MINING NEWS: Mining industry seeks reasonable reform

Laura Skaer, executive director of the Northwest Miners Association, outlined the top 10 problems she sees with H.R. 2262 at the Alaska Miners Association convention in early November. The bill:

• Would require a 4 percent gross royalty tax on existing mining operations, and an 8 percent levy on new operations;

• Has a mine veto provision that allows the Secretary of the Interior to deny an operations permit to a project that complies with all other laws and regulations if the secretary determines that the operation will cause undue degradation to public lands and resources;

• Includes massive withdrawals from mineral entry;

• Allows states, political subdivisions, and Indian tribes to petition to have lands withdrawn from mineral entry;

• Provides no life of mine permits. Permits would be for 20 years with only one renewal of 20 years. The total life of a mine could only be 40 years;

• Establishes new and duplicative environmental standards that are vague, ambiguous and inconsistent with current federal and state environmental laws;

• Codifies the Leshy Ancillary Use Opinion by requiring a valid mining claim, valid mill site or valid tunnel site in order to have any rights under the mining law;

• Fails to provide security of title and tenure needed to attract investment capital;

• Requires buffer zones near national parks and National Conservation System Units, and;

• Calls for unnecessary and harsh enforcement mechanisms.

Skaer said the mining industry supports commonsense and reasonable mining law reform. Reasonable changes would include requiring a net-proceeds royalty of 5 percent, instead of the 8 percent proposed in H.R. 2262; providing security of tenure on federal lands; and guaranteeing the right to occupy lands from entry to closure.

Mining companies also envision a new mining law recognizing existing state and federal laws that govern the mining industry.

—Shane Lasley