General Membership Meeting of the Vernon Placer Miners Club
Met november 5, 2024 at the Hall at 1204 30th Ave, Vernon BC. President Donna Smith opened the meeting at 7:00 PM. Note-taker was Cal Olsson. Sixteen members were in attendance. October minutes were read and accepted by show of hands.
Correspondence:
Open letter from Donna to members was read out by Donna.
Membership Report by Brenda Morrison:
23 families are currently paid up members in good standing.
14 Life timers in good standing
5 Honorary members in good standing.
Yearly dues are due in December. Dues are $20.00 per year per family.
Treasurer’s Report :
Income………. $ Expenses…………….. $ Balance……………… (in the black)
Old Business Arising out of Last Meeting’s Minutes:
A disscussion about why insurance costs so much was led by President Donna. There were a lot of suggestions how we could get our insurance costs down based on how other clubs handle their insurance costs. How could we get our costs down as we are probably going to pass on doing the BC Open.Do we really need to be in the Societies category? How much insurance do we need and what do we need to insure anyways. Donna volunteered to research it and get back to us so a motion, discussion and vote could be made before february next year.
New Business:
- Disscussion about December holiday party; Decided : on Dec. 3 here at hall. Start 5 pm. Dinner at 6 pm.. Donna made a list of who is bringing what and is going to get in touch with members by email. Lots of gravy, ham, chicken and cherry cha cha.It was decided to have a gift exchange, gift maximum fifteen dollars. If you are a woman bring gift for woman (marked so), if you are a man bring gift for man. Brenda will help organize so please call her to let know what you are bringing or what needs bringing. Brenda’s phone number is 250-540-8875.
Presentation
- Ken Montie brought in his shining collection of silver, mainly silver coins he has collected since he was a toddler. He and Mike Mckenzie did a demonstration of how you rate the coins for percent of silver value depending on year of mintage. They also showed how to do a business transaction selling silver coins.
- Louie Younkman tabled some old news paper write ups of gold and silver mines on Mount Ida, that broods over Salmon Arm. The papers have a return spring attached but make for some facinating reads.
- Cal brought in two muscle dredges he made and tested. Using these and a small rake, pry bar and crevicing tool you can do close to the same amount of work as a 2 inch suction dredge can. They are for use in 2 foot or less water depth. In both types of dredges the boulders have to be pried loose, the cobbles thrown out and the bottom slurry sucked up. A muscle dredge is useful for prospecting especially where you have to back pack into a canyon. Of course there is physical work involved.
Announcements.
Its getting close to the end of this seasons field work. Time to put the mining/prospecting outfit away until next spring. Replace and repair missing or damaged parts. Before putting your pumps away you may want to drain the gas out (plug screw on carburetor bowl). Go down to gas station and get 5 liters best grade gas they have and add 10 ml of seafoam additive for every liter gas. Take this enhanced gas and put it in pump gas tank. Run pump briefly then shut off motor and gas feed; store pump. This will keep gas staybalized for 2 years and should start on first pull. Don’t forget to be skilled with and keep your gps unit and phone camera in good order.
Now time for the dead work salvaging and cleaning gold, researching and planning next seasons prospecting/mining outings, writing up this years activities in your journal. Sure you did your work reports but this is your logbook for your eyes only so be reasonably honest and acurate. You’re not an AI robot so, maybe stay away from digitized (phone and computer) entries. If you are lucky enough to have learned how to do it, use cursive writing only. Use ink instead of pencil as i found pencil fades over the years. I have known people who have bought these journals from dying prospectors and gotten hold of valuable information and maps that way. If you do prospecting for a big company they usually make you turn in your journal: as a free miner you can keep your own journal so keep it up to date and neat.
Social Convener’s Report by Brenda Morrison:
Best Wishes for a happy birthday for November 2024 go out to:
Marilyn Allan, Ryan Courtmanche, Reg Crane, Mark Paniche, Jonathon Paul, Dave Poirier
Gentleman member John McFarland passed away this month. A good friend and prospecting partner. And another friend and valued club member Gerry Stainer as well. Condolences to those left behind for a while.
The first nugget door prize was won by Mike McKenzie
The second nugget door prize was won by Ken Montie
The three gold panning pins were won by Cindy Rachwalski, Attila Vasarhelyi, and Ruth Huzinga.
President Donna Smith adjourned the meeting at 8:20 PM.
Political Liaison and Information Committee. Report by Rick Peterson
Rick reported that the amendments to section 8 on mto’s website have been paused. This is the one where it looks like they are going to require any helpers working on a claim must have a free miners licence. Rick is going to bring this up at the BCPMA’s Annual general meeting when we have one. Any club members are welcome to attend along with our representative. Get in touch with Rick at; 250-681-0908 or email trimguy@live.ca for any questions, clarifications, comments.
Appendix A;
……Vernon Placer Miners Assoc.…Mission Statement
- Promote placer mining and prospecting
- Use best practices available for placer prospecting and mining.
- Respect nature; prospecting and mining in an environmentally sustainable way.
- Support and encourage all those seeking a partial or complete living through placer prospecting and mining activity.
- Promoting recreational placer prospecting and mining with good fellowship.