To: AlphaRomero who wrote (66665 ) 8/10/2009 7:04:36 PM From: E. Charters 1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) | Respond to Gold pasture is being outlawed by McGoofy and his band of merry morons. They now have 37 classifications of land that may be withdrawn from staking or have reason for its title to be challenged by other interested parties. i.e. anti mining forces or SIGS. In the old mining law, widely copied worldwide, there was only one classification of land that could be withdrawn from staking. Mining rights took precedent over other land rights. In spite of this, and because of the remote nature of mines, their minimal footprint, and the strict environmental regulations that have existed in Canada since the 1930's, there were never any real conflicts or complaints about land use by mines, or environmental problems. Granted there was the odd bad example. Not that many, surprisingly. The only one I would point to where I took umbrage was the Sherman Mine due to its skirting of normal tailings pond practices. This was due to graft, not bad policy. 90% of mines, when they close leave no tracks so to speak. They are almost always unfindable within a few decades, despite the earlier lack of laws in the earlier part of the century requiring removal of all surface structures and purposefully returning all the land to natural state. It will return anyway in fact. I can testify to this have had the job of finding old mines. People take the stuff away anyway because it is valuable, and nature's reseeding efforts for the most part cannot be excelled.
