Hi Jim, a forum reader who has asked to remain anonymous sent me the following letter and gave permission to post it. RC . . .

Hi RockChuk, There was a question on the Forum about what happened in Reno. Here are a few of my thoughts. In the afternoon session there were about 30-40 individuals who persented comments. Speakers were given 5 minutes each, and most read from prepared texts. All except me were industry representatives. They fell into four types: (1) legal folk, (2) human resource representatives, (3) small mine owners, (4) independent consulting geologists. I was the only one who spoke from the point of view of the recreational prospector. Several themes were repeated over and over by the speakers:

1. The present regulation 3809 is working, so don't change it. (i.e., support alternative 1).

2. The period for comments is too short, especially since the National Academy of Sciences is conducting a study at the request of Congress on the effectiveness of the BLM regulations is protecting the public lands. This report must be submitted and published by July 31, 1999. Several folks said the period of comments should be lengthened, so that the NAS study could be taken into account.

3. The small mine owners said the proposed regulations would put them out of business.

4. The large mine owners said the new reulations would place onerous burdens on an industry already heavily regulated. Most said the regulations would lead to a loss of jobs with severe economic impact on the small communities where most were located.

5. Most speakers said the present regulations were working well, and expecially in Nevada, where there good and workable state regulations on the mining industry.

6. The regulation that open p i t s be backfilled was described as uneconomic, unscientific, and stupid. It was pointed out that many open p i t mines have been reopened after decades of no mining activities. This could happen with existing open mines in the future, as new technologies are developed. However, once filled, the p i t s would never be reopened.

7. The effect of the regulations would be to force closure of more American mines, and mining activities would move to foreign countries. Thus jobs in the US would be lost, and the US would become even more reliant upon foreign countries for their mine products.