Historically, Montana has been an important gold producer, in terms of both lodes and placers, and it still produces gold for the prospector today.

There is always an overwhelming feeling when finding gold of any size, but one like this doesn’t come along very often.

He began hiking my way and was as astonished as I was when he saw it. Another high five moment! It makes you wonder how long this gold had just been sitting there on the ground.

Placers that are directly associated with lode deposits are sometimes overlooked and may have good potential for those who are willing to search for them.

If you do the math, it equates to about $1,500 of heavy metal value per three-hour dive. This is good wages, and you are doing a service to the environment by removing this toxic metal.