Claim partnership question/advice

mellowyellow

mellowyellow

Sr. Member
Sep 30, 2012
443
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Southern California
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Gold bug
Hey all, thanks for reading!

Well I have been looking for a claim over a year and been playing around with LR2000 with TimC.
My first and only time to the N Yuba river, I fell in love with that area. Downieville is such a COOL town!

I soon started to realize that almost the entire N yuba river is claimed! Sucks. Then a month ago I was approached by a friend of a friend. He wants to sell his part of the claim partnership. It's 3 people partnered on the claim. I know for a fact these are good people.

Details-- it's on the N Yuba river just a few miles from downieville. The claim was originally owned by Major Downie of downieville , LOL , kinda cool eh! The guy wants to sell his part of the claim because he owns several claims in that area already and he's fairly old and just can't work em all. Here's the prob..... It would cost me $5K to buy in. This is what he paid on his part. I know this is NOT a scam. These are people I know. Wow that a lot of cash.

Is is worth it?? Without dredging it would take Me a long time to get $5k worth in gold, lol . I also live in SoCal so it's a fairly long trip. I would prob try and get to the claim 4-6 times a year or so, maybe a bit more. I would be high banking, sluicing and sniping. The claim is 40 acres btw.

Thanks for any feedback or opinions fellas!
 

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Do NOT partner with anyone on a gold claim that you have not known all your life. Even then it is risky.

For $5,000.00 you can stake several claims in different parts of the state. The person you are buying from is trying to get his full investment back from YOU - not the claim. Think about it.
 

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Terry Soloman said:
Do NOT partner with anyone on a gold claim that you have not known all your life. Even then it is risky.

For $5,000.00 you can stake several claims in different parts of the state. The person you are buying from is trying to get his full investment back from YOU - not the claim. Think about it.
Click to expand...

Hey Terry, thanks for feedback. Yes he is trying to get the full investment back. His view was this claim was worth it. N yuba. Is the north yuba THAT good? It sure it pretty. Again, I fell in love with downieville and there's hotels there so my wife can come. The location of the claim is what excites me. But just too much cash!!!

Thanks again terry.
 

I would not part with 5k without being able to dredge there. There are free areas on that river open to the public that you could probably do just as good with a sluice, and plenty of other creeks in Nor Cal that are open and free. If you are dead set on this area try contacting some of the claim owners on that river and ask if they will let you run a sluice. All these big river claims that are out in the open are worthless claims now as they cant dredge em and these guys know it, or are still in denial. imo
 

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What are your reasons for getting a claim Mellow? If you went ahead and did this you'd be in $$$$. Maybe 7 or 8000. Do you expect to get it back?

I know you'd like to. That's not my question.
 

I wouldn't pay 5k for 1/3 of a worked out 40 acre claim even if it could be dredged, unless it was patented and I could build a house and live there. :tongue3:
 

goldog said:
What are your reasons for getting a claim Mellow? If you went ahead and did this you'd be in $$$$. Maybe 7 or 8000. Do you expect to get it back?

I know you'd like to. That's not my question.
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My reasoning is just to have a place to dig for the rest of my life in a beautiful setting close to town where my wife can stay in hotel/motel. I know I won't get rich, but least you can still find good gold.. I just loved the north yuba. I'm sure there are many many nice places up north as well. I just don't know the area, from LA. Thanks again.
 

Goodyguy said:
I wouldn't pay 5k for 1/3 of a worked out 40 acre claim even if it could be dredged, unless it was patented and I could build a house and live there. :tongue3:
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Oh yes wouldn't be nice to build a cabin on the north yuba!!! What a dream ! Thanks for feedback. Just too much $$$$$$$$ ughh
 

Claims seem to be somewhat of a scam business. From the amounts of gold I see here and there on posts, it looks like people are happy with $5/yard dirt. If a claim only allows small scale operations like panning, sluicing and dredging with less than 6 inch dredge, h0w can one justify paying $15,000 for the right to move maybe 50 yards of material a day, netting $250 in gold for $100 in fuel cost? That means you are looking at 100 days of dredging to pay back just the claim purchase price.
 

Well if he wants to mine there forever as a hobby it could be worth it. 150 dollars a day is good money for practising your hobby, most hobbies only cost money. :icon_scratch:
 

Tend to agree with Bug on this one, no dredging = no use paying that price. Unless 5k comes easy to you go for it otherwise may as well camp and use public areas. Take that five grand and put a down payment on a cabin or house out in Downieville, my grandparents had the house across from the fire station for most of my life what a nice area. I feel your pain trying to get to a good spot on the river that isent claimed up or tore up.
 

Yup, thanks for the reply GW... Just too much cash for me. If I was rich then sure.. But not on a public employe salary. Lol.

Would be nice to have some land and claim there. Pipe dreams.
 

myellow - you really like Dnville! I do too(it was better when all the mountain bikers and rafters weren't hanging around the pizza shop, but oh well). First,
its an hour and a half from me, in Reno, while you said its over 10 hrs for you - big dif. Second, if these are good people, they won't mind telling you ALL
about it including pics - at the same time you can check out the partners compatibility(very important). Third, "this guy is fairly old" etc. It would sound
better to me if the guy was really old or had serious health problems. What if he's selling his other claims with the same story? Fourth, how many days
per trip you plan on actual digging? If its less than three, you head south afterwards feeling unsatisfied. Fifth, has he drawn the line at "cash up front",
generally a warning sign. Sixth, like someone said above, can you afford to spend 5,000 and another 2,000 before, say, next november? If none of this
makes the little voice say "WATCH OUT", go for it.
 

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FP, good points. Going to pass on it. I do feel it would be ok to go in with these guys, but its just too much much cash. Plus all the extra stuff. There's got to be places a bit closer to LA where I can find a cheaper closer river/stream to claim and work on my own. Right?? Lol.

Thanks again

Mellow.

Ps yes!! I love dnville. What a special place.
 

Hi Mellow,
Of course he thinks it is worth his asking price. Everyone who is selling a claim thinks it is worth his asking price. Be very careful. Entering into a partnership with friends is a good way to end the friendship.

Good Luck!

B H Prospector
 

Mellow. Your talks with Tim surely showed you the possibilities open to you. 5k for a portion of a claim may be worth it to some. Thousands paid millions for the chance during The Rush. Very few made it. The choice is yours alone. A club membership, with the chance to hit the pay streak, may be a better bet. Choose wisely Grasshopper. TTC
 

For you browsers, Major Downie, with his party discovered very rich diggins at the confluence early in the Gold Rush, of the NF Yuba river and the Downie
river. One location was known as the "tin cup" diggin's. Said a miner could get a pound of gold per day with just a knife and a tin cup.
Also Jeff and Dot Coffey spent a wonderful time mining here in the true story "Bacon and Beans from a Goldpan" a must read.
 

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