Arizona Gold Prospecting

Plenty of gold still out in Arizona.

The perfect combination went out gold prospecting – – a good dry washer and metal detector. Yes, they really go together to help find the small gold that’s typical in a lot of the Arizona gold prospecting areas.

Arizona Gold Prospecting

Arizona gold nuggets

Many times I’ve been out in areas with my detector and even though all the signs look great, all I found was a lot of trash. But, I’m bringing my dry washer to this same area oh, I’ve turned up lots of fine gold.

So, whichever way you do it, find a couple of nice pictures with your detector, and then go back and dry wash that same area. Or, if you’re dry washing shows quite a bit of good color oh, it may definitely pay not only to detect the larger rocks that then go through the grizzly, but also all around the general area.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Arizona has produced more than 16 million troy ounces (498 tonnes) of gold.

Gold mining in Arizona reportedly began in 1774 when Spanish priest Manuel Lopez directed Papago Indians to wash gold from gravel on the flanks of the Quijotoa.

Mountains, Pima County. Gold mining continued there until 1849, when the Mexican miners were lured away by the California Gold Rush. Other gold mining under Spanish and Mexican rule took place in the Oro Blanco district of Santa Cruz County, and the Arivaca district, Pima County.

Mountain man Pauline Weaver discovered placer gold on the east side of the Colorado River in 1862. Weaver’s discovery started the Colorado River Gold Rush to the now ghost town of La Paz, Arizona and other locations along the river in the ensuing years.

The most prominent of these were those of the San Francisco district, which includes the towns of Oatman, Bullhead City and Katherine in Mohave County was discovered in 1863 or 1864, but saw little activity until a rush to the district occurred in 1902. The district produced 2.0 million ounces of gold through 1959.

The gold-bearing quartz veins of the Vulture Mine, southwest of Wickenburg, in Maricopa County were discovered in 1863. The mine produced 366,000 troy ounces (11,400 kg) of gold through 1959.

The last gold mine to operate in Arizona was the Gold Road mine at Oatman, which shut down in 1998. Patriot Gold is exploration drilling at the Moss mine at Oatman.

In 2006, all of Arizona’s gold production came as a byproduct of copper mining