July 21, 2001 CVGP Meeting Announcement. CVGP: Central Virginia Gold Prospectors. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CVGP MEETING NOTICE-NEWSLETTER #16 Dear Fellow Prospectors, The 16th meeting of the "Central Virginia Gold Prospectors" (CVGP) will take place at the pavilion at "Small Country Campgrounds" in Louisa, VA on Saturday, 7/21/01 at 10:00 AM. DIRECTIONS: Interstate 64 to exit 143 (Rt.208 - North)....go 2.5 miles & turn Left at small sign on to 640 and go 150 yards and turn right at small sign on to 649. Go 2 miles (bearing left on 649) into Small Country Campground. Campground entrance will be on the right. As you drive up the dirt road, pavilion is on right. **(We ask those that have been receiving this notice/newsletter for a while to be patient with items that are repeated. We need to do this for the benefit of new CVGP members that are continuing to sign up with the club. As a result of the vote at the last meeting, the wording of some of these regular items has been appropriately revised. Thanks for your understanding). First, the minutes of the last meeting ============================================================= MINUTES OF THE 15th MEETING "Central Virginia Gold Prospectors" Date/Time: 6/16/01, 10:25 AM-11:30 AM Place: Small Country Campground, Louisa, VA Attending: Rod Ingalls, GPAA VA Claims Committee State Director 27 Members & guests. (1 new member attended). - Joe Coyle, CVGP President, opened the meeting with a prayer. - John Hakala announced that since the Claims Committee Chairman, Henry Waldrop, is having problems with a back injury, a new Claims Committe Chairman is needed. Also, for the Claims Committee to get into "Full Gear", 6-8 additional committee members are needed. Please talk to John if you are interested in becoming a member of the Claims Committee or Committee Chairman. - Major portion of this meeting was devoted to the question of whether or not the Central Virginia Gold Prospectors should be a chapter of the GPAA. The floor was open for comments by the attending CVGP members and officers. A motion was passed to have a vote on the matter. A ballot vote was taken and the decision was unanimous (27 to 0) for the Central Virginia Gold Prospectors to be an independent, local club and NOT be a chapter of the GPAA. (This part of the meeting was detailed in an "Important Notice" E-Mail that was sent out to members on 6/20/01. For those without E-Mail who are interested in the details of the discussions and vote, several copies of the E-Mailed notice will be made available at the July 21st meeting). - Joe Coyle reminded everyone that volunteers are still needed for the planed club "Miners Day" to be held in September. - Attendance list was passed around. - Raffles and club sales were conducted after the meeting. - The meeting adjourned at approx. 11:45 AM Submitted by: Ron Pope ________________________________________________________________________ ______ ___________ BUY/SELL/TRADE BULLETIN BOARD 6/27/00 - Russ Neitzelt, a prospector in Ohio who had to cancel his visit to CVGP in Sept.-Oct has the following FOR SALE: Fisher M-Scope Two Box Detector. 80's Model. Good Shape. Needs batteries which can be purchased at Radio Shack. Has instructions to go with unit. Will take $250.00 and you pay for shipping. Russ Neitzelt, E-Mail: neitzelt@eohio.net, Phone: 704-968-4734 8/13/00 - Member, Harold Riley has a 3 inch combination High Banker/Dredge FOR SALE. NEVER BEEN USED ! Asking $1,100.00. For more details, call Harold at 304-456-4490 or talk to him at a meeting as he attends regularly. 11/6/00 - Member, Roland Harris is looking for the following: 1) Good boots (not waders) with sturdy sole to use when shoveling and working in water with a high-banker. 2) Anyone that has a Minelab 2000 series detector to give Roland a demo (preferably at Contrary Creek) and for possible purchase. Roland can be contacted by phone at 703-354-8764 (home 6-11 PM), 1-800-311-1078 (leave message-24 hrs.) or by E-Mail at shaveclose1@juno.com 1/24/01 - Member, Roland Harris has the following NEW Briggs & Stratton engines FOR SALE: 1) 5 HP B&S Engine, 6-1 gear reduction ratio, new in original carton w/Tiny Tac (meter for usage), 135252-1049, Model # 135252, Type: 1049E1, Code: 980608YA, $330.00 including shipping in USA. 2) 10 HP B& S Engine, 6-1 gear reduction ratio, new in original carton w/Tiny Tac (meter for usage), 226452-0049, Model # 226452, Type: 004901, Code: 961106YD, $670.00 including shipping in USA. Roland can be contacted by phone at 703-354-8764 (home 6-11 PM), 1-800-311-1078 (leave message-24 hrs.) or by E-Mail at shaveclose1@juno.com 2/26/01 - Member Roland Harris has a Gold Genie spiral wheel, a 4" Dredge with air and a 6" Dredge with air that is willing to loan to any "RESPONSIBLE" person or help anyone needing help in learning to operate these types of equipment. Roland can be contacted by phone at 703-354-8764 (home 6-11 PM), 1-800-311-1078 (leave message-24 hrs.) or by E-Mail at shaveclose1@juno.com 3/27/01 - Member, Paul Ensogna, Sr. is looking for an easy to carry around Sluice, 3 feet or smaller. Paul can be contacted by EMail at "ensognas@shentel.net". * (If Your Message Is Not Needed On This Bulletin Board Anymore, or if you have contacted someone that no longer is interested in buying, selling or trading a listed item PLEASE LET ME KNOW so we can remove from the list !) Ground rules for this BULLETIN BOARD: 1) Contact Ron Pope by E-Mail (RPASSOC@aol.com) to have your item put on the Bulletin Board. THIS WILL BE THE ONLY WAY FOR NOW TO GET YOUR NOTICE ON THE BULLETIN BOARD !!!! 2) When submitting, please give us your name, E-Mail address or phone # and a BRIEF description of the item(s) you want to buy, sell, trade or swap for. You will have the option on whether you want to have a price in your message. 3) We will review your submission to decide whether or not it's appropriate to be included in the Bulletin Board. 4) If your message is received by us too late for the next meeting notice, it will be posted in the notice for the following meeting. 5) Please notify us as soon as possible if your notice is no longer needed to be on the Bulletin Board, so we can then remove it and always keep the Bulletin Board up to date (P-L-E-A-S-E !!!!) 6) Any transactions as a result of Bulletin Board notices are ABSOLUTELY NOT to take place during CVGP meetings !!!!! Only discussions that will be permitted during a CVGP meeting regarding the Bulletin Board will be discussions or suggestions concerning format or ground rules of the Bulletin Board. 7) CVGP will not be responsible for sellers description or representation of items. Buyers will be solely responsible for understanding what they are purchasing from a seller. In other words, as with any purchase,.."Buyer Beware". 8) CVGP will not in anyway be a part of or responsible for any transactions other than providing a means for its members to communicate to each other their desire to sell, buy, trade or swap items amongst themselves. If there is any dissatisfaction over a transaction, it will be the sole responsibility of the parties involved to settle their differences. ________________________________________________________________________ ______ ___________ CVGP FINANCIAL REPORT The Central Virginia Gold Prospectors currently does not charge dues or fees of any kind to be a member of the club. To cover any expenses for club activities such as outings, dinners, property leasing costs, postage, etc. we hold raffles, sell 50/50 chances, accept donations, etc. Therefore, a regular part of this monthly newsletter will be an up to date financial report indicating both income & expenses and current balance of the CVGP account (a CVGP checking account was opened on 7/28/00 with F&M Bank). As voted and approved at the 4/21/01 meeting, a $100.00 (maximum) Petty Cash Account was started. $100.00 was retained from the 5/19/01 meeting proceeds to start the Petty Cash Account. Any future Petty Cash expenses will be replenished from meeting proceeds as required to maintain a $100 Petty Cash balance ): STARTING Check Account BALANCE (as of 6/5/01)............$1367.69 INCOME - 6/16/01- Member Donations.......................................................$ 25.00 - 6/16/01- Club Sales.....................................................................$ 35.25 - 6/16/01- Club Raffles....*(50/25/25 winner donated back).........$ 223.00 EXPENSE - Joe Coyle -reimbursement - Postage (from Petty Cash)...........-$ 28.00 PETTY CASH BALANCE................................................. .........$ 100.00 *($28.00 replenished from 6/16/01 meeting proceeds) CVGP CHECK ACCOUNT BALANCE (as of 6/21/01)...........$ 1622.94 TOTAL CVGP BALANCE (as of 6/21/01)................................$ 1722.94 ________________________________________________________________________ ______ ___________ THE 6/16/01 MEETING ! - As most of you probably know by now, the biggest news for this meeting was the vote to make the Central Virginia Gold Prospectors an independent, local club and NOT to be a chapter of the national GPAA. Membership in the GPAA will be an individuals choice and not be a criteria for being a member of the CVGP. Between the attending members and officers along with supportive E-Mails we received from members that could not attend the meeting, it appears that the consensus is that this decision will ultimately benefit each and every member of the CVGP. Possible future membership dues, club by-laws, membership cards, etc. will be discussed and decided on over the next few meetings so we urge as many as possible to attend the next few meetings so that as many members as possible can have a chance to provide their input on these upcoming matters. - Also, in case anyone is wondering, has the GPAA contacted the officers on this decision....YES, on the same day the notice was E-Mailed ! Has the GPAA attempted to get us to reconsider....YES, however we advised them that since this was a decision by the club membership that attended the June 16th meeting, we could only suggest that the GPAA send someone from California to one of our meetings and address the concerns of the CVGP membership and that the current CVGP officers will not in any way attempt to overturn the decision of the club members ! - Well, enough on that subject for now....time for all of us to move on and do what each of us can to make the CVGP the kind of prospecting club we all want it to be ! THANKS ! - Many thanks to the members that continue to bring food, goodies, snacks and refreshments to the meetings and to those who have made cash donations or as at the last meeting donated back their 25/25/50 raffle winnings to the club. Northern VA Prospecting Area Member, Jack Rankin, forwarded me a copy of the following posting he saw on the newsgroup alt.mining.recreational that might be of interest to those living or visiting in the Northern VA area just northwest of Mclean near the Potomac River: "Probably the best locality I have found is at Swinks Mill on Scotts Run. Park at the Dransville Park and walk up the stream to a point about fifty yards below the bridge where the stream turns to the right and North. Notice an outcropping of white quartzite to the West. Best spot here is the slip off slope just around the bend of the stream in the gravels. You must dig down to bed rock, although there is gold in the overburden. I have dredged here in the past and on each occasion I have found at least six small "nuggets" of gold that I could pick up with my fingers out of the dredge sluice. Stay off of the land to the East. Best dredging times are between 10AM and 3PM. This holds true for the other areas indicated. Good luck, George Hamilton, Geologist, www.explorationgeologist.com" CONTACTING CVGP CLUB OFFICERS, COMMITTEE MEMBERS, Etc. - Should you ever need to contact any of the CVGP club officers or committee members, please jot down the following numbers for future reference: CLUB OFFICERS: Joe Coyle, President - PH: 540-672-9113; E-Mail: jhcoyle@ns.gemlink.com John Hakala, Vice.Pres. - PH: 804-457-2407; E-Mail: johniblu@juno.com Ron Pope, Sec./Treas. - PH: 804-263-5981; E-Mail: rpassoc@aol.com CLAIMS COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Chairman - (POSITION VACANT ! - NEED VOLUNTEER TO FILL !!!!) John Hakala - PH: 804-457-4178; E-Mail: hcwald@erols.com FUTURE CVGP CLUB MEETING DATES John Hakala advised me that Small Country Campground will continue to allow us to use the pavilion for our club meetings every 3rd Saturday of the month through and including October. So For those who like to plan ahead, the meeting dates for the rest of the year will be: 7/21/01, 8/18/01, 9/15/01 and 10/20/01. CVGP "MINERS DAY" - As mentioned at last few meetings, the CVGP will hold a "Miners Day" at Small Country Campground on Sept. 15th, 2001 (actual date subject to change). Main purpose will be to introduce the general public to "Recreational Prospecting". Some thoughts brought up would be to have members dressed up as miners, have operating prospecting equipment on display down at the campground creek, have panning and mucking contests, have Mule rides for the kiddies, have concentrates available for the public to pan, have a plastic ducky race, set up a food/refreshment stand, charge $5 admission for non-club members (free admission for children). Local newspaper announcements will be made in advance. Volunteers for a committee to set this all up and firm up details are being requested. Please contact Joe Coyle if you can help out ! CVGP VOLUNTEER REQUESTS 1. As previously requested, the Claims Committee could use the talents of someone that has surveying experience to assist in difficulties they are experiencing reading old plats, identifying old boundary markers, etc. (Contact either John Hakala or Henry Waldrop if you can offer assistance). 2. Volunteers are needed to form a committee for organizing the CVGP "Miners Day" (contact Joe Coyle if you can help out). 3. A few Volunteers will be needed to help out at the CVGP display at the 28th Orange County Fair (probably around the last weekend in July). Last year's CVGP display generated almost continuous visits to the CVGP display along with new CVGP members ! Please talk to Joe Coyle for more details and if you can help out. "Earmarking" MEMBER DONATIONS You've probably noticed that in just about every CVGP Financial Report, there are "donated" amounts showing up. Some winners of 50/50 raffles at past meetings turned over their winnings back to the club. Others donate by participating in the various raffles or bringing covered dishes to the meetings or donating their time and talents or simply donating information regarding prospecting. This is the type of member participation that will ultimately insure the success of our club ! If you do not need to specify what you want your cash donation to be used for it will be deposited into the clubs general fund. However, if you want to make a cash donation for a specific purpose, please see me and make sure to let me know what you want your donation to be used for. We will keep a record of your donation so that it is only used for the purpose you designated. Member Participation We are attempting to keep the CVGP meetings as informal and as relaxed as possible since we don't want to get into arguing parliamentary procedures instead of discussing what we all come for......prospecting! So, if you have a suggestion, an idea, prospecting hint or tip, a question or anything relating to the club and/or prospecting, please do not hesitate to bring it up at a meeting. Except for the opening prayer, committee reports, club announcements, etc., consider the entire meeting an "open discussion" period for you to participate to your hearts content. INTERESTING PROSPECTING WEB SITES (If you know of some real interesting and informative gold prospecting Web sites and would like to share the Web address with the rest of the members, please let me know and we'll put it in the next newsletter.) - I recently came across a Web site called "Prospecting Near DC". Has information on prospecting places in Virginia and Maryland, access to prospecting equipment plans, topo maps, prospecting dealers, Mineral Resources Depts. and loads of links to other interesting sites many of which relate to the Virginia and Maryland areas. The site address is: "http://www.infiltec.com/gold". MEETING HANDOUTS Joe Coyle, John Sorg, Rod Ingalls and several others often bring in copies of various prospecting articles, prospecting tips, prospecting "how to" sheets, duplicate prospecting magazines, etc. to share with the members. If you have come across something you would like to share with the members, please make some copies and bring with you to a meeting. If you do not have access to a copy machine, if you give me the article, I'll be glad to run off some copies to distribute to the others. GMM Card, Spotsman Pledge Cards One of our members, Dennis McClevey, showed me his GMM (General Mineral Mining) card which shows that he took a mining safety course. Seems to me that having such a card might just be one more sign of credibility you can use when attempting to get property owners permission to prospect. Dennis says the Virginia Div. of Mineral Resources should be able to give you details on who will be giving the next course and where and when. Related to this, Dennis can show you an "Operation Respect Pledge" card which is very similar to the "Sportsman Pledge" cards John Hakala has. All of these things should help prevent a land owner from looking at you as being a "crazy" but instead as someone who will treat his property with respect ! VIRGINIA DIVISION OF MINERAL RESOURCES - PUBLICATIONS & UPDATE In past newsletters, we've listed a number of gold prospecting related publications that are available from this very valuable resource. Instead of continuing with our listing, it would probably be better for you to obtain their latest "Catalog of Publications and Maps" which is 33 pages long ! It includes a listing of all of their publications, bulletins, reports, maps, books, etc. Prices (which are VERY reasonable) are also listed. You can even purchase rock and mineral sets. You can also bring in your rock/mineral finds to have them identified. CONTACT INFORMATION: (Hours 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM / Monday-Friday) Virginia Div. of Mineral Resources, Box 3667, Charlottesville, VA 22903 Information Phone #: 804-951-6354; Publication Ordering Phone #: 804-293-5121; FAX #: 804-951-6365; E-Mail: JMARR@geology.state.VA.US (John Marr, Information Officer) WEB Site: http://www.geolgy.state.va.us PROSPECTING IN VIRGINIA Please keep in mind that with a few exceptions, most gold bearing areas in Virginia are located on Private Property ! We do not want to create a bad image of recreational prospectors in Virginia not to mention the fact of having to face a judge for Trespassing charges ! ALWAYS get permission from the property owner BEFORE starting your prospecting activities on private property ! Also, if you have a place that you have permission to prospect on, PLEASE show your appreciation to the property owner by not "trashing" his place. Remember, if you bring it in (bottles, soda cans, paper bags, etc.) take it out. Leave the property in the same if not better condition than when you first came there. Then, for sure, you'll be welcome to come back. FUTURE OF CVGP The registration list of the CVGP continues to grow from meeting to meeting. Currently at over 170 registrants ! Attendance at the last few monthly meetings runs anywhere from 30+ to 50+. Important matters concerning the future of CVGP often come up at most every meeting. So for your benefit and the benefit of all members, please attend as many meetings as possible and feel free to join in any of the discussions with your thoughts, ideas and viewpoints. GUEST SPEAKERS AT A FUTURE MEETING We were fortunate to have geologist, Dave Wooley at the April meeting. Maybe with a little "arm twisting" we can convince him to come back and again share some more of his valuable knowledge with us ? Efforts are also continuing to line up other Guest Speakers at future meetings. If you know someone that would be able to offer some valuable information regarding prospecting in Virginia, by all means please do not hesitate to invite them to attend one of our meetings. LOOKING FOR A PROSPECTING "BUDDY" ? We now have 170 + prospectors registered on our club listing that live throughout the state of Virginia, West Virginia and even Ohio. Many prospectors find that this hobby/recreation is more enjoyable when they have some company with them. So, if you would like to get in contact with someone near you, please contact either: Joe Coyle (540-672-9113; JHCOYLE@ns.gemlink.com), John Hakala (804-457-2407; Johniblu@juno.com) or Ron Pope (804-263-5981; RPASSOC@aol.com.). Due to Privacy Laws, we cannot give you any names but we can pass on your name and phone number to other prospectors in your area and if they're interested, they'll contact you. CVGP CLAIMS COMMITTEE The "CVGP CLAIMS COMMITTE" was formed at the July, 2000 meeting. This is the KEY for our club to develop more prospecting places for club members to go to in Virginia !!!!! If you are aware of a property that may have good potential as a club claim, PLEASE bring it to the attention of either of the Claims Committee. It is their job to determine if there is legal public access to the property or if private property, to determine the property owners for the purpose of either obtaining permission and/or any special arrangements such as leasing for club members. (By the way, leasing is one of the reasons to build up the club "kitty"). (NOTE: The Claims Committee currently needs a Chairman and 6-8 committee members !!!!). OTHER PROSPECTING INFO ON THE WEB & TV - Occasionally, you may find documentary shows regarding the history of Gold Prospecting as well as Treasure Hunting on TV channels such as "The Learning Channel (TLC)", "The History Channel" or "The Discovery Channel" so it might be good to keep an eye out on these channels when browsing through your TV guide. - The national GPAA has a WEB site "www.goldprospectors.org" which every prospector should check periodically and in particular the Forums. The GPAA site also has links to other prospecting sites where you can find loads of info even including plans on how to make your own prospecting equipment ! The GPAA also has several prospecting shows such as "Prospecting America", "Gold Fever Show" and "Buzzardite Classics" on the Outdoor Channel on TV (check with your cable TV provider or for dish owners, the Outdoor Channel is located on Galaxy 10/24 and X4/402). E-MAIL CLUB NOTICES/NEWSLETTERS At present, it is only practical to get these somewhat detailed monthly notices/newsletters to members that have E-Mail (about 1/2 of the entire membership). Eventually, all those without E-Mail will be getting "snail" mailed postal card notices thanks to the hard work of Joe Coyle and the generosity of member Jack Rankin who has a printing business. However, the "snail" mailed notices will be only to alert members of the next meeting dates. If you have not been receiving these E-Mailed notice/newsletters, it's either because you don't have E-Mail or we do not have your E-Mail address ! If you know any members that are not getting any of these E-Mails, please have them E-Mail me (RPASSOC@aol.com) their E-Mail address and we'll be sure to add them to the E-Mail listing. SUGGESTIONS Please remember, your suggestions, thoughts, ideas, information for the club meetings, monthly newsletters, etc. are ALWAYS welcome. We do not ever want to forget that the main goals of the CVGP are to not only promote the hobby/recreation of Gold Prospecting but to also make it more enjoyable and rewarding for those already involved. Even if you think that whatever you have to contribute is unimportant, believe me, if it has anything to do with prospecting, you can count on the others being interested in what you have to say !!!! CVGP IS A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION The CVGP currently does not charge membership dues or fees of any kind. To cover the cost of any club expenses such as phone calls, postage, outing related expenses, property leasing, etc. we raise money by holding raffles, 50/50 chances, selling or auctioning donated prospecting items, receiving donations (of either time or money), etc. Your support of any of these fund raising activities (or contribution of your talents or resources) would not only be appreciated by all of the members but ultimately will benefit all members in reaching our common goals for this club. ALL ARE WELCOME ! Please feel free to bring along any prospecting buddies of yours, family members especially your children or friends that want to find out more about prospecting to the meetings. CVGP meetings are open to ALL those interested in prospecting ! HAPPY PROSPECTING and hope to see you all on July 21st ! Regards, Ron Pope Secretary/Treasurer - CVGP (804-263-5981) RPASSOC@aol.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please send comments or problems with this web page to the CVGP Webmaster.