MEMBERSHIP IS GOING UP

Randy Huffine, our membership Chairman, reports that our 2008 final membership roster soon will be going to the printer. You will notice a lot of  recently enrolled new members. Membership in the PCSC is one of the best deals going.  At the current spot value of gold, a single gram is worth around $50 -- more than our annual membership fee. Many of the nuggets I have recovered (and continue to recover) on our Red Chispa Claim have weighed one gram or more. Just in the last 4 years some club members have recovered nuggets in the one to three ounce range. That’s not too shabby for a 20 acre claim!! The Clark Claim yields smaller sized gold, but weight-wise I’ve had a number of multi-gram trips (and the gold from the Clark is veeeery shiny/pretty). One decent weekend per year on either of these Club claims can produce more than the annual fee. What’s my point? NO!! The annual fees are NOT going up -- not on my watch. BUT the PCSC By-Laws require that an initiation fee of $50 MUST be charged to any new or lapsed members once membership reaches 350 or more (this fee DOES NOT apply to pre-existing members in good standing). With the price of gold as high as it is and with PCSC’s attractive, high yield claims it is quite possible that we will be reaching the 350 membership limit some time during the current year. So if you have any friends or know anyone who wants to re-up their lapsed membership, be sure to have them act soon. We will also have to insist on evidence of valid, paid up current membership for anyone working the claims (in recent years the lack of an up-dated roster has made this difficult, but Randy Huffine’s energy has resulted in a complete overhaul of the roster, soon to be published and distributed).

Martin Milas, PCSC President and Claims Chairman