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| Vol. 8, No. 4 | April 2003 | |
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Lloyd G. Clements Community Center
7:00 PM (Board Meeting at 6:00 PM)
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by Gary Hawley
Greetings to all Gold Prospectors of the Rockies members!
Well, it finally happened. We got snow! And lots of it! And just a day or two before the March club meeting. I was able to measure thirty-one inches on my front lawn and missed a day and a half of work (too bad) before I could get out of my driveway.
A big "thank you" goes out to Rick Miska, Rich Crist, Sue Clover, and Ken Barker. These members helped me contact as many club members as possible to let everyone know the club meeting had been cancelled due to the snow storm. Dick Oakes put a "meeting cancelled" notice on the web site, too.
On the plus side, we got several inches of much needed moisture and I have noticed the lawns are getting greener already. I also have noticed an increased volume of water in the streams. We all know that means more gold is being delivered to your favorite prospecting spot.
Several changes have recently been made that will affect the operations of the club in a positive way:
- We now have a new mailing address:
Gold Prospectors of the Rockies This new address brings mail to a Post Office that is much closer to where Ken Barker and I live. Any mail going to the old address will be forwarded to the new address for one year.
PO Box 621988
Littleton, CO 80162-1988 - Dick Oakes has assumed the Membership Chairman position vacated by John Schneider. Dick haas already made changes and corrections to numerous forms and letters that the Membership Chairman uses in correspondence with club members.
- Kathy Hawley has assumed the Refreshments Chairman position vacated by Kathleen Graham. Kathy will be contacting those members who have signed up for the refreshments table.
- Dick Oakes has been working diligently on the club web site. I believe he has a special surprise for us about the web site. He was attempting to complete the surprise and write about it in this edition of The Gold Nugget, so be sure to look for his article.
- Hank Innerfeld has assumed the Chair position for Dowsing. Hank has offered to do a series of informative articles about his personal involvement with dowsing.
- Carl Sauerland has been working on updates to the GPR Contact List for The Gold Nugget. The corrected changes will appear in the newsletter soon.
Until next time, may the gold in your pan be worth the effort you put into finding it.
Got my March newsletter and read about the prospecting venture in Golden. Not often is there a chance to work where so much material is dug out so deep. I would like to have been there. The writer, Ken Barker, mentioned that gold was found but was noticeably silent about mentioning any specific amount of gold recovered. I'm sure Ken never just forgot to give us the details. Either so little was panned he was reluctant to admit it, or they did so well that he did not want to let the word out and start a stampede.
His words, "Well, there was gold in our pans," say a lot. A deer hunter returns tired and cold saying, "Well, I saw several does and a buck but they were out of range." The rabbit hunter says, "Well, they were there but the brush was so thick you couldn't get a shot." A fisherman says, "Well, got a few small ones. There were big ones in there but they wouldn't bite." Mushroom hunters often say, "Well, we got a few but there has got to be lots more in them woods."
Those who get hooked on a sport or hobby, be it hunting, fishing, baseball, or gold prospecting, are hard to discourage. I hunt every year and seldom bag anything more than a road-kill deer. Look at those who fish, bucking the weather and discomfort of cold water, trying for even one small trout. Gold prospectors, that doggedly persistent breed, you know what they will endure for the glow of even the smallest color in a pan.
No, it doesn't take a whole lot of gold to make a panning venture worth the time, effort, and discomfort. The actual amount found is usually academic. You know there is a lot more in that stream somewhere. Yes, gold prospectors, perhaps even more than the others, go forth under a banner proclaiming, "Hope Springs Eternal." Probably printed impressively in Latin.
Ken writes that the weather was bad, ground frozen, prospectors wet and chilled, but he continues with, "However, we worked away at finding more gold." Gold seldom comes easy. That sentence speaks volumes about the character of gold prospectors--they enjoy suffering. So, when Ken stated, "Well, there was gold in our pans," the question, "How much?" just don't matter!
The point is, there was gold in their pans, and that is about the best any prospector can hope for.
by Ken Barker
Don asked if any of us had gone back to Golden for another shot at panning. Well, Don, just to follow up on the Golden outing, yes, a couple of the folks have gone back to Clear Creek to try their luck at panning. Everyone should know that the gold that has been found is the same small stuff that you always find on Clear Creek.
There was a great deal of hope that we would find more, but that just didn't happen. The hope was based on the fact that there had been a large hole dug in the creek, about 25 feet, as the creek is being worked to make an area for people to use for kayaking in this area. The bad news is that bedrock here is about 100 to 125 feet down. Now, that is a great deal of overburden. The area we were working was where the creek would be used as a kayaking exit point.
You should all know that this was just a fun trip with no expectations. So, sorry Don, no great amounts of gold. But we did have a good time and "there was gold in the bottom of our pans!"
Don also asked about some procedures for very fine gold recovery. The article below on "Fine Gold Recovery" is what I found. I hope this is helpful to everyone (thanks for asking, Don).
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We can schedule
Contact Ken Barker
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submitted by Ken Barker
To recover gold from black sands, the recreational prospector should only use mechanical separation. Mechanical separation is simply removing the gold from surrounding materials by using a mechanical approach. This starts out simply by using tweezers to remove the small nuggets and flakes that are easily discernable.
Following the removal of the coarse gold, the concentrate should be dried. Drying of black sands should always be done in a well-ventilated area with you upwind. During the drying process, it is possible that hazardous vapors could form from natural minerals. It is always better to be safe than sorry.
After drying the material, pass the sand through a fine-mesh screen such as window screen. Take the oversize material (particles still on the screen) and pour it on a piece of clean paper. Spread out and separate the gold. Sweep the unwanted material off the paper. Then transfer the gold to a storage bottle.
Pass the undersized material from the first screen through a finer screen, such as a tea strainer. Place the oversized particles on another clean piece of paper. Again, separate the gold from the surrounding material. This can be accomplished in several ways, including lightly blowing across the sands while holding down the piece of paper. You can also use a small painter's brush or simply use your fingers. Once there is only gold on the paper, transfer it to a storage bottle.
The remaining undersized material consists of small particles. Spread these particles over another clean piece of paper. Take a magnet wrapped in plastic (such as any brand of cling wrap) and touch the particles. Magnetic particles, such as magnetite, will attach to the magnet. Using yet another clean piece of paper, remove the plastic wrap and allow the particles to fall on the paper. Examine the particles visually. You can repeat the magnet-wrapped separation and, if any gold is discernable, place it in a storage bottle.
The remaining particles on the original paper will be fine gold and non-magnetic black sands. Again, the gold can be separated from the black sands by lightly blowing across the paper or using an artist's brush. Lightly tap the edge of the paper or vibrate the paper to ensure that only a little concentrate is present on the paper and encourage separation. The remaining fine gold can be placed in a storage bottle.
by Dick Oakes
Howdy, folks!
Here's a little of this and a little of that for you.
Website
The GPR now has its own domain name that you may start using immediately. It is
Going to our new web address automatically and transparently redirects to our actual webspace at http://www.lornet.com/prospector/ (which still works, by the way). Rick Miska did the original research to find GoDaddy.com and their very inexpensive rate for domain name registration (with free URL forwarding!). Thanks, Rick!
The original website setup with Lornet was handled by our past webmaster, Steve Johnson. Because of his initial work, we pay the lowest commercial web-hosting price in the industry at Lornet. Thanks, Steve!
Most online GPR members have probably been to the website recently. But have you been there really, really recently? I've added the newsletter issues from 2002 and 2003 (see Newsletters), and a bunch of stories from past newsletters (see Articles) with more to come. I've also added some information about demonstrations, outings, and the like (see Activities), and a bunch of recent and not-so-recent pictures (see Photo Gallery).
If you need any information about our wonderful club, it should all be there (see About the GPR), including an up-to-date Membership Application and renewal form. If you're looking to obtain a GPR cap or bumper sticker and can't get to the meetings, check our website (see GPR Store). Because of our interaction with Jefferson County Open Space over prospecting Clear Creek Canyon Park, we have updated our prospectors and treasure hunters ethics codes (see Code of Ethics). We've also selected a few gold prospecting-related web links for your edification and enjoyment (see Selected Links), and invite you to send us your favorites (selected, of course!)--use the Quick Finder to, uh, quick find!
Membership
Thanks to John Schneider for the great job he did as Membership Committee chair. With John's leaving, president Gary Hawley has appointed me to fill the vacancy, so you'll see me at the membership table for a while.
If you bring a guest, please have that person fill out the minimal contact info on my Guest List so I can send an invitation letter to join our club. Remember, any interested individuals and families may attend a club meeting with guest status. Active membership, however, is required for further participation in club meetings, activities, and nugget drawings.
Also, please check your name on our membership list as you come in. In order for us to obtain an accurate count of attending members and know who attends for insurance reasons, please enter by the main doors near the lobby rather than the door farther east, and initial your name on the membership list. While you're at it, please check your information to make sure it is correct and complete. If we don't have your e-mail address, please let us know what it is (we promise not to sell it to a telemarketer!) so we may notify you of any emergency closings or event changes.
From having done it before, I know that managing the membership list is a pain in the neck. I'm proposing to the Board that we change our membership renewal month for all members to the beginning of our fiscal year--January. A new applicant would pay $5.00 plus $2.50 per month until January. Current renewals would pay $2.50 until January. Members who have already renewed this year would only pay the difference next year to bring their membership current to the following January. This change would allow us not only to more easily manage the list, but also allow us to do a final push-for-renewal reminder at the end of the year (I know--I forgot and missed getting my January issue of the newsletter!). If you agree with this proposal, or especially if you don't agree, be sure to notify president Gary Hawley before the meeting (Board meeting is at 6:00 PM on general 3rd-Wednesday meeting night). Thanks!
I have proposed to the Board that we have a special membership drawing as the very last activity of our general meetings. The drawing would be from members' official badges (one per member, if worn at the meeting), collected during the nugget drawings. The badge drawn would win the prize. No badge?--no drawing. Home early?--no drawing. Guests would not be eligible (it would be, after all, a "membership" drawing). As tables and chairs were being stowed and as members leave, members would pick up their badges from the membership table on their way out. Like or don't like the idea or have comments? Let president Gary Hawley know before the next Board meeting. Thanks!
Publicity
Gary Hawley has appointed me to head the Publicity Committee so I have recreated our simple-but-effective publicity brochure with the new club contact information. Please take a few to keep in your prospecting vehicle and give to prosperous prospective prospecting members you meet on the prospecting trail. Also, hand them out to business owners whom you think may wish to place an ad in our newsletter.
I took 50 brochures and 50 combination membership information/applications over to GPR member Bill Chapman at Gold-N-Detectors in Golden (see Bill's ad below). Bill has steered several people our way who have eventually joined the club--thanks, Bill!
Standing Operating Procedures (SOP)
I am working on augmenting our Standard Operating Procedures so that incoming officers, board members, and committee chairpersons will be able to get off to a running start when they take over their respective positions.
If you are an officer, board member, or committee chair, I will be sending you the section that pertains to your position. I ask that you please, please (and another please) take a few minutes of your time to give me more details--not just the overview--on how your position should be "operated" so the next person in your position will have an easier time from the get-go!
Advertising
President Gary Hawley has asked that I coordinate the club's commercial advertising (pursuant to Rick Miska's call for an Advertising Coordinator in the October 2002 issue of the newsletter). I did all the display ads that are now in the newsletter and have reworked them in color for the bottom of the newsletters that are now on the website (ain't they purty?).
Display advertising information is available on our website, as well as in each newsletter. Anyone may place a paid display ad (taken subject to a good-taste review!). If you find someone who would like to display an ad in the newsletter, have them go to our website or contact me for more information at my GPR-advertising@phantomranch.net e-mail address and I'll be glad to work with them. I'll also have available at the meetings ad sheets, which give commercial display advertising prices and show the ad sizes.
Trailer
No, not the wheeled kind, the "this is the end" kind (thankfully, eh?).
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Stanley "Skip" Mancheski, 63, died Monday, January 20, 2003, in Aurora, Colorado, following heart surgery. Skip was born August 19, 1939, in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, son of the late John and Luella Mancheski. He was a graduate of P.J. Jacobs High School and the University of Wisconsin-Madison with degrees in Business and in Geology. He served in the U.S. Army from 1960 to 1963 in Germany and later with the Corps of Engineers in Vietnam. He was married to Diane Pavloski, who presently lives in Aurora.
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Items For Sale
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Dredge Wanted
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Wet Suit For Sale
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Members: Your Ad Could Be Here
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is an official publication of the Gold Prospectors of the Rockies, a Denver-based, Colorado nonprofit organization established in 1995 for the enjoyment of gold prospecting and metal detecting. Club meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month, 7:00 PM, at the Lloyd G. Clements Community Center, 1580 Yarrow Street, Lakewood, Colorado (1 block west of Wadsworth, 1 block north of Colfax). Individual or family membership fees are $30.00 for the first year, $25.00 for each subsequent year. Non-commercial business-card-sized classified text ads for members are free of charge. Commercial display ads must be detecting, prospecting, or treasure related and are available to anyone at a modest charge: 1/8 page (approximately 2"h x 3.5"w business card size) - $6.00 per month. 1/4 page (approximately 4"h x 3.5"w) - $12.00 per month. 1/2 page (approximately 4"h x 7"w or 8.5"h x 3.5"w) - $24.00 per month. Full page (approximately 8.5"h x 7"w) - $48.00 per month. The Gold Nugget is open to and gladly accepts submission of information and articles. All article submissions must be received by the editor no later than the first Wednesday of the month for inclusion in the next month's issue. The GPR must receive any required payments for commercial ads prior to their inclusion. Include publication information on articles clipped from other publications. The Editor reserves the right to edit all submissions. Bulletin editors may print any article from this newsletter with credit given to the newsletter and the author. Contact: The Gold Nugget Editor, The Gold Prospectors of the Rockies, PO Box 621988, Littleton, CO 80162-1988. |