updated 2015 Mining in the Margaret/Winston/Packwood?

[shoot-em-dead]

Ok guys- so what do you think they should mine with- a pic and a wheel barrow. And yes huntbear, that is what a open mine would look like, any more obvious things you need to point out? And as for the cancer scare, just about every product I purchase has a label that says it might cause cancer according to the state of California.
 I guess it just gets under my skin when every freakin time a job or project is proposed people have to try and stop it. How is the world ever going to advance with all the BS.

[Huntbear]

Ok guys- so what do you think they should mine with- a pic and a wheel barrow. And yes huntbear, that is what a open mine would look like, any more obvious things you need to point out? And as for the cancer scare, just about every product I purchase has a label that says it might cause cancer according to the state of California.
 I guess it just gets under my skin when every freakin time a job or project is proposed people have to try and stop it. How is the world ever going to advance with all the BS.

Ok.. so lets move this mine... lets put it right in the middle of the best elk hunting area in the state...  THE BLUES,, they cyanide will leach into the Snake.. THE COLOCKUM the cyanide will leach straight into the Columbia...  Better yet.. your back yard, the Yacolt Burn....  you willing to take that chance with your family?  You want to watch some of the best hunting in SW Washington disappear??   Montana voters killed this type of mining back in 1998 due to the health and environmental hazards.. If those conservative rednecks will vote against it.. I am pretty sure it is bad news...

Cyanide takes a very small amount to kill you...  It will leach into the water supply, and flow down the Green river, into the Toutle River, then into the Cowlitz River, and into the Columbia...  You wanna eat those fish???  You want your kids and grandkids playing in that water?  This affects more than just a 1.1 sq. mile of wilderness area...  It will destroy the whole eco system in that area...

[washelkhunter]

Im willing to look at their mining extraction systems and techniques before i pass a blanket judgement on this. It serves no purpose to be an alarmist about what might be or maybe. Im betting leach ore extraction is self contained in a controlled environment which can be monitored and regulated. I dont see them securing permission to dump toxic waste in the watershed. Those days are long gone. Lets not forget that these are small test bore wells to see exactly what is or is'nt in the ground. Odds are a mine will never be started. I appreciate the pics posted and i think you should take a good hard look at them. Thats MONEY brother. Heavy equipment operators at those mines start at $20+ per hour easy. Lots of men and women in this state could use good jobs like that. I understand the mine could run for 15+ years. A man can make a lot of dough. Besides; what benefit is it to save the environment at the expense of its peoples economy.

[KopperBuck]

Im willing to look at their mining extraction systems and techniques before i pass a blanket judgement on this. It serves no purpose to be an alarmist about what might be or maybe. Im betting leach ore extraction is self contained in a controlled environment which can be monitored and regulated. I dont see them securing permission to dump toxic waste in the watershed. Those days are long gone. Lets not forget that these are small test bore wells to see exactly what is or is'nt in the ground. Odds are a mine will never be started. I appreciate the pics posted and i think you should take a good hard look at them. Thats MONEY brother. Heavy equipment operators at those mines start at $20+ per hour easy. Lots of men and women in this state could use good jobs like that. I understand the mine could run for 15+ years. A man can make a lot of dough. Besides; what benefit is it to save the environment at the expense of its peoples economy.

  It's not like it used to be. Miles of red tape. I toured several coal mines in W. Virginia, not what I expected.

[fireweed]

Location of potential mine.  Goat Mtn on right, Green River Horsecamp in valley bottom, Mt. St. Helens National Monument on left.

I read an interesting report on these smaller mining companies.  Most of the time they never mine anything.  The real purpose is to make the claim look good to investors, raise the price of their stock, and sell at a profit.  They really don't have the capital nor expertise to mine for real.  In fact, the previous owner of this area had never mined anything--ever.  So it's just a big speculators game.  And only one or two in thousands of claims actually get mined.  Ascot is touting all the jobs it could bring to Lewis county, when it really isn't going to mine anything--probably ever, but will promote its stock, make promises, then sell for big $$$ for them and no $$ or jobs for Washington.   

[Huntbear]

Thanks Fireweed for posting this pic...

I have seen more than 200 head of elk in this valley...  they gather here for calving, and as a staging/feeding point before the snow drives them lower...

OH, and some of the best elk hunting you can imagine if you get a Margaret tag..  which will be an OVER THE COUNTER tag in 2 years...

[kentrek]

ya thats my drinking water + stomping grounds...call me what ya want but id love to see the green river stay green....

[Booman2]

Huntbear is exactly correct, IMO. I've been scouting the internet for the past few days looking for just one (1) cyanide leach mine that was not a serious and expensive environmental cleanup problem. So far, no luck. Can a "naysayer" on this board provide one?
Lets see; in the last 50 years or so, is there even one cyanide leach open pit mine anywhere in the west where local citizens received good pay, retirement, and the local environment came out OK?

All cyanide leach mines have one thing in common: there are no other uses. If they mine, the area (of public land) will be fenced off, and all access will be prohibited - forever. It takes about the amount of cyanide in one grain of rice to kill a human, and it hangs around for a very long time. Cyanide, I understand, leaches out  some  nasty heavy minerals like lead and mercury which pollute moving waters for a very long time. Green River, the site of this project, is a river having 5 threatened species of salmon and steelhead (downstream) as well as at least two species of resident trout in the immediate area.

Our house of representatives recently passed a bill that exempts all mine profits from taxes, so it looks like whomever may want to mine this public land (purchased by the Trust for Public Lands with private money) and given to the USFS, will contribute nothing
to our betterment.

Not a real great deal, from where I stand. 

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Thanks for.the solid.info!

[washelkhunter]

Within sight of this (proposed) mine is the largest smoking hole in the US, Mt. St. Helens. Are you telling us that this mine is going to be more toxic then what MSH has been ever since it blew its top off?

[arguhl]

I understand both sides of the argument pros for jobs, the real question is how many jobs would this actually bring ? Who says the company won't bring in their own labor instead of using local ? Can anyone confirm this ? I'm opposed to the idea just out of principle of habitat loss and the handing over of public land to any and all corporations, especially after seeing what natural gas has done to blm land throughout the country (thanks Cheney glad you got even more money, at the expensive of others.dick). Sadly regardless of input big money will more than likely always get what they want. I say shoot this down because it opens up a can of worms and says all public land is for sale.

[washelkhunter]

Ive been giving this alot of thought. One of the things i love about our state is.that we dont have huge open pit mines across the country side. I guess its a cost v benefit arguement. Shortterm benefit, but that pit will be there forever. I love the cascades and i dont want to see them dug up and have the cowlitz river degraded anymore then it already is. If there was an untouchable fund created to pay for the return of the land to its original state prior to mining than i might get behind this. But we all know what happens to such funds if a politician wants it for something else. POOF! Well be left holding the bag. If they came back from testing and proved they found 3-4 billion in gold i guess id say go fo it, but just copper? No way.

[Special T]

Boomman2 Have any other these similar kinds of mines been opened in the USA in the last 15-20 years?

How many of you have been to the Silver Mountain area? That whole area at one time what water jet strip mined, a very destructive method. The stair stepping of the hills has since become very good grouse hunting I've been told. 

I am unfamiliar with this particular mining type but there has been MANY dangerous chemicals to mine/refine all metals. I would like to think that we have enacted rules/found ways to do it much cleaner. 

[logger]

Everything has to be mined, logged or farmed, nothing just appears out out of thin air, and ALL of us use the product derived from these practices. not saying I am for or against, just sayin we all are consumers.

[Huntbear]

Boomman2 Have any other these similar kinds of mines been opened in the USA in the last 15-20 years?

How many of you have been to the Silver Mountain area? That whole area at one time what water jet strip mined, a very destructive method. The stair stepping of the hills has since become very good grouse hunting I've been told. 

I am unfamiliar with this particular mining type but there has been MANY dangerous chemicals to mine/refine all metals. I would like to think that we have enacted rules/found ways to do it much cleaner. 

Does Water Jet Strip Mining include using Cyanide???  Poisoning the entire water table and eco system down stream clear to the Columbia River???