Gold panning in Utah
Where to pan for gold in Utah, the official public panning areas, and the rules for each kind of land. Our map of Utah draws on 40,371 gold records: old mines, prospects, placer claims and lab-tested stream samples.
Gold areas in Utah
PlacerPro covers Utah's known gold country:
- Box Elder County
- Garfield and San Juan counties
- Millard County
- Southwest (Marysvale, Kimberly, Gold Mountain, Beaver, Iron)
- Summit, Wasatch, Daggett, Uintah and Grand counties
- Tooele, Juab, Salt Lake and Utah counties (Mercur, Gold Hill, Tintic, Bingham)
- Washington County
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Gold panning rules in Utah
- National Forest and BLM land: recreational panning with hand tools is generally allowed unless the ground is claimed, withdrawn or posted.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.
- 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.
- Utah trust land (SITLA): collecting rocks and minerals needs a SITLA rockhounding permit (personal limits 25 lb a day, 250 lb a year), and anything more needs a mineral lease. Ask SITLA (801-538-5100) before you pan or detect there. State parks are closed to collecting.
- Suction dredges (intake 4 inches or less, 12 hp or less) need a recreational dredging permit from the Utah Division of Water Rights, only on the streams its list opens and for up to 45 days a year; contact the Forest Service or BLM office first or the permit is void. The Utah parts of the Green, Colorado and San Juan rivers are closed to dredging (endangered fish). Hand panning with no machinery doesn't need a Water Rights permit.
Common questions
Where can I pan for gold in Utah for free?
We haven't found an officially designated public panning area in Utah 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 Utah?
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 Utah are below.
How do I find gold-bearing creeks in Utah?
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 Utah'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 Nevada
- 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 Vermont
- Gold panning in Virginia
- Gold panning in Washington
- Gold panning in Wyoming