I bought a bag of dirt on eBay once that is supposed to have diamonds and gold in it. I poured the dirt in a cup but that's as far as I have gotten. I might be rich, lol.
My dad took me and my sister panning for gold in Colorado many years ago. We came away with a little vial full of black silt and a few gold flakes. Wasn't worth much but as a kid, I though it was pretty neat.
There is a place in Nashville IN. that you can pan for gold. Basically you buy a pail of so called enriched dirt that is guaranteed to have some gemstones and gold ore in it.
My sons thought it was a blast we got a few rubies and some teeny tiny gold flakes.
They have the pans and water troth set up to use. It was fun for an hour just messing around.
My grandparents mined in Alaska (my grandpa also makes jewelry) and he noticed that a lot of people were leaving these little black rocks in the bottom. Most places that mine regularly add a chemical that binds to the gold and makes it heavier and black. My grandpa kept seeing these black chunks at the bottom of the water and scooped some up. My grandmother thought they were pretty so they decided to keep them, about 12 of them total. They went to trade in their gold for money and asked the cashier about the black "rocks" and he told them they were worthless. They kept them anyway and turned in the rest and my grandpa looked at them when he got home, they were 85% gold. He ended up melting all of them down and had almost $200 worth of gold in these rocks. He made a small bracelet for my grandmother and she wears it now.
He always told me that if you mine for gold to look for the little black rocks that are really heavy for their size.