Gold panning in Nevada
Where to pan for gold in Nevada, the official public panning areas, and the rules for each kind of land. Our map of Nevada draws on 52,169 gold records: old mines, prospects, placer claims and lab-tested stream samples.
Gold areas in Nevada
PlacerPro covers Nevada's known gold country:
- Clark and Lincoln (Searchlight, Eldorado Canyon, Pioche, Delamar)
- Elko County (Carlin trend, Jarbidge, Tuscarora, Midas)
- Lander, Eureka and White Pine (Battle Mountain, Cortez, Eureka, Ely)
- Nye County (Tonopah, Round Mountain, Manhattan, Beatty)
- Pershing and Humboldt (Rochester, Rye Patch, Winnemucca, Getchell, Sleeper)
- Walker Lane west (Comstock, Aurora, Goldfield, Silver Peak, Fallon)
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Gold panning rules in Nevada
- National Forest and BLM land: recreational panning with hand tools is generally allowed unless the ground is claimed, withdrawn or posted. Check with the ranger district or BLM field office.
- Most of Nevada (about 63%) is BLM land, and much of it is claimed: check for claim posts. Panning and metal detecting with hand tools are allowed on open BLM land; sluicing, dredging and power equipment need a permit, so ask the field office first. In wilderness and wilderness study areas only hobby collecting that doesn't disturb the ground is allowed.
- Active mining claims belong to the claimant: don't prospect on them without permission. BLM maps claims to survey sections, so outlines are approximate; check claim posts on the ground.
- Wilderness: closed to new claims and to motorized or mechanized equipment.
- State land: Nevada owns very little land (about 335,000 acres, under 1% of the state), mostly state parks, wildlife areas and the beds of navigable waters. Ask the managing agency before you dig there.
- Suction dredges: before you use any suction dredge in a Nevada river, stream or lake you need a permit from the Nevada Department of Wildlife. Navigable waters (Lake Tahoe, Washoe Lake, Walker Lake and the Truckee, Carson, Colorado and Virgin rivers) also need a permit from the Division of State Lands. Ask NDEP whether a water-quality permit applies too.
Common questions
Where can I pan for gold in Nevada for free?
We haven't found an officially designated public panning area in Nevada yet. Panning is usually allowed on open public land (national forest and BLM) that isn't covered by a mining claim, and on private land with the owner's permission.
Do I need a permit to pan for gold in Nevada?
Hand panning usually needs no permit on open public land, but the rules depend on who manages the land and what tools you use. Sluices, highbankers and dredges often need permits. The rules for Nevada are below.
How do I find gold-bearing creeks in Nevada?
Gold washes downstream from where it eroded out of the rock, so the best creeks drain old mining districts and gold-bearing rock. PlacerPro rates every creek in Nevada's gold country from old mine records, USGS lab samples and geologic maps, and shows public land and active claims.
Other states
- Gold panning in Alabama
- Gold panning in Alaska
- Gold panning in Arizona
- Gold panning in California
- Gold panning in Colorado
- Gold panning in Georgia
- Gold panning in Idaho
- Gold panning in Maine
- Gold panning in Montana
- Gold panning in New Hampshire
- Gold panning in New Mexico
- Gold panning in North Carolina
- Gold panning in Oregon
- Gold panning in South Carolina
- Gold panning in South Dakota
- Gold panning in Tennessee
- Gold panning in Utah
- Gold panning in Vermont
- Gold panning in Virginia
- Gold panning in Washington
- Gold panning in Wyoming