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Review Of GPAA Indianapolis Gold Show


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Just got back from 5 hours the Gold Prospectors Association of America (GPAA) show in Indianapolis.  Many of you know that GPAA puts on about seven of these each year -- five out West in the early part of the year and typically a couple in the East in the Autumn.  The last of 2017 is next week in Concord, NC.  This is my second (first was last Sept. in Denver) and I came better prepared.

For me, by far the best part was attending the lectures (my term, maybe not theirs).  There were four one hour presentations and I made three of them.  1) Kevin Hoagland (GPAA executive and Gold Trails TV show host) talked about metal detecting for gold; 2) Mike Pung (Gold Cube) discussed recovering fine gold; 3) (sorry, missed this one and the presenter's name, but title was something like "Prospecting and Mining") I needed some lunch and wanted to visit with Tvanwho (you might recognize his posting name here).  4) Nelson Shaffer, retired from the Indiana Geological Survey, had a slide presentation on gold in Indiana.  Kevin's hour was somewhat of a rehash of the one he did earlier this year(?) with Bill Southern which is on YouTube and has been linked on a thread on DetectorProspector site.  But I always learn a lot the second time through, and the opportunity to ask questions in person (which I took advantage of) adds quite a bit.  Some of what Mike said is available on his 12 part Youtube series on gold recovery, but although I've watched that twice he still said some things I didn't remember from that well done video anthology.  Shaffer's geologist view complements Chuck Lasiter's Midwest Gold book.  Three (actually four) highly skilled speakers and I gobbled up all of their wares ravenously!

In case you haven't attended any of these, the rest of the show are booths by vendors and GPAA local and national clubs, a centralized panning trough for learning, practicing, etc., and a daily raffle (one free ticket per attendee plus opportunity to buy more).

Of note was a Minelab booth 'manned' by two ladies from the Naperville, IL national office.  They had (I think) the entire current Minelab line of products (including a photo of Steve H. for a mere $40, but they throw in some gold pans and supplies to soften the price :biggrin:) PLUS a couple prototypes -- the soon to be released pinpointer and one of only 13 prototypes of the much anticipated Equinox.  Although it was operational, it wasn't anything like the English unveiling last month where you could actually swing it over real, digable ground, unless someone had a jackhammer handy.

Oh, and I couldn't get away without buying something, another gold pan (Gold Cube banjo pan) to add to my collection -- still in single digits, at least that is what I told my wife.... Didn't help. :sad:)

 

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GB

It's great to go to the Gold Shows that GPAA puts on and I have been doing it for years. I can't remember if we had more than one in Texas but I went to it.  I can't count the number of times I've been to the ones in Arizona. The longest trip was to Washington State and the whole family went that time and that was in 97.

The only trouble they got more new equipment than money in my pocket.The best part is if your gold fever is starting to fade nothing better than a show to build it back up again.

The Best on the next one.

Chuck

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I saw some familiar faces at the show but I wasn't terribly impressed with the turnout vs the show I went to in Onalaska, Wisconsin  some years back held in a huge dome shaped building. Not much placer gold to find in Wisconsin and the mining laws are VERY restrictive, BUT that place was packed with many hundreds, if not a thousand,  people and vendors. Heck, when they had the raffles, there must have been hundreds of people alone just for that.

I went mining afterwards with a group of a dozen like minded prospectors near Greensburg, Indiana. Was hard to compete with guys using 3,4,5, even a necked down 6 inch gold dredge. I stuck to my sluice and easy on the digging with my health issues. I got some fines for my efforts and made a new friend or 2.The highlight of my trip was the farmer who owned the land had a kid streak in him still at age 72...he liked to skip flat rocks on the still surface of the creek, so we got into a contest to see who could skip a rock across to the opposite bank, approx. 80 feet away. He got 10 rocks skipped across the creek onto the bank vs my 8 rocks. I picked up a number of fossils including what I call devils horns and brachiopods. I think the horns are actually a coral ,anywhere from an inch to 3 inches long, curved like a rhinos horn.

 

-Tom

 

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