eBay mining claims?

[Silverfinder99]

Hi all, I recently noticed that you can purchase (or the sellers claim you can) gold claims on eBay. I've never prospected in my life but have really been wanting to give it a try soon. I have tons of questions but until I find a place to go that wont cost a small fortune to get there, my prospecting adventures will be only dreams since I live in central Arkansas far from any gold fields. Anyways, like I was saying, I noticed the other day that on eBay there are sellers offering what seems to be some pretty good deals on supposedly, "gold bearing" land. They all advertised that each location has been tested and at least some gold was found. I'm just wondering if my gut is correct and these are just scams or have any of you ever had any dealings with these types of claim purchases and is it even legal? If so, what are some good ways of protecting your interest as to not get lured into a Lemmon deal. I've noticed that some of the claims seem cheap to me, but like I said I'm a total newbie, for all I know their prices could be total rip offs. Just wanting some reviews from some of you "real" prospectors on here before I venture into exploring these possibilities any further. Thanks in advance.

 

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[pmgsourdough]

When it comes to pmg's, the LR 2000 is dead . Request information from your local BLM .

 

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[KarenD]

What is a pmg?

 

[pmgsourdough]

Precious metal groups

 

[pmgsourdough]

I could be mistaken about the lr2000. I got this information from a friend a year or so ago. He had told me that the lr2000 no longer supported information on mining claims.

 

[GarretDiggingAz]

Terry was right about it. You have to know how to use it. Takes some knowledge of area you're looking at. You need to enter the township, meridian coords and section and then run the report. It took me a couple tries.
They did/do have the mining claims tab still on the program, but "that part doesn't work anymore. I think it's because it is being done by doing the option. It takes more work to get it, but it's still there. I used it a couple weeks ago to check on a mining claim about who owned it and to see what they were/are getting.
It's a great tool. I could be wrong, but Terry wouldn't suggest it if it didn't work. He's always referring and using it. Maybe he'd be able to walk ya through his process.

 

[Goodyguy]

Lr 2000 works fine, it's geo communicator that quit supporting lr 2000.

 

[Terry Soloman]

How the ebay gold claim scam works.

1) Scammer goes to desert, woods, river, and takes photos.

2) Scammer places auction for a "Gold Claim" on ebay with location, yadda, yadda, yadda.

3) Unsuspecting greenhorn buys the "claim" for $2,500.00

4) Scammer THEN goes to the BLM and County and files the paperwork without true discovery or checking to see if the land was already claimed

5) BLM stamps the worthless paperwork because they take your money no matter what (Your legal rights are NOT their problem, and they will tell you to go to civil court to pursue your scammer).

6) Scammer sends off the paperwork to the greenhorn, and pockets $2,200.00 for a couple of hours "work."

7) Greenhorn ends up with a worthless claim, or worse - someone else's claim.

 

[B H Prospector]

Terry that is exactly how they work! They have been doing it here for years. I know of several cross filed claims and some on land that has been withdrawn from mineral withdrawl.

 

[GarretDiggingAz]

I had run across a claim sale on eBay awhile back. It was for about 1700. Showed picks of dig areas and was by the vulture mine (just south). Thought that'd be great. Then I had gone to another claim for sale, different area, and noticed something familiar. The same pictures. What a moron!!!!! Plus same name. Not that he couldn't have multiple claims. Even the claim descriptions were identical. Why in this day and age with the Internet, file claims with same name, pics, and claim description? Wouldn't anybody who's looking run across this and scream FOUL!!!!
I know some get scammed, especially a newbie, but people please if you're going to do this on eBay, do the homework with the claim. Always check with the BLM or whichever office handles the claims to verify the truth before buying. You wouldn't buy a vehicle without test driving and inspecting it would ya?

 

[TerryC]

I could be mistaken about the lr2000. I got this information from a friend a year or so ago. He had told me that the lr2000 no longer supported information on mining claims.

The LR2000 is alive and well! My brother TimC will GLADLEY help anyone out on moving through the site. He also tells me (This is Yavapai co, now) That your county filing will show up on the (Yavapai) co site usually two days after filing. Your local BLM... ALL BLM offices use the same website. But all counties and states are NOT created equal. That is to say, Some states know what they're doing and others simply don't care.... they work for the government. That last line says it all! I have my eye on 80 acres of CLOSED claims that I will assay in Mar. They closed at the end of 2012 and the 90 day maintainance grace period has expired so it looks like I may be able to get it. With luck. TTC

 

[B H Prospector]

A word of advice to these ebay claim vultures who are scamming people. Stop stealing! Our government doesn't like the compitition!

 

[GarretDiggingAz]

Amen to that!!!!

 

[ClonedSIM]

0% if you don't dig

Kidding aside, It's possible that now buried ancient rivers ran in your area millions of years ago. The only way to know if gold is on your property is to test drill and have the samples tested for gold.

If gold is not known to be found anywhere around where you live then most likely there is no gold on your property.
But there is only one way to find out for sure and that is to test drill.

In a known gold area, long trenches can be dug to find which way the pay runs.

GG~

That makes perfect sense! I'll have to do a little research, but I'm pretty sure that there isn't much gold at all around these parts. Thanks for the advice!