Re: This War Of Mine
Hermelindo Sauceda
A century ago, Centralia, Pennsylvania was a busy small town filled with shops, residents and a brisk mining business. Coal from local mines fueled its homes and its economy, and its 1,200 residents worked, played and lived as tight-knit neighbors.
You will see mine tailings and the mine itself which goes in several hundred feet. There is another mine directly northeast of this mine but it is closed off and only went in about 30 feet or so.
Mining corporation Hudbay Minerals Inc. proposed to dig a mile-wide open-pit copper mine in the Santa Ritas that would have buried dozens of Tribal sacred sites under 1.8 billion tons of toxic waste. Construction of the mine, called Rosemont, would have destroyed the ancient village and burial grounds of the Hohokam people, ancestors of modern Tribes who lived and farmed the deserts of Southwestern Arizona.
This is a common abuse of the Mining Law, especially for gigantic open-pit mines like Rosemont. As mining companies began building massive industrial-scale operations in the 20th century, they twisted the law to fit their need for thousands of acres of additional public lands for waste dumps. The Forest Service has simply turned a blind eye to these baseless rights, letting companies run roughshod over our public lands.
In 2017, the Tribes turned to Earthjustice for help, after being sidelined by the Forest Service during the requisite consultation process for the proposed mine. Through this partnership, the Tribes imparted the deep importance of the Santa Ritas to attorney Stu Gillespie.
This mine is listed in the Nipton, CA directory, but is just north of the border in NV. Primm is the closest town, but is too far to be accurate, so I included it in the Nipton directory. There is a way to get to the Lucy Gray mine from Primm, Nevada by going around the dry lake bed and following the railroad tracks, but it's mile after mile of washboard trail until you can cross under the railroad. Normally, this wouldn't bother me, but until you are able to cross the tracks, there's nothing interesting to see. You can't even see the mountains on the other side of the elevated tracks. I found the best way there is from the Nipton side which is further, but much faster.
Be aware, the Lucy Gray Mine is located just north of the Nevada border, but if you approach from the Nipton side, you will briefly pass through California. Being along the border, this is an area we've seen regularly patrolled. I only mention that because I know many of you travel armed and California requires that firearms in a vehicle be unloaded and locked/cased. Violations will, at a minimum, have your firearm(s) confiscated and likely end in arrest.
Sadly, the Lucy Gray has been sealed by backfilling, foam, and bat bars. We have found no alternate way in. We were told there was a vent shaft that may have been missed which could possibly allow access. We were later able to locate the rumored vent shaft at the top, but found it sealed as well with bat bars. The cabin is in surprisingly good shape and there are still plenty of relics including tools and furniture. At the base of the mine is an old yellow dump truck. I popped the hood and it looks like it was just parked there at the end of the shift. Give it some diesel and a fresh battery and it just might start.
This area is posted as radioactive, but it is an unofficial warning. Thorium and Uranium were mined in the area, but many miles away. According to the USGS Full Report, neither were listed as secondary or tertiary ore at this mine. It's possible that the mine interior contains elevated levels of radon, which is common for hard rock mining in this area, but would not be harmful from the ventilated surface. The mine is sealed, so radiation is not an issue. The warning was just spray painted on site. I think someone may have been trying to keep people away or trying to be funny. Don't eat the dirt and you won't get super powers.
It was said that a Mormon prospector returning to Utah discovered a curious blue patch of mud in the McCullough Mountains near the Lucy Grey Mine. It was unfamiliar to him, so the samples he collected remained in cigar tins for years until he rediscovered them in storage. When closely examined the blue mud was found to be encrusted with diamonds of varying quality.
The prospector returned to the McCullough Mountains where he believed he collected the samples, but was unable to relocate the blue mud. Diamonds have been found in every US state, but most often in waterways and never at the source which is a pipe of igneous rock near volcanoes. There have only been two commercial diamond mines in the US and neither were in Nevada, but the legend is still plausible.
The description of the blue mud best describes decomposing kimberlite, the igneous rock best known as a host rock of diamonds. Volcanic activity is evident throughout the area and the lost diamond search spread as far South as Potosi Mountain. The entire range has been heavily prospected for many decades. At this point, it's unlikely an undiscovered diamond pipe will ever be found. Some say the story was always a hoax. True or not, now you know the origin of Blue Diamond Road.
WASHINGTON, June 29, 2020 ----- Today the Trump administration initiated the process for approving a toxic copper mine in the headwaters of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota, the most visited wilderness area in the U.S.
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness contains 1,200 miles of canoe routes and more than 1,000 lakes left by receding glaciers. The pollution resulting from the proposed Twin Metals mine would inevitably harm the water quality and ecology of these protected public lands and waterways.
In May 2019, the Trump administration renewed the mining leases on the basis of a cursory environmental assessment by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management that failed to consider the well-documented and devastating harm from sulfide-ore copper mining and failed to examine alternative options for lease renewal to increase protection. The assessment cited none of the dozens of scientific studies documenting those harms. For its part, the Forest Service failed to meet its obligation to ensure that lease renewals do not threaten the Boundary Waters, failing to explain how its approval would avoid the severe impacts it so recently disclosed.
The Wilderness Society, founded in 1935, is the leading conservation organization working to protect wilderness and inspire Americans to care for our wild places. With more than one million members and supporters, The Wilderness Society has led the effort to permanently protect 111 million acres of wilderness and to ensure sound management of our shared national lands. www.wilderness.org.
In June I had the pleasure of taking part in my first Mine Action Fellows Forum only a month after joining Mines Action Canada as the new Project Officer. The Mine Action Fellows program includes a group of over 80 dedicated youth from around the world involved in the mine action sector, who Mines Action Canada (MAC) supports due to their valuable contributions and voices. Specifically, MAC focuses on including young women in disarmament, since historically women have been excluded from this sector. Gender biases exist in many parts of the mine action sector, and our youth program is one way of countering these biases. These Fellows are either working or volunteering for a mine action organization in their home countries, and many are from mine affected communities. Mine action can include supporting victims of landmines, educating civilians on how to avoid landmines, and clearing landmines in affected communities. This on-the-ground experience makes their input extremely important, not to mention the importance of capacity-building for future leaders in this field of work. Youth of today will be the ones who finish the job, so we should prepare them for it!
Before I took part in this trip, I only understood the premise of the Mine Action Fellows Forum: an opportunity for the Fellows to build their skills, increase their knowledge, expand their networks, and meaningfully engage in international meetings related to disarmament. The forums involve participating in relevant international fora, where governments and civil society gather to discuss disarmament, but also much more. In between meetings, our Mine Action Fellows have the chance to network; speaking to countless experts in the field, as well as diplomats from across the world, to build their knowledge and experience on how progress is really made and build connections with people who are also in the field. Mines Action Canada also organizes learning activities to enhance leadership skills, such as learning more about what type of leader you are. But nothing could have prepared me for how amazing the Fellows themselves really are!
The National Mine Director Meeting is very different from the Mine Ban Treaty Intersessionals. The National Mine Directors meeting is a professional development meeting where mine action workers from around the world come together to discuss best practices. Largely, these meetings involve interesting and informative presentations and then some time for questions and answers.
At the Mine Action Fellows Forum some of the items on our agenda for the week included a tour of the International Museum of the Red Cross, panel discussions with civil society experts, and various peer learning sessions. The International Museum of the Red Cross was a place where the Fellows could take their time to explore the history of aid during dangerous times for civilians. The Museum is very engaging, as throughout your tour, there are life-size video recordings of survivors telling their stories. This makes you face the hard truths of armed conflict. Mines Action Canada also organized two panel discussions with civil society experts from The Landmine Monitor, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, The Halo Trust, and Mines Advisory Group. These discussions were really informal and informative; the panelists talked about the work they do and how they are successful, and the Fellows had the chance to ask any questions they had.
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