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Gold/Mining/Energy : Emgold-Lang Mining Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: NYBob1 who wrote (74)	11/22/2007 10:15:59 PM
From: NYBob1	Respond to of 77

It's called the Gold Country for a reason - By Jeff Ackerman, 12:01 a.m. PT Nov 20, 2007 The economy is going to hell in a handbag and we're sitting on a gold mine, wondering how to create jobs and sales taxes to pay for the stuff we take for granted (parks, theaters, law enforcement, fire protection, etc.). Last week the Wall Street Journal reminded us that it would be a terrific time to reopen the Idaho-Maryland Mine, since the price of gold raced above $800 per ounce and they estimate there may be as much as 3 million to 7 million ounces of gold still inside that mine. Let's see ... 7 million ounces of gold times $800 per ounce ... that's ... wait a minute ... nearly a gazillion dollars! You could argue that gold is the only real good economic news today, with falling housing prices and rising oil costs creating a consumer confidence level almost as low as our opinion of Congress. Last time the Idaho-Maryland Mine was open (around 1956), gold was selling at a government-mandated $35 per ounce or so. Emgold Mining Corporation out of Canada has been trying to reopen the mine for the last dozen years, estimating they could extract a million to a million-and-a-half ounces during the 20-year use the permit would allow. If the price holds close to what it is today, that could mean more than $800 million, according to my Math For Dummies handbook. You would think that a community with a couple hundred businesses with the word "Gold" in them would be dancing in the streets with record gold prices and 7 million ounces of it resting right beneath their feet. We even have a football team called the Miners, for crying out loud. And there's a giant statue of a guy with a gold pan out front of the school. It's like Brazil wondering if there might be money in coffee or Saudi Arabia debating whether to pump all that black stuff out of the desert that people use to fuel planes, trains and automobiles. But this is the United States, where it only takes two people and a lawyer to hold things up for a dozen years. My friend Mike runs the Sixteen To One Mine out in Allegheny, and the only reason there is a post office in that little town is the amount of paperwork generated between Mike and government regulators. This is a country that would rather rely on foreign oil than pump the oil within its reach, hoping we'll wake up tomorrow and everyone will be driving a hybrid, taking buses to the supermarket and a mule ride to grandma's for Thanksgiving. Until then we'll sit back and watch the economy collapse right around our sushi. And I'm not saying we ought to let anyone just stick a pump into the ground, mind you. I'm all for saving Mother Earth and so are most of my friends (except Freddie, who mixes his plastic and bottles in the same recycle bin). It just shouldn't take 12 years of red tape and hurdles to do so. Even if Emgold gets the approval to start mining (maybe a year or two off, depending on the Environmental Impact Review findings) there is bound to be at least one lawsuit filed to stop it for another 12 years or so. Never mind that most Grass Valley residents favor the reopening. Never mind that mine officials have worked to satisfy or mitigate most concerns, including the disposition of water and tailings from the shafts. What it generally comes down to is a handful of people who believe that mining - unless it provides them with a grant-funding opportunity - is horrific. They may not have understood the significance to gold mining when they moved to the Gold Country. "I wonder why they call this the Gold Country?" they may have asked, cruising up Highway 49 from Marin County, where mining is forbidden unless it's on a mushroom farm. "I don't know. I think it's the sunsets." Should the mine reopen, the economic impacts would be significant to this community struggling to create jobs and keep younger families (we are already the oldest county in the state) from leaving. Our school enrollments are dropping, in case you haven't noticed. And those tech jobs we are competing with so many other communities to attract are being outsourced to India and beyond. Preliminary estimates show the mine could create as many as 400 jobs, with a combined $22 million annual payroll that would circulate through our local business base. The city would get nearly a million dollars a year added to its general fund, money that will be desperately needed as government looks to keep pace with the cost of services. But don't take my word for it. And don't take the word of those who don't want mining no matter what Emgold does to mitigate their concerns. Educate yourselves. Mine officials have had numerous town hall meetings and have been as transparent as a company can be in an effort to understand and address our concerns. Details are available at idaho-maryland.com or at the City of Grass Valley's Web site, at www.cityofgrassvalley.com/services/departments/cdd/IDMDMINE.php In the Wall Street Journal story last week, Grass Valley Mayor Mark Johnson said he hasn't made up his mind about whether he'll support the project but said he's "cautiously optimistic" it will succeed. "Either way," he told the Journal, "they deserve their day in court." ooo Jeff Ackerman is the publisher of The Union. His column appears on Tuesdays. Contact him at 477-4299, jeffa@theunion.com, or 464 Sutton Way, Grass Valley 95945. God Bless America siliconinvestor.com