I wanted to come to the place where the folks know what they are talking about when it comes to research, laws, and premission. I just need some overall advice to steer my buddy and I in the right direction. We want to go prospect and dsluice/pan near an old gold mine called Glade gold mine in hall county, Georgia. I know Colorado rules and regulations will be different but I need some advice as to what direction to head. Here is the email my buddy sent me after the preliminary research as to land owners.

"where the mine/placer stream in Glades used to be is now marked out as reservoir and is property of Hall county. The area surrounding is Glades farm LLC out of Athens."

I guess we need to pinpoint and see exactly where the hall county property starts and where the glades farm starts? I assume we need to visit in person the owners of the glade farm wherever they are at(athens clark county or Hall county). What about the county property? any thoughts to steer me in the right direction? thanks a bunch
jason

When you talk to the property owners. ie the county, make sure thay have the mineral rights also. Much land is in private hands but the mineral rights were kept by a prior owner. Here in Colorado, much land is sold and the water rights retained. In a lot of cases, the water rights are worth more than the land.
Leonard

Thanks Leonard. I will be going two weekends from now. there is also a stae park farther down the stream that we might hit up. I appreciate the information.

Hi Jason and thanks for the kind compliments. Hopefully we can be of some help.
Leonard gave a good answer and this situation sounds like that might be the case. It's possible the Glade farm donated the land surface to the county for the resevior but very well may have kept both the mineral as well as water rights to it?

At anyrate it will be best to contact both the county and the farm about surface access and some panning or sluicing.
Sane with the state park, you'll need to contact the state to ask about prospecting. Even though the county or state allow access to the public, you still have to understand they are privately owned properties and can have what ever rules they wish to impose just as any other private land owner can......even denying access.

Good luck on the research and the prospecting. Have a great trip, we all expect to see some pics of the fun later too.

Thanks CP! Would he headed out there this weekend but my digging buddy will be mining aquamarine so hopefully next weekend we can get up that way. Thanks for your help guys and if I have any further questions I will steer them this direction.