Mining in Oregon: An Endangered Industry, Part 2
Posted by AFP JoCo on September 5, 2009
This is the second half of a one hour program that examines the types of minerals found in Oregon, their importance to our economy and in our daily lives, and the impacts of state and federal regulations and land withdrawals on the mining industry. (The first half is posted here.)
In Part 4, an ex-Navy SEAL who has been instrumental in developing the suction dredge technology for placer mining in river beds talks about the environmentalists’ litigation against mining and the recently passed law that bans suction dredging in California. Then the state geologist from the Josephine County office of the Dept. of Geology and Mineral Industries discusses how the Dept. of Geology assists miners, and we learn that it is being shut down.
In Part 5, we visit a minig camp where a miner lives with his wife and three children. Then we meet a miner who’s family developed a process for smelting a nickel ladderite ore into a “master metal” from which any grade of stainless steel can be easily produced. He has spent 17 years fighting legal battles to be allowed to mine his claim.
In Part 6, we learn about aggregate mining, and how important it is to our economy. Then we learn more about the endless litigation tactics employed by the environmental lobbies, and how they manage to manipulate both the courts and government agencies at great cost to the mining industry and the taxpayers.
