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ICMJ Mining Summit - Lecture Speakers & Schedule


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On ‎4‎/‎18‎/‎2016 at 5:47 PM, Steve Herschbach said:

Yikes, what a day! Did my hour talk, then talked to a circle of people two hours after that. Beautiful day in Placerville, great fun!

I tried to catch your eye but you were busy holding court outside the building.  Did manage to talk to Chris for a bit and made plans to hook up this summer.

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I was one of the crowd around you Steve. It was nice to meet you. I tried to listen more than speak and picked up some great information just hearing what you had to say. I couldn't help myself and did ask a few questions of my own. You were very accommodating to everyone including me and I thank you for that. I also got the chance to meet Chris and again very accommodating and informative. Great presentations all day long and the vendors had plenty of interesting gear to check out. I did spend a few $ too. I even picked up a day for two at the Roaring Camp Mining Company in the raffle. Overall great time! I will be back next year.

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Overall great time! I will be back next year.

Alas, the ICMJ is a tiny business (not that many employees) and it about kills us to put it on, plus we lean on the good nature of folks like Steve, Mike Bowers, Ray Mills and others to help us reach out to folks for teaching and demonstration. So because of that, the Gold Summit is held only every other year. The next one will be in 2018.

I had a great time with Ray Mills assisting a guy dig some gold at the pit on Monday - I figure he probably got around a quarter ounce and a couple of guys close by got a couple pennyweight as well. Largest nugget was only around 8 grains, but lots and lots of flakes. I figure a spot around 30 x 10 foot yielded up nearly a half ounce total - I even snagged a little 2 grain nugget for myself after everyone had given up on the spot. I'll post some pictures in a separate thread shortly and I think you'll be impressed. 

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Chris, Steve,

Kind of cute, you guy's have GROUPIES. I guess that make you ROCK STARS. LOL.

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5 hours ago, sjmpainter said:

Chris, Steve,

Kind of cute, you guy's have GROUPIES. I guess that make you ROCK STARS. LOL.

Ha! I went Saturday to say hi to my buddy Don Robinson. Used to hike with him, but havent in a year or so. I waited patiently while people asked him questions. Finally, got with him and said" Hey Rockstar, can I have your autograph?".

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You guys out west (especially in the Sierras) don't know how good you have it.  Look at all the GPAA shows in the Rockies and west.  And the ground you have to search dwarfs all of that.  I subscribe to the ICMJ and read it voraciously each month, but it's not the same being an armchair prospector.

Here in the US Midwest we're lucky to have a metal detecting club within 4 hours drive and what passes for a prospecting club looks like the lower half of the IQ scale from the TV show "Swamp People".  Most of the nearby club members don't even know what a metal detector is and the ones who do tell you "it won't work around here".  One 'expert' told me there were no nuggets around that a metal detector could possibly pick up and then in the next sentence told me he found the largest nugget (with his dredge) anyone had ever found in the area.  Yeh, figure that contradiction out!

I'm going to try and plan a vacation around an ICMJ conference in the next couple of years.  That's a lot of travel expense and nights in hotels, but you'll make it worth it.

 

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Hi GB_Amateur, I'd never try and judge a swamp person by his cover:smile:, I bet most of them could McGiver us out of a tough spot with some shoe strings and tin cans if we were in a jam, but they do put on quite a show...

not knowing if you have ever been out west before or what experience and resources you would have available in the western states, if you visit California and are without places you have planned to hunt, a bit of friendly advice is to check out something like roaring camp. They have a web site and are smack in the middle of good ground, it's a little expensive however they generally book up and people keep coming back for more with positive reviews.

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20 hours ago, Reno Chris said:

Alas, the ICMJ is a tiny business (not that many employees) and it about kills us to put it on, plus we lean on the good nature of folks like Steve, Mike Bowers, Ray Mills and others to help us reach out to folks for teaching and demonstration. So because of that, the Gold Summit is held only every other year. The next one will be in 2018.

 

I didn't realize. Make it I'll be there in 2018.  I understand it would be a tall task to coordinate an event like this. I mainly wanted to thank you guys for your efforts.

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19 hours ago, 1515Art said:

Hi GB_Amateur, I'd never try and judge a swamp person by his cover:smile:, I bet most of them could McGiver us out of a tough spot with some shoe strings and tin cans if we were in a jam, but they do put on quite a show...

 

Yeh, I probably overstepped my bounds.  Thanks for keeping me honest.  I really wanted to refer to Porter Ridge which is a cable TV show that was taped just about 20 miles from where I live but didn't make it past the first mini-season so I figured no one would know what I was talking about.  At least there I would be deriding my own people, which isn't as bad as picking on someone who isn't next of kin.  I was also likely harsh criticizing the local gold prospecting club.  They mean well.  But it just amazes me how ignorant (too strong?) they are about the rest of the prospecting world.  E.g. my sister belongs to a metal detecting club in Denver and they have a 20+ page, well laid out monthly newsletter with finds, etc., monthly group hunts, and many monthly meetings they have interesting speakers (e.g. one of the 'stars' of the TV show Gold Rush).  I asked our club president if they ever have speakers here.  His response:  "Why would we do that?"  I pressed further:  "Well, for example, we could get a geologist to give us advice/hints/etc. on where the best places to find gold are around here."  He retorted: "Oh, we already know that!"  Now I hope you are starting to understand my frustration.

I emphasized out west, but most of you know there is gold in the southern Appalachians.  Still, we don't have BLM or National Forest land where you can just drive+walk on and (after making sure you aren't claim jumping plus doing other research) start swinging a detector.  Prospecting & searching for gold is illegal in our Indiana state forests with one exception, and there (I'm told) all you are allowed to use is a pan and small scoop.  I'm definitely going to ask if using a metal detector is OK there (that state forest also is within 30 minutes of my home) but I'm not optimistic they'll say 'yes'.  Again, I asked the local club members if they thought it was OK and they said "why would you want to do that?"  :huh:

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