Here and there… everywhere!

        Hot weather arrived with our company… friends and relatives from the Washington D.C. area and also from Texas. We experienced our first 100 degree days, and the nights didn’t cool as usual!

        Our Texas company, Randy and Steve (that’s as good as it gets Randy; your name is first!) essentially made the trip to spend time on the claims.  It’s been about 10 years ago that we introduced these guys to prospecting.  Randy tells the story that he was “dragged” here by our daughter on vacation to prospect. He was not so enthusiastic at the idea of spending his vacation “digging in the dirt.” You’d never be able to tell that now, knee deep in a mud hole or sweating it out in the sun on the quest for that pay zone!

        We spent some time on Two Bit Creek, exploring an area we don’t usually have access and water at the same time.  There are still pools of water, which allowed for some good test pans and a welcomed retreat from the heat of the day.

        The next day we ventured to Iron Creek, having picked up our twin granddaughters for the day.  The kids always enjoy an outing.  They played in the creek for a bit while we consulted on our company’s prospecting efforts. We then packed up the grandkids and went to Iron Creek Lake for a swim.

        The twins left for home that weekend, so we were happy to get to spend some time with them before they left.

        With a little steering in the right direction, Randy and Steve found a really good location and started a new hole. We enjoyed another couple of days just sitting in the shade and “supervising.”  They were going for the “big nugget” as usual, but were pretty content to find one of the larger nuggets we’ve seen recovered on that claim.

        We’ve got too many directions to go and too little time!  The price of gold is hovering around $1600 an ounce, which makes all our placer and/or lode properties a good paying prospect!

        The guys want to see our lode properties, and maybe do some prospecting on our Rapid Creek claim before they leave.

        We’re working on revisions for the permit, but that’s okay because the wet spring and early summer has delayed any active mining we could have been doing.  We do not want to “muck out” gold!

Mega gold and other fairy tales

Once upon a time…

         Isn’t that how all good stories begin?  We definitely have a wile e. coyote; but I guess that crosses over into cartoon land!

        We quite often refer to claim jumpers,
mostly in the context of recreational panning
in ignorance of the law.  We recently ran across
a much more serious situation.

        We find claims for people; a lot of them friends and family.  Last fall we chanced upon a large claim on some historically proven ground.  A group of eight claimants acquired this land for a very small fee; in October staked the claim, filing with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in December.

        We helped them out to make sure all the proper paperwork was filed, and in December we announced on our website congratulations for a claim secured on North Rapid Creek.  The claim totaled 160 acres for 8 claimants.

        We’re always keeping an eye on all of our claims, and in doing so noticed that a claim by the name of Mega Gold had been located in January over the top of this parties’ North Rapid Placer. 

        The claim, as registered at BLM, was listed under several holding companies, most of them using botanical names such as Buttercup, Lilac, etc.  Further research showed a connection to a Minnesota company by the name of Sunset Valley Mining Company.

        We notified the claimholders and advised them of the situation that we had found.  Their North Rapid Placer was listed for sale on the internet as Mega Gold, located on Rapid Creek in the Black Hills!  The claim is divided into 10-acre parcels ranging in price from $9000 to $20,000.

        At least our friends know they got their monies’ worth! 

        The website also claims they test panned out a 2-ounce nugget; that this claim is along Rapid Creek and fully accessible by the Rochford Road.  We’ve seen their map, which places the claim exactly on top of the North Rapid Placer.  The Mickelson Trail does run through the claim, but that trail is for non-motorized vehicles.  There is a lot of misinformation in the advertisement, not to mention misleading photos, so we’re warning you to be careful when shopping for a claim.

        We’ve done further research on this company and notice a lot of complaints registered with the Gold Prospectors of America, the U.S. Forest Service and BLM.  Our friends also registered a complaint with IC3s and hired an attorney to notify the company.

        Beware… this company holds claims in South Dakota, California, Oregon and Montana.  A little research has already shown their claims to be questionable at best.  Mention is made of several lawsuits pending in various locations!

        Do you recall a previous blog cauctioning prospectors how rare it is to find “visible” gold in a creek?  Part of the legal paperwork demands return of that 2-ounce nugget from a test pan!  This reminds me of the publicity of the first gold rush to the Black Hills:  “gold for the pickin!’”

        Twenty-five years of recreational prospecting… and we were fools enough to hold down jobs to make a living!

Independence Day!

        The Fourth of July weekend was to all intent and purpose the beginning of summer in the Black Hills. We’ve settled to afternoon (and sometimes morning) thunderstorms with temps in the 80s and 90s.

        First we’ll tell you that attorneys are involved in the claim jumping incident we previously mentioned, so we’ll hold off on discussion of that until some paperwork arrives at its promised destination!

       In the meantime, we would caution anyone securing a claim through a third party to contact us immediately with the claim name and claimholder name to have it researched!  There are some deals going on out there that has the Forest Service, BLM and ourselves very troubled.

       We can also, for a minimal fee, research an area you are interested in and tell you if there are existing claims. We will, if so requested, send you a signed confidentiality agreement to not disclose the claim location for 90 days... giving you time to stake and file a claim.

        We explored the Central Hills over the Fourth, and must say there is a maze of roads in that area… we’re discussing a GPS map that would aid ourselves and others of various recreational slant!  The same situation occurs on almost every outing; roads are gated or berms exist.  A Forest Service map is a handy tool, but is only as good as the date it was published!

        We’ve also had multiple people asking, “How to find a claim.”  They are frustrated to find history repeating itself and the best claims already taken!  Ironically, most of them complain about seeing our names everywhere. We acquired claims through research and perseverance, so we feel a bit entitled.

        We spent the Fourth holiday with family, watching fireworks, and brought home a couple of extra grandkids for a few days, so we’ll be staying pretty busy this week.

        Hope everyone enjoyed the holiday!