| January 2009 Meeting Minutes | |
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The meeting started at 4:00 pm. This meeting was held at Hal’s house. A big thanks to Hal for the use of his home. There were 14 attendees. New members were identified and introduced: Tiny Dotson Nick Garza Jim Newbury Tim McCain
Daniel Klepac started the meeting by having the new members introduce themselves. He then outlines the agenda for the meeting. He will give a demonstration of topo software he has purchased. Following that there will be a viewing of a DVD that was sent to him from Bear Bottom Mining. The Llano Chapter will have a guest speaker at their March meeting. This author’s book is about treasure hunting in Texas. Members are encouraged to attend the meeting. The first major outing for 2009 will be at the Halliburton Property in April. The 3rd weekend in April is the Llano Crawfish Festival. We will plan our outing so it will not conflict with this event. Kevin Green announced that the permit for Halliburton’s stretch of the river has been secured and there will be no problem prospecting there in the future. Daniel explains the difference between permits and claims in the State of Texas to the new members. Nick Garza and Jim Newbury are from Austin. Nick is a current GPAA member. Tim is from Leander and is also a GPAA member. Kevin will try to contact Roland Schneider concerning the Chapter’s petty cash box. Roland was our previous Treasurer and we have not seen him in a long time. Daniel talks about the GPAA’s difficulties with chapter membership. As he sees it, there is a one in. one out with membership. Earl Theiss is trying to recruit new members for a dues paying prospecting chapter. The main organization is AMPO or America’s Mining and Prospecting Organization. There will be yearly dues and the monies will go towards purchasing or leasing property to prospect on. The AMPO is a non profit and so are its chapters. AMPO will also help chapters offer liability insurance to landowners and members. Daniel starts his first presentation. He purchased a GPS unit which came with topo software called Delorme. He brought his laptop to show how to use the software to find potential spots to prospect. His demonstration was about how to read the topo maps in general, not just his purchased software. There are many types of software available, some are free. Google Earth is one popular free version. Custom topo maps can be created and purchased online at www.mytopo.com. The next presentation was a DVD sent to him by Bear Bottom Mining. This DVD shows the set up and use of their sluice. Daniel found some flaws with the design and wanted to point them out to the members. The group watched the DVD then had a general discussion on the types of equipment to use for the recovery of the fine Texas gold.
The meeting adjourned around 6:00pm. |