Roadrunner Prospectors Club
Phoenix gold prospecting club with more than 280 members-only claims
- Claims
- 280+ claims covering 5,600+ acres, for members
- Meets
- 3rd Thursday of the month, 7 pm
- Where
- Arizona American Italian Club, 7509 N 12th St, Phoenix
- Club office
- 2744 W Osborn Rd, Phoenix
- Events
- Backhoe digs, coin hunts, new member orientations on the claims
- Season
- Events slow down in the summer heat and pick up again in the fall
Club with mining claims for members
Based in Phoenix, Arizona.
The club's claims are for members only: contact the club to join.
Prospect on your own near Phoenix
94 gold spots on open public land with no claim on record, within 50 miles.
There are more on the map, some of them with a possible mining claim.
About Roadrunner Prospectors Club
The Roadrunner Prospectors Club is one of the biggest gold prospecting clubs in Arizona. Based in Phoenix, it holds the mineral rights on more than 280 claims covering over 5,600 acres, and its members share the right to prospect them.
Much of that ground is in the gold country north of Phoenix. An older Arizona Highways story followed members during one of the club's monthly weekend camp-outs, working two club claims on Big Bug Creek a few miles upstream from Mayer. Today the club's photo pages show the Prescott National Forest and nuggets with names like the No Way Nugget.
General meetings are on the third Thursday of the month at 7 pm at the Arizona American Italian Club, 7509 N 12th St in Phoenix, and the club keeps an office on W Osborn Rd. Its public calendar lists the rest: board meetings, orientations for new members held out on the claims, coin hunts and backhoe digs, where a machine opens up promising ground and members work the material. The first dig of the 2026 season was set for October 17 on one of the club's claims.
The rhythm follows the desert. Official events slow down in summer, when the heat makes digging dangerous, and start again in the fall. The club reminds members to use the buddy system, carry twice the water they think they need, do heavy work early in the morning and respect fire restrictions, because members must follow all government rules on the club's claims. A reclamation page on the website shows the other side of the hobby: filling holes and cleaning up.
Interest has grown with the price of gold. In October 2025 the club told Phoenix public radio KJZZ that its membership had risen about 10% that year, as gold neared 4,000 dollars an ounce.
For a beginner, a club like this solves the biggest problem in Arizona. About two out of three gold spots on our map of the state sit on a registered mining claim, and taking gold from someone else's claim is theft. A membership gives you maps of ground where you are allowed to dig, and people who will show you how.
Other clubs and places nearby
- GPAA Phoenix ChapterClub · 2 mi
- Arizona Association of Gold ProspectorsClub · 4 mi
- Mineralogical Society of ArizonaClub · 6 mi
- Gold Fever of the West Valley (GPAA)Club · 8 mi
- Southwest Paleontological SocietyClub · 16 mi
- Daisy Mountain Rock and Mineral ClubClub · 23 mi
Where to buy gear nearby
- Miners Rock ShopShop · 12 mi
- RDH ProspectingOnline shop · 16 mi
- Falcon Metal DetectorsOnline shop · 16 mi
- Rob's Detector SalesOnline shop · 19 mi