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Find the creeks where gold is most likely.

A map for hobby prospectors that shades gold country by how likely you are to find color. It uses hundreds of old mine and prospect records, USGS lab tests of creek sediment, geologic maps and stream data, and it shows which land is public and the rules for panning there. Built in Virginia, with the whole Virginia gold belt in detail, plus 21 more states from Georgia to Alaska.

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See it in action

California gold country near Alleghany on aerial photos: best-chance creeks in green, active mining claims in orange, old gold mines as yellow dots
California's Northern Mines. Best-chance creeks, active mining claims and thousands of old gold workings on aerial photos.
Lidar hillshade of the Malakoff Diggins hydraulic mine with scored creeks draining it
Lidar. Bare-earth USGS lidar shows old diggings, tailings and terraces through the trees. Here, the Malakoff Diggins hydraulic pit.
Colorado's Mosquito Range near Alma with gold shading, best creeks and public land outlines
Colorado's Alma and Fairplay placers. Shading, best creeks and public land outlined, so you know where you can dig.
Bemrose Creek's card: Best chance, score 2.6, 8 old gold records upstream, the rock it crosses and the gold-friendly rock it drains, with a Take me there link
Every rating explained. Tap a creek for its rank, score and the reasons behind it, plus directions to get there. Here, Bemrose Creek near Alma, Colorado.

Every creek scored

Gold washes downstream. The map follows each creek below old mines and gold-bearing rock, so you can see where it's worth carrying a pan.

Lab-tested gold

USGS sampled thousands of creeks for gold. Where the lab found it, the creeks feeding that spot are marked too.

Public land and the rules

National forests, state land, parks and off-limits land are outlined with what's generally allowed and who to call.

Your spots, saved

Drop pins with notes on what you found. They're saved to your account, work with no signal, and download to any GPS app.

Best spots near home

Enter your town and see the top-rated creek stretches within a 1 to 4 hour drive, open land first.

On your phone

Add PlacerPro to your home screen and it opens like an app. Areas you've looked at keep working in the field.

Where it covers

Virginia in the most detail: the gold-pyrite belt from Fauquier to Appomattox, Buckingham County, Southside, the Blue Ridge front, Northern Virginia and the eastern Piedmont.

Plus the gold country of Alabama, Alaska (Fairbanks, Nome, Fortymile, Circle, Juneau, Hope and Hatcher Pass), Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wyoming. Each state covers its known gold districts, not every county.

How the trial works

  1. Enter your email and we send you a 6-digit code. No password, no card.
  2. You get the full map for 7 days, every state.
  3. Subscriptions open soon. Trial users get an email and another free week when they do.

Help shape it

This is a new map and you know your creeks. Use Report a problem in the map menu to tell us where it's right, where it's wrong, or what's broken. People whose reports lead to a fix get a founding-member reward when subscriptions open.

Shading is an estimate from historical records, lab samples and geology, not a promise of gold. You're responsible for permission to be on any land or stream and for following state and local rules. Nothing here is legal advice.

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