NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — The Gold Prospectors Association of America saw its enrollment double in the first quarter of 2024 compared with the same period in 2023. The increase coincided with a rise in gold prices, which reached $5,000 an ounce in early 2024.

In 2023, the Bureau of Land Management reported more than 600,000 active mining claims on federal land, a record for this century, according to public records. Membership in the subreddit r/Prospecting increased by more than a thousand percent between 2020 and 2024.

Albert Fausel, an amateur gold prospector and the owner of Placerville Hardware in Placerville, California, said interest in the hobby had accelerated. "In the past couple of weeks, it's really picked up. When everyone knows it's five grand, it's a milestone," he said.

Online, prospecting content has expanded across platforms. On YouTube, prospecting influencers post videos of themselves fending off bears and spelunking in old mines. A content creator known as Pioneer Pauly has an ASMR video showing a hand caressing a pile of gold nuggets, and his videos have accumulated 300 million views.

Television interest in amateur mining grew after an earlier price surge. Following a spike in gold prices in 2010, the Discovery Channel green-lit a series of reality shows about amateur miners. The first such show, "Gold Rush," now in its sixteenth season, began with a group of men from Oregon mining a claim by Porcupine Creek in southeastern Alaska. The program became Friday night's top cable series for men under fifty-five and inspired spinoffs, including "Gold Rush: Mine Rescue with Freddy & Juan," a business-makeover show for struggling mines.

Fausel appeared on Discovery's "America's Backyard Gold," a travel show about mining destinations. In a Placerville episode, cameras followed him as he searched for gold underwater using a snorkel, and he found half an ounce of gold in thirty minutes, which was then worth $800. "That's a little better than minimum wage," he said.