Thanks Jonathan. It’s likely that many of these new claims are speculative, the plan being to have the federal government repurchase them at highly inflated values when the monument is restored. Andalex was paid something like $20 m. for mineral claims on the Kaiparowits in GSENM generally recognized as economically worthless.
Scott, I agree that they're likely speculative. As for the feds repurchasing them? I'm not sure. Andalex had coal leases, not mining claims, so they work differently and come with different rights.
There are dozens of active mining claims within Bears Ears that were existing prior to the 2016 designation, and still others that were staked between 2017 and 2021. The feds didn't try to repurchase them after the designation. In one case Kimmerle tried to mine their inside-Bears-Ears claims, and the BLM told them they'd have to prove validity -- demonstrate that they contain valuable minerals -- before the BLM would even consider a permit. Kimmerle abandoned the plans at that point because doing that costs about $100k, though they held onto the claims and kept them active.
Of course, only time will tell. Under the current administration it's totally plausible that Kimmerle or someone else would be able to get a fast-tracked permit to mine their claims before a new administration is in place (or before a court finds that Trump's shrinkage was illegal and therefore invalid).
Thanks very much for the disturbing update. The mining industry has a long track record of polluting and destroying public lands. I hope that someday soon the 1872 mining law can finally be repealed. It has caused so much damage!
It’s not good we have to mine anywhere at all because it is rough on the environment wherever it needs to be done. But the people of the world, especially the United States , have a tremendous demand for all gadgets, cars , planes, phones, computers etc and the list goes on and on. We need these rare minerals and oil and gas to supply what it takes to produce all these things that we basically feel we can’t live without! No spot is prettier than another if that is what needs to be done ! I would hope we have much stricter rules and regulations now then we did back in earlier decades.
EEK! I may have some blemishes, or worse from rockhounding in the tailings of NJ radium, or whatever, mines. It does seem hard to put much faith in Utah or the Feds to not leave your kids or grandkids with more Superfund sites. Uranium seems like one of the most toxic materials to mine and mill.
A tad off topic; the link below is to an interesting podcast just posted from Down Under that ties their mining and their approach to renewables together in a way we don't hear about. Some of these isolated mines have converted their once all-diesel powerplants to 90%+ wind/solar/storage with diesel as rare backup. No nukes, no geothermal jive, no multi-billion dollar transmission projects. I'm sure they've had their mining and milling spills and other ravages, but they seem OK being the "quarry to the world."
These power systems undoubtably "over-build" the wind, solar and batteries, and end up with actual $/kWh costs higher than we expect here. (Yet still lower than the cost of burning $7.00/gallon diesel schlepped 1000 miles.) But it shows what is technically possible with state of the shelf equipment.
There are also the battery-powered freight trains for ore, etc. Semis w/swappable battery packs like a portable drill only 1000x larger.
Overall, Australia is about at the same 45ish% wind/solar electric as CO, but proceeding to add 4%/year instead of 2%/year. Recent figures with higher CO renewables are misleading as we increased imported backup power recently, probably mostly WY coal and that's not counted as "our" fossil generation.
Thanks Jonathan. It’s likely that many of these new claims are speculative, the plan being to have the federal government repurchase them at highly inflated values when the monument is restored. Andalex was paid something like $20 m. for mineral claims on the Kaiparowits in GSENM generally recognized as economically worthless.
Scott, I agree that they're likely speculative. As for the feds repurchasing them? I'm not sure. Andalex had coal leases, not mining claims, so they work differently and come with different rights.
There are dozens of active mining claims within Bears Ears that were existing prior to the 2016 designation, and still others that were staked between 2017 and 2021. The feds didn't try to repurchase them after the designation. In one case Kimmerle tried to mine their inside-Bears-Ears claims, and the BLM told them they'd have to prove validity -- demonstrate that they contain valuable minerals -- before the BLM would even consider a permit. Kimmerle abandoned the plans at that point because doing that costs about $100k, though they held onto the claims and kept them active.
Of course, only time will tell. Under the current administration it's totally plausible that Kimmerle or someone else would be able to get a fast-tracked permit to mine their claims before a new administration is in place (or before a court finds that Trump's shrinkage was illegal and therefore invalid).
Thanks very much for the disturbing update. The mining industry has a long track record of polluting and destroying public lands. I hope that someday soon the 1872 mining law can finally be repealed. It has caused so much damage!
Thank you for keeping us informed, as always💙
It’s not good we have to mine anywhere at all because it is rough on the environment wherever it needs to be done. But the people of the world, especially the United States , have a tremendous demand for all gadgets, cars , planes, phones, computers etc and the list goes on and on. We need these rare minerals and oil and gas to supply what it takes to produce all these things that we basically feel we can’t live without! No spot is prettier than another if that is what needs to be done ! I would hope we have much stricter rules and regulations now then we did back in earlier decades.
EEK! I may have some blemishes, or worse from rockhounding in the tailings of NJ radium, or whatever, mines. It does seem hard to put much faith in Utah or the Feds to not leave your kids or grandkids with more Superfund sites. Uranium seems like one of the most toxic materials to mine and mill.
A tad off topic; the link below is to an interesting podcast just posted from Down Under that ties their mining and their approach to renewables together in a way we don't hear about. Some of these isolated mines have converted their once all-diesel powerplants to 90%+ wind/solar/storage with diesel as rare backup. No nukes, no geothermal jive, no multi-billion dollar transmission projects. I'm sure they've had their mining and milling spills and other ravages, but they seem OK being the "quarry to the world."
These power systems undoubtably "over-build" the wind, solar and batteries, and end up with actual $/kWh costs higher than we expect here. (Yet still lower than the cost of burning $7.00/gallon diesel schlepped 1000 miles.) But it shows what is technically possible with state of the shelf equipment.
https://reneweconomy.com.au/energy-insiders-the-off-grid-mines-leading-the-charge-towards-100-pct-renewables/
There are also the battery-powered freight trains for ore, etc. Semis w/swappable battery packs like a portable drill only 1000x larger.
Overall, Australia is about at the same 45ish% wind/solar electric as CO, but proceeding to add 4%/year instead of 2%/year. Recent figures with higher CO renewables are misleading as we increased imported backup power recently, probably mostly WY coal and that's not counted as "our" fossil generation.