EASTERN OREGON
MINING ASSOCIATION
DECEMBER 2014 Newsletter
Volume 303
EASTERN OREGON MINING ASSOCIATION MEETING
The meetings are held on the first Friday of the month. The next meeting is Friday, DECEMBER 5TH 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.
PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR MINING ORGANIZATION BY SENDING IN YOUR DUES FOR EOMA MEMBERSHIP BY JANUARY 1ST
The information you need to renew your membership is on the last page of this newsletter.
We try to keep our dues low so all miners can afford to be members. The advantages of being an EOMA member include help with Federal and State agencies, keeping miners informed about new State and Federal anti-mining legislation, and keeping miners informed about Federal agencies Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements that will affect mine operations. EOMA members can help miners with Plans of Operation and Notices, and can help miners prepare letters and comments. It is important that we all work together to help keep our industry alive.
FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT –Ken Alexander
I have only had to plow the snow out of our driveway once this fall, but it looks like more snow is in the forecast. Of course, this is expected in northeast Oregon, and we need the water for next summer, but the weather sure cuts down on our mining season here. I have always found it interesting that the Forest Service has a Categorical Exclusion (a type of NEPA document) that covers mining operations lasting 12 months. Here, our operating season is usually only 3-4 months, so it would stand to reason that the CEs would cover a 3-4 year operation. But this just makes too much sense. The CE is for one mining season only. Someone living in southern California must have thought this one up. Anyway, hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!!!
EOMA ELECTIONS NOMINATING COMMITTEE
At the December meeting, a nominating committee will be chosen. The miners on this committee will nominate members for President, Vice-President, Directors, Treasurer, and other positions.
PROOF OF LABOR MUST BE RECEIVED BY BLM BY DECEMBER 30, 2014
If you have not sent in your proof of labor to BLM, take a moment and do it now. The cost is $10/claim. If you do not submit your proof of labor by December 30, 2014, your claims will be lost.
BLM FEES FOR NEW CLAIMS CONTINUES AN UPWARD SPIRAL
The fee for locating a new 20 acre mining claim has increased from $194 to $212. This includes the $20 processing fee, the $37 location fee and the $155 maintenance fee for every 20 acres, or portion thereof, in addition to the processing fee and location fee.
IF YOU WANT TO DREDGE, APPLY TO DSL RIGHT AFTER JANUARY 1, 2015
(1) Applications will be received between January 1-February 28, with only 850 issued.
(2) Priority will be given to those miners who have held DSL or DEQ permits or authorizations for motorized mining below the ordinary high water mark, for the longest period of time, beginning in 2008, and running through January 1, 2014.
(3) The number of years the person has held a federal mining claim or patent since 2006.
(4) If the points are the same, and there are more applications with the same number of points for the items listed above, than the Department will use a random selection process.
(5) If less than 850 eligible applications are received between January 1 and February 28, applications received after February 28 will be awarded permits on a first come first served basis.
According to DSL, less than 850 permits were applied for in 2014. Could it be that miners are turned off by the $150 surcharge?
TROUBLE BREWING FOR MINERS IN 2015
Even though the moratorium on suction dredge mining and mining in the uplands along water quality impaired waterways and along salmon, steelhead and bull trout waterways is not scheduled to go into effect until January of 2016, miners have a lot to be concerned about right now.
The study group on SB838 has made their recommendations to the DEQ, ODFW, DSL, and the Governors office, and these recommendations included no prohibitions on suction dredge mining on Federal lands and no prohibition on upland mining. The problem for us, is we do not know if the Governor will accept these recommendations. The Democrats control both the Senate and the House in Oregon, and we miners have little negotiating power. The economic impacts of prohibiting mining will be huge, however, people on the west side of the State do not seem to care much about us in eastern Oregon.
EUGENE \PETE\ GASS PASSED AWAY ON OCTOBER 16, 2014-Jan Alexander
Pete died October 16, 2014 at the age of 89 at his daughters home in Portland, surrounded by his family. I knew Pete way back when I worked for the Forest Service, and he was a conscientious miner, and great to work with. Pete was a long time EOMA member and helped out at Miners Jubilee for many years. In 2012, his son Doug McAllister, joined Pete each summer when he came out to mine. Pete loved to prospect, and he always was sure he would strike it rich. He wanted nothing more than to enjoy the outdoors and spend time on his claims.
I always admired Petes patience with the Forest Service. He just never got too excited with the things they did, even the time they closed the access route he had been using for over 21 years. He called me just before Miners Jubilee in 2009, to tell me he had driven 7 hours from his home in Lorane, and when he arrived at the road to the claims to do his assessment work, his access road had been closed with a tank trap and a high berm that he could not get his pick-up over. He explained to me that when he called the Forest Service to get them to open his road, they suggested that he could take a 4-wheeler in to do his assessment. Pete patiently explained that he didnt have a 4-wheeler. They then told him he could walk in, it was only 3 miles. Pete then explained that he was in his 80s and had a heart problem, couldnt walk as well as he once could and sometimes needed to take a nap in his pick-up. He was told by the Forest Service that they would get back to him.
I helped Pete write a letter to a former District Ranger, explaining the need for access. In the end, Petes patience served him well, and he prevailed. The Forest Service hired a contractor and the road got opened. Pete wasnt mad at anyone, he was just happy to again be able to access his claims. I sometimes wish a little more of Petes patience had worn off on me. I will certainly miss him.
WE MINERS NEED OCAPAS SUPPORT-Jan Alexander
Oregons gold miners need OCAPA (Oregon Cement and Aggregate Production Association) support this legislative session. The legislative emphasis will be on gun control and on the environment. Developing reasonable regulations keeping miners mining is about the last thing the legislators will be working on. The miners in Oregon fought long and hard to stop SB 838 and lost. The only good thing that happened was Rich Angstrom, of OCAPA, helped EOMA members last session, and was able to amend SB838 so there was no immediate prohibition on mining, and miners with DOGAMI permits were exempted.
This session, anti-mining bills are anticipated. Dave Hunnicutt of OIA (Oregonians in Action) will join Rich to lobby for the mining industry. Please support OCAPA if you are able. It costs only $100 to join OCAPA, and there is an application in the back of the newsletter. EOMA is a member of OCAPA, and several individuals on the EOMA Board are also members. We are in for a long, hard fight. All mining clubs and associations that do business in Oregon need to take advantage of this service. We need help.
OREGONIANS IN ACTION (OIA) ALSO NEEDS SUPPORT-Jan Alexander
Also, OIA is an organization that deserves your support. Dave Hunnicutt has seen the importance of supporting the mining industry in Oregon, and thus, has agreed to co-lobby with Rich Angstrom for us. OIA does not have members, but is supported by donations. If you can, please send a donation of any amount to OIA. Their address is P.O. Box 230637, Tigard, OR 97281.
SENATOR BOQUIST PRO-MINING BILL, LC2266
Senator Boquist, has a draft pro-mining bill that he plans to introduce this session. This bill repeals SB838. The restriction on mining “100 yards upland perpendicular to the line of ordinary high water” is removed from the law. There is a provision of the draft bill, for a group to study and develop a revised regulatory framework for mining using motorized equipment. The group tracks the group required to do such a study under SB 838 except the bill removes the governors office as the convening body, and adds representatives of county government to the table. The bill adds the establishment of “regional management zones,” thus allowing local input, whereas the SB 838 study group was tasked with creating “management zones.”
AMERICAN EXPLORATION AND MINING ASSOCIATION FILES COMMENTS
AEMA has filed comments on the EPA/ACOE proposed rule on definition of waters of the U.S. (WOTUS). The comments criticize the rule as deeply flawed and as unnecessary. AEMA also brings light to the EPA/ACOES’s failure to meet the legal requirement to convene a Small Business Review panel.
The Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy has sent a letter to the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers telling them to withdraw the Waters of the US (WOTUS) Rule and meet the legal obligation to convene a small business review panel. SBA Advocacy Letter to EPA and AEMA comments can be seen on website: http://www.miningamerica.org/
AMERICAN EXPLORATION AND MINING ASSOCIATION CONVENTION
The mining convention is in Sparks Nevada this year, and runs from Monday, December 1 through Friday December 5, 2014. Thom Seal will represent EOMA at this years convention.
EOMA MET WITH ECONOMIC DEVELOPER GREG SMITH-Jan Alexander
Ken and Jan Alexander, Terry Drever Gee, Bobbie Danser and Chuck Chase attended a luncheon meeting with Greg Smith, Economic Development Director. Rich Angstrom, OCAPA/ EOMA lobbyist, and David Hunnicutt of Oregonians in Action, a land use organization dedicated to preserving our land use laws (www.oia.org), also attended. Most of the meeting concerned political strategies for dealing with an anti-mining legislature this year.
Another meeting is scheduled December 3, 2014. We plan to talk to Greg about helping us with DEQ and DOGAMI. We also need help in funding the state bond pool.
ASH GROVE PLANT TOUR-Chuck Chase
Bobbie and I drove to Ash Grove Cement in Durkee for a tour of their facility, and were joined by other OCAPA members. I had been to the Durkee plant on several occasions on business, but had never had a tour of the quarry and plant. After touring Newmont’s gold mining operation down at Carlen, Nevada, Ash Groves haul trucks looked pretty small when compared to Newmont’s monsters. Even so, Ashgroves 100 ton Cat Wagons were impressive. The loader that loaded the trucks at the pit was a little bit on the big side also, as it only took two scoops to load each haul truck!
The tour of the main plant was amazing. There was a network of huge storage bins, covered conveyors and a huge kiln that roasted the lime stone rock that was crushed passing 200 mesh. The main control room was operated by one man who actually controlled the whole plant. He could shut down or start any part of it with a press of a button. Alarms would alert him to potential problems and a bank of computer monitors lined the tables around him, even showing the inside of the kiln at temperatures well over 1000 degrees.
I was really impressed by the lab they use for quality control. They could, in a matter of five minutes, get a read out on all of the different minerals and the amounts in nano-grams in the cement sample. That would be like weighing a 1/16th of an inch of a spider web. The analysis and weighing of these samples is a ongoing process 24/7 to assure that Ashgroves cement product is the same from one week to the next, guaranteeing quality control product reliability.
There were two main things that really impressed me. The first was their electric bill for each month, which was a whopping $14,500-ouch! The second was their mercury emissions had been decreased by 99%. They had a machine in the lab that checked the air that went up the stack, assuring that there was no, or very little mercury being released to the atmosphere. They said that a person blowing into the lab machine that had fillings had more mercury in their breath than was being released by Ash Grove. Ash Grove is not only being scrutinized by ODEQ but also by EPA on mercury emissions.
Oregon Concrete & Aggregate Producers Association (OCAPA) Dinner-Chuck Chase
After the Ash Grove tour, we drove back in time to go to the OCAPA dinner at the Sun Ridge here in Baker City. Fifty OCAPA members from across the state sat around tables in the banquet room and listened to speakers from OCAPA. Rich Angstrom gave his ideas on where the industry was going and what we needed to do to survive.
Senator Ted Ferrioli and Representative Cliff Bentz were special guests, and each one gave their account of the Republican election train wreck. Both Cliff and Ted attributed the loss to the Democrats to the fact that the Democrats ran better campaigns. In addition, registered Democrats, who usually were non-voters, turned out in numbers because of their interest in legalizing marijuana and labeling genetically modified (GMO) food.
RINEHART CASE-Western Mining Alliance
We’re watching the most important mining cases in our lifetimes unfold. The Rinehart case is challenging the legality of the dredging ban in California by fighting an unjust conviction. Rinehart was convicted by the Plumas County Superior Court of dredging without a permit in
February 2013. He appealed and the Appeals Court overturned the conviction in September and provided specific guidance to the Superior Court on preemption. The State requested a new hearing and this was denied. The State, not wanting to take the case back to trial in
Plumas County, has petitioned the California Supreme Court to overturn the Appeals Court decision.
The Western Mining Alliance, and the New 49ers have split the cost of the Appeal with each of us paying $1,400. Considering the outcome resulted in a win for dredgers this was a real bargain. The State has also requested the decision be depublished, meaning it can’t be used in any other cases. The State knows what the Rinehart decision means, and they are making a last gasp attempt to overturn the Appeals Court. On the 24th QWestern Mining Alliance sent out a template for letters opposing the depublishing request. Our organizations are critically short of funds. Send your donation to :Brandon Rinehart c/o James Buchal Murphy &Buchal LLP 3425 SE Yamhill Street,#100 Portland, OR97214
NEED A STOCKING STUFFER? –LAST CHANCE FOR 2014 MEDALLIONS!
EOMA medallions are beautiful proof grade one ounce silver medallions with the addition of real gold “nuggets” in the pan. We still have a limited supply of 2014 medallions for all your Christmas present needs! These medallions are currently selling for $50.00 apiece plus $5.00 shipping, handling, and insurance. (Prices are subject to change). You can order a 2014 medallion 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 Bobbie at 541-523-3285. The 2015 medallions are ordered and should be here by January 2015.
LIST UNLIMITED ITEMS ON THE MINERS XCHANGE W/PHOTOS AND MORE FOR A $35/YEAR EOMA MEMBERSHIP
The Miners Xchange is a completely free service for EOMA members. It is a clearinghouse where EOMA members can sell everything from gold and silver, to mining equipment and properties. Like an \\eBay for miners\\, the Miners Xchange will let you list as many items as you like -- along with full descriptions, prices, shipping costs, and upload up to four photos for each. There are no posting fees, renewal fees, or transaction fees. For details, go to the EOMA website at http://www.h2oaccess.com. You need your login ID in order to post items. If you have forgotten your login ID, contact EOMA through the contact button on the website and it will be sent to you.
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