Good times at Loud Mine
May
11
Written by:
5/11/2010 7:41 AM
By Blake Harmon
The East Coast outings are under way with over 200 GPAA and LDMA members gathering at Loud Mine, Georgia last week! This was my very first visit to this LDMA property and I got to meet some really great people and see all that this beautiful property has to offer.
The common dig this year consisted of six high-bankers and a small trommel - and we recovered some really good gold! Fines and flakes were abundant this time around and we had a nice showing of “Georgia Pickers” and nuggets as well! The material we were working was coming from an ancient gravel layer on the property that sits between four and eight feet below the surface. This gravel has consistently produced color and it’s the same material members get to run through their equipment.
We had several seminars during the outing, including Arrowhead Knapping, Basic Prospecting & Equipment, Lapidary (rock cutting and polishing) and Basic Sluicing. Each audience enjoyed the various demonstrations.
This year’s Treasure Hunt was also a lot of fun! We had nearly 40 entrants compete for 13 prizes, such as prospecting equipment, jewelry and gem stones! We also had a kids and adults Panning Contest! The kids competed for the top three spots and were among the best young panners I have seen in some time! The winners each received engraved copper gold pans! The adults competed in a winner-take-all contest with a $5 entry fee. There was less than 3 seconds between first and third place and Jack Tucker won it all with a time of just over 11 seconds!
The potluck dinner, bonfire, raffles, auction and - most importantly - the people, were all a lot of fun! I want to thank all of the caretakers, volunteer crew and the vendors for all of the effort they put into making the Loud Mine outing a great time for all!
The Vein Mountain, N.C. outing is scheduled to open on Wednesday and I expect that we will have a great time there before heading up to the Athens, Mich., outing on May 19 for another week of good gold, great people and irreplaceable memories! I hope to see you there!