Look for contact points between mica schist and granites, or mica schist and hornblende schist.

As Dahlonega continued to grow, most miners moved out of Auraria, and it dwindled over the coming decades.

The Calhoun Mine was the biggest mine in this area. The town of Auraria just south of Dahlonega swelled to over 10,000 people in the 1830s. The first mining that took place here was placer diggings, but miners eventually moved on to break free-milling gold from the gold bearing rocks. The nearby Tesnatee River is also a reliable producer of gold. The Etowah River is another great place to explore, and the smaller creeks and tributaries in this area are all likely to have gold. The Chestatee River had numerous mines along its banks, with rich placer gold deposits found throughout. An early report states that 400,000-500,000 ounces of gold has been extracted from the Dahlonega mining district. Any creek in the Dahlonega area will produce some gold for a diligent gold panner. Lumpkin County was the area that gold was first discovered here, and the creeks and rivers still have plenty of gold to be recovered. A modern miner would be well advised to revisit these known gold-bearing areas. It shows the general area where most of the gold mining has take place. This map shows a few of the richest mining sites in Georgia. The belt spans numerous counties, and we will highlight a few of the richest locations below. Gold in Georgia is found in what is known as the Georgia Gold Belt, a region in the northwestern part of the state that has produced the vast majority of the gold in the state. Georgia still has excellent gold mining opportunities today. The early prospectors mined gold in Georgia for several decades, until the rich discoveries in California attracted most men west in search of gold.

Gold was first discovered here in 1828, although many reports claim that native Indians and earlier Spanish explorers may have had knowledge of gold prior.Īfter the initial discovery of gold in North Carolina, prospectors exploring nearby states stumbled upon rich gold deposits near Dahlonega in Lumpkin County, and throughout the north Georgia mountains. Georgia has one of the most significant gold occurrences in the eastern U.S., with many thousands of ounces of gold to its credit.

Gold mining dredge