Arizona Gold Prospecting

Being from San Diego, we usually head across the Colorado River into the Yuma area or just north of their around Quartzsite Arizona. There are many old gold prospecting fields in these areas.

Arizona Gold Prospecting

Arizona gold in quartz

I feel the weekend prospector has a much better chance of finding gold nuggets when compared to Southwest California. Always be sure to check BLM claim information first to be sure the areas you are going to are not an active mining claim or restricted State lands.

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.

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