Where the gold is
Most North Carolina gold comes from the Carolina slate belt and the Piedmont, in counties such as Cabarrus, Montgomery, Rowan, Stanly, Randolph, Davidson, Union and Mecklenburg, plus scattered deposits in the western mountains. GoldScout™ shows the old mines and prospects on the map.
Creeks and saprolite
Much of the Piedmont gold is fine and sits in creeks and in deeply weathered rock called saprolite. Use the River Gold Tracker on creeks draining old mines and pan-test the gravels on bedrock.
Public land and permission
Some national forest land in the state allows recreational panning in certain streams, but rules differ by area. Most land in North Carolina is private, so get permission and check land status first.
Everything in GoldScout™
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.
Allows users to tap any creek or river to trace its flow. It follows the real channel, reads the LiDAR elevation profile and pins the slope breaks, inside bends and junctions where gold drops out.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Bare-earth LiDAR hillshade and slope, down to 1 meter, reveal tailing piles, ditches, benches and old workings under the trees.
Geologic maps worldwide, USGS Quaternary fault lines and Nevada drill-hole project data.
Shafts, adits, prospect pits and placer workings traced from historic USGS topo maps.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Type any town, creek, county or mine name anywhere in the world.
Live radar and an hourly forecast for the spot you are headed to.
Learn to read a creek on a practice map: pick your spots, run samples and plan a route.
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.
Questions
Is there gold in North Carolina?
Yes. North Carolina had America’s first gold rush, starting with the 1799 Reed nugget, and hundreds of old gold mines and prospects are recorded by the USGS.
Where can I pan for gold in North Carolina?
Try creeks near historic mining districts in the Piedmont on public land where panning is allowed, or at pay-to-pan sites and old mines that welcome visitors. Always check land status and get permission on private land.