General Mining Act of 1872

Today

The Reform

• Mining is an international multibillion dollar corporation
• Mines are so large scale they are visible from outer space
• Impacts of hard rock mining can potentially affect ground and surface water, aquatic life, vegetation, soils, air, wildlife, and human health
• Extremely wasteful
• Number one toxic pollution contributor in the U.S.

• Protecting Special Places From Mining
• Strengthening Environmental Standards
• Fiscal Reforms
• Hard Rock and Reclamation Act of 2007
• Abandoned Mine Reclamation Act

Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund

Protecting Special Places From Mining

• More than 500,000 abandoned mines in U.S. alone
• $72 billion dollars to reclaim mines
• Funding from Act of 2007
• No way to clean already polluted waters and landscapes caused by mining industries

Background

"Reform of the mining law must recognize that there are some places that should not be mined and must clearly give land managers the ability to deny a mine proposal if there are other important resource values that could be damaged by a mining operation." (Added shortly after the bill was passed)

Political Reforms

Hard Rock and Reclamation Act of 2007

Strengthening Environmental Standards

• Permanently ended new patents for mining claims
• 4% royalty tax on current mines
• 8% royalty tax on new mines
• 70% of royalty tax towards cleanup of abandoned mines
• 30% towards affected communities

• Protect surface and groundwater quality
• Landscape restoration
• Protect topsoil and wildfire habitats
• Revegetation
• Minimize mine wastes

• Act provides billions of dollars to mining industry ($2-3 billion per year)
• No royalties paid for minerals taken from public lands
• Five dollars per acre
• New reform would have fair royalties based on the minerals mined in a particular area

Future Predicitons

• Act was passed by President Ulysses S. Grant
• Passed to "promote the development and settlement of publiclyowned lands in the western United States."
• Allowed to mine gold, silver, and uranium
• Approved on May 10, 1872

• Mining will get higher royalty taxes
• Stricter environmental tolerances
• Near impossible to obtain permits to start a new mine

Environmental Issues

Details

• No environmental protection provisions
• Hundreds and thousands of abandoned mines
• Polluted water
• Any U.S. citizen is allowed to mine on public lands
• No mining in National Parks and wildernesses

• Authorizes and governs mining for economic minerals on federal public land
• All citizens 18 and older have the right to a mining claim
• Includes lode (hard rock) and placer (gravel) mining
• Mineral must be already discovered and locatable

Claim Staking

Mining claim - The right to explore for and extract minerals from a section of land

Claim staking - The required procedure of marking the boundaries of the mining claim, typically with wooden posts or substantial piles of rocks.

• Once the claim is staked, the prospector documents the claim by filing required forms.
• Originally the forms were filed with the mining district recorder
• Today they are filed with the Clerk of the County in which the claim is located, and with the US Bureau of Land Management.

Compliance and Enforcement

Compliances

Enforcements

• Permit can be taken away
• Forced to clean up pollution from mine
• Fine may be issued for breaking guide lines or excess amounts of pollution

• $100 dollar annual holding fee
• $2.50-$5.00 per acre staked
• Comply with environmental standards
• Require operators to submit a notice for all exploration activities disturbing five acres or less,
• Require a plan of operations for all hard rock mining on claim staked lands
• Requires mining operators to meet certain outcome-based performance standards relating to all aspects of operations, including exploration, mining, processing, and reclamation

General Mining Act of 1872

Denin Bieberitz