I am a big fan of the gold mining shows and always wanted to do some serious panning. There used to be a show called Gold Fever that taught a lot about amateur mining and they were associated with the GPAA. The GPAA has their own mineral rights areas around the country and was running gold mining expeditions for a week or two in Alaska. The miners would share all gold found during the week and I think it was normally enough to just about cover the cost of the trip. I decided to go on one of these tours two years ago only to discover that they are no longer running them. GRRR!