Sometimes I wonder what I did all day… well, most days I wonder that! It would seem that I wake up, help get the kids off to school and then everything is a blur from then on!
So I kindof thought it through and decided I DO SOMETHING, it just often sounds like not much!
We’ve talked about what is involved in finding a claim. It seems simple until you do a thorough job, then it becomes quite time intensive.
So I’m going to give you a run-down on a typical day at the Fox home… on the surface being self-employed seems so glorious! It is doing something we enjoy though!
The kids are off to school. Bob starts out with, “I read about…” or “do you remember anything about…” and the search is on!
Out come the topo maps, a U.S. Forest Service private property map and Terrain Navigator opened on the computer. Bob gets a good idea of what he wants to check out, then we discuss what we remember about physical features of the area (we’ve probably been in the area at least once).
The next step is BLM LR2000 to research active and closed claims. This gives us a good idea of what claims exist but also tells us who and what kind of history the claim has. Bob can tell a lot by how claims are described on LR2000 and it gives us a good idea if anything is available.
Somewhere about here we get a phone call or an email; this particular day a phone call from someone who recently purchased a claim and needs further information followed by an email requesting information on lode claims, followed by a drop-in visitor to discuss mining ventures.
Back to our research… it’s probably past lunch time so we need a break.
The next step is BLM Glo records to confirm private property as shown on the U.S. Forest Service map (this can be a real eye opener!). There's a lot of juggling going on here, back and forth from map to topo to LR2000...back to GLO!
Now comes the question of picking options. Bob does a little sketching in claims while I play a game or two on Facebook J. Maybe we have another email, this one wants to visit the Black Hills next summer (we get a lot of these) and talk prospecting.
Bob explains what he’s come up with and we start preparing location certificates to have on hand when we go on-site or in most cases re-visit the area we’re interested in.
If we didn’t know the Black Hills so well, all of the above would be a waste of time. It’s called desktop prospecting by us and a lot of others.
We do know the gold producing areas well. We’re also pretty familiar with access, terrain, established claims and local sentiment toward gold prospectors. Twenty-five years of panning on every creek and a lifetime of driving the back roads of the Black Hills is a definite advantage!
It’s about time to pick the kids up from school and start homework, preparations for their next day and whatever miscellaneous activities are on the schedule.
That’s an in-house day, but we still have to schedule in time at the proposed claim before we commit to it. Then if it ptoves up, there’s notorizing, filing…
Now that’s a day’s work and we might merit a claim, or on a good day more than one claim. Usually after we go on-site there are adjustments to be made. Right now we’re finding as much as we can because weather might halt the whole on-site experience!
The one thing you can count on, seven days a week, is Bob saying, , “I read about…” or “do you remember anything about…”
WARNING!!!
STOP
We have had several inquiries about buying claims on-line! We'll make you a deal that could save you thousands of $$$! Before you buy... for $100 we'll research the claim and tell you if it is a legitimate claim, what we perceive as the gold resources on the claim, access, campsite availability, etc. Considering that we see claims ranging in price from $1000-$25,000, that's a really good deal! One contact stated they had been offered "their choice" of another claim after they found out what they bought wasn't legitimate... will their next "choice" be legitimate? Think about it!
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