Arizona Gold Hunting

Checking our an open gold mining claim off N. Hot Springs Road, Arizona.

The gold prospecting areas around Wickenburg and Morristown are still very productive.

My buddy, who was using a recirculating high banker, did find some color, but not enough to make it worthwhile to revisit this site.

Arizona Gold Hunting

As far as gold metal detecting goes, detecting here at the back of the site, I found absolutely no trash, but then again, did not find any gold nuggets. About the only thing I did detect, were some interesting hot rocks. Hot rocks are usually local rocks that have heavy concentrations of iron and or magnetite. Most gold detectors go crazy from these rocks, but the Minelab 5000, the detector that I use, usually ignores the majority of them. But, searching here, I did pick up some of these hot rocks and decided to bring a few back with me to crack open and see if there was any fine gold inside.

Minelab metal detector

Naturally, when you’re pulverizing rocks, if there is any gold inside it’s usually turned into what we call very fine flour gold. I never crush all the rocks, but just enough to give me a decent pan to work. If what I pan out showed quite a bit of fine gold, then I would finish pulverizing the remaining rocks.

Insta360 One X2

Insta360 One X2 camera

Direct link to Insta360 One X2 manufacturer’s site w/bonus! 

Insta360 One X2

One of the largest old gold mines in the area was the Vulture Mine .

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

The mine began in 1863 and became the most productive gold mine in Arizona history. From 1863 to 1942, the mine produced 340,000 ounces of gold and 260,000 ounces of silver. Historically, the mine attracted more than 5,000 people to the area, and is credited with founding the town of Wickenburg, Arizona. The town that served the mine was known as Vulture City.

 Henry Wickenburg, discovered a quartz deposit containing gold and began mining the outcrop himself. In 1863, after Henry Wickenburg discovered the Vulture mine, Vulture City, a small mining town, was established in the area. The town once had a population of 5,000 citizens. After the mine closed, the city was abandoned and became a “ghost town“. The deposit was later sold to Benjamin Phelps, who represented a group of investors that eventually organized under the name of Vulture Mining Company.

The desert surrounding the Vulture Mine did not give much in the way of produce, so an enterprising individual by the name of Jack Swilling went into the Phoenix Valley and reopened the irrigation canals left by the native peoples. Agriculture was brought back to the valley, and a grain route was established. This grain route still exists today under the name of Grand Avenue. Phoenix, Arizona, grew up around the agricultural center spawned by the needs of the Vulture Mine.

In 1942, the Vulture Mine was shut down by a regulatory agency for processing gold. This was a violation at the time because all resources were to be focused on the war effort. The mine appealed the shut-down order and reopened, but with less vigor. A few years later, the mine closed permanently.

Today the mine and ghost town are privately owned, but tours are offered. Two-hour, dirt path guided walking tours at the historic Vulture mine offers a glimpse of the olden days through a tour of some of the remaining buildings of Vulture City, a booming mining town.

The mine was a Lock-down site on Ghost Adventures on the Travel Channel on October 29, 2010.

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Quartz bedrock

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Be sure to view our Gold nuggets for sale.

View our Natural Silver specimens

Also see the most expensive type of gold nuggets, the Crystalline Gold Nuggets

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