Sharp opinions about mines and mining from Jack Caldwell

Is the Colorado Mining Association just being cautious or coy in not coming to the rescue of a politician who once stood up for the use of cyanide?   Here are some of my thoughts on the scrap to get to Congress between three Colorado politicians who are invoking, or failing to invoke, their past support for or hatred of the mining industry. 

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Tony Turtle Hampson, an Australian miner lives in a tent because he cannot afford a million dollar home.  In the Oppenheimer park in Vancouver lots of homeless people who cannot work in the mining industry are living in tents—and seeking permits to do so.  In Tennessee, a developer of million dollar homes mined the coal on the property before building the houses, and he is now in trouble—accused of mining without a permit. 

All these stories about miners, tents, and million dollar homes put me in mind of the mine houses I knew. 

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One more thought on the Pebble Mine before we leave it to the people of Alaska to vote on 26 August on the mine’s future.   

Earlier this year British Columbia rejected a new mine they decided was not worth having.  Perhaps Alaskans should consider the reasons why BC rejected the Kemess North Mine. 

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Bad laws make for bad mining.  Or no mining at all.   These obvious conclusions come from an intelligent piece written by the Mayor of Cape Town, South Africa.  I wish we could force every African dictator to read this piece and then to act to the betterment of their people by applying its insight. 

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The Faro Mine is arguably the most polluted closed mine in Canada.  From what I can work out, they did just about everything wrong, and there is really no way to fix it.  The official web site won’t tell you that; it is a master piece of propaganda that makes the mine sound like a make-work opportunity for locals.  And for those taking the water quality samples it is. 

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A strange take on how to address mining-related pollution: 

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Do the sins of the father accrue to the son?  Does the new Anglo American’s Cynthia Carroll bear responsibility for pollution in Africa, Nevada, and Ireland caused by the old Anglo American?  Do ten swallows make a summer?  Does one fuck-up preclude you developing the Pebble Mine in Alaska?

Valid questions that come to mind as I read the report Anglo American’s Track Record:  Rhetoric or Reality?  Here is a summary that came with the e-mail announcing publication of this provocative report:

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Can mining exploration cause the flu?  Here is a posting from a rather trivial blog, but it nicely captures the perspectives of the folk who get to make the final decisions.  This is from Emily Locke who writes from Anchorage, Alaska:

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How wonderful it would be to be young again.  So full of energy, ignorance, folly, and certainty.   To be again that arrogant, opinionated, save-the-world hero.  To go boldly where none have gone before; and to brave the elements for the joy of existence.  To protest at Syncrude and try to stop the world in its tracks with one bold action.  Maybe to die a young martyr for a noble cause, or at least a few ducks. 

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The only good reason to go to a conference is to catch up on lost snoozing and delayed naps.  I confess that no matter the time of day, as soon as the lights dim in a conference room, my eyes shut and I lapse into blissful somnolence.

I am convinced that I do not sleep too deeply to hear the presentations and judge their merit.  I know I am able to write about them afterwards.  Although the end result may be fiction rather than fact. 

No matter.  Another opportunity to sit back and drift off is coming up.  I refer to the conference in October in Vail, namely the resuscitated Tailings and Mine Waste ‘08. 

The secret to intelligent conference attendance is to prepare.  Read the summaries before-hand.  Absorb the abstracts.  And if they produce proceedings—a rare event these days–scan the introduction and conclusions of the papers. 

To help you prepare for Tailings and Mine Waste ‘08 I have written a review of the program.  It is easily accessible at this link.   Take a look and it might persuade you to register and come and enjoy the fall air of the Colorado Rockies.