Wyoming Prospector’s Association
Regular Meeting Minutes
August 10, 2024
The meeting was called to order at 10:16 a.m. at Miner’s Grubstake in Atlantic City.
Officers present: Bob Platzer (President), Jacque Stoldt (Treasurer), Esther Jarvis (Secretary), and Deb Palmer (Board Member).
There were 19 members, 1 guest, and 4 kids at the meeting.
Esther Jarvis read the meeting minutes from the June 22, 2024 meeting.  Paula Jones motioned to accept the minutes as read.  Bob Platzer seconded the motion.  All ayes; motion passed.
Correspondence: Jacque discussed that the Prospector’s mining journal had an article about the BLM increasing fee for mining claims, she was not sure if this affects the WPA due to the exemption. Randy stated it will affect new claims and the fee is going from $160 to $220 per claim for the BLM not the county fees. Bob stated that he has the exemption paperwork and will send it on Monday as the latest it can be postmarked is September 1st, 2024. Currently, it is $15 per claim and $105 total – Bob will call and see if the fees have increased. Jacque stated the mining journal also had an article discussing progress towards reclamation dredging in California and this may be eventually help make progress for Wyoming.
Jacque Stoldt read the treasurer’s report.  Les Armstrong motioned to accept the treasurer's report. Deb Palmer seconded the motion. All ayes; motion passed.
Officer/Committee Reports:  Nothing at this time.
Old Business:
Outing: Jacque thought it was more successful than last year – had more people come and stay with 3 new memberships and an additional membership about 2 weeks later. The raffle was successful and there was a positive $436 from the outing whereas last year it was negative about that same amount (this was including all the costs such as food, port-a-potty’s etc.).
Day In The Park: A table was purchased for $76 due to the late fee. Five members attended and assisted with the table. Sold $110 of merchandise and 9 raffle tickets. 2 new members signed up from attending day in the park. Downsides – it was very hot and the spot was out of the way by the politicians. Discussed that this would be good to continue, but to sign up early and try to get a table in a better location. Jacque and Sierra stated there was booth that was making blown glass necklaces, and they were about to have their gold put in the glass and have it put on a necklace. They talked to him and it will cost $10 per necklace to make, will need to supply the gold to be put in the glass. Could have these made for a fund raiser or to have in supply to sell. It was discussed that the association’s supply of gold is dwindling and will need to replenish. Randy will call Carl Anderson who has offered to sell the association some gold in the past. The gold can be sent in plastic vials each with a certain amount of gold in it. Seirra motioned to make 10 necklaces for awareness and get more people interested in joining the association. Jacque seconded the motion. All ayes; motion passed. Suggested to sell them for $30 to $40 to make some money off them. Price will be determined at a later date.
Bob discussed that the canopies are old and the association needs to invest in 2 more 12 x 12 canopy’s. Also discussed having some posters made up with pictures for membership recruitment (include benefits, what the association promotes), also discussed having photos of some of the claims to show at events like Day In the Park. Randy stated he has a print out of the association purpose. Discussed could print out posters and store them in a large tube to prevent them from creasing/tearing. Jacque motioned to purchase 2, 12x12 canopy’s and to be looking for them on sale with the season ending (limit will be $400 for both). Deb Palmer seconded the motion. All ayes; motion passed. Jacque will send an email out when she finds a good deal and asks others to be looking for deals and notify her.
Coin Raffle: Not many tickets have been sold – we have 240 tickets out and only a handful have come back. 1000 ticket were made and the price for each is $10, and Randy is donating 2 Morgan silver dollars for 2nd and 3rd place. The drawing will be held at the September 14th meeting.  Anyone interested in selling tickets needs to email wyoprospectors@gmail.com or call 307-333-3061. Jacque will make a flyer to put up around town and to send to members in other towns to put up to try to get more tickets sold. Please send your tickets to the PO Box by the Monday before the meeting (September 9th) if you are not planning to attend the meeting on September 14th when the drawing will be held.
Ordering sweatshirts/jackets: Double Dutch designs has been trying to email the invoice to the current Wyoming.com email and it has not been going through – it is a good thing we have a new email address.
Gold Rush Days: Terry Anderson was there for both days. Several members helped on Saturday and 2 people (Terry Anderson plus one more person) helped on Sunday. There was a lot of kids that participated. Gold Rush Days is always the weekend after July 4th. There is a scavenger hunt on August 17th up at South Pass City. Jacque will try to sell some tickets there. Laurel Nelson mentioned that people have asked about gold panning that used to happen in Atlantic City in front of the Grubstake. Could consider doing that again along side another existing event in Atlantic City.
Part of the gift for Bixler was sent to him. We are waiting on the rest of the order from Double Dutch Designs to send the rest.
Emailing out meeting minutes: Please let us know if you want to get the paper copies of the meeting minutes. This will be the last minutes that will be mailed to everyone. If you want to continue receiving paper copies, you must call Jacque at 307-333-3061 or Esther at 307-855-9327. Moving forward, they will all be emailed.
The next meeting will be at the Miner’s Grubstake in Atlantic City on September 14, 2024. Breakfast will be available for $14.00 per person if you would like to eat. We will meet at 9:00 am for breakfast, and begin the meeting when we finish eating, around 10:00. Drawing for the coin raffle will take place that day – you do not need to be present to win.
Jacque Stoldt won the 50/50 raffle.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:21 a.m.

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