Panning in Fairplay with the 4th Grade
That's our setup area
We broke up into two groups
Chad & Larry helped with the panning lessons
Everyone found gold! And all had a great time.
Even though it was cold, they didn't want to stop.
· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday, last Gazette: $1054.80
· Spot price last Gazette May 2nd: $1052.80
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Calendar of Events
OCTOBER
· 31st Halloween
NOVEMBER
· 3rd Election Day
· 11th GPOC Meeting
· 26th Thanksgiving
DECEMBER
· 24th Christmas Eve
· 25th Christmas Day
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NEWS
If you haven’t checked out the Prospecting Community Network you might want to. We have a great group started with several already blogging and getting involved. You will be able to view the main page when you pull the site up to decide if it is a place you would like to hang out at.
It’s Not My Fault! The Gazette is a day late because we were gone for two days helping Tin Pan Prospecting teach gold panning to the 4th grade class in Fairplay…..on the S. Platte, no less; in the snow; it was 22 degrees. Welcome to Colorado! :>D After staying in Colorado Springs that night with friends, we then attended Dan Grenard’s (Our BLM department head GPOC has worked with for many years) retirement party in Canyon City on Friday and were not back at home until late. Hence, the Saturday morning Gazette publishing.
Gold didn’t move much this week, as you can see from the quotes at the top. After reaching $1071 it has retreated as expected. Silver, however, is up at $17.66 and its’ long term outlook is much better than gold’s for overall price increase in the near future. It has a LONG way to go to reach that 16 to one ratio it has historically held with gold.
It snowed last week, as I mentioned, and we are expecting more snow this week here in Denver. I have had several inquiries about prospecting at Cache Creek in November, and I have no idea what it is doing up there. We were in the area but didn’t have enough time to make the trek that far north on the Arkansas on Thursday to actually see what is going on up there weather wise. If any one has info on Cache Creek, please leave a comment here for everyone. The weather is turning much colder pretty fast all over the central and eastern parts of Colorado with the western side staying mild.
And so, Point Bar is a subject that is being discussed all over, now, with the claims that have been filed. While I did blog about this a few weeks ago, I want to go back over this a little more to make sure I haven’t missed anything I need to discuss with you. First, even if there is a claim on an area, they do not own the water rights, which means the claimant cannot keep you out of the water. You can still access the water with your prospecting equipment anywhere on the point as long as the material you are using comes out of the public recreation area near the pit. Another item is that this person also cannot keep you from camping in the area. Having a claim on public land does not mean that anyone can keep you from camping on public BLM lands. This only means that no one else can prospect or mine there. You only have a claim on the minerals that might be found there and only you have the right to extract them. The claimant will now be required to properly post his area and do any reclamation of the area himself.
Several people in GPOC have asked why the club has not claimed this area for members. There are several reasons for this. First, is policing the area. The area has been an open area for prospecting for so long that it would have been nearly impossible to keep anyone who is not a GPOC member from prospecting the area. Second, once the claim is made the claimant is then responsible for any reclamation or damage repair involved with keeping the area. As an open area, GPOC can apply for grant money from the BLM to do damage repair and reclamation in public prospecting areas on the Arkansas River, and that would be money not coming out of our treasury. Third the amount of money that would be required to keep the area up would have been substantial. Look at what we go through to keep Beaver Creek claims open. When we have a plan of operation in place, damage and reclamation can cost upwards of $2,000 a year to keep up. Our dues are extremely cheap now and we would have to raise them to be able to keep up with costs on 4 claims on point bar. They were open to you the way it was. Why claim them and have the hassles. This claimant may not be able to keep up with what will be required, either and you may have them back in public hands in a year or two. GPOC’s grant for damage repair and reclamation will not have to be used in the claimants areas either, and can be used to keep up other public areas. How many of you actually used any of those areas? GPOC now has what is probably the best of those claims, and there are numerous reasons why we have those and not the others. How many of you have used those claims? The irrigation ditch is another thing the claimant will have to address as well. I also wonder how much cleanup and fire control he will have to deal with in this very well used recreation area.
I didn’t find any interesting links this week for you. Usually there is a lot going on, but this past week was pretty dead for news on gold or gold prospecting. I’ve probably taken enough of your time for now, anyway, so I’ll say TTFN and call it all good. Any questions? Comment here or you can email me. I’ll give it my best shot. If you comment here, you probably will get someone else to give their two cents worth, too. I can’t know everything….my head is too small. :>D
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Until next week…….
Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)
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World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: http://www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com/ . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.
If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now CLOSED TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until MARCH 1st.
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