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Au Mojave Prospectors (Apple Valley)

Family gold club of the High Desert since 2002, with claims and no chapter dues

Founded
December 14, 2002, as the Hesperia chapter of the GPAA
Meets
Third Thursday of the month, 6:30 PM
Where
Round Table Pizza, 14898 Dale Evans Parkway, Apple Valley (per the GPAA chapter directory)
Claims
Club mining claims; maps and access information in the members' area
Dues
No chapter dues
Staying active
Three meetings a year, or two meetings and one outing
Legal form
501(c)(7) nonprofit social and recreational club
Email
aumojaveprospectors@gmail.com

Club with mining claims for members

Based in Apple Valley, California.

The club's claims are for members only: contact the club to join.

aumojaveprospectors.org ↗

Email:

Prospect on your own near Apple Valley

187 gold spots on open public land with no claim on record, within 50 miles.

29 gem and mineral 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.

Open the gold map around Apple Valley →Open the gem and mineral map around Apple Valley →

Prospecting and collecting rules in California →

About Au Mojave Prospectors (Apple Valley)

Au Mojave Prospectors started on December 14, 2002, when local members of the Gold Prospectors Association of America set up a chapter in Hesperia; the club's earlier website put their number at 18. It is organized as a 501(c)(7) nonprofit, a social and recreational club, and it presents itself as a family-friendly place for anyone from a first-timer to a seasoned miner. Its listed activities are gold panning, drywashing, metal detecting, highbanking and gem and mineral hunting, alongside workshops, outings and meetings.

Joining costs nothing at chapter level: the steps on the club's page are to come to a monthly meeting, sign in as a guest, meet the members and join. The list of who can join runs from prospectors, families and beginners to veterans, rockhounds and retirees. To stay an active member you come to three meetings a year, or to two meetings and one outing, which keeps the chapter organized and ready for the field. Active members log into an area with meeting minutes, club documents, training material and the claim maps with access information.

Meetings are on the third Thursday of each month at 6:30 PM. The club's own site shows only a placeholder for the location, and the GPAA chapter directory gives it as Round Table Pizza, 14898 Dale Evans Parkway, Apple Valley. Members are also pointed to the events of the GPAA and of the Lost Dutchman Mining Association, which need a membership of their own; the chapter's aim is to add local days in the field to those.

The 2026 Labor Day Outing, on September 5 and 6 in the Coolgardie area, shows how a club weekend works: dry camping with no hookups and no water provided, prospecting and claim activity, a detector hunt, a raffle and panning of the finds on site, with hot dogs and hamburgers from the club. Anyone unsure of the way met at Starlight Donuts at 7 AM to drive out together, because exact claim directions go out only through the club's own channels.

Away from the claims the club works with schools and local events, giving hands-on prospecting demonstrations; in 2024 its booths usually offered a panning demonstration and sold gold concentrates. Back then the club also wrote that more and more members were looking for semi-precious rocks and gems besides gold, and that some had traveled to places where they could dredge legally while California's ban lasts. The Prospectors Pass page remembers departed members with a line of its own: "May your pan always be heavy, your campfire warm, and your trail forever rich with gold."

Other clubs and places nearby

Where to buy gear nearby

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