Mt. Antero on Tuesday. Doesn't look any better today.
Temps in the upper 40's. BRRRR!
More Panning Gold From Tin Pan Prospecting
Took a couple of friends to Tin Pan for a day of just gold panning and this is what we got. Thought you'd like to see it. There's about half a gram, there, in the pan.
For those of you on my case about blog posts, This blog's for you. :>D Denver Gem, Mineral and Fossil Show was a bit slow for wholesalers, but retailers saw a lot of traffic all days. Gold Prospectors of Colorado had their gold panning troughs out all three days, and of course they were very busy. The display cases had some awesome items in them, including one that had some very nice blue colored aquamarine from the Mt. Antero area. Most of you know I spent my time with T.L.E. International selling Emeralds.
After the show, we took up where we left off with the BLM and Cache Creek. GPOC will have volunteers up there this Saturday to do some cleanup and tree removal. The trees are already down and ready to be moved, and they will be knocking down coyote holes and general cleanup. The Beaver pond will get mucked out next Tuesday and an additional pond put in above the exsisting beaver pond to try and catch sediment before it enters the beaver pond. The sediment removed from the pond will NOT be available for prospecting and an effort will be made to spread it out to begin our long term reseeding effort.
We are also engaged in talks with BLM to modify the area's use regulations for next year, and there will be many changes. Everyone needs to remember that this area was developed originally as a wildlife refuge, and mining a small part of this area is a secondary concern.
To protect the wildlife aspect of the area, mining usage will need to be restricted further to prevent destruction of the downstream areas. Sluicing and panning will be restricted next year to a reasonable time limit, as there were many with sluice boxes who came into the area and stayed all season. Some are still there. This amount of use was never intended for this area. It was intended for casual, recreational, vacation time use and not to be mined as one would mine their own claim.
Should an individual or group want to do this level of work, they should be filing their own claim and dealing with the bonding issues connected with that claim, and not be doing this level of work on public land. Altercations with individuals concerning water usage and regulations was a big problem for hosts this year, and the new regulations will insure that these problems are kept to a minimum next year.
You will be required to fill out a short form to be placed in a collection box, like is used for fee for use parking areas, but there will be no fee. Collection of this information is to ensure that individuals are not in the area past their bonding permits or their number of allowed usage days.
Information on the area will be consolidated and all forms, website and kiosk will be in sync to minimize confusion. Highbanking permits will remain as they were this season, but without the extension. There were very few extensions asked for, and there were many highbankers who stayed in the area far past their permits plus any extensions they would have had. The elimination of the extension will help in tracking how many days a highbanker has been set up. (Leaving your highbanker set up is counted as a days work, whether you work or not).
Weather is too cold here today to get out much, and so, those of you who are blog starved get a treat. The fourteeners are covered in snow and the sky is cloudy. This weekend promises to be much better, and our last week in B.V. this season should end on a pleasant note. Hopefully, all of you had a successful prospecting season.
Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
http://www.hookedongold.com/
