All Articles
PLP Needs Our Help
March 2009 by Scott Harn
Public Lands for the People is taking on the government on behalf of miners to prevent more closures of public lands to mining and to stop excessive regulations, but they require more help from miners and mining-related businesses to face new challenges.PLP President Jerry Hobbs summarized their activities in a recent letter addressed to fellow prospectors, mining clubs and mining-related businesses.
PLP is currently involved in two prolonged court battles. The Karuk Tribe of Northern California is going back to court to try to prevent the State from issuing suction dredge permits. The Siskiyou Education Project’s attempt to force the Forest Service to require a Plan of Operation for all suction dredge mining is now in the 9th Circuit Court on appeal after the miners won in District Court.
And there are three new lawsuits pending, along with several anti-mining bills in Congress. PLP would like to intervene in all of these cases to protect the rights of miners, but funds are desperately needed.
As many of you are aware, the USFS is closing thousands of miles of roads across the West through the use of Travel Management Plans. The Eldorado National Forest was the first to complete an Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision on the closures. PLP has prepared their own lawsuit against the Eldorado National Forest to stop the road closures, and it is ready to be filed. Their goal is to win this first case and set precedent for other National Forests.
We at the Journal are certainly aware that many miners and prospectors are going through tough economic times. However, we recognize that if we don’t support this effort, there will be few places left to mine or prospect in the United States. To get things started in the right direction, we answered the call for help with a $5,000 donation to PLP in February 2009.
Please consider a contribution to PLP to join the fight.

Fighting and Winning Without a Lawyer
This article may not be as interesting as someone describing a big nugget find in Australia...but right now the biggest obstacle to mining is our government.
Lawsuit to Challenge New Forest Service Regulations

Company Notes
• Wheaton River Minerals
• Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp.
• Iamgold Corp.
• Golden Star Resources
• China Minmetals Corp.
• Noranda Inc.
• Golden Eagle International, Inc.
• Clifton Mining Company
• Nord Resources Corp.
San Manuel Mine Officially Closes With a Bang
One of the largest underground copper mines in the world officially closed mid-January, as demolition crews blasted its twin smelter stacks.
Melman on Gold & Silver
Along with others named earlier, it is difficult to find any designated nominee seemingly willing to work well with either conservatives or Republicans or Trump loyalists, a fact which seems to suggest a continuing high level of tensions…
Legislative and Regulatory Update
• A parting shot from the Clinton Administration
• 43 CFR-3809
• Clinton signs Steens Mountain
• Report denounces EPAs basin cleanup
• Group sues to reverse Sequoia National Monument designation
Subscription Required:
The Bawl Mill
• Ask The Experts—What Should I Do Next With This Quartz Vein?
• East Coast Dredger Heads West—Part III
• Prospecting for Commercial-Scale Gold Deposits
• Hawthorne's Golden Outlook
• The Red Point Mine
• Over The Divide—Chuck Cox, 1943-2009
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes, Mineral & Metal Prices
• Beach Mining Returns to Washington State
Free:
Legislative and Regulatory Update
• Rahall Proposes Bill to End All Mining in the U.S.