Fully Permitted Mine

[Clay Diggins]

On this forum, and others, I read endless stories of how mining is being shut down in the United States. Tales of mines projects being protested and lawsuits against mining seem to be popular.

I work full time in the mining industry and my experiences just don't jibe with these stories. Every year the greenies lose more cases than they win. The courts continue to rule that mining can proceed despite the protests and lawsuits.

There is some opposition in some particular areas to mining. In many other regions mining is welcomed as a revenue and job source to help struggling communities. I'm going to profile two mining projects in this post that I am very familiar with. I hope these profiles will help demonstrate how the United States remains the third largest mining nation on earth.

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Case #1

Probably one of the communities most opposed to any form of mining is Tucson, Arizona. This small city has become the chosen retirement destination for the bike riding, sandal wearing laid back liberals from the Northeast. It's about as anti-mining as a community can get. Any hint that a hole might be dug in Mother Earth somewhere brings out the opposing petitions, and checkbooks, of these wealthy retirees. It's not a coincidence that the money grubbing group of lawyers posing as the 11 million dollar per year Center for Biological Diversity has established their offices in Tucson. It's big money territory for lawyers counting on greenie contributions and fee payouts from the Federal government.

So what do you think happened when Rosemont, one of the biggest open pit mines ever proposed, was planned just 26 miles as the crow flies from Tucson? Yep - protests, campaigns, rallies, "news" articles and many many lawsuits. Rosemont will be mining 100,000 tons of copper per year. How long did it take to get the mine permitted? 5 years. A record short time for a mine of this size anywhere in the US!

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Case #2

Nevada is the biggest mining state. It's generally considered one of the most friendly states for mining and it produces about 79% of all gold mined in the US.

Midway Gold has a 4,000 acre low grade disseminated surface gold deposit in Nevada. They plan to open pit mine 875,000 ounces of gold over the next nine years.

The proposed mine and processing site has protected nesting Bald Eagles and Sage Grouse. You would think Midway Gold are gonna have problems getting approval for a huge open pit and cyanide leach pads there - right? Wrong. The entire mine and leach operation was permitted in 19 months. Even less time than the two years the company was planning.

Read how Midway Gold did it.
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I'm sure you can find horror stories about mine permitting. Bad news sells better than good news. Badly managed projects rarely get approval. Poorly planned operations are commonly hung up in the permitting process. It's you choice whether you learn from past mistakes. You choose whether to build on success or give up before trying.

Mining is alive and well in the United States and serious miners are finding the process of getting permitted easier each year. The tide has turned in the miner's favor and I would hope the small miners here can find it within themselves to let the past problems go and take advantage of the opportunity.

The markets and the people in this country are fed up with the greenies running things. The greenie rangers and land administrators have had their heads handed to them by the courts too many times. They are retiring in droves these days and the time to mine is upon us. We've got them on the run. Higher gold prices and easing of agency obstruction combined with a large number of small paying deposits spell a bright future for the small gold miners.

It's up to us to take advantage of this new mining environment. We can sit around and grouch about how difficult it is for us to even prospect anymore or we can seize the opportunity and create a whole new class of successful small miners. The choice is yours. I hope you choose mining.

 

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[jog]

I think one thing is that a lot of these enviro, groups don't want anyone to know about these mines and that they lost their lawsuits. Like a lot of other great stories they get shoved out of site so people don't see whats really going on, they only want it to be one sided. The info is out there but you have to know where to look.
Thanks Clay Diggins for the informative info and I hope people WAKE UP.

 

[Oakview2]

Clay

CBD has had a lot more success aginst people who can't afford to defend themselves than companies who can withstand a five year permit process.

 

[Clay Diggins]

It's not really just about money. If you know the law and you are ready to explain yourself your cost amounts to gas money.

USA_v._Tierney (PDF)

I've won several cases against government agencies myself and never hired a lawyer. Sometimes it's really just about educating yourself. Knowledge is the key.

In Arizona there were 9 hardrock gold mines permitted within the last year. Read the link in the original post about the NAG! NAG! NAG! strategy. I've used something similar for years. It works!

 

[Clay Diggins]

Rosemont will be mining 100,000 tons of copper per year.

OOPS! That should read 245 million pounds of copper, 5.4 million pounds of molybdenum and 2.9 million ounces of silver per year!

 

[AzViper]

Just to think I live in Tucson, Arizona and yes its a city of 1 million and yes lots of snowbirds and retires. Barry I was surprised you did not mention Gold Strike Mine in Elko Nevada. If I am not mistaken it's the third largest gold mine on earth. Having recovered like 40,000,000,000.00 (BILLION) in gold in 18 years.

​

 

[Oakview2]

CBD has over 750 species to add to the ESA, it will take a lot more than citizens who know the law to keep them from shutting down the entire west under the guise of critical habitat.

 

[Lotus Geologist]

California could use more mines and miners, less liberals and illegal aliens. But that's not going to happen.

Disappointed...

L.G.

 

[kazcoro]

California could use more mines and miners, less liberals and illegal aliens. But that's not going to happen.

Disappointed...

L.G.

I'm not trying to sidetrack, but you are right, instead of ENFORCING the law, the lawmakers make something else illegal instead.......

 

[goldenIrishman]

Like AzViper I live in the same part of the state and mine in the Greaterville area. The Rosemont Copper project is on the news quite a bit lately. For those of you that have the Greaterville Footprints mapping program, if you turn on the LODE MINE layer and then look on the north side of the map, you'll be able to see the south end of the Rosemont operation area. Needless to say, what's shown in FootPrints is only part of their area, but it will give you an idea of how much land they've got.

The greenies have been fighting this project since it was first announced, but because the company has followed the laws and stuck to their guns, the project is moving ahead. While the majority of us are not ever going to be as large as the companies Clay mentioned, we can all learn a lot from their example.

On a side note, one interesting development brought on by this project is Santa Cruz County talking about trying to get that area away form Pima County and added to their own. The tax dollars from the mine is the only reason they are even considering this but I doubt that it will ever get much further than talk. If for some reason it actually came to pass, I guess those of us mining in that area would have to double check that the records of our claims are transferred correctly.

 

[augoldminer]

Big companies have big lawyers.
Its the small mining companies with under 50 miners that are the target.
These small mines are slowly drained of money by MSHA and state OSHA inspectors with there conflicting rules and regs.
And state agencies that tell them one thing then when the mine follows the agency. the agency changes the rules and take them to court with large fines.

My friends at the Sixteen to One Mine is a prime case of this.
Original Sixteen to One Mine, Inc.
Original Sixteen to One Mine, Inc. - News'
Original Sixteen to One Mine, Inc. - News
Original Sixteen to One Mine, Inc. - News
Original Sixteen to One Mine, Inc. - News
Original Sixteen to One Mine, Inc. - News
Original Sixteen to One Mine, Inc. - News

I have a number of friends that are members of one of calif mine search and rescue teams that are not part of a mining company team.
They have been told by MSHA inspectors that the feds are helping the state close down small mining companies by making it too expensive to operate . Now that the state has got rid of most of the dredgers.

I know of another case where a property owner that has some of the old Yuba river dredge piles on his property was told that he could not get a permit to sell the rock and level his property because its historical site. The state owns the property next to his and has been selling the rock from the state property for 40+ years.

 

[Clay Diggins]

When you get into shareholders and more than 5 employees MSHA and the State regulator and SEC get into the act. We work on a fair shares contract, no associations, no employees and no shareholders. No MSHA, OSHA, SEC or State regulation.

Miners need to educate themselves and avoid the legal traps regulation has set up for them. Just like in the past there is a lot more to mining than playing with dirt. It is one of the most diverse and highly skilled professions on earth. Educate yourself and prosper.

 

[Fullpan]

So clay - in your opinion the 1872 mining law is safe in D.C. ? and with that law, there's a good chance for a win in the dredging cases? Or...

 

[Clay Diggins]

I'm not sure my opinion counts for much Fullpan. I'll throw it out there anyway.

The 1872 Act is safe for the foreseeable future. I do have inside knowledge on that one.

The success or failure of the various dredging cases in California depend on the law and the facts presented. In all but one case there I find the cases lacking in law or facts that would support a successful outcome. The 1872 Act has nothing to do with those cases as presented.

Now with that opinion and a nickle you can make a down payment on a cup of hot water - you are well on your way to a cup of cold instant coffee at this rate.

Do you care to share your opinion on the current atmosphere for mine permitting?

 

[Clay Diggins]

CBD has over 750 species to add to the ESA, it will take a lot more than citizens who know the law to keep them from shutting down the entire west under the guise of critical habitat.

Interesting that you should bring up the critical habitat thing Oakview.

More than 764,000 acres of land was declared critical habitat for the one known Jaguar living in the United States yesterday. Although the Rosemont mine is smack dab in the middle of that "critical" habitat and within 20 miles of that one Jaguar sighting the habitat excluded the 1,987 acres of private land Rosemont sits on and excluded an additional 3,513 acres surrounding the mine site.

You read that right - by law the entire mine area, 5500 acres, is excluded from the critical habitat designation.

ESA isn't as powerful as some would like to imagine. In this case the greenies tried to do an end run around a fully permitted mine and ended up with a bunch of critical habitat with no endangered species to be found in it - and egg on their face.

I wonder if the miners will be sharing their lunch buckets with the kitty?

 

[AzViper]

Barry you must be speaking of this BIG kitty.

Related Article Arizona Daily Star:

A male jaguar has roamed the Santa Rita Mountains' eastern flank for at least nine months, photos obtained from the federal government show. The remote cameras have photographed the big cat in five locations on seven occasions since October. Three times, the federally financed remote cameras photographed the jaguar immediately west of the proposed Rosemont Mine site in the mountains southeast of Tucson. The photos were taken for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by University of Arizona cameras as follow-up after a hunter gave state authorities a photo of a jaguar's tail that he took last September in the Santa Ritas. The sightings next to the mine site were at roughly the same location where the earlier jaguar tail photo was taken, wildlife service officials said. Other photos ranged from two to 15 miles from the mine site. The photos were provided to the Star this week by Fish and Wildlife in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. All were taken at night of the nocturnal beast. They show the jaguar, an endangered species, running, walking or standing in rocky, grassy terrain.This is the only jaguar known to live in the United States since the 15-year-old known as Macho B died in Arizona in March 2009.

"Best habitat we have"

The photos were taken within federally proposed critical habitat for the jaguar, on which the wildlife service is scheduled to make a decision on Aug. 20. While this habitat isn't as good for jaguars as what exists in Mexico, said Jean Calhoun, an assistant field supervisor in the service's Tucson office, "It's the best (jaguar) habitat we have." The area where the photos were shot has prey for the jaguar - deer and javelina - "so as long as there is food available, he is able to hang around there," said Tim Snow, a Game and Fish Department nongame specialist. "To me, it's not a whole lot different" than Macho B, who came and went to different mountain ranges in Southern Arizona. Macho B would stay in the Baboquivari Mountains for awhile, and then move back down to the Atascosa Mountains, and in between authorities didn't know where he went.The current male jaguar was photographed in the Whetstone Mountains south of Benson in November 2011.

The photos were released as the wildlife service and the Forest Service are wrapping up a draft biological opinion regarding the proposed Rosemont copper mine's impacts on the jaguar and nine other federally protected species, including the lesser long-nosed bat, the Chiricahua leopard frog and the ocelot. The wildlife service hopes to get a draft of the opinion to the Forest Service in a week to a week and a half, Calhoun said. In an earlier biological assessment, the Forest Service wrote the mine is "likely to adversely affect" the jaguar. The biological opinion is supposed to examine measures that can ease a project's impacts on an endangered species. The jaguar's continued presence in the Santa Ritas and elsewhere in the "Sky Islands" mountain ranges of Southern Arizona shows that jaguars belong in this region and underscores the need to protect their critical habitat, said Sergio Avila, a large cat biologist for the environmentalist Sky Island Alliance. "The jaguars are saying it better than anyone else that they belong here - they're making the point, not me or my organization," Avila said.

Is habitat really "critical"?

But the new photos don't change Game and Fish's view that jaguar critical habitat isn't justified. "That solitary male jaguar is no reason for critical habitat. We don't have any breeding pairs," said department spokesman Jim Paxon. "If that was critical habitat, we would still be doing the same thing that we are doing today. We are not harassing that jaguar or modifying normal activities there that are lawful today."Because the jaguar's range extends from northern Mexico through Central America and into much of South America, it also is unclear how the Santa Rita Mountains can possibly be considered essential to the species' conservation as critical habitat, said Kathy Arnold, Rosemont Copper's vice president for environmental and regulatory affairs. Michael Robinson, an activist for the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity, disagrees. Since critical habitat is legally supposed to be areas essential for conservation and recovery, "it's hard to see how an area with possibly the only jaguar living in the wild in the United States, how that habitat would not be essential to recovery here," he said.

Rosemont Copper has been aware of the lone jaguar's presence in the Santa Ritas and the Whetstones for some time, Arnold said. The company has provided some support for the federally financed camera effort, she said. The environmentalists' raising of the critical-habitat issue "is exactly the type of tactics we expect" at a time when release of the final Rosemont environmental impact statement is drawing near, Arnold added. "We are confident that both the Coronado National Forest and Fish and Wildlife Service have concluded that the Rosemont project will neither jeopardize the continued existence of the species, nor adversely affect the proposed critical habitat. At worst, the project may modify this lone male jaguar's roaming patterns," Arnold said. Coronado National Forest Supervisor Jim Upchurch said, however, that the Forest Service hasn't concluded that the mine won't jeopardize or hurt critical habitat for the jaguar since the biological report isn't finished yet.

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[Fullpan]

That's good to hear the 1872 mining law is safe. I know the enviros have been trying to scrap it. As for hard rock mine permitting, I am totally uniformed,
except for following the saga of the 16-to-1 situation.

 

[mxer47]

I'm enjoying this thread. I know I feel in some weird way a sense of paranoia when in the wilderness. I don't feel guilty or ashamed as I have and continue to spend several days a week there between woodcutting, prospecting, hunting, and offroading. I have done these things over decades in the same places and have witnessed my personal "impact" on my surroundings (minimal at worst and typically not noticeable).
Yet I'm always concerned about some furry pitted, freshly graduated, earth saver, city dweller, girl/woman/idk, govt. power wielding, do-gooder showing up on her/it's first day and running out of ink in her/it's new pen writing me up. I also see rafters who have no power to do anything except bother me. They are more like house flies, annoying without the sting or bite.
My point is, this paranoia of big govt. is valid to some extent however stories and imagination don't bear out in my personal experience. I have only had one interaction with the local game warden and he asked only two questions. first, are you fishing, and second, are you finding any (gold) my answers being no to both of course only the second being false (don't ask a prospector if he is finding any gold if you don't want to hear a lie). The fact is people are getting sick of the earth worshipers, and the tide is turning. I think instead of paranoia I will try boldness. We are on the front lines of the battle for freedom and clay is right being informed is our training and that information should be our weapon. Still, I'd rather not be bothered.

 

[mxer47]

Sorry, duplicate post.

 

[pcampbell]

I really like this thread, with all the doom and gloom on the different gold forums I was truly afraid of losing the ability to do small scale mining in the near future.