EASTERN OREGON
MINING ASSOCIATION
MARCH 2014 Newsletter
Volume 294
EASTERN OREGON MINING ASSOCIATION MEETING
The meetings are held on the first Friday of the month. The next meeting is Friday, MARCH 7TH 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.
IF YOU HAVEN’T RENEWED YOUR EOMA DUES-THEY ARE PAST DUE!
Membership payments must be clearly identified in order for us to give you proper credit for paying. The information you need is on the last page of this newsletter.
Please send in your dues, medallion, and past years \collector\ calendar payments in separate checks. It really makes a bookkeeping nightmare when you don’t...Bobbie and Chuck thank you.
GUEST SPEAKER AT THE MARCH 7 EOMA MEETING - DON GONZALES
Don Gonzales, BLM Vale District Manager, will be our guest speaker at the March 7, 2014 meeting. Bring your questions and concerns about mining on public lands.
EOMA ELECTIONS…..2014
Elections will be at our next meeting, March 7, 2014. If you cannot be present, send your ballot, which was enclosed in the February newsletter, and it will be counted, as long as your dues are paid.
MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH (MSHA) NEW MINER TRAINING, MARCH 6-8, 2014
New Miner Training is now three fun filled days. MSHA started requiring the additional day this year, but for those of us who got the two day new miner training previously, all we need is annual refresher. Ed Sinner is our instructor. The cost of New Miner Training is a minimum of $200/day for the class, with the cost spread among the participants. If the fee is too high for your budget, Ed said he will work with miners on a lower fee. Just dont let that stop you from getting the training.
We have four people signed up for the class right now, and there is room for more. The class will be given at the extension building in Baker City, located at 2610 Grove Street right across from the new armory building. Call Jan Alexander at 541-446-3413 if you have questions.
MSHA ANNUAL REFRESHER, MARCH 8, 2014
If you have taken New Miner Training previously, you still need your Annual Refresher. The last day of new miner training, March 8, doubles as our annual refresher. The cost is $20 miner.
Call Jan Alexander at 541-446-3413 if you have questions.
FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT –Ken Alexander
Good news for miners in the North Fork Burnt River watershed; Plans of Operation are being approved! The Forest Service has informed us that there are ten Plans of Operation that they plan to terminate, since they have not heard back from the miners. Anyone in this watershed who has a Plan of Operation pending, needs to call Mat Weseman at 541-523 1345, and make sure your Plan is not one of the Plans they will be cancelling. Even if you dont have the money right now to post a bond, be sure to tell the Forest Service not to cancel your Plan. Ask them to keep your Plan open because you plan to be developing your valuable mineral deposit in the future. If you plan on partnering up with someone else, or sell your claim, and your Plan has been cancelled, your property value will be greatly diminished.
EOMA knows of seven plans of operation in the NFBR where the miners died waiting for their plans to be approved. The heirs to these claims may not be aware of the importance of finally getting the long-awaited plans of operation approved. In addition, there are three other plans that the Forest Service will cancel if they do not hear from the miners.
FEDERAL LAND POLICY AND MANAGEMENT ACT, 1976
The Federal Land Policy and Management Act, (FLPMA) is BLMs Organic Act. It affected locatable minerals by changing withdrawal procedures, requiring recordation of mining claims, with BLM and authorizing regulations for surface protection of the public lands. It is important to note that FLPMA states that; “no provision of this section or any other section of this Act shall in any way amend the Mining Law of 1872 or impair the rights of any locators or claims under that Act, including, but not limited to, rights of ingress and egress. In managing the public lands the Secretary shall, by regulation or otherwise, take any action necessary to prevent unnecessary or undue degradation of the lands.”
FLMPA stopped new rights of way from being granted, however, old roads, constructed on public lands before 1976, were grandfathered in according to the grant in the law of July 26, 1866. Thus, on BLM lands, any road constructed before 1976 qualifies as a county road under RS2477. FLPMA states, \(a) Nothing in this subchapter shall have the effect of terminating any right-of-way or right-of-use heretofore issued, granted, or permitted\.
WIN 1/2 POUND OF GOLD- IMPORTANT UPDATE PLEASE TAKE NOTICE ! ! !
The Eastern Oregon Mining Association, along with the Waldo Mining District, is selling tickets for the drawing on a ½ pound of gold. The big Final Drawing with a Grand Prize of 1/2 Pound of Gold will be held at the Miners Jubilee in Baker City, July 20, 2014. Additional prizes will be awarded at the final Drawing. The cost is $5.00 per Entry, or Six Entries for $25.00. You do not need to 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 money goes to help miners continue litigation on miner’s rights. Thank you for all your support..... Chuck Chase
BLUE MOUNTAIN FOREST PLAN REVISION-Ken Alexander
The Forest Service is going to be holding public meetings on the Blue Mountain Forest Plan Revision. The first one is in John Day March 17th. Call Jodi Kramer 541-523-1246 for further information. This Plan will be the guiding document for the Malheur, Umatilla, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest and a portion of the Ochoco National Forest. The Plan will first be released to the public for a 90 day comment period on March 14th. This Plan will cover 4.9 million acres. You can be pretty certain that the proposed alternatives will not include increased grazing, mining, timber harvest or access to your Forests. It will be up to you to show up at these meetings and learn how to make written comments that will be effective in letting the Forest Service know how you plan on using the National Forests. Remember these forests were originally reserved out of county lands for the use of the people, and not meant to be made into non-use areas.
OPINION ON SENATOR MERKLEY’S TOWN HALL MEETING-Chuck Chase
Oregon’s most liberal Senator paid a visit to Baker City on Tuesday, February 18th for a Town Hall meeting. It was the usual meeting we are getting used to by Senators, doing a Potomac Two Step around questions they dont want to answer, or that would make them look bad. Senator Merkley didn’t disappoint the audience with his performance. Keeping count, he probably only answered two or three questions fielded by the audience all night. Everybody got a ticket when they came in, each one had a number on it, and these tickets were drawn one at a time. The lucky winner got to ask Senator Merkley a question, but as I said, very few got any answers. Senator Merkley told us what he wanted us to hear and bobbed and weaved like a tap dancer through a mine field on the rest of the questions.
We got quite a rendition on “global warming” and how we were polluting our country and what he, and congress and the President were going to do about it. I was hoping they would draw my number, but it never happened. If I had gotten a chance to speak, it might have gone something like this.
“Senator, with all due respect, your global warming is a load of you know what. The Iceland eruption negated all of global warming mitigations, by putting more carbon in the atmosphere than we have removed since we started cutting carbon emissions. That isn’t even counting volcanic eruptions from St. Helens or the eruptions in the SE Asia Fire Chain. The three largest volcanic eruptions put more carbon into the atmosphere than man has since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.” I just know he would have hurried back to Washington DC and told President Obama to stop destroying our ability to create cheap electricity by putting coal fired plants out of business, pass the Keystone Pipe Line, and of course open up the rest of the West to drilling and fracking. I missed my chance to save the world….
Doctor Monica Wehby is running against Merkley for the US Senate, be sure that you cast your ballot in November, and let Senator Merkley know how much we appreciate what he does for us out here in the West.
“The Secretary shall manage the public lands under principles of multiple use and sustained yield, in accordance with the land use plans developed by him…..” Selected quote from FLPMA
UPDATE ON DEQ PERMITS FOR SUCTION DREDGING-Jan Alexander
Ken and I, along with Pam and Jim Haney of GPAA, met with DEQ staff Beth Moore, Eric Ayes and Jim Billings to review the draft of the new 700PM suction dredge permit. We made a lot of suggestions on permit wording, but you always wonder if they are really listening. One part of the new draft permit really got me going. The old permits said that dredging in a 303(d) listed waterway (impaired waterway listed for sediment) was acceptable if the waterway had been mined previously. The criteria in this edition of the permit states that the miner must have had a suction dredge permit, rather than if the stream had been mined previously. Our claim had a bucket line dredge move through it in the 1960s, so we qualified under the last permit, but we would not be able to obtain a permit in 2015. DEQ readily admitted that they want no new dredging operations on 303(d) streams. In 2014 and 2015, DEQ is charging an additional $150 per permit to fund the Governors task force to investigate if SB838s moratorium is necessary. If you are mining in an ESH waterway, make sure you get one of the 850 DSL permits before you send money to DEQ, since the $150 fee is nonrefundable.
Also, many people dont know that if you are using a sluicebox in the stream and shoveling stream gravels into that sluice, you are required to have a suction dredge permit with you when you are working instream. Miners need to download the permit, follow the stipulations, but you do not need to pay for a permit. A word of caution, only streambed material can be shoveled into the sluice, not dry material from the uplands.
SAGE GROUSE COMMENT PERIOD CLOSES
Before the comment period had closed on February 20, 2014, Oregon BLM had received over 20,000 comments on the BLM plan, more than any other state. Baker County submitted comments on mining, grazing, split estates, economics and recreation, and access. EOMA submitted comments on the impacts to mining, as did American Exploration and Mining Association, (formerly NWMA). Many miners also submitted comments.
Problems for miners involved additional mitigation measures in grouse priority areas, ignoring the existing law, treating deeded minerals like they were fluid minerals, unreadable maps, bogus discussion of climate change, designating areas with no grouse as priority habitat, proposing a 3% cap on disturbance (other than mining disturbance) in priority areas, forgetting one of their approved Plans of Operation, and an economic analysis that stated there were 5 people working in mining. Another problem was, BLM attempting to take over management of the surface where the private land is underlain by federal minerals. EOMAs comments suggested BLM administered split estate lands are only those lands where the miner and the surface owner have not come to an agreement.
2014 MEDALLIONS ARE HERE-ORDER ONE NOW!
EOMA medallions are beautiful proof grade one ounce silver medallions with the addition of real gold “nuggets” in the pan. We have a limited supply of 2012 medallions and 2013 medallions along with the newly minted 2014s. 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 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. Be sure to specify what year you want.
EOMA ADVERTISING AND SALE LISTINGS
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.
1 YD. PER HR. TEST OR SMALL PRODUCTION PLANT(5)
Has vibrating sluice and screen to 1/8 - feed Neff Bowl - for fine gold recovery, that catches everything to 500 mesh. Cost $11,000.00 in April of 2012. For Sale for $3,950.00 Call Ed at 541-446-3212 after 6PM. Located at 4227 Willow Creek Rd, Ironside, OR
EOMA MEDALLION COLLECTION (1)
A set of EOMA one-ounce silver medallions dated 1988 through 2011, plus one “In Gold We Trust 75th Anniversary 1907 – 1982” one ounce silver medallion and one proof coin of the same. The 25-coin set is contained in a hand made solid wood folding display box with spaces for an additional 17 coins. Price, $1,000. Call 541-524-9386 or 541-403-0043.
PLACER GOLD BUYER (5)
I am always looking for new sources of quality gold nuggets and specimens. I market to collectors and can generally pay more than refiners for nice nuggets. Contact Matt at (208) 867-2594 or e-mail: goldrush@goldrushnuggets.com I travel through Baker City frequently.
NEW BOOK ON LOCATING CLAIMS-AVAILABLE FROM THE AUTHOR (7)
Written by a miner for miners, this book covers all aspects of researching mining claim records, how to locate your own claim and keep it. Send check or money order for $32 dollars to: Tom Kitchar, PO Box 1371, Cave Junction, OR 97523.
FOR SALE (7)
Forty acre placer claim on Clarks Creek. Hasnt been dredged or mined, has real good potential. Has had a magnetometer survey done on the property and shows a large old river channel that has been buried. Just waiting for the right miner to come along. Ten thousand firm on the asking Price. Call: 541-523-3285 or my Cell: at 541-310-8510.
FOR SALE (7)
Eighty acre placer claim on the Burnt River at the mouth of Clarks Creek. Has excellent potential. A large portion hasn’t been dredged. Has buried high bars that have had limited work done on them. One high bar hasn’t been touched. $5,000 firm. Call: 541-523-3285 or my Cell: 541-310-8510.
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