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Non-Prospectors, (The people who think we are dunderheads playing in the dirt)
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post Jan 1 2016, 09:59 AM
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Shovel Buster!
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Group: Members
Posts: 55
Joined: 9-October 15
From: Southern Colorado
Member No.: 121,789



As a consultant, I get around and see a lot of people. As a jabberjaw, I get to converse with loads of people and get to hear many perspectives of many different subjects.

I do a lot of work in the cannabis industry and as such I see a ton of people from other states coming in and though most are pretty hard core dead set on a cannabis lifestyle only, there are those who are classified as "interested in rocks," "self-proclaimed rockhounds," and other "prospectors."

A couple of points:
(These are not defined in stone or legal terms that I know of and so I am asking for your individual opinions.)

1) At what point is someone established as a rockhound in this hobby rather than just a hiker picking up rocks?
2) As a rockhound, at what point does one become a "prospector?" Is rockhounding more or less the attainment of enough information to allow you to identify and pick up certain rocks for your own collection, thus separating you from clueless picking up of shinies?
3) Does the regular visiting and working at a claim or mine determine that you are a prospector? Or would one have to pay at least a $155 maintenance fee somewhere and have their own claim to be considered a prospector? Or is this now termed "Mining/Miner" because you have "prospected" that there are indeed retrievable minerals in the location and summarily did the due diligence, paperwork, and else necessary to have it in your name?
4) Once you begin to sell rocks of any type or collect in excess of 5 gallon bucket you need to get a mining permit right? Selling definitely defines that if so.

5) There are a lot of people who are interested in rocks but when I bring in pieces to show off most people really have just a disinterest it seems. Then I get annoyed that I packed in a bunch of nice but heavy and sometimes fragile minerals I don't want to damage and no one really gives a crushed talc. Have any of you found better ways to engage the mildly interested? Should I do show and tell at elementary schools if I want to feel good and tingly about mining?

6) Those people who want to prospect or have more experience than others but are either not inclined or too lazy to go to coloradoprospector.com how should I get them to be engaged more to help further themselves?


I am asking these questions mostly for the information of the others who ask me these types of weird questions and I don't really know how to answer that. I am pretty much a solo artist and I do immense research of the areas I go to because I don't want to waste my time which is thin and valuable. When I find a successful spot I have a few hands I can call on especially to roll boulders. It took me a long time to realize I should scout the internet for forums to meet other people and learn that way in lieu of field work. I kind of had the perspective that prospectors and miners were the same thing. They rode donkeys and had a hat with a bent up Yosemite Sam style to em. Those who'll shoot you on sight near their mine and are always trying to keep the gold ball sized gold nugget from Dastardly Dan clad in all-black chewing on a cigar stump. I figure if I had ignorant thoughts like these then others might too. I didn't even know about the Prospector TV show until the end of last year. (Like many others, I do not watch TV) One of the claims im on I can see the Dorris Family's claims. I even remember remarking about how quiet it was and that it was great, serene, and peaceful. Then a whole mess of vehicles came up the mountain across the way and started up the diggers and all hell broke loose noise-wise and I started complaining to the rest of the folks with me. I could see em across the way and I was jealous because I was using a sledgehammer and collapsible military shovel while they were using all these noisy, polluting machines. It took me only one show to realize who exactly they were then I PLSS and LR2000 to confirm.

After that, i realized that prospectors and miners (not entities) are not Yosemite Sams though there are still Dastardly Dans. Big giant multinational mining corporations are the evil mining conglomerates that ruin it for the rest of us, while being completely and absolutely necessary and vital to the industries which use these resources to grow and expand our experience here on the planet. What is pulled out of the ground anywhere in the world is eventually used somewhere on the planet. My hope is that these go to better the world we live in. I ask these questions attempting to engage some dialogue not only to increase interest in the national security that goes along with protecting and utilizing national natural resources, but to increase interest in what we can do as stewards or our national resources.

I would estimate there are really only 20,000 true prospecting individuals in Colorado. Miners working for a corporation in a mine I am not counting. You have to go out and individually or in small non-corporate groups. Of those 20,000 I really feel like there are about 1,500 or so that own claims or regularly visit claims and know how to prospect and locate minerals the hard way without sonar and other specialty equipment. Then when you draw down even further to the forums and boards across the board, it feels like there are only... 500 or so people in Colorado who really know whats up.

Sorry this post is a mish-mash of weird questions but I wanted to engage dialogue and increase internet traffic to the site if at all possible. =)


--------------------
"Life's hard. It's harder if you're stupid."

"Most opportunity is right before your eyes, you just haven't yet learned how to see it."

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