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Orange County 49ers

Orange County gold and metal detecting club with its own claims, north and south

Meets
Third Tuesday of each month, 7 PM
Where
Garden Grove Woman's Club, 9501 Chapman Avenue, Garden Grove (corner of Gilbert Street)
Claims
Wet and dry claims totaling hundreds of acres in Southern and Northern California
Outings
A spring and a fall campout every year, plus Outlaws weekends on HMC-1
Newsletter
Golden Aura, monthly
Membership
Annual or monthly, up to two members on one membership
Coming up
Meeting on November 17, 2026; holiday party on Saturday, December 12

Club with mining claims for members

Based in Garden Grove, California.

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

oc49ers.com ↗facebook.com ↗

Email:

Prospect on your own near Garden Grove

20 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.

Open the gold map around Garden Grove →

Prospecting and collecting rules in California →

About Orange County 49ers

The Orange County 49ers are a nonprofit corporation built around two pursuits, gold prospecting and metal detecting, taught through practice and good fellowship. The club owns mining claims in both Southern and Northern California, wet and dry, that together cover hundreds of acres, and a membership gives access to prospect, recreate and camp on any of them. Members also receive the monthly newsletter, the Golden Aura, and a shot at the nugget door prizes drawn at meetings and outings.

Meetings are held on the third Tuesday of the month at the Garden Grove Woman's Club on Chapman Avenue, at the corner of Gilbert Street. Every 2026 meeting on the club's event pages starts at 7 PM, and the next one is on November 17. The same hall hosts the annual holiday party on Saturday, December 12: a potluck, a gift exchange and raffles of gold, silver and prospecting gear.

The year turns on two long weekends. Between 2019 and 2025, every spring outing at the end of May and every fall outing in October was held on the club's own HMC-1 claim, over the years with panning, dry-washing and metal detecting demonstrations, coin hunts, bingo and potlucks, and time left to explore the claim for gold and other minerals. In 2026 the spring outing moved to the LDMA Duisenburg camp from May 22 to 25, where there are panning and clean-up stations and a clubhouse, and the fall outing went back to HMC-1 from October 9 to 12. The Outlaws outings added two more weekends on HMC-1 in January and March 2026, each with a Saturday potluck, and on August 1 the club spent a day at Huntington Beach.

Every outing announcement carries the same two reminders: get a California campfire permit, which is free and good through December 31 of the year, and bring firewood. On the club website the For Sale forum lists gear offered and wanted, from Keene and bellows puffer dry washers to used metal detectors. On the home page, a photo shows two members on HMC-1 with Dave Turin, as seen on Discovery Channel's America's Backyard Gold.

Other clubs and places nearby

Where to buy gear nearby

Sources