EASTERN OREGON
MINING ASSOCIATION
MARCH 2018
Volume 342
EASTERN OREGON MINING ASSOCIATION MEETING
Meetings are held on the first Friday of the month. The next meeting will be Friday, MARCH 2, 2018 at the Baker City Hall. The building is located at 1st and Auburn Streets in Baker City. The Board meeting starts at 6:00 PM. The general meeting starts at 6:30 PM.
Everyone is welcome to attend these meetings. There is time for discussing mining and getting to know other miners. As usual there will be a drawing for a $50 silver medallion at the meeting!
YOUR MEMBERSHIP DUES WERE DUE JANUARY 1ST
IF YOU HAVEN’T RENEWED YOUR EOMA MEMBERSHIP THIS WILL BE YOUR LAST NEWSLETTER!
Find the last page of this newsletter, fill it out and get it back to EOMA ASAP along with your membership fees. That way you will continue to be informed on what is going on with mining in the west. If we do not hear from you, you will not receive any more newsletters and your vote will not count in the March elections.
If you can’t pay in person, please send your $35 dues ($40 for a couple) to the EOMA, PO Box 932, Baker City OR 97814. You should also be able to pay with a credit card or pay pal on our website. www.h2oaccess.com If you want a $40 membership, just “donate” $5 along with your $35 membership payment and we will get you credited. We are in the process of updating the website. If you have problems or suggestions about how to make the website work better for you, contact Ken Alexander at 541-446-3391, or alxk@ortelco.net .
EOMA ELECTIONS…..March 2nd, 2018
For those that can’t make the March meeting in person, fill out the Absentee Election Ballot and send it in before the March meeting. For your ballot to be counted, you need to have your dues paid and have signed the ballot. If you have a dual membership, both of you need to sign the ballot and both of you need to mark the ballot. Election results will be in the April newsletter.
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
According to the February 16, 2018 Federal Register, “Pursuant to Executive Order 13817, issued on December 20, 2017, ‘‘A Federal Strategy To Ensure Secure and Reliable Supplies of Critical Minerals,’’ the Secretary of the Interior presents a draft list of 35 mineral commodities deemed critical under the definition provided in the Executive Order. Specifically, an analysis using multiple criteria identified 35 minerals or mineral material groups that are currently considered critical. These include: Aluminum (bauxite), antimony, arsenic, barite, beryllium, bismuth, cesium, chromium, cobalt, fluorspar, gallium, germanium, graphite (natural), hafnium, helium, indium, lithium, magnesium, manganese, niobium, platinum group metals, potash, rare earth elements group, rhenium, rubidium, scandium, strontium, tantalum, tellurium, tin, titanium, tungsten, uranium, vanadium, and zirconium”.
Bill Harvey, Baker County Chair, will be leading the discussion concerning this list of Critical minerals at the NRAC meeting, February 27, 2018, at 3:00PM at the Baker County Courthouse. Some of these minerals, in minable quantities, are located right here in Baker and Grant Counties. In many instances, these minerals are not being mined because of inaction by the Forest Service on approving Plans of Operation.
Public participation is encouraged at these NRAC meetings. EOMA members Chuck Chase, Ken Anderson, Alice Knapp and Jan Alexander sit on the NRAC and represent miners’ interests. EOMA Goal #6 is “to promote the need for mineral resources development”. If there are other minerals that need to be added to this list, now is the time to become part of the process.
SEND YOUR NEWSLETTER ITEMS
If you have information or interesting articles about mining items to share in the newsletter send them to Ken Alexander, Chuck Chase CHASE3285@msn.com or Jan Alexander alx@ortelco.net . Be sure to indicate the source of information you send.
MSHA NEW MINER TRAINING MARCH 8th, 9th, and 11th, 2018-2 SEATS AVAILABLE
This March class is almost full, only two seats are left. There appears to be renewed interest by the larger mining companies to mine in Oregon. When they hire crews, a requirement is that these miners must already be MSHA trained and certified.
The training will take place at Baker Technical Institute, 2500 E Street. Come in on 9th and G street. The building is actually behind the High School and logically should have a G street address. Class starts at 8:00AM. Classes must not exceed 30 miners, so reserve a space by calling Jan Alexander at 541-446-3413.
MSHA ANNUAL REFRESHER SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 2018
The March Annual Refreshers are full. If you are current on training, the next 8 hour Annual Refresher will be April 7, 2018. The cost of this training is $15. The instructor for this course is Ed Sinner. The training will take place at the Baker Technical Institute. 2500 E Street. Come in on 9th and G street. Class starts at 8:00AM. Classes must not exceed 30 miners, so reserve a space by calling Jan Alexander at 541-446-3413.
INFORMATION ABOUT OREGON LEGISLATION 2018
This site will enable you to look up information about Bills, meetings, and hearings on legislation that will be affecting your lives in the future. Get involved!
https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2018R1
BLUE MOUNTAIN FOREST PLAN REVISION-Jan Alexander
Bill Harvey, Baker County Chair, will be leading the discussion on the County strategy for ensuring the Blue Mountain Forest Plan Revision direction document does not harm Baker County’s miners, ranchers, recreationists and other Forest users. Join us at the NRAC meeting, February 27, 2018, at 3:00PM at the Baker County Courthouse and find out what is happening.
2018 EOMA SILVER MEDALLIONS FOR SALE
There is no gold nugget in the pan in the 2018 medallions. Since NWTM is out of business, we are looking at our options for finding an affordable mint to make next year’s medallions.
These are currently selling for $50.00 apiece plus $5.00 shipping, handling, and insurance. (Prices are subject to change). You can order yours from the EOMA website, and pay by pay-pal. Or, you can send $50 plus $5.00 shipping and handling to EOMA, Medallions, PO Box 932, Baker City, OR 97814, or call 541-523-3285. Also, we will have them for you to buy at our EOMA meetings.
LANDMARK SUPREME COURT VICTORY-Pacific Legal Foundation
National Association of Manufacturers v. U.S. Department of Defense (2018) was heard by the Supreme Court. A unanimous Court agreed with PLF and the other petitioners that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cannot shelter its “waters of the United States” rule from judicial review by arbitrarily limiting where victims can sue. PLF represented farmers, ranchers, and other landowners nationwide who joined this litigation to challenge the WOTUS rule and vindicate the vital principle that unelected bureaucrats are not above the law.
• By redefining waters subject to federal control throughout the Nation, the Corps and EPA have defined their own power to regulate—a power that has no meaningful limits. In an orderly society, no agency should be able to define its own power.
• The WOTUS rule expands the scope of the Clean Water Act to an unprecedented extent—violating both the terms of the Act and the Constitution’s limits on federal authority. The rule usurps the authority and responsibility of the states, and empowers federal bureaucrats to act as zoning and land use czars for the entire nation.
FAST-41 UPDATE-AEMA
AEMA has learned that the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (FPISC) will be voting on whether to add mining to the list of sectors covered by FAST-41. Title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41) created new funding authorities, procedures and a governing structure to improve the timeliness, predictability and transparency of the federal environmental review and authorization process for covered infrastructure projects across a broad range of sectors. Mining was not an original sector covered by FAST-41, but AEMA and other industry representatives have requested that mining be added as an eligible sector under FAST-41. AEMA member Fred Wagner of the Venable law firm spoke on this subject at AEMA’s Annual Meeting in December. Fred also put AEMA in touch with the Acting Executive Director of the FPISC as that office was gathering information on whether mining should be added as an eligible sector. Based on what we are hearing, we expect an affirmative vote.
USFS SOLICITS COMMENTS ON NEPA
The Forest Service has published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) to revise the agency's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) procedures with a goal of increasing efficiency of environmental analysis. 83 Fed. Reg. 302 (Jan. 3, 2018). Specifically, the ANPR indicates the agency's goal is "to complete project decision making in a timelier manner, to improve or eliminate inefficient processes and steps, and where appropriate increase the scale of analysis and the amount of activities authorized in a single analysis and decision." Comments on the ANPR were due on Feb. 2, 2018.
The four topics the agency specifically identifies for comment:
• Processes and analysis requirements that can be modified, reduced, or eliminated in order to reduce time and cost while maintaining science-based, high-quality analysis; public involvement; and honoring agency stewardship responsibilities.
• Approaches to landscape-scale analysis and decision making under NEPA that facilitate restoration of National Forest System lands.
• Classes of actions that are unlikely, either individually or cumulatively, to have significant impacts and therefore should be categorically excluded from NEPA's environmental assessment and environmental impact statement requirements, such as integrated restoration projects; special use authorizations; and activities to maintain and manage Agency sites (including recreation sites), facilities, and associated infrastructure.
• Ways the Agency might expand and enhance coordination of environmental review and authorization decisions with other Federal agencies, as well as State, Tribal, or local environmental reviews.
AEM, EOMA and Baker County submitted comments on ways to streamline NEPA. There will be a comment period in the near future, when all of us can give the government our suggestions.
VISIT EOMA'S FACEBOOK PAGES
Eastern Oregon Mining Association now has a Facebook page. For those of you who use Facebook, check it out. For those of you who don't, it may be time to learn!
Sign in, and come learn, add your suggestions, and get to know other miners. https://www.facebook.com/easternoregonminingassociation/
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EOMA ADVERTISING AND SALE LISTINGS
OREGON MINING ASSOCIATION
The Oregon Mining Association is a non-profit corporation dedicated to promoting mining and the mineral industry in Oregon. The corporation is supported by donations. Please send what you can to save mining in Oregon to Oregon Mining Association, P.O. Box 23213, Tigard, OR 97281-They have both a website and facebook page. http://oregonmining.org/
OPPORTUNITY (1)
Looking for someone mechanically inclined to learn and run a hard rock gold mill. One may be available for scrap price. Time to pass on the technology and know-how. Need a younger working partner and gold ore to run. Dr. Thom: tseal@unr.edu
FOR SALE (1)
Ed Hardt is selling his placer mining equipment. Ed's trommel is 20 feet long, 5 feet in diameter, gear driven, positive drive. It will process up to 100 yards a day, will not slip or spin out. Also one three inch pump, a two inch pump, two and three inch flat hose, and a generator. Call 541-377-9209 or email Ed at twohardts@hotmail.com. Price for all is $15,000.
FOR SALE (6)
Multi Quip 3/8 yard cement mixer Model mc-94P with Honda 8 hp motor. It has a polyurethane drum. And is on a single axel for easy towing. It is a home Depot rental unit. Asking $1,500.
Syntron Magnetic Vibrator Model V-50-01. This is a fairly husky unit that bolts on bins or chutes where material being fed does not flow smoothly. I used it to move material out of bins and chutes. It is single phase and draws 4.5 amps. Call Jack at 208-284-5882, Boise.
FOR SALE (6)
Krebs Hydrocyclone, 1 Model D4 and I model D6, which I used to thicken my fine tailings. I have specs and installation instructions from Krebs. Asking $250 each. Call Jack at 208-284-5882, Boise
FOR SALE (6)
Portable 2 inch water pump with 3.5 Honda gas engine. $100, call Jack at 208-284-5882, Boise.
FOR SALE (6)
Sample Splitters, one with 22 slots, ¾ inch wide, $150; and one with 12 slots, 5/8 inch wide, $100. Call Jack at 208-284-5882.
FOR SALE (6)
Transformer, 480/240/120 volt, 3 phase, 480/220 volt. Rated for motor horsepower up to 55 horse. $150. Call Jack at 208-284-5882.
FOR SALE (6) S+S Controls heavy Duty Motor Starter, 3 phase, 480/220 volt. Rated for motor horsepower up to 55 horse, $350. Call Jack at 208-284-5882.
FOR SALE (6)
Wilden 1 ½ inch chemical solution polyethylene pump model M4/Pt/Tf,Tf,Pt s/n 364361. New condition, never used. Air driven, $500. Call Jack at 208-284-5882, Boise.
FOR SALE (6)
Portable Hopper-Feeder, 20 yard capacity with 30” variable speed discharge conveyor belt, built on heavy duty sled. Will straddle an an 8 foot wide lowboy deck for transport. See at Double “W” Baker City. Call 541-523-6000 ask for Kevin or call Jack at 208-284-5882.
FORSALE (6)
Onan 75kw Generator, older but with very low hours. Recently installed updated exciter circuit. $6,500. Call Jack at 208-284-5882.
GOLD CLAIMS FOR SALE (3)
5 unpatented placer claims (160 acres) located on Elk Creek near Baker City.
Sale includes all equipment (2 excavators, dump truck, trommel, pumps, generators, etc).
Site was featured on the cover of ICMJ’s Prospecting and Mining Journal (August 2014).
Approved Plan of Operation with US Forest Service in place and can be transferred (expires 2021)
For price, pictures and details, call Don Enright, 509-860-1145 or email: donaldenright25@gmail.com
LUCKY AND SIMPSON CLAIMS FOR SALE (3)
4 unpatented placer claims (Simpson is 80 acres, Lucky claims total 60 acres) located in the Whitney Mining District on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. These claims have approved Plans of Operation and I have posted the bonds for mining. Access roads are good, but the claims are somewhat remote. If you are interested, call Dave Smith at 810-523-7313.
CARETAKER POSITION AVAILABLE
Wanted: Full time caretaker for remote property about 20 miles from John Day, Oregon. Primitive, well insulated house, wood heat only, good water from spring. Off the grid, power from gas generator if needed. ¼ mile level driveway off county maintained road. Must have own chain saw, 4 x 4 vehicle with chains, cut own firewood, and help with chores. Inquire by e-mail (tseal@unr.edu) or by mail to Caretaker, PO Box 8353, Spring Creek, NV 89815.
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