Nice to be home...

I was pleased to get back home Wednesday from the annual prospector’s convention held in Toronto this week. As soon as I unpacked, I headed for the couch for a quick nap. I woke up almost four hours later. That’s from all the early mornings and late nights.  The final dance was Tuesday night, with a really good band, and hundreds of people. I bumped into Shawn Ryan there, one of the most famous prospectors in the world. He’s a Timmins fellow, but is now better known as the King of the Klondike after he discovered the White Gold deposit in the Yukon. Funny thing is that most people have no idea how famous prospectors can be within this unique community. I also met KarlBjorkman and his family (four of his daughters and his son) who do prospecting from a base camp near Atikokan, Ontario. I talked with Karl for nearly half an hour.

I also got reacquainted with people I had not seen in nearly 20 years. One fellow even remembered the night we pounded back a few beers at a pub in Timmins, it was the last time we had seen each other. It was also nice to meet many of the mining execs that I talk to on the phone every now and then.

The fun part was seeing prospectors pitching their discoveries, hoping that the big bosses with the money would be interested. There were people, industries and government reps there from around the world. One fellow who has a small gold property in Northern Quebec up in the Abitibi region, actually brought a few small bars of gold. Other people brought rocks. And everyone there, myself included, had a loupe for examining rock samples up close.  I also bumped into a Timmins prospector who has a few acres of a rocky outcrop with gold sparkles all around. Sure enough, one of the big mining corporations has been talking with him and they’re going to send in geologists to check out his find.

But my oh my, I am not used to being up at 6:30 a.m. and going to bed at 12:30 or 1:00 a.m. There was lots of partying with rich food and the drinks never stopped. I felt like I was at Downton Abbey! I was kind of glad to be home last night where I had tea and toast with peanut butter.