US mining laws among most stringent

I am disappointed that your editorial staff would let slip a statement continuing the fallacious concept that U.S. mining law has remained unchanged for over a century (T.N.M., April 2-8/04).

It is true that the fundamental system and process of acquiring certain mineral rights on U.S. federal lands (which is commonly known as the General Mining Law of 1872) has not been substantially altered over that time. However, the context of the story is about the rules that govern development of those minerals. Those rules, whether pertinent to lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management, are as current and rigorous as any in the world. In fact, they are often used as a model by countries desiring to strengthen their environmental protection.

Those regulations require complete public disclosure, compliance with the numerous federal environmental laws and all pertinent state or local requirements, use of state-of-the-art procedures and technology to provide protection of the environment and public health and safety, provision for financial guarantees to assure environmental protection, and provision for appeal by aggrieved parties (which, by the way, is often used but seldom successful — a testimony to the effectiveness of the rules and thoroughness of the review, analysis, and decision-making).

Shame on Tiffany as well, for buying into that lie. They have certainly lost any hope they had for business from me. I would expect a similar reaction from others in the U.S. mining community as their position on this case becomes more widely known.

Ken Loda

Winnemucca, Nev.