Gold Searchers of Southern Nevada
Southern Nevada prospecting club with claims within two hours of Las Vegas
- Meets
- 1st Wednesday of the month, 6:30 to 8:00 pm
- Where
- American Legion Post #40, 425 E Van Wagenen St, Henderson
- Outings
- Monthly over a weekend, weather permitting, with a Saturday potluck
- Claims
- Several, 1 to 2 hours from Las Vegas by car, many in the Gold Basin area near Meadview, Arizona
- Gear to borrow
- Metal detectors, dry washers, sluice boxes and more, in a club trailer at most outings
- Members
- Over 400
- Try first
- Visitors may attend two meetings and/or one outing before joining
Club with mining claims for members
Based in Henderson, Nevada.
The club's claims are for members only: contact the club to join.
Email:
Prospect on your own near Henderson
45 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 Gold Searchers of Southern Nevada
Gold Searchers of Southern Nevada, or GSSN, is a nonprofit club for recreational prospectors around Las Vegas and Henderson, with more than 400 members. They come from all walks of life: some hunt nuggets with metal detectors, others trust dry washers and recirculating sluices, and a few bring professional backgrounds in geology, mineralogy and mine engineering.
The club says finding gold is not its only goal. Education comes first: members learn to respect the land, the club works to show the agencies that manage public land that hobby prospecting can be done responsibly, and it speaks up on land use and mining law. Members also volunteer to fence off and secure abandoned mine shafts, and they teach scouts and school children about mining, minerals and gold panning.
GSSN holds several claims, all within one to two hours' drive of Las Vegas. Each one can be reached by car and most have mobile signal. New members receive a Club Claims Guide with directions to the current claims, along with a membership card. Many outings go to the club's claims in the Gold Basin area of Mohave County, Arizona, near Meadview: the April and September 2026 outings were both held there. In October 2026 the outing went to the Broken Step claim, with a special meeting the evening before at the civic center in Meadview.
Outings take place every month when the weather allows, usually over a Saturday and Sunday, and a few members tend to arrive during the week before. Club signs go up at every major turn on the way to the claim. Saturday lunch is a potluck: the club cooks the main dish and everyone brings food to share, which is why the club asks people to reply in advance with the number of guests. Some outings add a contest; in 2025 a panning contest held in the main parking area awarded gold nuggets to the first two.
To let people try different methods, the club keeps prospecting gear that members can check out: metal detectors, dry washers, sluice boxes and other equipment, some donated and some bought with club funds. It all travels in the club's equipment trailer, which comes out to most outings, and any member in good standing may borrow a piece at no charge after signing a liability form and leaving a deposit.
General meetings are on the first Wednesday of the month, 6:30 to 8:00 pm, at American Legion Post #40, 425 E Van Wagenen Street in Henderson. Anyone thinking of joining may come to two general meetings and/or one outing first.
Other clubs and places nearby
- Southern Nevada Gem & Mineral SocietyClub · 13 mi
- GPAA Las Vegas ChapterClub · 13 mi
- Ore Car Mining Claim (SNGMS)Free public dig · 20 mi
- Mohave Prospectors AssociationClub · 75 mi
- Mohave County GemstonersClub · 77 mi
- Flattop Mountain Rock Collecting AreaFree public dig · 83 mi
Where to buy gear nearby
- Bear's Archery, Guns and ProspectingShop · 111 mi
- Havasu RocksShop · 112 mi