Open Ground

Real public places you can legally dig, pan, or comb and keep what you find.

• Baile an Òr, the Kildonan Burn Strath of Kildonan, near Helmsdale, Scotland
• Bancroft, the Mineral Capital Bancroft, Ontario, Canada
• Big Brook Preserve Marlboro, New Jersey
• Calvert Cliffs Lusby, Maryland
• Charmouth & the Jurassic Coast Charmouth & Lyme Regis, Dorset, England
• Cherokee Ruby & Sapphire Mine Cowee Valley, Franklin, NC
• Coober Pedy, the Noodling Heaps Coober Pedy, SA, Australia
• Crater of Diamonds Murfreesboro, Pike County, AR
• Crow Creek Mine Girdwood, AK
• Diamond Hill Mine Antreville, Abbeville County, SC
• Emerald Hollow Mine Hiddenite, Alexander County, NC
• Free Claim No. 6, Bonanza Creek Bonanza Creek Rd, near Dawson City, Yukon, Canada
• Gem Mountain Sapphire Mine Hwy 38, near Philipsburg, MT
• Gemfield Gem Claims 4 mi NW of Goldfield, Esmeralda County, NV
• Graves Mountain Lincolnton, GA
• Jade Cove Los Padres coastline, Big Sur, CA
• Lightning Ridge Lightning Ridge, NSW, Australia
• Penn Dixie Fossil Park Blasdell, New York
• Ratnapura Gem Pits Ratnapura, Sri Lanka
• Rye Patch, the Majuba Placers West of Rye Patch Reservoir, Pershing County, NV
• Sunstone Public Collection Area Rabbit Basin, 23 mi N of Plush, OR
• Tankavaara Gold Village Sodankylä, Finnish Lapland
• The Amber Coast Gdańsk Bay shore, Stegna, Jantar, Poland
• The American Fossil Quarry Kemmerer, Wyoming
• The Andamooka Opal Fields Andamooka, South Australia
• The Arrow River Diggings Arrowtown, New Zealand
• The Aurora Fossil Pits Aurora, North Carolina
• The Caesar Creek Spillway Waynesville, Ohio
• The Central Otago Goldfields Central Otago, South Island, NZ
• The Emerald Mines of Muzo Muzo, Colombia
• The Fairburn Agate Fields Buffalo Gap National Grassland, SD
• The Gemfields of Central Queensland Sapphire, Rubyvale, QLD, Australia
• The Golden Beaches of Nome Nome, Alaska
• The Golden Triangle Ballarat, Wedderburn, Ararat, VIC, Australia
• The Herkimer Diamond Mines Middleville, Herkimer County, NY
• The Ilakaka Sapphire Fields Ilakaka, Madagascar
• The Imperial Topaz of Ouro Preto Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil
• The Kalgoorlie Goldfields Kalgoorlie, Boulder, WA, Australia
• The Lemmenjoki Goldfields Lemmenjoki, Finnish Lapland
• The Mazon Creek Beds Mazonia, Illinois
• The Napf Napf hills, Emmental, Entlebuch, Switzerland
• The Oregon Sunstone Beds Rabbit Basin, Plush, Oregon
• The Ovens, Cunard's Gold Beach The Ovens, near Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada
• The Peace River Fossil Beds Arcadia, Florida
• The Public Fossicking Areas of the West Coast Goldsborough & the West Coast, South Island, NZ
• The Rivers of the Cévennes Cèze & Gardon rivers, Occitanie, France
• The Steinkaulenberg Idar-Oberstein, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
• The Virgin Valley Opal Fields Virgin Valley, Denio, Humboldt County, NV
• Toi Gold Mine Toi, Izu Peninsula, Japan
• Topaz Mountain Juab County, Utah
• U-Dig Trilobite Quarry House Range, Utah
• Wanlockhead & Leadhills Lowther Hills, Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland
• Wegner Quartz Crystal Mines Mount Ida, Arkansas