EASTERN OREGON
MINING ASSOCIATION
DECEMBER 2023
VOLUME 411
YOUR MEMBERSHIP IS IMPORTANT!
Memberships are due in January, 2024. Please send your dues to:
EOMA, PO Box 932, Baker City, OR 97814. You can also pay with a credit card on our website. Or you can pay at the meeting. Thank you for your support!
NEW WEBSITE ADDRESS: eoma.us
December 1, 2023 MEETING AT ELK CREEK ENTERPRISES
The EOMA monthly meeting is at the Elk Creek Enterprises saw shop located at 890 Elm Street in Baker City. The Board Meeting will begin at 6:00 PM and the general meeting follows at 6:30 PM. Everyone is welcome to attend these meetings. There is time for discussing mining and getting to know other miners. We will give away a 1 oz. silver medallion at the end of the meeting.
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Have you been wondering what the price of gold will be in the near future? According to AG Thorson, “The mid-cycle pullback is complete (prices bottomed out at $1935.60), and gold should take out the October high in the coming days/weeks. Sustained closes above $2020 will open the door for a retest and potential breakout above $2090 in December.” Seems like it always happens, when winter approaches, and we are shut down from mining, the price of gold goes up. We did have a long fall season, now it’s time to work on equipment and get things ready for next spring.
If your mining claims are on BLM, you have the option of a bonded notice and a chance to explore your claims using equipment and define your deposit. Plans of Operation are approved in a timely manner, usually in one or two years. On the National Forest, it’s another story. There are no bonded notices, and Plans of Operation can take 10 years or longer to approve. None of the Plans of Operation covered under the Powder Mining Projects EIS have been approved. And it has been well over ten years. There definitely needs to be a change in the way the FS handles mining.
EXTENDING FOREST SERVICE PLANS OF OPERATION-Ken Alexander
Jan and I have been working with the Forest Service to reauthorize some Plans of Operation that will reach an “expected duration date” which was required by the FS on the plans when they were submitted. The logical expectation is that the plans would no longer be needed when the valuable mineral deposit was exhausted.
The Forest Service is unrealistic about the variables that affect the amount of time it takes to develop a mine. They seem to believe 10 years is a reasonable amount of time for miners to complete their exploration/mining operations. Because of various circumstances, claim owners generally only have 3-4 months during a year when they can work. Each claim often has its own individual variables, such as seasonal water availability, that limit the amount of time that can be spent each year determining the values, and systems, which will work to develop these deposits.
Another thing the Forest Service does not consider, or understand, is that every time a claim is located, bought or leased, with the intent of developing a mine, the miner faces considerable risks and obstacles. The ground might be rich, but due to multiple physical factors, such as a remote location, no water, clay, tightly consolidated gravels, large boulders, deep overburden, and a short mining season. Not to mention the permitting delays, and price fluctuations which vastly increases the amount of time it takes to explore the property, and develop the mineral deposit.
The exploration phase of any operation can take much longer than ten years. Most of us work in areas which were previously mined. We work to define the deposit which is still in place, and which can be economically mined. All that takes time.
BLM INCREASES THE FEES BY $5 FOR FILING A NEW MINING CLAIM
This fee increase came as a surprise even to BLM employees in Portland.
Today, a new 20-acre claim will cost you $230, an increase of $5 over the old fee of $225.
In a similar manner, a 20.1-40-acre association placer claim will cost you $395, a 40.1-60-acre claim will cost you $555, a 60.1-80-acre claim will cost you $725, an 80.1-100-acre claim will cost you $890, a 100.1-120-acre claim will cost you $1,055, a 120.1-140-acre claim will cost you $1220 and a 140.1-160-acre claim will cost you $1,385.
If you do assessment work, the cost at BLM remains at $15/claim, and if you pay maintenance fees that cost also remains unchanged.
AMERICAN EXPLORATION AND MINING NEWS RELEASE
AEMA’s 129th Annual Meeting: Mining Meets the Moment – Which is Now
The meeting will be held December 3-8, 2023 at the Nugget Casino Resort | Sparks, Nevada
Check out their website at www.miningamerica.org/annualmeeting
CASTLE ROCK HUDSON MINE DESTRUCTION – Jan alexander
I used to think of the government as a good neighbor, but it is becoming more and more difficult to maintain that attitude. When I see a forest service rig, I am automatically angry at the person driving, as if it was that person’s fault that it reminds me of the District Ranger in Baker who has illegally destroyed a miner’s property. Ranger Cikanek has completely disregarded and refused to repair the damage he has done to Laura Perrigan’s active Hudson mine and access road.
The Ranger even denies authorizing the second entry into the mine late last fall when the road was further destroyed, and the narrow area filled up with rock and rubble, which now extends from the edge of the creek up to the cliff face. And more rock was pushed into Hudson Creek. When Laura wrote the ranger about this further destruction, he wrote her back saying he did not authorize or pay for this further destruction of the mine road. He also said in his letter, “if these activities occurred, they could be considered resource damage”. Well, these activities did occur, and resource damage did occur. If Laura had done this, she would be in jail.
EPA PLANS TO LIMIT OR ELIMINATE SALMON-KILLING TIRE CHEMICALS – James Brooks, Alaska Beacon
Looks like the price of a new tire will be going up and the quality of that tire will go down. The 6PPD chemical, which this article discusses, is used by all major tire manufacturers to reduce degradation and cracking. Now tire manufacturers will be scrambling to find a replacement for this chemical.
One of our biggest costs in our mining operation is the price of replacement tires-for our vehicles, equipment trailers, and rubber-tired equipment. Now that cost of doing business looks to be going up.
According to James Brooks, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will begin the process to limit and possibly eliminate a chemical commonly used in car tires, after scientific studies found that the chemical — commonly known as 6PPD — is fatal to salmon. The EPA announced its regulatory plans Thursday, answering a petition from three Native Tribes in the Pacific Northwest. The states of Washington, Oregon, Vermont, Rhode Island and Connecticut also supported the petition.
A University of Washington study, funded by the EPA and published in late December 2020, conclusively linked 6PPD to mass die-offs of coho salmon in urban waterways around Seattle. Follow-up studies by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Geological Survey, among others, have repeatedly confirmed the results.
The 6PPD chemical is used by all major tire manufacturers to reduce degradation and cracking. Tires deposit small amounts of rubber on the road with each revolution, and those deposits contain 6PPD, which then washes into neighboring waterways with snow and rain.
GRASSY MOUNTAIN MINE MOVES CLOSER TO APPROVAL-Ian Rose
Malheur County’s Grassy Mountain gold mine is moving closer to approval. The mine promises to create hundreds of high-paying jobs in a region that needs them, but concerns remain about the environmental dangers of chemical mining.
The Grassy Mountain mine, located about 20 miles south of Vale in eastern Oregon, would be the first chemical-process gold mine in the state. Gold in sites like Grassy Mountain is not concentrated in chunks or veins like many people imagine when they think of gold mining. Instead, it is fairly evenly distributed through the rock in tiny pieces that have to be separated with a solvent in a process called cyanidation. This process uses one of two forms of cyanide, which critics say could harm workers and the surrounding environment.
The Nevada-based companies behind the project, Calico Resources and its parent company Paramount Gold, say the mine would bring 270 jobs and $10 million in annual wages to the area and generate $15 million a year in taxes. But opponents worry about the environmental cost of the mine, fearing the cyanide could pollute the groundwater. Oregon has a long history of gold mining, but today has few gold mines, with Nevada producing about three-quarters of the gold in the U.S. as of 2022. And globally, only about 5% of all gold mined comes from the U.S.
Calico and Paramount started the permit application process in 2017. In May 2019, Malheur County’s planning commission voted unanimously to approve the permit, beginning the current process with state and federal agencies. Those agencies have to issue a variety of permits for the operation to start, dealing with water use and quality, wildlife impact and more. If officials do not require any drastic changes to the current plan, there would be a two-year construction period followed by about seven years of mining that could produce about $700 million in gold.
A socioeconomic report will be the first outside confirmation of the economic promises that Calico and Paramount have made to Malheur County. Median household income in the county is under $48,000, and company projections expect 150 construction jobs and 120 longer-term mining and administration jobs, at an average wage of almost $80,000, a major infusion of high-paying jobs into a county that struggles to attract large employers.
The law that governs the regulatory process passed the Oregon Legislature in 1991, and although officials have started the permitting process for mines before, this is the first time a chemical-process mine has been close to being approved. One reason that Calico and Paramount’s plan has come this far is the near-record high price of gold, now at almost $2000 per ounce.
“The question is, is Oregon open for business for chemical-process mining? It has regional scope,” said Randy Jones from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.
TOREX GOLD GETS FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL OK FOR MEDIA LUNA PROJECT- Jackson Chen
The Media Luna gold deposit is an advanced stage development project located in Mexico’s western state of Guerrero. Torex Gold Resources (TSX: TXG) has passed the final environmental hurdle to take its Media Luna gold project towards commercial production, expected sometime late in 2024. In an announcement Thursday, the Toronto-based gold producer said it has obtained approval from Mexico’s environment ministry for an amendment to the key permit allowing for the deposition of tailings into the mined-out Guajes open pit. This amendment, according to Torex CEO Jody Kuzenko, represents the last environmental approval required for operations at Media Luna.
A March 2022 technical report outlined that approximately half of the tailings produced over the life of the Morelos complex are expected to be deposited within the Guajes open pit, with the remainder deposited underground as cemented paste backfill. “Work to prepare the Guajes pit for future tailings deposition will commence shortly in preparation for our plans to start depositing tailings in late 2024,” Kuzenko stated. Once integrated with the ELG mine, the Morelos complex is expected to generate annual payable output of 34.8 million lb. copper and 1.3 million oz. gold over a near 12-year mine life.
U.S. CONGRESS RAISES CONCERNS OVER CHINA’S RARE EARTH CONTROL-Battery metals
The US remains highly reliant on Chinese production of critical minerals, both through direct sourcing from China and indirectly due to the predominance of Chinese materials in global supply chains, according to the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission report. China could potentially disrupt the global rare earth oxide supply by cutting off 40–50%, impacting suppliers of advanced components used in US defense systems. On August 1, 2023, China implemented export controls on gallium and germanium, as well as dozens of related products made with those metals. Last month, China announced it will require export permits for some graphite products in another bid to control critical mineral supply in response to challenges over its global manufacturing dominance.
The Pentagon holds a strategic stockpile for germanium but currently has no inventory reserves for gallium. Over 95% of the US gallium consumption is in the form of gallium arsenide wafers, a type of semiconductor that outperforms more prevalent silicon wafers for sensitive electronic equipment, such as radar systems.
“The stakes of the competition simply cannot be overstated,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said addressing the Chinese leader visit, CNN reported. “Strategic competition with China is going to determine the course of the next century of American history. And yet, the Biden administration has too often met this historic moment with weakness and naïveté. Time and time again, it has sacrificed competition on the altar of green climate policy,” he said.
EOMA ADVERTISING AND SALE LISTINGS
WANTED-MINERS TO PARTICIPATE IN A NEW TV SHOW WITH DAVE TURIN-Johnny West (ca)
Because of my ad in our EOMA Newsletter, I received an Email from a lady in London, England.
Her name is Lizzie Jenkins, and she is an Assistant Producer for www.raw.co.uk.
My understanding is her company films and produces the TV show “Gold Rush” on the Discovery Channel.
Her company is starting a new TV show with Dave Turin, and they are looking for miners that are testing mining property, and could use Dave’s help. I believe the property would need to be fully permitted for testing/mining. So, if any miners would consider getting help from Dave Turin, please contact Lizzie to get the complete details, and make sure it is something you would like to do.
Here is Lizzie’s contact information:
Lizzie Jenkins
Assistant Producer
Third Floor, 13-21 Curtain Road, London EC2A 3LT
Tel: + 44 (0) 207 456 0800 | Mob: +44 7769 296 581
www.raw.co.uk
UK Company Reg. 4305751
VAT: 297 4286 51
RAW TV SHOW IS LOOKING FOR MINERS WHO WANT TO INCREASE GOLD RECOVERY- Rhys Towse Producer at Raw TV –
Discovery Channel’s Gold Rush: Freddy Dodge’s Mine Rescue is looking for gold mines Freddy and Juan can visit in 2023 to see if they can help improve gold recovery.
https://www.raw.co.uk/takepart/do-you-need-a-new-washplant
If you are interested, please call Office: +44 (0)207 456 0800
MINERS WANTING TO PARTICIPATE IN EITHER PROGRAM IN OREGON ARE ENCOURAGED TO HAVE PERMITTING IN PLACE
If you have questions about permitting, EOMA will be glad to help you out. The best thing you can do to promote mining activity in Oregon, is to do it right. Call Jan if you have questions at 541-446-3413.
WANTED (8)
I would like to rent/lease/lease with option to buy property that may be productive for metal detecting and mining. Especially areas with tailings like the Powder River near Sumpter, or other local areas. Thanks, Johnny West. Email: jwestboise@gmail.com
WANTED-GOLD(0)
Gold Specimens and Gold nuggets, mostly from Oregon mines. Fair prices paid. Also selling Gold nugget jewelry, specimens, nuggets and more. For an interesting and informative experience explore www.northernnevadagold.com Call Robert 775-455-6470
PRICE REDUCED-SIMPSON AND LUCKY PLACER CLAIMS FOR SALE
The Simpson is an 80-acre association placer and must be quit-claimed to a group of four miners. The Lucky group is composed of three 20-acre contiguous claims. These can be purchased by one miner. Both claim groups are covered by approved Plans of Operation and both are located on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.
My health is forcing me to sell these claims. Give me a call if you are interested and please make me an offer. Call Dave at 810-523-7313.
ACTION MINING SERVICES, INC.(ca)
AMS is selling assay supplies, screens, chemicals and labware! Call for a quote and mention this ad for 10% off! Assay supplies, concentrators, impact mills, technical books (for the beginner to the advanced mill man), & more! Call for our free catalog or visit us online! Check out our website for information on Wave tables. We are located in Plains, Montana. Please call 406.826.9330 to place your order. This way our staff can have it pulled and ready for pick up. Otherwise, we can always ship your order! sales@actionmining.com • www.actionmining.com
AMERICAN EXPLORATION & MINING ASSOCIATION(ca)
EOMA is a member of American Exploration & Mining Association, and many of our members are also individual members. American Exploration & Mining Association is a 128-year-old, 1,400-member, national association representing the minerals industry. With members in 46 states, AEMA is the recognized national voice for exploration, the junior mining sector, maintaining access to public lands, and represents the entire mining life cycle, from exploration through production to reclamation and closure. You can become a member of AEMA by going to their website at https://www.miningamerica.org .
SUBSCRIBE TO MINING JOURNAL FOR UP TO DATE NEWS (ca)
ICMJ’s Prospecting and Mining Journal is your monthly source for news, legislation, how-to articles and more. Josh and Sherrie Lynn Reinke are the new owners of the Mining Journal, same great news source! A full year is still only $29.95; or get a print and an online subscription for just $44.95, and get access to our last 16 years of articles online too. Published monthly since 1931. Visit us at www.icmj.com or call at (831) 479-1500 to get your subscription.