Gold Mining in Arizona

Since 1860s, gold mining in Arizona remains a popular economic activity. This is due to a lot of gold deposits across many counties and availability of public land.

Although you can find gold in nearly every county, for the scope of this article, I will focus on top 5 areas.

But before that, here is something you should know:

In most cases, the force of gravity tends to concentrate gold in rivers. This makes revers the best places for gold mining in Arizona.

For instance, you stand a chance to find gold along the Hassayampa River, Colorado River, Gila River, San Francisco River, Santa Maria River and Santa Cruz River. Nevertheless, some of these rivers do not have water all the time due to the climate conditions of Arizona.

This makes gold prospecting in Arizona a challenging task. It therefore calls for gold prospectors to use drywashers or metal detecting equipment.

The processes do not require water for gold prospecting in Arizona.

With these in mind, now let’s have a quick overview of counties in Arizona that have higher deposits of gold:

·         Yavapai County

Yavapai hosts some of the oldest gold mines in Arizona. It is one of the leading gold producers.

Some of the few areas you need to focus on when mining gold in Arizona and more so in Yavapai County include: Hassayampa Creek, Lynx Creek, Black Canyon, Rich Hill, Agua Fria, Eureka, Walnut Grove, Tiptop, Martinez, Minnehaha, Peck, Humbug, Granite Creek Districts, Big Bug District, Jerome District and Black Canyon.

In Yavapai County, gold deposits exist in the form of:

• Placer deposits
• By product of mining (more so copper)
• Large nuggets
• Lode deposits

·         Maricopa County

In this county, you will find gold in Vulture District and the high quantities of gold come from lode deposits.

·         Cochese County

Generally, the placers and lode deposits of gold are available in Cochese County. Again here, you can find gold in Dos Cabezas, Bisbee and Huachuca Districts.

·         Mohave County

In Mohave County, substantial amount of gold exist as a byproduct of mining and lode deposits.

Here, your main focus should be in San Francisco, Gold Basin, Wallapai, Maynard Mining and King Tut.

·         Yuma County

When it comes to Yuma County, you can find gold in Dome, Laguna, Muggins Placers, Castle Dome, Big Eye Mine, Kofa, Plomosa and La Paz Districts.

In Yuma County, gold deposits are available as nuggets and placers.

Clearly, there are so many places where you can mine gold in Arizona.

Remember, these are only 5 counties. Other counties such as Apache, Santa Cruz, Pinal, Pima, Navajo, Mojave, Graham, Greenlee and Gila Counties also have a substantial amount of gold.

Although the history of gold mining in Arizona dates back to years before 1880s, not much information was documented during that period. In fact, it is only the major gold prospectors in Arizona who documented their production.

This is why the data available out there about the amount of gold mined from different sites may not be that accurate. Still, it can give you a heads-up on areas to focus on when prospecting for gold in Arizona.

Again, this must not hold you back from exploring other areas. Remember, Arizona has very many areas with gold deposits.

Here are two useful sources of information on gold mining in Arizona:

 

Arizona Association of Gold Prospectors. (n.d.). Retrieved January 23, 2018, from AAGP: http://www.arizonagoldprospectors.org/

Clark, L. D., & Verity, V. H. (2001). Laws and Regulations: Mineral Rights in Arizona 9th Edition. Phoenix, Arizona.

Mineral Processing – Gold Prospecting. (n.d.). Retrieved January 23, 2018, from The Arizona Geological Survey: http://www.azgs.az.gov/minerals_gold.shtml