Pre-registration begins for fall gold shows

The 2011 Fall Gold & Treasure Shows are just around the corner and the Gold Prospectors Association of America  is cordially inviting you and your family to join us in Fletcher, North Carolina and Onalaska, Wisconsin. The GPAA Gold & Treasure Show Circuit attracts the most exhibitors and vendors of prospecting supplies, mining equipment, gold & gem jewelry, and outdoor gear of any national trade show, which makes the Gold & Treasure Show the place for you to be this October! Participants will also benefit from the educational lectures and seminars conducted by industry professionals. There’s always something for everyone at the shows so come check out what all the buzz is about! The first 100 paid attendees will receive a vial containing placer gold! So, don’t miss out!

Get Gold Prospectors FREE with a GPAA membership!

The September/October edition of Gold Prospectors, GPAA's national magazine, features Gems and Lapidary for Rockhounds as its theme. Look for more of the usual riveting and adventure-packed stories of gold prospecting and gem & treasure hunting that you've come to expect in our glossy, full-color magazine.

Gold Prospectors Magazine is now on sale at newsstands and is FREE for all GPAA and LDMA members. If you are not yet a GPAA member, Gold Prospectors Magazine alone, is a great reason to join Gold Prospectors Association of America.

If you are currently paying the newsstand price of $29.70 per year, plus
sales tax, you can receive all six issues of Gold Prospectors Magazine,
and the Pick & Shovel Gazette mailed to your door plus a one-year GPAA membership including the *Buzzard Special (shown below) for just $37.80 more per year. And, you never miss an issue! Now that's a deal! You get everything for just $67.50.

Are your words golden?

The Gold Prospectors Association of America is currently looking for freelance writers as contributors to Gold Prospectors Magazine and the Pick & Shovel Gazette. If you are interested in submitting articles to us, please send your contact information and a sample of your writing to content@goldprospectors.org. Please put FREELANCE WRITER in the subject line and address your email to GPAA Editor/Content Director Brad Jones. Please be sure to include your phone number.

GPAA seeks gold-bearing land

Attention Eastern U.S. members: The GPAA wants to open up more land to members in your area and we need your help. We are actively seeking submissions for new potential leases on gold-bearing properties near you. If you are a landowner of gold-bearing property and would consider leasing access to the GPAA and its members, we want to hear from you.

All new Mining Guide slated for end of the year

Development of the 2012 Claims Club Membership Mining Guide is well under way and will be published at the end of this year! The new Mining Guide is going to be unlike anything members have ever seen! From all new, color, highly detailed maps and layout to dozens of new claims, new stories and valuable information you’ll benefit from while you’re out in the field.

Alaska Gold Expedition expands

While the Alaska Gold Expedtion is often referred to as a once-in-a-lifetime trip, many GPAA members venture to Alaska year after year. For that reason, the Gold Prospectors Association of America has expanded the six-week duration of the camp to eight weeks. These addtional two weeks in the short summer prospecting season in Alaska will allow more of our members to experience our Cripple River Camp near Nome, Alaska.

More chapters forming to support growing membership

From Maine to Mississippi and Honolulu to 100 Mile House, British Columbia, new local GPAA chapters are popping up across the U.S. and Canada. The Gold Prospectors Association of America encourages all new members to contact their local GPAA chapter to find out more about chapter meetings, outings and local events. Local GPAA chapters are your connection to the world of gold prospecting. Local chapter members are your prospecting family and they will teach you the basics all the way to the finer points of panning, sluicing, highbanking, drywashing and dredging.

“We are waiting to mail out postcards for 41 more new chapters forming, so you may have a chapter starting near you very soon. If not, you might consider starting one in your town,” said Gary Sturgill, GPAA Chapters & Claims Representative.

Save on airfare for Alaska Gold Expedition 2012

If you are planning on heading up to GPAA Cripple River camp next June, now is the time to take advantage of major savings by booking your Alaska Airlines flight through the GPAA. This once-a-year sale offers an average of $450 in savings on airfare to Nome, Alaska.These are better prices than you are likely to find online, according to GPAA Event Manager Amber White.

 New Gold Fever season to air Oct. 1

Gold Fever — America's longest running recreational prospecting show — is returning to Outdoor Channel Oct. 1 with all new episodes. Host Tom Massie is touring the globe in search of gold and nothing is getting in his way. The season starts off with a prospecting adventure in California's capitol, Sacramento, where he tries bidding on a 100-ounce nugget. When that doesn't pan out, he goes looking for his own fortune in gold.

Dredgin’ ban ... ‘You can’t fix stupid!’

Earlier this week, I interviewed GPAA’s Iowa State Director Howard Ron White, who goes by “Ron.” I couldn’t resist and asked him whether he was Ron White, the famous blue-collar comedian. He is not, but I can attest he’s got a great a sense of humor as the better known Mr. White. As I moved on to other stories and the harder issues of how to address the five-year ban on dredging in California, it got me to thinkin’ about the whacked out politicians and Berkeley mentality that plague this ‘Golden State’ and the entire country. Ironically, the California Gold Rush played a big part in the development of California and today ghost towns and gold mining history play a large part in the tourism industry. In fact, the Mother Lode is right in the backyard of California’s own liberal poster child, Nancy Pelosi (and not that far from Berkeley, now that I think about it.)