All Articles
Update: Public Lands for the People
October 2010 by Scott Harn
In other court cases, an amended complaint was filed in September against the US Forest Service regarding their Travel Management Plan and the closure of roads in the Eldorado National Forest pursuant to that plan. The lawsuit was filed to force the Forest Service to honor the rights of claim owners to access their claims. This case will be heard in the US District Court, Eastern District of California.
PLP and Resources Coalition, along with attorney James Buchal, have come to the aid of Oregon miners in another case involving the Forest Service. This case involves an attempt by the Forest Service to prevent miners from occupying their claims incident to mining. The Forest Service issued citations to prevent Michael Blacklund from occupying his claim and to force removal of a storage trailer on the claim.
Miner Michael Blacklund pled guilty but retained his right to appeal with the plea because he was unable to afford appropriate counsel to fight the citation. Mr. Buchal agreed to handle the case at cost if enough donations were obtained to cover court filing costs. The Resources Coalition and PLP stepped up to the plate with several thousand dollars to insure this case does not set an unwelcome precedent.
The Forest Service ignored previous case precedent in US v. Lex and Waggener and US v. Shumway. Both of these cases involved a miner’s right to occupy his claims incident to mining, and the miners were victorious in each case. The Forest Service subsequently issued rules in an attempt to circumvent these decisions. This case will challenge those new rules.
Our recent offer to provide matching funds for donations to PLP did not generate sufficient funds to keep the non-profit group in the black. We offered to add 25 cents for every dollar donated, with a cap of $4,000. We’re extending the donation deadline until November 15 in hopes that miners can dig deep in this tough economy to support a very worthwhile organization. Please drop us a note, send us an email at plpmatch@icmj.com, or give us a call at (831)479-1500 if you make a donation to PLP so we can add to your donation. (Contact information for PLP is availabe at www.plp2.org.)
Here are the donations PLP has received so far as part of our matching funds drive:
$500—Bob Dunst, Sebastopol, CA
$150—Jay & Lisa Ernst, Shawnee, OK
$20—Charles Knight, Springfield, MO
$100—Verne Whidden, Poway, CA
$1,000—Keene Engineering, Chatsworth, CA
$151—Rich Haynes, Bakersfield, CA
$50—James Popa, Grass Valley, CA
Thanks you for your much needed contributions—we have sent $492.75 to PLP so far in matching funds.
A Few Methods for Sampling Hardrock Deposits
With a little homework and a methodical approach to sampling, a prospector can determine if a deposit is worthy of more of an investment...
Using Countercurrent Material Flow to Improve Gold Recovery Efficiency
There is a material processing principle widely used in large milling operations to improve recovery that is poorly understood by most of the micro-mining and prospecting community...
Jerritt Canyon Mine Lays Off 400
The Jerritt Canyon Mine, located in northern Elko County, was abruptly shut down on August 8, and four hundred miners were left wondering what happened.
Melman on Gold & Silver
These moves were the first serious interruption to the bull market, which had not encountered a serious decline since the election of November, 2016. Since general market moves have been one of the most reliable historic indicators of precious metals market moves, we take a close look at these developments.
Prospectors & Attorneys
It is a fact that when most prospectors hear the word attorney they make the sign of the cross and run for cover. I understand all that, but there does come a time when we must face the facts. Sometimes we need them.
Relocating A Historic Vein
Opportunities exist in both hardrock and placer. Production costs to operate a small placer mining project are a lot less than for a hardrock mine. Underground placers are a different story, but generally, recovering placer gold takes...
Hard Rock Prospecting With Rusty
May 2016As we talked, Rusty stopped, backed up, bent down and began chipping at some rock in the road. He said he suspected there was a stringer right here that crossed the road.
Subscription Required:
The Bawl Mill
• Nevada Claim Holders Form Coalition
• Legislative and Regulatory Update
• How to Handle Claim Jumping
• The Bingham Canyon Copper Mine
• Prospecting My Way Across Australia Pt I
• Recreational Mining in the Cache Creek Mining District, Alaska
• California and US Gold Panning Championships
• Drywashing and Detecting for Gold
• Melman on Gold & Silver
