IDAHO DREDGERS PLEASE READ AND COMMENT BEFORE JUNE 1 2012

 

 

From:  Sandy and Kim Patterson
Subject: Important Notice to Club Members
Date: Mon, 21 May 2012 15:23:30 -0600

http://yosemite.epa.gov/r10/water.nsf/NPDES+Public+Notices/pn_id_gen_permit_ssdm_10

If you are at all concerned with future prospecting, please go to this website and see what EPA has planned for the State of Idaho.

You all know what happened in California, now it's Idaho and where does it stop?
Please read all documents and then your comment's can be sent via e-mail right to EPA. Will it matter? Who knows but it will matter if they don't hear anything.

Kim Patterson

TESTING FOR GOLD DENSITY

The density of pure 24K gold is about 19.2/ml, which is much higher than most other metals.  As a rule of thumb, the higher the density, the  purer the gold.

·         Weigh your piece of gold.  You will need the weight in grams.

·         Fill a vial that has millimeter markings on the side, with water.  It doesn’t matter how much water you use as long as you don’t fill the vial to the top as the water level will rise once you immerse the gold.

·         Note the exact amount of the water level.

·         Place you gold in the vial.  Take note of the new water level and calculate the difference between those two numbers in milliliters.

Density = mass/volume displacement.

Sample calculation:  Your gold item weights 28 g and is displaces 2 milliliters of water.

Using this formula of [mass (38 g)]/[volume dis-placement (2 ml)], divide 38 by 2, your result would be 29 g/ml, which is very close to the density of gold (19.3 g/ml).

Different gold purity will have a different g/ml ratio:

·         14K – 12.9 to 14.0 g/ml

·         18K yellow – 15.2 to 15.9 g/ml

      ·         18K white – 14.7 to 16.9 g/ml

SPRING FLING OUTING AT SHADY LANE PARK TO BE MAY 26TH

Saturday May 26, 2012 will be a club outing at Shady Lane Park in Pleasantview, UT.  The purpose of the outing is a SWAP MEET OF PROSPECTING ITEMS as well as a party for club members and their families.  The club will provide hamburgers and hot dogs.  Members are asked to bring a salad or a dessert and anything you want to sell or swap (or just plain show off!).  This outing is a good way to meet your fellow members and talk about your hobby.  We want everyone to plan on coming.  Let's make this event a memorable one!  Address:  ABOUT 600 West 3000 North, Pleasantview, UT.

(If you have not signed up, and you can't attend the next meeting, send Carolyn an email at cardurga@msn.com by Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012.  She will add you to the list of attendees so we know how much STUFF to buy.

DONALE WILL BE TEACHING A WIRE-WRAPPING CLASS ON MAY 22ND

For May’s General Meeting (Tuesday, May 22nd) there will be a hands-on class to learn wire-wrapping. If you are interested, Donale needs to know so we can get all the supplies ordered. Basically this will be the wire and a cabochon. She has many of the tools that we will need, but, unfortunately, she has a limited supply of some of them. If this is something you’d like to learn, please sign up ASAP. She will also show how to do a simple wrap for a nugget.  You must contact Donale Richan to pre-schedule your participation in the class.

Tools that we will be using are:

Chain nose pliers
Flush Cutters
Round nose pliers
Pin vise

If you have any of these tools, please bring them. We will be using 24 or 22 gage square wire and 22 gage half-round wire.

SATURDAY ADOPT-A-HIGHWAY EVENT WAS WELL ATTENDED

Bob, Marlys and Jeff smile large for the camera afte returing from helping pick up garbage that had been lost, blown, or thrown along the edge of Highway 89.

Two members, one a long-time member Bob Henderson, and one of our new members walked along in the tall grass picking up items to toss into those large organge bags provided by UDOT.

Dave Linton, Kelly Taylor and Hal Berry wait at the Peter Skene Ogden Monument before being taken to a site along the highway.

Eddie Dickerson has helped clean the highway many times in the past.  Like the rest of us, he was glad to be there to pick up the trash and do something good for the area before sitting down to a nice breakfast.

Mrs. Curtis Roche and "George" guarded the cars as others worked the highway.

There are a lot of new members in the club.  This one is Walter Hilyard who is waiting with Kim Patterson to be taken to the worksite along Highway 89.

Well, another NUPA Adopt-A-Highway event has come and gone.  If you joined us this time you would know that it wasn't much work at all, because, we did such a good job cleaning it up in the Fall.  We had quite a few members show up and so it didn't take us long.  Sandy loaded everyone she could into her HHR and took them to the spot where she wanted them to work.  Then she picked them up whe they were done.  The next time there is an opportunity like this, make sure you take advantage of it.  It leaves a good taste in your mouth to know you helped keep the roadway clean.  

USGS ARTICLE ON PROSPECTING FOR GOLD IN THE UNITED STATES

Do you ever wonder which state is the best state for prospecting for gold?  Here is an article written by the United State Geological Survey that describes gold deposits throughout the US.

http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/prospect2/prospectgip.html

Here is another article that discusses where gold can be found throughout the United States.

http://goldprice.org/gold-prospecting/2009/01/gold-prospecting-areas.html

Want more on this topic--the internet is full of it.  Click below for article from Gold Fever Prospecting.Com

http://www.goldfeverprospecting.com/whtofigoinun.html

BAN ON DREDGING IN CALIFORNIA EXTENDED FOR FIVE MORE YEARS!

(Photo from Dave McCracken Book on Dredging)

California extends suction dredging ban for 5 more yearsJul26

Written by:Article Admin
7/26/2011 3:17 PM

DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME INTERPRETS AB 120 BAN ON SUCTION DREDGING

 

The following email from the California Department of Fish and Game was issued today (July 26, 2011):
Today, July 26, 2011, Assembly Bill 120 was approved by Governor Brown.
This legislation amends seven different codes within California State law including the Fish and Game Code. Two paragraphs in this bill refer to suction dredge mining and have substantial impacts on the process to conduct environmental review and adopt amended regulations guiding suction dredge mining in California.
The Department of Fish and Game released draft regulations and a related Draft Subsequent Environmental Impact Report (SEIR) for public review on February 28, 2011. We held six public meetings and accepted public comments through May 10, 2011. At that time we projected that we would be adopting new regulations and certifying the Final SEIR by the end of 2011. This would then have permitted the sale of suction dredge permits under newly adopted regulations.
Assembly Bill 120 affects this effort in four important ways.

First, it establishes an end date for the current moratorium of June 30, 2016. The current moratorium was established by SB 670, and took effect on August 9, 2009, without any specific end date. The new law specifies that the moratorium will end on June 30, 2016, regardless of whether DFG completes court-ordered environmental review of its existing permitting program or adopts new regulations. Of course, further legislation or action by the courts could modify that circumstance.

Second, AB 120 requires that any “new regulations fully mitigate all identified significant environmental impacts.” As directed by the Alameda County Superior Court and SB 670, DFG prepared the Draft SEIR to meet requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). In addition to CEQA, AB 120 now requires DFG to meet a “fully mitigate” standard for any adopted suction dredge mining regulations in order for the new moratorium to end any earlier than June 30, 2016.
“Fully mitigate” is not defined in statute or regulation, however, and previously the term has only been used in the Fish and Game Code in section 2081, subdivision (b), of the California Endangered Species Act.

Third, a new condition, required by AB 120 is “a fee structure is in place that will fully recover all costs to the department related to theadministration of the program.” DFG takes the view that the current fee structure is not sufficient to support the level of effort which should be devoted to implementing our authority to regulate suction dredge gold mining. In addition to the administrative costs of selling permits, DFG believes we should have environmental scientists funded through suction dredge permit fees to conduct on-site inspections as needed prior to issuing permits and also to monitor suction dredge mining to collect data on effects on aquatic and terrestrial organisms and habitat. Further, suction dredge permit fees should provide funding for game wardens to inspect, monitor and enforce compliance with any new regulations. Under current law, however, the fee structure for DFG’s permitting program is prescribed by statute. Any change to that structure is beyond the authority of DFG and any such change will require action by the California Legislature and relate approval by the Governor. Because of the legislative calendar for submittal of new legislation and the legislative process itself, it is very unlikely tha any change to the existing fee structure will occur within the 2011 calendar year.

Finally, the previous moratorium established by SB 670 was clear that DFG needed to take several actions (i.e. comply with CEQA and adopt amended regulations) which would then allow suction dredge mining to resume, under the new regulations. Said another way, DFG had the final State approval to complete the process, subject only to the Alameda County Superior Court’s concurrence. AB 120 adds a legislative step, described in the previous paragraph. Simply put, the legislature will need to affirmatively approve a new fee structure, before suction dredge mining can resume under new regulations. The perspectives of legislators about sufficiency of a fee structure and suction dredge mining generally will affect the probability of such legislation being approved.

With this set of new facts in front of DFG, we are evaluating the extent to which the work we have already done can be used under the requirements of AB 120, and how we might proceed. We do not yet have a revised workplan or schedule. However, our previous projection that this process would be complete by the end of 2011 is no longer viable. It will likely be several weeks from now before we have determined what we will need to proceed and how we can do so. I will provide additional information to the recipients of this message when there is something new to report.