Florida does not have the right geological conditions for gold; there is no commercial gold mining in the state; read about these and other facts and figures about gold mining in FL.
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Is there Gold in Florida?
No, there are no gold deposits in the state; there has never been a gold mining industry:
- Small amounts of placer gold were mined in the northeast of the state in the current Mike Roess Gold Head Branch State Park; at least according to an info sign at the park. There is no record of the amount of gold produced.
- The US Geological Survey currently lists 11 gold producing states that count towards the US gold production (with Nevada and Alaska at the top). In the past, many more states were gold producers. Florida was never among them.
- Florida does not have the geological conditions for gold deposits.
- The best way to dig for gold in Florida is in Miami’s nightclubs, with a metal detector at the beaches or in diving suit looking for sunk Spanish treasure ships.
- While Florida may not have had a traditional gold rush for precious metals like California, its history is rich with a “white gold” rush driven by phosphate mining.
- The Gold Prospectors Association of America has no mining sites in Florida. The closest are in Buchanan, Georgia (link).
- The US Geological Survey does not list any current or historical gold sites in Florida. (In the neighboring states of Alabama and Georgia the count is around 300 and 600, respectively.)
Key Takeaways:
| Fact | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Remember | No gold deposits. In the past some mining in the northeast. |
| Gold Deposits | None relevant |
| Discovery Year | Not recorded |
| Discoverer | Not recorded |
| Mining Industry | Not active |
| Last Gold Mine | Only small amounts of placer gold were mined, no gold mines established |
| Panning Locations | – |
Check out the video about beach gold mining after a storm:
Where is Gold in Florida?
There are is no naturally occurring gold in Florida’s rocks or rivers.
Instead it is rich in phosphate deposits. This is due to Florida’s unique past, where the land was an ocean bottom covered by phosphorus-rich seawater millions of years ago.
See below a geological map of Florida. Green are areas of artesian flow, red dots are phosphate deposits (light is hard rock, dark is land pebble).
What is the History of Gold Mining in Florida?
The Spanish were searching for gold in Florida, as they did in other parts of the world. What they found was “white gold”, phosphate, that led to a phosphate mining industry that is active to this day.
Is There Gold in Other US States?
Check out gold production in neighboring states of Florida: Georgia and Alabama.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGC), there are 11 states that mine gold and contribute towards the gold mining statistic: Nevada is responsible for the majority of gold output, around 72%, followed by Alaska (13%). 9 other contribute in sum to the remaining 15% of gold production: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah.