EASTERN OREGON
MINING ASSOCIATION
MAY 2013 Newsletter
Volume 284
EOMA INTERNET ADDRESS: http://www.h2oaccess.com/
EASTERN OREGON MINING ASSOCIATION MEETING
The meetings are held on the first Friday of the month. The next meeting is Friday, MAY 3RD at the Baker City Hall. The building is located at 1st and Auburn Streets in Baker City. The Board meeting starts at 6:00PM, and the general meeting starts at 6:30PM.
WIN 1/2 POUND OF GOLD
The Eastern Oregon Mining Association, along with the Waldo Mining District, is selling tickets for the drawing on a ½ pound of gold. The 2nd Preliminary Drawing will be at the Miner’s Jubilee on July 21, 2013. The big Final Drawing with a Grand Prize of 1/2 Pound of Gold in the spring of 2014. All Entries in the Preliminary Drawings are eligible to win in all subsequent Drawings (including the Final Drawing). $5.00 per Entry, or Six Entries for $25.00.
NEED NOT BE PRESENT TO WIN! So fill out the tickets in the back of the newsletter and send them in to Drawing, PO Box 932, Baker City, OR 97814. Your tickets will be good for each and every drawing up to the final one of the 1/2 pound of gold. Your money goes to help miners continue litigation on miner’s rights. Thank you for all your support..... Chuck Chase
STATE SENATOR ALAN OLSEN SUPPORTS USING SCIENCE IN DECISIONS
Senator Olsen wrote an interesting piece for Oregon Business. It is refreshing to see that there is at least one legislator that makes decisions based on facts, and not on personal agendas. Thank you for your honesty Senator Olsen. To read his article go to:
http://www.oregonbusiness.com/blogs/124-opinion/9909-oregon-mining-senator-alan-olsen
MINE PERMITTING STILL A BIG PROBLEM IN U.S.
The latest Behre Dolbear Report, \Where Not To Invest\ is out, and the U.S. continues to lag behind other resource producing countries in the rankings. The U.S. is again tied for last with Papua New Guinea in the time it takes to permit a mine.
NORTHWEST MINING ASSOCIATION HELPING MINERS IN OREGON-NWMA
The 2013 Legislative session has been one of the most active in terms of mining related bills in recent memory. With over 11 bills already; NWMA is busy in Oregon. The bills have mostly focused on attempts to ban in-stream dredging, but have reached far beyond that. “We have engaged with agency and committee staff to redraft legislation so as to not harm any mining rights in Oregon as well as opposing those bills that seek to ban any mining activity”.
If you have any questions or would like to be added to our \Oregon Issues\ mailing list please contact Matt Ellsworth, NWMA Government Affairs Manager at 509.624.1158x15 or mail to: ellsworth@nwma.org.
SUPREME COURT DENIES NEW 49’ERS V. KARUK TRIBE PETITION
The impact of the case has been misinterpreted by the media and anti-mining interests. The holding in the case is that a 36 CFR 228.4 Notice of Intent for operations in critical habitat for threatened or endangered species triggers ESA Sec. 7 consultation. The ruling in the case does not affect when a miner must file a NOI. The case did not hold that the ESA trumps the mining law. Locatable mineral operations have always had to comply with the ESA.
OBAMA RELEASES BUDGET-NWMA
The Presidents 2013 budget proposal contains the same language as the 2011 & 2012 budget proposals with respect to his repeated attempts to bring seven hardrock minerals under the 1920 Mineral Leasing Act, establishing a gross royalty of not less than 5% and imposing an AML fee on hardrock production on private as well as public land. The AML fee would be based on the volume of material moved at approximately 7.8 cents per ton.
The second legislative proposal institutes a leasing process under the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 for certain minerals, gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper, uranium, and molybdenum, currently covered by the General Mining Law of 1872.
Existing mining claims would be exempt from the change to a leasing system, but would be subject to increases in the annual maintenance fees under the General Mining Law of 1872. However, holders of existing mining claims for these minerals could voluntarily convert their claims to leases. The Office of Natural Resources Revenue would be responsible for collecting, accounting for and disbursing the hardrock royalty receipts.
FASTER PERMITTING COULD REDUCE U.S. DEPENDENCE ON REE IMPORTS
U.S. production of rare earths can be expanded, adding jobs to the economy and revenues to state budgets, says a new report by the National Center for Policy Analysis.
You can read the full article from our friends at Mineweb.
SB838-4 MORATORIUM-ANOTHER WORD FOR PROHIBITNG MINING
Environmentalists are effectively using the strategy of stopping mining activities by calling the prohibition a “moratorium”. Don’t be fooled! SB 838-4 doesn’t just affect suction dredging! SB 838 states that “the moratorium applies to the adjacent 100 yards of stream bank”. There are a lot of placer deposits within 300 feet of streams. And don’t think SB 838 only applies to streams with anadromous fish. SB 838-4 applies this five year moratorium “on the full length of any river and tributary thereof in this state, of which any portion contains essential indigenous anadromous salmonid habitat, as defined in ORS 196.810, or naturally reproducing populations of bull trout”. If there is what they call “habitat” anywhere in the full length of the river or tributary, SB838 not only prohibits suction dredging, but also prohibits placer mining within 300 feet of the stream! No fish are necessary to shut down mining! An isolated population of bull trout can shut down the whole watershed.
That means all operations in Northeast Oregon in Grant County, all operations on streams or tributaries above Phillips Lake Reservoir (even streams that dry up like Buck Gulch) and all operations on streams and tributaries below the reservoir in the entire Powder River system will be affected. We are not just talking about mining on public lands, this bill affects private land as well. Just about the only watershed in our area not directly affected by SB838 appears to be the Burnt River system. But even the Burnt River could be shut down in five years, since the bill is designed to also include water quality listed waterways such as the Burnt River.
According to Forest Service Washington Office personnel, if the bill passes into law, the Forest Service will not shut down existing approved and bonded operations, and they will continue to approve new plans of operation when the analysis is completed (this is kind of a joke as we all know how many POOs have been approved). I was told that when your plan gets approved, the Forest Service will notify the State. At this time, if the state wants to stop you, it becomes a civil matter between the state and the miner.
This deceitful practice of prohibiting mining through moratoriums where studies have already been done, needs to be exposed for what it is. Miners cannot afford to let mining equipment in which they have invested thousands of dollars, sit around for years while they wait for a moratorium to expire. Mining has been going on in these drainages for years without any evidence of harm to fish or habitat. The five year moratorium will have a huge adverse impact on placer mining throughout the State for no factual reason.
THERE ARE SOME GOOD BILLS
It is now time to move forward with some positive action on a couple of bills that will help resolve the obvious lack of understanding of the mining industry. Senate Bill 732, Sponsored by Senators Ferrioli, Baertschiger Jr., Boquist, Close, George, Girod, Hansell, Knapp, Kruse, Olsen, Thompson, Whitsett and Winters and the companion bill House Bill 2841Sponsored by Representatives Bentz, Whitsett, Esquivel, Hicks, Krieger, and Thompson are a breath of fresh air in an otherwise completely anti-mining legislative atmosphere.
FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
The numerous anti-mining bills introduced in Oregon’s legislature should make us all realize that in the future we need to become more pro-active. Right now, we need to keep explaining to the legislators that mining can be, and is done, without doing great environmental harm. We also need to keep explaining that SB 838-4 is a flawed bill that creates more problems than it solves. SB 838-4 was passed out of the Senate Environment and Natural Resource Committee with the three Democrat Senators, Dingfelder, Bates, and Hass, voting for it, and the two Republican Senators Olsen, and Hansell, voting against it. It is currently in the Joint Ways and Means committee. Co-Chairs of the committee, Senator Richard Devlin, and Representative Peter Buckley will decide whether or not to assign it to a sub-committee. If it is assigned to a Ways and Means sub-committee, it would most likely go to the Ways and Means Sub-Committee on Natural Resources. If this happens, we need to let this sub-committee know the fiscal and personal impact SB 838-4 will have on mining. Be thinking about the monetary damage a bill such as this will do. We are making progress by providing factual information in a reasonable way to these leaders, but stay tuned. Our work is a long way from being done! The names and e-mail addresses of the Ways and Means Sub-Committee on Natural Resources can be found here:
https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2013R1/Committees/JWMNR/Overview
FOREST SERVICE SUED FOR DELAY OF PLAN OF OPERATION- Scott Condon
The Aspen Times
The last mining company remaining in Pitkin County has sued the U.S. Forest Service to try to earn a court order allowing it to operate year-round.
Elbram Stone LLC filed a lawsuit earlier this month in federal court in Denver contending that Forest Service officials on the local and regional levels have “unlawfully withheld approval” of Elbrams plan of operation to mine alabaster and marble from mining claims along Avalanche Creek, approximately five miles north of Redstone. The delay is a violation of the U.S. Mining Law of 1872 and other federal regulations, the lawsuit alleged. The mining company wants a judge to rule that Elbrams plan must be approved within the next 30 days. Bill Kight, a spokesman for the White River National Forest, said the agency cannot comment on a pending legal matter.
The lawsuit is the latest chapter in a 21-year fight over the mine. Mine founder Robert Congdon and his successors have battled with Pitkin County and, since 2003, the Forest Service over winter operations. “It is one of the major disagreements,” said Jeffrey McCoy, an attorney for Mountain States Legal Foundation, which is representing Elbram.
Mountain States Legal Foundation is a nonprofit organization with a mission of fighting for “individual liberty, the right to own and use property, limited and ethical government, and the free enterprise system,” according to its website.
Read more at:
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20130423/NEWS/130429957/1077&ParentProfile=1058
POWER OF ATTORNEY FORM TO DESIGNATE AN AGENT-Jan Alexander
Enclosed with this newsletter is a Limited Power of Attorney form. Miners have gone round and round with the Forest Service for the last couple of years, trying to figure out how to get the Forest Service to recognize me as their agent, to help them with their paperwork. BLM has been very easy to deal with. They accept a letter from the miner, as long as the signature is notarized. The Forest Service has now decided they will accept a power of attorney form with notarized signature. If you wish to have me or another member of EOMA help you with responses to letters from BLM and Forest Service, fill out the form with your name, the claim name and who you want to operate as agent. All this really means is that the Forest Service and BLM will have to send your agent copies of all correspondence that is sent to you, and the agency has your permission to talk to your agent about your operation. EOMA is committed to helping miners get through the permitting nightmare.
FOREST SERVICE REFUSES TO RENEW EOMA BONDING MOU
After 30 years of successfully working with the Forest Service under the bonding MOU, the Umatilla and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests have decided not to sign the new MOU. This says a lot about the current Forest Service personnel’s attitude toward mining. The MOU was written as a “good faith” agreement. The MOU was based on the surface mining regulations under 36CFR228.13 which state, “Any operator required to file a plan of operations shall, when required by the authorized officer, furnish a bond…” In other words, bonding is at the discretion of the District Ranger, and because prior District Rangers were interested in working with EOMA and the small scale mine operators, they waived the individual miner’s bond obligation, and worked to secure bonding through the MOU instead. Not only was the MOU highly successful, it was legal. EOMA never defaulted on their reclamation obligations. In fact, EOMA members reclaimed many sites left by miners who were not bonded under the MOU. EOMA has always operated in good faith. Good faith, as far as the Forest Service is concerned, appears to be a thing of the past.
The Forest Service has hired a detailer, Melissa Swain, to redo all the North Fork Burnt River bonds. She will be using same spreadsheet program the BLM uses. Although she will have a learning curve on how to use this program, calculation of bonds should go rather quickly. Miners, who posted bonds with EOMA for this year, will have their money refunded.
WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOUR BOND AMOUNT WILL BE?-Jan Alexander
The BLM geologist gave EOMA members Bill Darden and Jan Alexander copies of the bonding spread sheet program before he left. What I found is that you cannot just plug in some figures and get the correct bond amount. There are multiple areas of input where, if you don’t understand what you are doing, you can end up double bonding your operation. Bill Darden has agreed to assist Melissa Swain in learning how to use the spread sheet. Bill and I can also calculate your bond, using your plan of operation, so we can check what we get against what the Forest Service comes up with. Anyone who wants to know what his or her bond amount will be, just needs to get me a copy of your BLM notice or Forest Service plan of operation and we can calculate your bond.
MORE INFORMATION ON GRANITE MINING EIS
Miners in Grant County need the Granite Mining EIS completed ASAP. The analysis in that document that shows vegetation removal within 300 feet of the streams will not adversely affect water quality is critical to combat the prohibition in SB838. The Forest Service states they have no maps for the Buffalo, Grubsteak, Hopeful 2 and 3, Rabbit and Troy D. I know for a fact that the Forest Service had at least four of these maps; maybe they have lost them? If you are one of the above listed miners, get your map of where you propose to mine into the Forest Service right now.
If you have a mining operation proposed in the Granite Creek watershed, contact the Forest Service to be sure they know you still want your operation included in the analysis. It does not appear that the Forest Service has the Plans of Operation for Harris-Griffith, 4-S, Rock-A-Gold, City Limits and other operations where claim owners submitted Plans of Operation years ago. The Forest Service has had so many rangers and other personnel come and go, that they may not even know what has been submitted. If you need help getting the Forest Service to recognize your plan of operation, just let me know. Once the North Fork Burnt River Mining EIS gets approval by the court, which should happen this spring or summer, the Forest Service can use the North Fork as their guide, and can easily put together the Granite Mining EIS.
DOES ANYONE STILL NEED MSHA TRAINING?-Jan Alexander
If anyone still needs training, let me know. Ed Sinner is willing to put on another class in May if there is sufficient interest. Call Jan at 541-446-3413 to reserve a place in the class.
INVEST IN YOUR FUTURE AND SUPPORT EOMA --BUY SILVER MEDALLIONS
We have received the shipment of 2013 medallions. They are the same proof grade quality medallions with gold nuggets that we have been getting in past years. These medallions are currently selling for $50 dollars apiece plus $5.00 shipping and handling and insurance. These prices are subject to change. You can order a 2013 medallion from the EOMA website, or send in $50 plus $5.00 shipping and handling before the price goes up, to EOMA, Medallions, PO Box 932, Baker City, OR 97814, or call Bobbie at 541-523-3285.
EOMA CALENDARS FOR 2012-2013
We are now offering a new 18 month EOMA Calendar with historical mining pictures. It also has date reminders to help you keep your claim valid. It also has addresses and phone numbers of the agencies you have to deal with. So support the EOMA by ordering your calendar now for the price of $10 each, or three for $29 bucks, plus a dollar for each calendar for shipping. There is an order form in the back of the newsletter. You can also call Chuck Chase at 541-523-3285.
EOMA ADVERTISING AND SALE LISTING
The advertising listings are only $1 per month to get your ad listed below. Send your ad to: EOMA, Box 932, Baker City, OR 97814 along with your remittance for each month you want us to run your ad. The number next to your ad is how many months your ad will run.
FOR SALE WOOD STOVE
Free-standing Franklin Fireplace with heat shield. This has an adapter and two lengths of stove pipe. The price is $100. If interested, call Dot at 541-523-6833 or Alice at 541-523-3439.
FOR SALE (6)
The Gold Spinner System: Save that ultrafine gold with this high gravity separator. It runs on 12volt, only weighs 45 pounds, is easy to set up and run, and can run all day long without a clean up. This is a must see, and sells for only $1304. E-mail Ted at tedcraghead@gmail.com. See Video on UTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAP5CMdIjFs
Or come on down and take a look at 10415 HWY 95, Payette, ID 83661.
CLAIMS FOR SALE (6)
Two claims starting on the Burnt River and running up Clarks Creek. The Gold Danser is an eighty acre claim, with a lot of un-worked placer and good water. The Gold Danser II contains forty acres on Clarks Creek, and has had Geophysical Magnetometer mapping done on it, showing a large buried placer structure running through the claim. Both of these claims are accessed on year round county roads. $35,000 for both. Call: 541-523-3285, or Cell: 541-310-8510.
FOR SALE MINING EQUIPMENT (0)
Retiring from mining, time to sell my equipment. 8” jaw, small rod mill, two impact mills, Panamatic jig, small jig, Humphrey spirals, 2 power plants, lots of motors, one small gas generator, one diesel generator, jack leg, two stopers, steel, railroad track and more. Call Dick Potter at 208-375-2055.
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