Oregon has "NOT" outlawed cyanide. There are no current apps pending that I know of, that is true. HOWEVER, the large mines which are currently mothballed ALL have current cyanide permits in hand; the owners I know personally, just don't like the price of gold.
When you see the price of gold go up, you'll see the cyanide ops reopened. I personally know of 7 major mines who have their NaCn permits firmly in hand...one of them, the Grey Eagle (now THAT should ring some bells, yes?) is for sale, permit and all...and is a steal. MK drilled that one and made a tough choice between it and a Nevada operation.
However, as you know, a large chunk of eastern Oregon's gold is not free milling but tied up in sulfides, which does not respond well to a quick and dirty heap leach operation. And those of us involved in steady as she goes lode mining--not in a recreational capacity either!!!--are taking advantage of both the boredom and the low price atmosphere for drilled proven ounces to pick up properties, do our thing off site mostly, and wait out the low gold prices.
No, most of the NEW commercial sized operations which can easily turn a profit in this clime are awating one thing: EIS's which mysteriously never come, and which are the current "excuse du jour" are holding up at least a dozen POOs in this county that I know of.
However, the lawsuits currently being undertaking by our very active mining associations in this state shoud change that, and shortly. Our particularly active M/A waited until Bush's new, pro-mining undersecretary was sworn in before plopping our cause of action in his inbasket. He's been here, visited with our larger umbrella, made some promises which we all feel are going to be kept, and things are moving once again in the Oregon gold mining community for the first time since Bill Clinton put mining in his rifle-scopic sights!!!
If one wants to look for a recent history of gold mining on a commercial level, one should talk to oh, about 3 commercial mining outfits I'm currently aware of, one of which took great advantage of a relatively recently defunct/absorbed "big household name's" terminated ownership. The court cases brought by prior owners to get their land back and thus the mineral rights are steadily trickling through the system, beginning with about 2 years ago.
A huge one was settled only last April, less than one year ago.
Former owners don't incur legal bills to get back worthless dirt and orebodies...
OREGONIAN gold_tutor
Nice to hear from you again, geo in denver. I always enjoy when you pop up. I'd be interested in your read on BGO's ops in the old USSR...did you get to work on that one also? As I recall, you were in the "neighborhood."
My biggest questions regarding investing in nascent ops based over there are these:
have they "the govt" rebuilt the infrastructure enough to support commercial gold extraction, transportation, milling etc?
Are the BGO's etc., still required by USSR or custom to sell only to the govt at the previously fixed price of what used to be as I recall $200 or thereabout per oz?
Thanks, geo for your time and answers, public or private. |
