GoldScout™

Gold prospecting in Australia

Official Australian topo maps, 5 m LiDAR, known mineral deposits and drill holes on one map, so you can research a patch before you head out.

Maps for Australia

Geoscience Australia national topographic maps, plus state topo and relief maps for Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania. Switch to satellite imagery anytime.

5 m LiDAR elevation

Australia’s 5 meter elevation model as a hillshade shows gullies, old alluvial leads, benches and diggings in the ground.

Mines and mineral deposits

Geoscience Australia mineral deposit and mine sites, with details on tap.

Drill holes

Drill holes for Queensland, Western Australia and New South Wales from the state geological surveys. Tap a hole for its type, depth and company, and in Western Australia a link to the WAMEX exploration report.

Know the rules

Each state has its own fossicking and prospecting rules, permits and land access. Check with your state before you dig.

Everything in GoldScout™

Advanced mapping & land status overlay

9 topo and satellite maps (USGS Topo, OpenTopoMap, Esri, USGS Imagery, Sentinel-2) with geology, fault lines and LiDAR, plus a land status overlay that shows BLM, Forest Service and park land and active BLM mining claims, so you know where you can prospect.

River Gold Tracker (add-on, $5/mo)

Allows users to tap any creek or river to trace where gold drops out. It follows the real channel, reads the LiDAR elevation profile and pins the slope breaks, inside bends and junctions where gold drops out.

Local GIS & satellite images

Local county and state GIS on the map: property lines in 28 states with owner names in 18, historic USGS topo maps, and satellite and aerial photos of your spot from the oldest available to the newest.

Live GPS tracker

Tap the location button to see your exact spot as a blue dot with its accuracy ring. It follows you as you walk and draws your trail, so you can find your way back to a good spot.

Gold pan log

Log every pan with your number of colors, plus metal detector hits, gold finds and rock samples, with GPS and notes. Filter, revisit and export to CSV.

AI Dowsing Rods (add-on, $3/mo)

Shiny copper dowsing rods over satellite imagery of where you stand. For fun: GPS, compass and USGS gold records swing the rods toward the richest recorded ground nearby.

AI Satellite Scan

AI reads the colors of the satellite image for iron staining, bleached rock, gravel bars and old diggings, weighs nearby USGS gold records, and pins the best places to look.

84,406 USGS gold mines & prospects

Every gold record in the USGS Mineral Resources Data System (304,632 mine records in all) on one map, filterable by producer, past producer and prospect.

LiDAR maps

Bare-earth LiDAR hillshade and slope, down to 1 meter, reveal tailing piles, ditches, benches and old workings under the trees.

Geology & fault lines

Geologic maps worldwide, USGS Quaternary fault lines and Nevada drill-hole project data.

Old mine workings

Shafts, adits, prospect pits and placer workings traced from historic USGS topo maps.

Property lines & landowners

Parcel boundaries for 28 states, with the owner name, parcel ID, acres and address on tap in 18 of them, from free county and state GIS. Know whose land you are on before you dig. Not a survey.

Aerial time machine

Slide through aerial and satellite photos of the spot you are looking at, from the oldest available (back to 1993 in North Carolina and the mid-1900s in Montana) to the newest, to find old diggings, tailings and stream changes.

GIS data, old and new

Today’s satellite, topo, LiDAR, geology, claims and parcel layers alongside historic USGS topo maps, mine records going back to the 1800s and decades of aerial photos.

Sluice Box Angler

Lay your phone in your sluice. A level and angle gauge set the drop (about an inch per foot) and level it side to side.

Place search worldwide

Type any town, creek, county or mine name anywhere in the world.

Weather radar & hourly forecast

Live radar and an hourly forecast for the spot you are headed to.

Practice terrain

Learn to read a creek on a practice map: pick your spots, run samples and plan a route.

Dark & light mode

Easy on the eyes at camp, readable in bright sun.

Pricing

Free for 6 days. You won’t be charged until the trial ends, and you can cancel anytime. Optional add-ons: River Gold Tracker +$5/month and AI Dowsing Rod +$3/month, both free on the first day of your trial.

$9.99per month after the free trial$59.99per year after the free trial · save 50%

Questions

Does GoldScout™ work in Australia?

Yes. Australian topo maps, 5 m LiDAR hillshade, mineral deposits and drill holes for Queensland, Western Australia and NSW are built in, along with worldwide satellite imagery.

Do I need a permit to prospect in Australia?

Usually, yes. Most states require a fossicking licence or miner’s right and permission for the land. Check with your state government before you go.

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