NUPA NUGGETS

Volume XX, Issue 8 August

This Months Meeting

President:
Sandy Patterson 801-393-2132

1st Vice President:

Cody Patterson

2nd Vice President:

David Linton

The speaker for this month is...me (your newsletter editor). Yep, got talked into this again! Seems some of you folk want me to torture you again this year about what to do with that gold now that you found it! Well, Ill show you a few ideas about wearable gold (in the form of jewelry).

Treasurer:
Sheryl Governale 801-388-0720

Secretary:
Alan Meyer

Gold Nugget Jewelry 101

Parliamentarian:
Dave Deheer

Claims Director:
Lonnie Fausett

Members at Large:
Mike Governale Kim Patterson Donale Richan Leo Richan Bob Shriber Hal Berry

Newsletter Editor:
Donale Richan 801-589-2445

Check out the N.U.P.A. website at: www.nupainc.org or http://nupagoldclub.blogspot.com

Current precious metal prices: Gold: $1746.30 Silver: $39.07

From www.kitco.com as of August 13, 2011

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The Official Newsletter of the Northern Utah Prospectors Association

Volume XX, Issue 8

Know what? It seemed like summer was never going to get here and now it is almost over. I hope all of you have gotten a chance to do some prospecting. With the current price of gold, it keeps getting more and more interesting. The price is good for those who have gold, but bad if you need to buy some. The outing for Kaymack King and Queen is this month. If you have not been there, you need to try to go. It is one of the best claims we have, with some really nice camping spots and pretty decent gold. I think Mike & Sheryl Governale are going to be there to help people out. I would like to thank Hal and Linda Berry for their work with the Ice Cream Social. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and if you didn't get enough ice cream, its your own fault. The October show is iffy at the moment. I will know by the beginning of September if there is going to be one or not. I need someone to volunteer to be in charge of the panning contest, if need be. If that is something you would like to do, please let me know. We are probably going to have a booth at the Pirate Festival in September, and I think it might be fun to have a panning contest there. What do you all think? This month's meeting will be Donale showing us how to make jewelry out of the gold we find. She put on a demonstration before and I have had numerous requests to have her do it again. Be sure to come and see what she can do. Happy prospecting, be safe, have fun and find the yellar stuff. Sandy

Treasurers Report:
Checking: $2543.64 Savings: $5649.54

Attention Members!
Please save your gas receipts when headed out to one to the claims and then turn them into the secretary. This helps with the $100 maintenance fee on each claim.

We could learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors.... But they all have to learn to live in the same box.

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The Official Newsletter of the Northern Utah Prospectors Association

Volume XX, Issue 8

How to Mine and Prospect for Placer Gold

By J.M. West (Continued from last month)

Where To Look For Placers

Placers can be found in virtually any area where gold occurs in hard rock (lode) deposits. The gold is released by weathering and stream or glacier action, carried by gravity and hydraulic action to some favorable point of deposition, and concentrated in the process. Usually the gold does not travel very far from the source, so knowledge of the location of the lode deposits is useful. gold also can be associated with copper and may form placers in the vicinity of copper deposits, although this occurs less frequently. Geological events such as uplift and subsidence may cause prolonged and repeated cycles of erosion and concentration, and where these processes have taken placer deposits may be enriched. Ancient river channels (referred to as the "Tertiary channels" in California) and certain river bench deposits are examples of gold-bearing gravels that have been subjected to a number of such events, followed by at least partial concealment by other deposits, including volcanic materials. Residual placer deposits formed in the immediate vicinity of source rocks are usually not the most productive, although exceptions occur where veins supplying the gold were unusually rich. Reworking of gold-bearing materials by stream action leads to the concentrations necessary for exploitation. In desert areas deposits may result from sudden flooding and outwash of intermittent streams. As material gradually washes off the slopes and into streams, it becomes sorted or stratified, and gold concentrates in so-called pay streaks with other heavy minerals, among which magnetite (black, heavy, and magnetic) is almost invariably present. The gold may not be entirely liberated from the original rock but may still have the white-to-gray vein quartz or other rock material attached to or enclosing it. As gold moves downstream, it is gradually freed from the accompanying rock and flattened by the incessant pounding of gravel. Eventually it will become flakes and tiny particles as the flattened pieces break up. Some gold is not readily distinguishable by the normal qualities of orangeyellow to light yellow metallic color and high malleability, where it occurs in a combined form with another element, such as tellurium. Upon weathering, such gold may be coated with a crust, such as iron oxide, and have a rusty appearance. This "rusty gold," which resists amalgamation with mercury, may be overlooked or lost by careless handling in placer operations.

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The Official Newsletter of the Northern Utah Prospectors Association

Volume XX, Issue 8

Continued from page 3

As mentioned before, the richest placers are not necessarily those occurring close to the source. Much depends on how the placer materials were reworked by natural forces. Streambed placers are the most important kind of deposit for the small-scale operator, but the gravel terraces and benches above the streams and the ancient river channels (often concealed by later deposits) are potential sources of gold. Other types of placers include those in outwash areas of streams where they enter other streams or lakes, those at the foot of mountainous areas or in regions where streams enter into broader valleys, or those along the ocean front where beach deposits may form by the sorting action of waves and tidal currents. In desert areas, placers may be present along arroyos or gulches, or in outwash fans or cones below narrow canyons. Because gold is relatively heavy, it tends to be found close to bedrock, unless intercepted by layers of clay or compacted silts, and it often works its way into cracks in the bedrock itself. Where the surface of the bedrock is highly irregular, the distribution of gold will be spotty, but a natural rifflelike surface favors accumulation. Gold will collect at the head or foot of a stream bar or on curves of streams where the current is slowed or where the stream gradient is reduced. Pockets behind boulders or other obstructions and even mosscovered sections of banks can be places of deposition. Best results usually come from materials taken just above bedrock. The black sands that accumulate with gold are an excellent indicator of where to look. It should be kept in mind that each year a certain amount of gold is washed down and redeposited during the spring runoffs, so it can be productive to rework some deposits periodically. This applies chiefly to the near-surface materials such as those deposited on the stream bars or in sharp depressions in the channels. The upstream ends of stream bars are particularly good places for such deposits. Where high water has washed across the surface by the shortest route, as across the inside of a bend, enrichment often occurs. A rifflelike surface here will enhance the possibility of gold concentration. In prospecting areas with a history of mining, try to find places where mechanized mining had to stop because of an inability to follow and mine erratic portions of rich pay streaks without great dilution from nonpaying material. Smaller scale selective mining may still be practical here if a miner is diligent. Placer gold occurs in so many areas that it would be impractical to try to identify each of them here. One of the best recent publications covering individual districts and areas is U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 610, Principal Gold Producing Districts of the United States, published in 1968 (9) . Also, a series of reports is being written describing the individual placer gold deposits of various States or portions of States, to be published as Geological Survey Bulletins.

More next month!

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The Official Newsletter of the Northern Utah Prospectors Association

Volume XX, Issue 8

The Cost of Advertising

Do you have a business youd like to see advertised in the newsletter? Well heres the breakdown the cost. Just let the newsletter editor have the information.

Ad Size 3 Months 6 Months 12 Months 1/4 page $3.00 $5.50 $10.00 1/2 page $4.50 $8.00 $15.00 Full Page Business Ad for 1 month $8.00

Cleve Burr
Service & Solutions Executive
Xerox Corporation
Cell : 801.400.6830 Fax : 801.535.8516

Email: [email protected] The trouble with doing something right the first time is that no one appreciates how difficult it was!

Items For Sale:

Artic Cat snowmobile, low mileage, excellent condition$1000. Western Field 12 Gauge pump shotgun, variable choke$110. Appliance lift. BC (before China)$35. Empty 12 gauge shotgun shells for reloading. Over 100 casings. Great if you reload. Cost less than 5 cents to reload each shell. Contact Frank Kuba at 801-6435090

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The Official Newsletter of the Northern Utah Prospectors Association

Volume XX, Issue 8

August 23...General Meeting @ 7:00 pm This month, your

speaker will be...me, your newsletter editor. Ill show you a few things that you can do with your gold now that you found it! Not sure how this will work out, but it could be really interesting! (for me at least!)

September 13 ...Board of Directors Meeting @ 7:00 pm September 23-25...Crescent Creek Outing

Upcoming Outings and Events: Mark Them On Your Calendar! October ?...Rock Your World Show This might not be on...well know more next month. November 12...Turkey Shoot This will be held at a different location this year! Weve got
the Hooper City Building reserved. This year, in order to save the club money, were making it a Pot Luck! The officers will be cooking the turkeys, but were going to have sign-up sheets for the rest of the food.

December 10...Christmas Party and Officer Elections Because we can get the
Hooper City Building so cheap, well be having the Christmas Party here, also. The food will be catered in, so no one in the club has to work!

Make sure you come to the meetings and put your input in for what and where youd like to do and go!

Door Prize Winners

Arch Gomez
Cook Book Headlamp

Raffle Winners
Shane Tingey
Magnifier

Amy Roche Tammy Mathews

Tammy Mathews
Tri-Fold Shovel

10X Doublet Eye Loupe Just as a reminder, winners of the door prizes are asked to bring refreshments for Augusts Meeting. The treasurer will gladly reimburse you for this expense if you give her your receipt.

$20 Bag Gold Sand (donated by Bud Johnson)

Curtis Roche

Bob Shriber
Small Nugget

Clair Mackay
Large Nugget

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The Official Newsletter of the Northern Utah Prospectors Association

Volume XX, Issue 8

August 2011
Sunday
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Monday
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Tuesday
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Wednesday
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Thursday 5

Friday 6

Saturday

9 Directors
Meeting 7:00 pm @ Airport

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Kaymack King and Queen Outing

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23 General
Meeting 7:00 pm @ Airport

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September 2011
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Meeting 7:00 pm @ Airport

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Cresent Creek Outing 25 26 27 General

Meeting 7:00 pm @ Airport

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