The Crevice Mining Group is applying for an exploration permit. This isn't about mining it's about blocking continued development of the Crevice mining district. Miners have been mining placer (1863) and lode gold (1879) there for more than 135 years.
Dr. Michael A. Werner PhD Min. Met. Eng. is the principle on the exploration project. He was the lead on the TSX Gold project that commercially mined the same area in the 1990's. He probably knows more about the deposits in that mining district than anyone else on earth and he thinks his drilling exploration plan will prove a large previously unmined lode.
These aren't newbie miners. They aren't looking to rape the land. They have more than 40 years of experience in successful exploration and mining.
"Werner has already obtained what is known as a small miner exclusion statement (SMES) from the DEQ. An SMES is specifically for small-scale mining only, and cannot be used for exploration. The SMES also requires that the surface disturbance of the mine be smaller than five acres, and that the operations cannot pollute or contaminate any streams.
Werner wants the exploration permit on Crevice Mountain to operate in tandem with the already-obtained SMES. DEQ spokeswoman Lisa Peterson said the department is looking at ways that Werner’s two permits could be combined so that he can explore in the area.
But before Werner can do any work on the ground he’s targeted, he has to have appropriate access into the area. His options are limited. There’s a county road, Crevice Mountain Road, which would require improvements to be made by Werner before such access would be available via that route. Another route that would also require road improvement is the Sin Nombre Road, which is under the auspices of the Forest Service."
There is no formal public comment period scheduled for Crevice Mining Group’s exploratory application because it isn’t required for such proposals. This might be about a "not in my backyard" knee jerk reaction to normal exploration and development by experienced miners or it could be something else entirely.
This gets a little tricky for me because I know and work with some of these guys. The opinion writer who is against the project has 26 years as a big mining company BSc Geologist. The
guy wanting to explore in the Crevice mining district has more than 40 years of experience with some of the biggest mining companies PhD Min. Met. Eng.. There is a very good chance that the opinion writer once worked under the exploration guy. Both of them have and sometimes still do work for companies that I do business with. It's a small world and you might want to keep that in mind when you read just one point of view by one miner on an opinion page.
Heavy Pans
John
