Are there any claim owners who would let me pay them to prospect on one of your claims? I would love to pass on to my son, but everywhere we go theres just no luck. Thanks

I doubt that you will get much of a response from that request mountainman. Lots of unseen, moving parts here but let me try to explain.

First off there are a lot of nice people in this club. One of the main selling points of this outfit is knowledge, with a heavy accent on prospecting. The stewards of this association guide us from an early age and help mentor us in our quest for information. One of the things I learned is that it is illegal to charge someone access to your claim unless you are an established business and in compliance with industry standards such as OSHA and MSHA. So if someone did have a claim it would be unethical for anybody to charge you to dig. And I must say, the folks on here are very ethical, mainly because it is a great way to conduct business.

Having said that, there still are a couple of options open for you and your son. I see you are located in Canyon City. Nice place. I also see you tried Point Bar with limited success. Unfortunately that is the only location in that area that I know of that has gold. But there is a spot a little further up the road in Fairplay that allows a person to prospect for a small fee. I don’t know the name of it but the sign is right along the road. There is another location a little west of Denver called Vic’s and they allow digging as well for a fee.

Maybe you are looking for assistance and assurance that you are doing the process right. In that case having an experienced panner show you a few tips might be all you need. Kind of get a little confidence going before you head out solo. I know Vic’s gives good beginner lessons, not sure about the other spot. I don’t know of anybody still going on prospecting outings right now, the weather is too unpredictable this time of year. But if you keep your eyes open you might catch someone glad to have you along. If all goes well I will be doing some prospecting in early spring. Might be I could send you a line and we could go out then. It would most likely be somewhere close to Buena Vista, “SP?”. Have a good one, Woody

Woody is right about charging for "access" to a location claim being illegal as stated for accessing a claim, that's just not how you get "use" of a claim.
You could however lease a claim (for money or non-monetary) which is just a personal agrrangement between you and the claim owner. Some folks do lease claims for a percentage of what's extracted. But remember that the claim owner already owns the minerals on his/her claim when and if you decide to negotiate use/lease of a claim in this fashion. I've seen folks make offers of very little % cut to the claim owner for their desired prospecting on the claim. If they already own the minerals, don't try to be greedy on the cut and you'll have a better chance of someone striking a deal with ya'.
For large scale or full time operations under lease agreements, there is normally a fair cash fee up front as well as % of all extracted minerals that goes to the claim owner normally.

You can also do an exchange for reports on finds like we have already set up on the free non monetary claim lease. Good for a short prospecting trip to do some sampling on a claim.
You can print if off and then add/amend to it if needed but gives one a basic start for a lease agreement. This works great for a non-exclusive, non-monetary agreement that shows in the field you do in fact have permission to "prospect" the claim from the owner for a defined time period.....2 days, weeks or months etc as agreed with the owner.
Most claim owners will be glad to let you sample their claim and keep your finds (barring the spectacular) and are happy to know if you found something, where it was and how deep etc. If you do find the "spectacular" find....remember again, the minerals are already theirs in the ground, that's why they are "claimed".

We have the claim lease posted here at this page in the valuable references section of the forum
Mining claim lease

Check it out if needed in the future.