Big River Gold is built for people who want practical information about gold prospecting, placer mining, gold claims, mining districts, and the geology that explains where gold is found. 

The site is written for small-scale miners, claim buyers, hobby prospectors, drywashers, panners, sluice-box users, and readers who want more than recycled internet advice.  Our goal is to connect field experience with reliable geology, government sources, and real prospecting judgment. We cover how gold forms, how it moves, where it concentrates, how to read desert washes and stream channels, how to evaluate gold-bearing ground, and how to avoid bad mining-claim purchases. We also explain permits, land status, equipment problems, sampling, assays, mineral alteration, placer traps, state gold fields, and historic mining regions.  Gold prospecting takes patience, testing, legal awareness, and careful observation. The purpose of this site is to help readers make better decisions before they buy gear, buy a claim, dig a hole, trust a seller, or waste time in the wrong ground. This is gold prospecting information for serious beginners and practical field people, written from hands-on experience in places ranging from California to Nome, Alaska, and supported by formal academic training with a B.S. degree in Geology, including field geology.