There is a great deal of gold to still be found in the Mojave Desert. One hellavalotta gold. It is estimated that only about one percent of the Mojave's gold has been extracted; there's tons and tons of it still out there. That's the good news. The bad news is, the cost of finding a significant portion of the rest (for instance, another one percent) and then extracting it is currently far more expensive than the gold is worth. The gold that has been collected has been the "surface" gold: the stuff that has been left out there is hidden and probably deep. The area has been picked over for three hundred years at least: the odds of finding a rich strike is very small.

New technologies, safer transportation, and newer access to once-remote areas may yield an opportunity for one to collect a modest amount of gold, and have fun doing so. Perhaps what I have presented here will help one collect a bit of the shiny, gilttery stuff.

Paperwork sucks; I would rather be counting and weighing and fondling gold than sitting at a desk filling out forms. Making and keeping a gold claim costs money; one must provide the government the proper forms and fees before one may work a claim.

This page also includes the BLM's publications on how to make a claim, and how to maintain a claim.