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Legislative and Regulatory Update
July 2008 by Scott Harn
Lois Wolk, the California State Representative who previously introduced a bill to eliminate suction gold dredging in the state but was halted by Governor Schwarzenegger’s veto, is up to her old tricks.
Jerry Hobbs, president of Public Lands for the People (PLP), reported that Wolk attached a rider to the state budget bill. The rider would call for the state to conduct a two-year study of suction dredging and prohibit suction dredging during the study period.
Hobbs reported that his organization is looking at a couple of options to try and remove the rider. The New 49’ers prospecting club is also working on this issue.
The budget bill has already passed out of the Senate Budget Committee, but it will likely go through many rewrites because the state is looking at severe budget cuts.
• Travel Management Plans
Hobbs and PLP attorney David Young also attended several meetings regarding the Forest Service’s Travel Management Plan in the Eldorado National Forest.
As reported in last month’s issue, PLP filed an appeal along with a notice of intent to sue the Forest Service because of the Eldorado National Forest’s refusal to honor the 1872 Mining Law and access for mining when it decided to close off numerous historic routes across public lands.
Hobbs stated that the meetings went as expected—Forest Service officials were ignorant of the laws and rights pertaining to mining. He stated that at least one claimant has already been denied access to his mining claims. A lawsuit is forthcoming to force the Forest Service to recognize the rights of miners. Unfortunately these issues may need to be addressed with each National Forest as they release their individual Travel Management Plans.
New Mine from Century-Old Gold-Silver Bonanza
It has been a ten-year project to make a new mine from the abandoned 100-year-old mine deep in the Sierra Madre at Dolores, Chihuahua, but the perseverance of Minefinders Corp. is soon to pay off. Once worked by the Mexicans, then...
The Bawl Mill
- Imitation is the sincerest form of...theft
- SF hands out more needles than report cards
Conductive Minerals and Your Metal Detector
...most prospectors don't even think about the conductivity of minerals, but there are some that do conduct electricity to a certain degree, so metal detectors will respond to them.
News From the Pacific Legal Foundation
PLF has been hard at work improving our Endangered Species Act Reform Project (ESARP), which is why you haven’t heard from us over the past few months.
MMAC & PLP Update
May 2016PLP had been attempting to raise funds to hire a lobbyist. The excessive cost made it prohibitive, so Clark and Joe packed up their bags and headed off to make this trip themselves.
Picks & Pans: Winter Prospecting and "Forty Mile" Miller
It was in the mid-70s. I had just finished setting my traps out along the river when it dawned on me where “Forty Mile” Miller’s old hardrock outcrop was. Here I was, standing on snowshoes, floundering in three feet of snow, bracing myself so I wouldn’t...
Smugglers Causing Problems in South Africa
Rogue miners in South Africa are looting underground mines, sometimes traveling over one-thousand feet down to extract gold, reported Reuters and several other sources.
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