Friday, February 24, 2012

Limits planned for suction dredging; gold miners upset » Redding Record Searchlight

Limits planned for suction dredging; gold miners upset » Redding Record Searchlight: "Limits planned for suction dredging; gold miners upset"

Under a new set of rules proposed by the state Department of Fish and Game, the agency would reduce the number of gold miners' suction dredging permits it issues annually statewide from 4,000 to 1,500 and prohibit dredging on more than 20 north state streams.

The regulation is one of many proposed changes to statewide regulations that the DFG has proposed to comply with court orders and recent state laws.

Chip Hess, who owns the Miner's Cache in Redding, said the regulations are hurting businesses and families.

"We have hundreds of families in the north state that make a living or supplement their incomes from mining," Hess said.

"First they shut the lumber industry down. Now they're basically shutting the mining industry down," he said.

The DFG took public comments on a first round of proposed regulations last year. Based on those comments, the agency made further changes in the proposed suction dredging regulations. It is taking public comment on the newest proposals until March 5.

Other new regulations include a provision that after a suction dredge is removed from a stream, it would have to be either decontaminated or kept out of the water for two weeks before putting it back in another stream. Two dredges could not be operated within 500 feet of each other on a stream. And dredging could only occur from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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DreamWeaver writes4

The SEIR was based on flawed science, and Mark Stopher knows this yet still wants to quote it? An unmodified gold suction dredge is the MOST EFFICIENT device known for REMOVING mercury, gold, and other heavy metals from the streams. As measured in several State and Federal test it was found to be 98% efficient in removing mercury from the streams and rivers. This compares to 93% efficiency using the centrifugal dredge the environmentalist want to use. Keeping the gold dredges out of the water, will leave the mercury, which can then be carried downstream to warmer water, where it may methylate and then ACTUALLY harm the fish. And as flytyr correctly pointed out, mercury and lead occur naturally here. There are places here in Shasta County where on a hot summer day you can see it "bleeding" out of the rock and flowing down to the stream below. But let's take the dredges that would remove it out of the water. Makes no sense.

Todays modern gold extraction techniques, including suction dredges do more to clean the environment in a single weekend than most other "environmentalists" do in a year. Anyone who would like to join us and help fight this bureaucratic nonsense should contact PLP (Public Lands for the People), WMA (Western Mining Alliance), or locally for more information drop an email to shasta_miners@yahoo.com


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Wednesday, February 22, 2012

The Nome Nugget - Alaska's Oldest Newspaper

The Nome Nugget - Alaska's Oldest Newspaper: "The Bering Sea gold rush is on its way

Is Nome ready for those who have been bitten by the gold bug?

BY DIANA HAECKER

Just after the premiere of the Discovery Channel’s “Bering Sea Gold” TV reality show starring Nome gold dredge miners aired on January 27, Nome’s city offices and other businesses and organizations have been inundated with phone calls that inquired: What permits do we need to dredge for gold up there? Is there a mining camp? Can I buy a dredge up there? Can just anybody go and mine the beaches of Nome?
The city, the office of the harbormaster, the Nome Visitor and Convention Center, the Nome Nugget newspaper and land owners like Bering Straits Native Corporation and Nome Gold Alaska Corp. have been receiving inquiries as to what it takes to come up to Nome and rake in the gold.
City manager Josie Bahnke said that the volume of calls from Lower 48 prospectors have been overwhelming. Kerwin Krause with the Alaska " READ MORE

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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Suction Dredge Permitting Program - California Department of Fish and Game

Suction Dredge Permitting Program - California Department of Fish and Game: "Proposed Suction Dredge Regulations for Public Review

On February 17, 2012 the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) released proposed regulations for suction dredge mining in California. DFG released an earlier draft of these regulations for public review in February 2011. Two versions of the currently proposed regulations are available. The first version is a plain text presentation of the currently proposed regulations. The second version includes all changes, using underline/strikeout formatting, based on the regulations originally adopted in 1994, the modifications proposed in February 2011 and the additional modifications currently proposed. These documents are available at the following links:

Plain text version of 02/17/2012 regulations
Edited version of 02/17/2012 regulations"

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Monday, February 13, 2012

Eureka: hackers hit the jackpot, robbing a gold town of its heritage

Eureka: Thieves hit the jackpot, robbing a gold town of its heritage: "A heritage lost... residents of a Californian mining community are left shocked after thieves steal a historical gold display. "

YREKA, California: The last time so much gold was pulled out of this town, the place was known as ''the richest square mile on earth'', an 1850s gold rush jewel just north of California's Mother Lode.

Now Yreka is feeling violated by an audacious heist.

Two hooded men with socks for gloves and a crowbar apparently slithered through the window of a men's toilet at the Siskiyou County courthouse and reached a fortified lobby display containing one of California's most revered gold collections.

An alarm failed to activate at about 1am on February 1 as the thieves hacked away at inch-thick bulletproof glass. They punched a hole big enough to grab as much as $US1 million ($931,000) in nuggets, including a treasured, 28-ounce find, discovered in 1913, known as ''the shoe'', then stuffed the riches into a backpack. The theft was discovered at 7am.

Yreka, population 7500, is one of a handful of California mining communities that has proudly kept precious trophies of its golden heritage on public display, even as gold prices have topped $US1750 an ounce.

''People are incredulous,'' said Siskiyou County Museum director Michael Hendryx, who had helped arrange the exhibit. ''They say, 'Why didn't they rob a bank?' You can replace money. You can't replace a heritage.''



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/eureka-hackers-hit-the-jackpot-robbing-a-gold-town-of-its-heritage-20120213-1t23p.html#ixzz1mJRhv315


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