January 2006 Meeting Minutes

The meeting started at 4:30pm at our new location, the Rio Grande Restaurant. There were 22 total attendees.

New members were identified and introduced:

Steve Baker

Les Brooks

Venita Brooks

Kyle Coleman

Michael Coleman

Bill Wilson

Glen Gay

Darlene Gay

Kevin Green did not attend the meeting due to illness. Notes were taken by Karen Stalvey.

The meeting started with an explanation of the move to the restaurant. Old Settlers was becoming a popular meeting place and they could not guarantee our chapter a place to meet every month. The management at the Rio Grande was happy to have us back.

Daniel Klepac spoke about the upcoming GPAA Gold Show in Ft. Worth and the chapter’s booth. The Round Rock Chapter will only sell bags of dirt from Thermal City Gold Mine concentrates. There will be no raffle, due to the lack of the chapter’s 501c3 status, and there won’t be a panning trough set up, due to lack of volunteers to man it.

The group discussed gold finding techniques for the new attendees. Things to look for are concentrations of black sand, along with garnets and lead shot. If you find all three together, there is a good chance there will be gold along with them. The group also discussed the Texas laws on navigable waterways.

The Treasurer’s Report was given. There is $850.23 in the chapter’s bank account.

Daniel reiterated the need to fix up the club’s trailer. A decision has not been made yet on when the work will start. The trailer is currently at Claude Dotson’s property.

The new attendees were interested in knowing where to go prospecting. Daniel and the other members detailed prospecting at Malcom Long’s Fish Camp. Malcom does allow prospecting during the winter months (deer season), but it is limited to the Llano River only. The Slab, in Kingsland, is open all year. The only restriction is to call Earl Theiss (claim owner) before dredging.

This month’s issue of Rock & Gem magazine has an excellent article on roadside places to go panning in Texas. The magazine can be found at Barnes and Noble Bookstores.

There were no Door Prizes awarded at the meeting.

The meeting/ party adjourned around 5:15 pm and everyone stayed for meals.