based, magnetic, but a couple look very noduly, and one is not magnetic. The others are probably just rusted bits of iron. There were some sparkles I thought might be pyrite but I think is just dust from the surrounding shist as even the nails and bits of wire sparkle under the right light. Take a look at the pics and see what you think, maybe just welding or torch cutting remnants. They were all in the same area. The area has been heavily worked by detectorists with lots of dig holes around. Equally lots of unexplored tailings but many so overgrown that swinging a detector is impossible. I put in about 16 hours of exploring and detecting on the tailings. Covered a wide variety of terrain and tailings, new, old, tall, short, and along some bedrock sections. On to the Equinox: I tried both Park 2 and the Gold 1 settings. Obviously, my ear is not tuned to the Gold 1 program, it was providing way more chatter than I could process, even with sensitivity turned down to 15 or so. I would have turned it down more but I could run in Park 2 at 20-22 sensitivity and thought I may miss more in Gold 1. I was using the 11” stock coil. Is it normal to have to run at a much lower sensitivity in the gold modes? Most of the time I ended up running in Park 2 with -7,-8,-9 turned off, which may have been a mistake. With how worked the area is, the best chance is probably digging all the iron and hoping for a nugget that might be masked by the trash. In one area I did have some trouble with hot rocks, they would sound as a fairly small but round 12 with iron nearby but after digging out would end up as a -6 hot rock. Was curious why it read so high. All in all a great trip. No gold, and not much wildlife but got a nice shot of a Short-eared Owl on the drive out the Taylor Hwy. Photos of finds, handful of magnetic nuggets, close up of the non magnetic nugget (maybe lead or silver?)

Year #2 of Covid is shaping up to be worse than #1 so I have decided to go mining/prospecting which should use up the rest of my cash reserve. The question is where do I go? I can't really afford to do the typical tourist areas and can't afford anything like a Gaines Creek trip. So this leaves me tied to the road system. What is the best choice, look for unclaimed spots? Try to find someone who will let you work their claims? Hit the public areas? There are millions of yards of tailings, does everyone expect you to get permission to detect something dredged in the 20s? Once you get out there and see something you want to hit you would have to go back to where you have internet and try to find if it still has a valid claim and try to call the owners, I would never get anything done. I have VLF detectors if nugget hunting is possible but need a PI to cover hotter spots. I have a Proline 2.5 in combo highbanker and plenty of pans, sluices, tools etc. Want to try Chicken Area and Petersville, Should we look North of Fairbanks as well or someplace else? Stay home and detect tot lots? ww

The Secretary of the Interior is releasing 9.7 million acres of previously closed federally administered Alaskan land to prospecting and claiming. The land rush begins February 18th. Read all about it. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/01/19/2021-01111/public-land-order-no-7899-partial-revocation-of-public-land-orders-no-5169-5170-5171-5173-5179-5180 Is it cold in Seward in February? 😶

Hello all! First of all, I just wanted to publicly say thank you to Steve and the rest of the members on this site. Although this is my first post, I have been using the wealth of information gathered from everyone here for a while now. It's that time of year up here in Alaska where the days are dark and the memory of summer seems like a distant past. To cure my deep seated winter time blues and my sense for adventure, I decided to check out a spot I have been wanting to try for a while now, but let the myriad of summertime activities get in the way. But perhaps the real underlying driving force for this trip was my new highbanker waiting patiently in the garage to process dirt. Whatever the REAL reason, I looked at the forecast and saw a balmy 26 degrees forecasted and knew it was time to shine. So I drove North of Anchorage with my back country cross country skis (say that ten times fast) in tow, looking forward to a day out in the back country. I have found that if my main objective is to get out and enjoy the outdoors with a side chance of pay dirt, I am rarely if ever disappointed. And this day was no different. I arrived and strapped on the skis and my touring sled and set off into the snow. I quickly found out that hauling equipment by skis should be an Olympic event. The powder was easily three feet deep and probably pushing on four, making me earn every "stride". In reality, the snow was so deep and the sled so heavy that my skis weren't gliding at all, but being used more like elongated snowshoes, trudging through the snow. But the temperature was warm and snacks aplenty, so I trotted along the creek ahead encountering open water in places and crossing precarious snow bridges at times in order to make my way along. Just around the moment where I realized that I may be in for more of a workout than I intended, I had arrived. Located a few miles downstream was a section of the creek forced into a ninety degree bend by an outcrop of ancient gold bearing glacial till. During the summer months this "creek" (creek only in name) produces too swift of a current to properly explore this bend. But thanks to mother nature, winter freeze up reduces this section to a little more than a shin deep trickle. (The section of glacial till forcing the creek into a perfect ninety degree bend. The creek erodes alongside this till and prevents any debris from accumulating at the base.) (The creek encountering the glacial till and being turned at a sharp ninety degree angle, causing a major drop in water velocity.) As I considered this to be more of an exploratory trip on skis I had left my waders at home, preventing me from properly getting out in the channel. What I settled for instead was balancing myself on the edge of the ice as close as possible (not recommended) and shoveling a few scoops of dirt from the pool formed at the base of the till and into my bucket from the area that I could reach. Realizing that I had all that skiing back left to do, with darkness quickly advancing, I hurriedly filled half a bucket from mostly surface gravels and raced the darkness back to my car. Now for the fun! With dirt in hand and back home in the comforts of a heated garage, I was ready to test out my new 6 inch highbanker. Now let me preface this with some information. This highbanker is not meant to be loaded into a vehicle and dropped off at your spot of choosing. This highbanker is made to tear down and fit inside your pack and hiked into your spot of choosing. Weighing in at only six pounds, this highbanker fits a niche group for those wanting to pack out their operation on foot. And let me tell you what, I am extremely excited to do just that this summer with this bad boy. Made by Gold Rat Engineering out of Australia, this highbanker tears down to nuts and bolts and runs off of a 2,000 GPH electric bilge pump. Coupled with a lithium ion battery (less weight), you can have this set up packed out in the backcountry at 10lbs. While I realize that using an ultra lightweight 6 inch backpack highbanker out of your garage is like using a Ferarri to drive to the corner store, that's exactly what occurred. Running the half bucket that I brought back, the highbanker took it in stride and I soon found myself wishing that I had brought more back (the soreness in my quads reminded me otherwise). I panned out the concentrates from the lower mat (which can be detached and not brought into the field, making it even smaller and lighter) and found it LOADED with black sand. But not a single speck of gold. (The highbanker uses a matting called the Dream Mat) Feeling a little disheartened I ran the top mat, not expecting much after the lower mat didn't produce. Again, LOADED with black sand. And as I panned it back, gold! Now I realize it's not much (it was only half a bucket and ten minutes of digging in all fairness) but what I was really impressed with was the capture rate of the highbanker and the fines of the gold it was able to capture. Some of this stuff was the definition of fly poop. And for it to capture all of that in the top mat without any getting to the lower, I'll take it. So overall, I am extremely happy with this new highbanker and look forward to using it this summer out in the backcountry of Alaska. I am happy with the quick results of the spot I tested out. With a little more effort I believe it will produce some decent results. Once it hits 33 degrees I am taking the highbanker out there to really run some dirt. (Although a suction dredge would be the best tool for this location). But the biggest takeaway was being able to shake the wintertime blues, enjoy the outdoors, and remind myself that springtime prospecting isn't as far off as it sometime feels. Once again I want to thank this community for the knowledge and expertise you all have shared and hope that my short trip report reminds everyone that better panning days are ahead (looking at you 2021). Happy New Years, -Brandon

I am headed to Alaska next month with both of my equinox detectors. I am flying into Fairbanks and want to do some detecting and panning. The last time there we did some panning and believe it or not we panned . 26 ounces of gold. Not in one day of course but in several creeks North of Denali. This time we plan on panning, detecting and fishing. I am also driving the Dalton Highway to the end of the road if possible. A bucket list Item. I have driven coast to coast to the farthest point in NE Maine to the coast of CA and I been to the end of the road in Key West. Now I want to drive to the farthest point north in Alaska. Are there any good gold panning spots along the Dalton highway or any suggestions where to pan or metal detect in the Fairbanks area

There is photos of two stampeder sites, very hard to spot now but the little outhouse pits are important to finding them. They cut trees to make their huts and thats one of the things i look for 100 yr old stumps....Everything has reverted back to pretty much of a natural state

Last sunday took a great ATV trip to a lake about 26 miles from our town, the 98 stampeders took this route from Valdez to the Klondike. There are many campsites along this trail so before the leaves come out and hide the sites i tagged along with this group to check on some new locations. Rough trail, nice lunch and had a fun time...Should have had an IPhone many years ago.

Here is a report from Pogo, Alaska. Maybe Steve can tell us about it. I don't think we'll be headed there with our metal detectors but I find some of the numbers in the report interesting. There is a poured bar there where it is stated that it is the 4 millionth ounce of gold from that mine. These things just begin to boggle my brain and I go back to thinking about those 'olympic swimming pools' of gold that say how rare gold is. There just has to be more gold and now that the price is up it will be pouring out of the ground even more because some costs are way down (fuel) and the price is up so get that stuff to market miners! https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/story/2020/05/01/news-nuggets/covid-19-protocols-limit-pogo-gold-output/6267.html The writer of this story and the publication are worth a read while some of us are still locked down. Mitchel

Looking for tips on detecting tailing piles... I have the Equinox 800 and the Minelab 5000. and a lot of trashy tailing piles to detect !!! 🤠 _________________________________- BTW----- Looks like we are running low on masks 😷 and gowns here in LA--- but we will survive-- Vets have been exposed to tougher stuff than this!!! ______________________________________________________ Social distancing does not have to be social--------- but it should be physical-!!!---- I cant see why most of you would have to learn how to do that-??? -- you been practicing it with me for years🤣🤣 Carry on and thanks for any tips on the tailing piles.. paul

I've been looking at the spec.'s on this dredge and it shows the trommel classifier to have holes of a maximum of 5/8 inches. This dredge was built and put into service around 1939-1940. I would believe that the late date of manufacture and historic operating experiences would have dictated the design spec.'s to recover the vast majority of the gold available. That said the larger gold would have been ejected out of the fan tail in the pilings mix. I have detected tailing piles north of Fairbanks with my Tesoro LST and due to the low mineralization and favorable conditions I was hitting 22 lead at around 10 inches but no gold. A target greater than 3/4" is sizeable so I would presume maximum depth and large area coverage would be the best plan for recovery. That along with a coordinated dozer push to keep the overburden to depths of less than 2' I think would be ideal. My question might be which detector would be best? Low mineralization and targets greater than 3/4" and large area coverage.

Will all the snow help in getting more nuggets in Alaska this summer? It seems a good thing that Dig It was in Arizona this winter. 2020 Iditarod: Most Alaska Snowfall in 21 Years Could Make for Sloshy Sled Dog Race https://www.onlinegambling.com/news/2020-iditarod-alaska-sled-dog-race-aliy-zirkle/

Indiana gold dredging

Take My Land Matters with you and/or study it before you go. My Land Matters has managed to implement both the new Alaska BLM & State mining claims systems on the Alaska Mining Claims Map. They even went further by including the State Mineral Withdrawal areas and the State Mining Leases in the mapping.Each BLM mining claim information window now has a link directly to the BLM ACRES case file for that claim.Each Alaska State Mining Claim or Lease information window has a link directly to the Alaska State ADL Case file.Each Alaska State Mineral Withdrawal information window has a link directly to the Alaska State ADL Case file for the Closure Order. http://www.mylandmatters.org/Maps/ClaimsAk/GetMap

Steve This is for Steve Herschbach.. Hopefully this email will get to you Steve. I have a couple of questions about Ganes Creek.. I actually worked there for one season in 1968. IF this is the correct Steve H, please reply if you have time. Thanks Jim

Alaska raised the annual state mining claim rental rates substantially in August, as people who got the billing know. The state website fact sheet still shows the old rates however and people who did not get the billing may be in for a unpleasant surprise. http://dnr.alaska.gov/mlw/hottopics/pdf/new-rental-rates-for-mining-claims.pdf NEW RENTAL RATES FOR MINING CLAIMS, LEASEHOLD LOCATIONS, PROSPECTING SITES, AND LEASES On August 1st, the Office of the Lt. Governor approved a change to 11 AAC 86, setting forth new rental rates for mining claims, prospecting sites, and mining leases for the 2020 mining year that begins on September 1, 2019. These increases to mining rental rates were conducted in accordance with State of Alaska Law AS 38.05.211, which requires an adjustment to the rental rates based on the change on the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index (CPI) for Alaska every 10 years to account for the change in the cost of living over the 10 year period between adjustments. The last adjustment was completed in 2009. Table 1 list the new rental rates for different types, sizes, and ages of mining claims and leasehold locations. The rental requirement for prospecting sites is a one-time payment of $305.00 to be paid at the time the prospecting site is recorded. Prospecting sites are good for 2 years and may not be renewed. Below are Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). Question? - How are the new rental rates calculated? Answer. - In 1989, the State of Alaska Legislature set the rental rates for mining claims, leasehold locations, and mining leases. In addition, the legislature directed the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to adjust the rental rates every 10 years based on a change in the CPI for Alaska using the following simple formula in which the denominator is the CPI for the first half of 1989 as determined by the Federal Government Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the nominator is the CPI for the first half of the year in which the adjustment was made. The formula resulted a correction factor. The correction factor is multiplied by the rental rates set in 1989 to produce the new rental rates. Question? - Why is the rental rate for Quarter Section mining claims not exactly 4 times the rate for the Quarter-Quarter Section mining claim? Answer. – The Legislature required DNR to round off the rental rate to the nearest $5.00. For example; the calculated rental rate for a 40 acre claim of less than 5 years is $41.27 and when rounded to the nearest $5.00 is $40.00. Multiplying $41.27 by 4 results in the actual rental rate for a 160 acre claim to be $165.08 and rounding off to the nearest $5.00 is $165.00. Question? – I have already paid my claim rental for the coming year at the previous year rate. Will I automatically lose my claim because I didn’t pay the total amount due for this year? Answer – No. By regulation, if it is determined that a miner fails to make a full payment for rent on a mining claim, DNR is required to notify the miner of the deficient payment by certified mail. The miner is then required to make full payment on or before December 2nd or 30 days after the receipt of the letter, whichever is later. Any additional questions not addressed above will be answered by contacting DNR representative Lora Eddy at (907) 269-8628 or Kristen Shake at (907) 269-8652, or by email at kristen.shake@alaska.gov.

I made a few videos about our trip to Chicken Alaska this year. Here is episode 1: Journey to Chicken: Two swiss hobby gold prospectors travel to Chicken, Alaska to find some gold on Myers Fork. This first episode contains some impressions of the journey and our sweet arrival in Chicken, Alaska. Episode 2 (coming soon) is about us, trying to find some gold on Myers Fork and having a good time in Chicken Gold Camp.