Legislation & Regulation
Captain Obvious Strikes Again
June 2018 by Greg Walcher
The paper’s crack reporters filed requests under the Freedom of Information Act, demanding public release of “secret” emails explaining why the Interior Department recommended, and President Trump approved, shrinking Bears’ Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments.
Trip to “The Swamp” on Behalf of Small Miners
Besides the EPA issue, our major priority is to work on the proposed amendment to the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act (S 145), a bill proposed in the Senate by US Senator Dean Heller (R-Nevada).
MMAC Update
We will be bringing the first of several bills that were requested by Congress during a previous MMAC trip and presenting maps depicting all the MMAC-assisted Mining Districts.
Feds Order Closure of Idaho Mine
Federal safety inspectors have ordered one of the nation’s deepest underground mines closed in northern Idaho following an investigation prompted by a series of accidents that killed two miners over the last year.
PLP Update
The ESA has become an unwieldy beast that was hijacked by government agencies run amok, and by extreme environmental groups who saw it as a way to lock up public lands and to generate income through exaggerated claims and continuous lawsuits.
Lawsuit Update From the New 49'ers
Many of you are aware that we have been engaged in litigation with anti-mining activists that have been attacking us through the Karuk Tribe of California since 2003. It all started with their lawsuit against the US Forest Service (USFS), challenging that District Rangers do not have the authority to allow small-scale mining activities under a Notice of Intent (NOI) when the Ranger concludes that the mining activity is not likely to create a substantial surface disturbance.
Legislative and Regulatory Update
• Battle continues in Oregon
• Stop annexation in Southern California
• EPA ignores Supreme Court ruling with new Idaho permit
• Alaska sues Feds to restore access rights
• California dredgers await next big court date
Because I Said So
Like all federal judges, he swore an oath to perform his duties “impartially… under the Constitution and laws of the U.S.” Nothing in those documents gives Judge Morris authority to order the BLM to work with non-government organizations (the same ones that filed the lawsuit in question) to alter America’s use of energy.
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The Bawl Mill
• Legislative and Regulatory Update
• Ask The Experts - Are there different “ferro” products processed out of the ore?
• Ask The Experts - How hot does a furnace need to be to get rid of sulphides?
• Ask The Experts - Will this paystreak be downriver off the trailing edge of bedrock?
• Putting Together A Small Free Gold Mill—Part II
• Chasing Float Gold—The Starry Night Wash
• 2018 National Mining Hall of Fame Inductees
• A Test Grid Dredged for Gold Values
• Michigan House Votes to Give Mining Operations More Flexibility
• Mineral Exploration On The Rise
• 18 Acquitted in Massive Brussels Diamond Heist
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
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PLP Update
• California to Allow Suction Dredging in 2019?
