OCR Text |
Show Introduces Legislation: Mras ik F0R39I elf Hiiinii to by Joe M erica from the Ely Record j The Carter adroinistra-tion adroinistra-tion is again pushing for the j repeal of the 1872 Mining j Law, the mainstay of the minerals industry for the ! past 105 years. The latest attempt comes from Secretary of the Inte- , rior Cecil D. Andrus, the fromer governor of Idaho. In a bill submitted to Con- ; gress on behalf of the Carter Car-ter administration, Andrus proposes establishing a public pub-lic lands leasing system to replace the right -of -discovery principal and claim staking process in use since the term of UlyssesS. Grant. The leasing system would place a federal royalty on hardrock minerals taken from public lands, mainly copper, lead, uranium, gold, silver, nickel and zinc. Arizona Congressman Mo Udall recently withdrew his support for a similar bill upon the urgings of small mining companies and prospectors pros-pectors in his home state and in Nevada and Utah. However, Andrus charges that the Mining Law of 1872 "is deficient for many reasons, rea-sons, including its requirement require-ment that the federal government govern-ment turn over valuable public pub-lic lands entirely when the existence of a mineral deposit de-posit can be proved." He -said he feels the law has been abused by mining companies who acquire title to agricultural agricul-tural and timber lands, water wa-ter sources and recreational areas under the guise of searching for minerals. He charged that it has been used for such non -mining purposes pur-poses as securing land for "social clubs, vacation homes, residential subdivisions subdivi-sions and real estate speculation." specu-lation." Howard Winn, the former general manager of Kenne-cott Kenne-cott Copper Corporation Nevada Mines Division who is now a consultant with the Nevada Mining Association, disagreed with Andrus' abuse statements. "Those abuses Mr. Andrus An-drus speaks of have oc-cured. oc-cured. There's no question (Continued on Page 2) lowed under a permit and with certain other restrictions restric-tions in national park, refuge, ref-uge, wilderness, and wild and scenic river systems which are open upon the date of passage of the act, and on lands which were withdrawn from the original Mining Law of 1872. The proposed new law would repeal the 1872 act and allow the secretary to issue an "exclusive license to any qualified person" to explore for one or more hardrock minerals in the federal leasable lands. Where leasable lands are classified as suitable for competitive bidding, the secretary sec-retary would issue exploration explora-tion licenses only after competitive com-petitive bidding. The competitive bidding clause is what has most small miners worried. They feel the new law would put them at a disadvantage to larger companies who could afford higher bids. As Winn put it: "A leasing and bidding system would almost al-most destroy the incentive for a small miner to go out and prospect since he would not be guaranteed that what he found would become his. The people with the money would always prevail." Copies of the proposed new law are only available at the BLM office in Reno for public review. strict or stricter than federal feder-al ones," and could sign agreements with states to enforce environmental regulations regu-lations and standards. Any mining claim "for which an application is not timely filed would become void," under Andrus' bilj. Prospecting By Permit The Mining Law of 1872 Is one of two basic mining laws governing mineral extraction ex-traction activities on feder--al lands. The other law, the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 covering such minerals as coal, gas, oil, oil shale, phosphate, sodium potash and asphalt, would not be affected directly by the proposed pro-posed new law. Under the 1872 law, a prospector can explore any federal lands open to development devel-opment without a government permit. If he discovers minerals, min-erals, he may file a mining claim at a county recorder's office. The claim is legal if it is considered worth the time and investment of a "prudent man" to market the mineral profitably. The miner then is given title to the land. The Bureau of Land Management estimates that 6 million claims have been filed since 1872. Prospecting could be al- HERE'S MORE ABOUT Andrus for about that, tsut, at tne present time, it's not a reason to change the law. Those abuses have been corrected by the new policies of the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service. They're simply not occuring anymore," any-more," Winn explained. "The Mining Law of 1872 Is a good law and it has served its purpose In providing pro-viding this nation with the m inerals it needs. It should be retained," he added. Winn said the position of the Nevada Mining Association Associa-tion Is that repeal of the 1872 law "would destroy the small miner because the people with the money would always get the leases." Under the bill, the secretary secre-tary of Interior could issue a lease to a licensee for the development, and production of one or more hardrock minerals in a mining area. A lease application would have to Include enough information in-formation to enable the secretary to estimate the probable extent of the mineral min-eral deposit, the mining, milling and transportation methods, and the expected environmental and social impacts of development. No person would control leases on more than 51,200 acres in the United States, and no lease could be issued without with-out the public having an opportunity op-portunity for a hearing. No leases would be issued unless the leasable lands had been included in a federal land-use plan, except under certain conditions. A lease would require "diligent development and continued operations by the operator." A lease would be for 20 years and as long thereafter as the lessee conducted con-ducted operations on the lease itself or on a logical m ining unit approved by the secretary. Annual rental for a lease would be not less than $25 an acre. Royalty could not be less than 2 percent of the gross value of the output of a mine or a "comparable sum" under un-der other systems of payment. pay-ment. A licensee or lessee "would have to submit exploration ex-ploration or mining plans describing possible surface disturbance." The secretary would issue regulations "to Insure that prospecting, exploration, ex-ploration, development and production are conducted in a manner that minimizes to the maximum extent feasible fea-sible environmental dam -age." The secretary would require re-quire that "a reclamation plan be approved and enforced." en-forced." The secretary could adopt state environ -m ental regulations and standards which are "as |