Show president r s committee studies complex COM lex minerals programs the presidents interagency inter later agency min rid wal policy committee created lat UA october is studying proposals to clarify and define responsibilities of the various gov government emment agencies lor for metals and minerals als this would have to be accomplished before the committee could ever hope 6 to recommend specific legislation er r executive action outlining a national mineral policy A major proposal has been in boade by an influential mining engineer close to gove government X and mw industry which would I 1 coordinate r the governments clr mineral ral P programs ro grams it offers three alter natives t alves creation of a single agency of cabinet rank to deal with and minerals delegation of new authority to the office of n defense mobilization in the mineral held field or establishment of a special tnt int coordinator in the exec tave save office of the president the last alternative Is the most rovel and would undoubtedly have the best chance to succeed the mineral ral coordinators authority would be clearly defined by law or executive order according to the proposal now before the presidents president s committee his job would be to recommend policy in the mineral held and to see th that at such policy rd IB im implemented p cemented lemen ted by the various vanous go government agencies concerned wit with metals and minerals As has been reiterated so many times the main reason for the governments lovern ments chaotic relations with the mining industry is that responsibility s for decisions affect cg lag metals and minerals is scattered among many uncoordinated agena agencies es cre creation a tion of 0 one ne office responsible pon sible only to the white house f to coordinate these these decisions and to 60 initiate mineral policy would go Is long way toward alleviating the i on the author of the proposal has dor edor fully described what now goes on a behind the scenes instead of dealing with producers able to expand d supplies of materials or deal me rg with consumers capable of son on serving and redirecting the uses aei of scarce materials much of he time of major government officials concerned w with ith metals is pent spent in interagency committees negotiating with officials of other S government agencies lh tackling the problem of sai mineral police the presidents committee must still determine what areas the policy ac s should hould cover vw the matter of clarifying i g and ae defining ing responsibilities is certain athe the initial one the official who proposed the establishment of a mineral coordinators dina tors office has outlined ome some ther other elements that mar mat be contained coned ed in n a meaningful national Bf aeral ral policy flowing following an aft ex X there b coo cou beverly so the size of 01 stockpile natives datives da tives sim NAW from inadequate data on military and essential civilian requirements stockpile objectives were scheduled tor for completion in five years but seven years after the programs start only 4 2 billion worth of materials are on hand out of 72 billion worth of total objectives mobilization planning the mining industry must be allowed ef festive participation in the development of plans for price controls allocations and other emergency regulations affecting metals and minerals technical assistance An istance private industry is spending millions in the search for new mineral deposits but the efforts of the gov government emment IA la baste basic geological and geophysical research have not kept pace with current needs basic metallurgical research on extraction of materials from low grade ores and on finding new uses for more abundant materials must be accelerated industry does outstanding work in applied research the gov government emment should sponsor or conduct far more basic research in metals and minerals federal taxes since tax laws are subject to annual amendment i often on the basis of hurried consideration they do not provide an adequate and dependable incentive for investment of american venture capital in exploration and development of metal and mineral deposits in the U S or in foreign countries stale state taxes annual state taxes based on the value of an in place inhibit many mine operators from further extending geophysical and geological exploration and de development t where state taxes are essential a severance tax on the mineral actually mined in a specific period would be less restrictive risk capital restrictions on the sale of securities are intended to protect gullible investors from fraud but present regulations regulation i tend to inhibit the flow of venture capital into new mining pro properties revisions of the state and federal regulations should be made public land lands the tte government has extended its control of public lands by a series of withdrawals patent procedures and other restrictive strict ive e measures affecting the public domain loose and conf confusing araug record systems encourage fraud and hinder mining development the government should administer public lands so that development of mineral industries ij Is fostered research on method methods of recovering mineral minerals as by products byproducts or from low grade deposit products pos ts and advances in metallurgy and ceramics amici mut must be encouraged mining practice practices that leav leave ab sub quantities of ore la in abandoned working workings are an anti conserva am busts i go |