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- in reply to: Water and Arsenic: which came first? #1844
This letter could be included in a number of categories on the forum. Later it will join the yet-to-be-developed corporate correspondence archive.
December 2, 1998
Senator Tim Leslie
1200 Melody Land, Suite 110
Roseville, CA 95678Dear Mr. Leslie:
Sadly, I report to you that California’s administration of the Porter Cologne Act is ineffective, out of control and not serving the interests of California. The State Water Board, and its advisor, Mr. Walt Pettit, Executive Director, and Mr. William R. Attwater, Chief Council, and the California Regional Water Quality Control Board Central Valley Region (CRWQCBCVR), its staff and its administrator, Mr. Carlton, are acting like a coalition of autocrats. This behavior is associated with the Kremlin style of government, third world dictatorships, or even worse the Gestapo. These present California regulators lost the concept of due process in their quest for administrative control.
During the past twenty-five years my career has focused in the noble occupation of traditional underground gold mining in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. An awareness and understanding of the mining industry does not come easily. Through my work I have been in practical contact with numerous governmental agencies. From Agricola who was solicitous for the reputation and recognition for the importance of the mineral industry, to the former governor Jerry Brown, who recognized the value of mineral resources and endorsed categorizing and preserving California’s mineral lands, responsible leaders and soothsayers know that mining is a calling of peculiar dignity and benefit to the general public. Individuals appointed to State and Regional Boards must work harder to understand the gold mining industry and go beyond clichés and simplistic characterizations. Andre Agessi was wrong in his popular TV commentaries. Perception is not everything. The essence of facts are more important than perception as we work towards managing the lives of Californians and the bountiful water we share in our state.
Our water quality regulators have misplaced their legislative mandate for intellectual integrity while administering the law. The rules are spelled out in our Porter Cologne Act. They are also violating the disciplines of scientific inquiry for gathering data and the principles behind the State and Federal constitution. I am asking you to aggressively become involved in ending an odious arrogance of publicly paid people who have lost their intellectual integrity.
My company continues to be victimized by employees of the state. Thirty-nine hard working employees and their dependents face unemployment due to poor research by the department of Fish and Game and the staff of CRWQCBCVR. Our plight down the road is easy to follow. Poorly researched data was provided to and gathered by the CRWQCBCVR staff, who disregarded the rules of evidence. One of the greatest perpetrators of illegality was the attorney advising the CRWQCBCVR. Ill informed regional board appointees slept through a Red China type judicial hearing where witnesses were not allowed to present evidence. State Water Board appointees to the CRWQCBCVR dutifully approved lower decisions without inquiry. A smattering of public attorneys forgot about constitutional rights and legal procedures to dutifully protect the fraternity of government employees (whose beliefs were erroneous at the outset). We pay via taxes for all of this abuse as well as pay to defend ourselves.
You and your fellow elected officials have the only power to protect Californians from the abuse of career public employees. You do this by holding those at the pinnacle of power responsible for their actions. Jim Maughn and Adrian Griffin of water quality failed to follow the Porter Cologne Act; Dennis Messa of the department of Fish and Game prepared a report of opinions not an investigation of facts; Ed Carlton failed to administer his staff and failed to discharge his duties; the politically appointed regional board failed to conduct a proper public hearing; the State Water Board failed to seriously review the quality of its underlings; State lawyers failed to exercise their professional code of behavior in conducting a hearing.
Ours is the last and only producing underground deep vein gold mine in California. We are very fragile. We need objectivity, not ill informed clones pandering the party line from those we elect or pay to regulate us. This is what the CRWQCB and the State Board is demonstrating.
Time is of the essence. Please get involved. All of the above mentioned people have forced us into another hearing in January. If our request for a proper hearing by the State and/or Regional Board is denied, we will appeal the decision. If we lose the appeal, we will file a lawsuit against the department of Fish and Game and CRWQCB and name those individuals culpable. Spending money with lawyers does not improve the water quality. I seek an interview with the Chairman of the State Board, the Regional Board and Mr. Pettit or any of the board members. My many attempts for a meeting, which I can document, have failed. There are excuses why they cannot meet with me, but the excuses are weak. They are hiding behind a bureaucratic self-proclaimed shield.
I am available to discuss this further with you or your staff. I am available to meet with any of the water regulators upon short notice. My phone number is (530) 287-3223.
Enclosed is my most recent letter to the shareholders of Original Sixteen to One Mine, Inc. for your reading pleasure.
Sincerely yours,
Michael Miller
Presidentin reply to: 16 to 1 Mine #52in reply to: Stock exchange listing #1842FYI:
Several posts have asked why OAU is no longer traded. OAU was suspended (pending SEC approval of delisting) from trading on the Pacific Coast Exchange (PCX), along with 3 others, for not maintaining the minimum price of $1.00 a share. This requirement of nearly every US exchange is basically a very arbitrary way to limit access and make US stocks seem better than foreign stocks. If you look at the London or Sidney or CVX exchanges, you will find that a good portion of stocks are traded int the cents rather than Euros or A$ or C$.
As to the timing, it was the day before PCX switched to exclusively computerized trading. Nearly all trading was already done via computer as nearly all shares are cross listed on other exchanges with PCX acting as an after hours trading floor and, like Chicago, specializing in options not listed elsewhere on cross listed stocks.
There were only 28 stocks (including OAU) that were exclusively traded on the PCX, and these were the only remaining ones traded on the floor rather than on the current computer system. It was just simpler to suspend OAU on March 21 than bring it over to the computer system on March 22.
As to trading OAU on the Toronto Exchange. Toronto is at least accessible by net stock quote sites – but lists in C$ instead of US$. Not quite what one wants to know. It will not happen anyway as the requirements for Toronto are almost like the NYSC. That is why they changed the Vancouver Stock Exchange into the Canadian Ventures Exchange. Canada needed the equivalent of the original NASDAQ. That is about the only place OAU will currently qualify for in Canada.
As to trying to relist on the PCX, why? It is a waste of time to file suit with very limited funds (even though Pro Se is usually better done than law firm filings, something I know from experience). It would leave OAU unlisted for a very long time during litigation, and even if successful, has the problems listed in my earlier posting (the next one following).
in reply to: Stock exchange listing #1841Dear Mr. Miller:
I do not feel bad about 16 to 1 loosing it’s listing on the Pacific exchange as it was never a good place to list. Not one of the stock listing services such as Yahoo Finance or AOL Quotes would access any stock listed exclusively on the Pacific Exchange, and most brokers would not track anything on it either due to higher commissions. What is the use of having it listed if the listing can not be accessed? I think one main reason for the lack of trading volume in OAU is it simply was impossible to access for most investors unless they went to your web site and found out it was actually listed. Remember that only 27 stocks (including OAU) were unique to the Pacific Exchange, not making it worthwhile for any automated quote system to access them.
Now, as to where to list. DO NOT list on a Canadian exchange. The most logical one the Canadian Ventures Exchange (CVX) is again another exchange that is not accessed by most Net stock reporting services. Much worse, it is not accessed by the majority of brokerages. When I tried to have my broker at Prudential get some CVX quotes, I was told that no broker in the SLC office had subscribed to the option of accessing CVX quotes as Prudential did not trade in CVX shares, even though they trade in most foreign exchanges. Again, what is the use of being listed on an exchange that no one can access or trade on?
NASDAQ: This was originally just a computerization of the old pink sheets. Unfortunately, they have totally forgotten their roots and have since imposed requirements almost as stringent as the NYSC. This is such a disaster to small companies they set up the “NASDAQ Small Caps” listing for companies who do not qualify (mainly because of low share prices) for main NASDAQ listings but who want to avoid the “stigma” of the NASDAQ BBS – the Bulletin Board System is really the current remaining equivalent of the old pink sheets and serves very adequately for making a market. The only real stigma is that there are no real listing requirements other than at least one broker – somewhere – makes a market in that stock, and thus it attracts companies who do not file annual reports, fraudulent companies, etc. so it is a buyer beware type of listing. As nearly every active stock trader realizes this, it just means a bit more due diligence. As long as OAU continues to meet SEC reporting requirements AND produces hard copy reports and mantains a web site, I do not see any reason for not listing on the BBS. You can try for the “Small Caps” listing part of NASDAQ, but I do not know what the requirements are – it is certainly much simpler to list on the BBS – unlike listing on “Small Caps”, that can be done without any formal exchange approval.
One advantage of BBS over Canadian – all listings are fully accessible by every brokerage, traded by every broker, and listed on every Net stock reporting service. For those reasons, I would personally prefer BBS listing to the old Pacific listing.in reply to: Two-headed Front #1838The flagrant and downright deceitful performance of exercising administrative law. Four players represented our government. Three sat at a table facing the fourth, who was the judge. The lawyer’s name was Isabelle something. The inspector was James L. Weisbeck. I remember his name because MMM repeated it throughout the hearing. There was one event that evoked spontaneous and healthy laughter from ten of the eleven people in the room. The US attorney kept objecting to the questions MMM posed to the inspector. She also continued to object to the questions MMM asked the miners and geologists who took the oath to testify. MMM usually objected to the objection. The judge almost always sustained the government’s objection. The judge was also a little slow to respond which was either his natural state of mind or he was old or he was unfamiliar with mines and mining. He may have been a whiz at other mines, but he exhibited little understanding of this hardrock underground gold mine. This is what MMM continually and relentlessly brought into the record. The funny event was…MMM asked a question. The lawyer objected. MMM sustained her objection to his own question. The judge just sat there and seemed confused. The lawyer said you cannot sustain my objection after everyone calmed down. Knowingly or unknowingly MMM proved his point.
Five citations were contested. Each one abused the purpose of the law and MSHA requirements that places the responsibility of safety. Weisbeck graduated from inspector school in March. Five months later he goes to the Sixteen To One mine. It is his first underground inspection. In less than one hour he issues a citation for inadequate warning of a chute overhead in the tunnel. In the next hour he goes to a spot where he writes a citation for inadequate support and reckless disregard by the miner to check for dangerous ground that could hurt a miner. He then found an empty acetylene container against a wall in the shop, which in his judgement could fall over and hurt a miner. The last one seemed so ridiculous but a plate over a restart button lost one of its screws. It was in the janitor supply room. He issued a citation on the merits that someone could get electrocuted. All five of these allegations lacked credible evidence to support them. They should be dismissed, but I doubt will be.
In addition to harassment beyond the limits of law my government breached its fiduciary requirement to me. I have been damaged. Why? The Sixteen to One miners face extinction and they represent the last of the deep hard rock guys. It is my culture as a Californian and as an American. The culture would be gone. We would only see it in a museum. This is why I asked the question. Could someone do a better job at keeping the gold miners working to find gold? I saw the elephant. MMM and his miners have a great hand. It appears to be as hard to dig it out of them as it is to find the high-grade gold. So, my culture can be found in an area known as the Northern Mines. It is a culture that goes back to recorded times, but Richard Henry Dana, who wrote “Two Years Before the Mast” (mid 1830’s) ignites the Pacific coast culture. Nobody was checking the Sierra Nevada mountains for wealth as Dana cruised the coast picking up cow hides. Since he was born a Massachusettian and sailed from Boston, my culture incorporates the Atlantic coast.
It was the gold miners who rushed to and developed California into an American state who laid down the roots of the West. The state began providing its gold to the world in 1848. The Northern Mines gold continued to ignite the Pacific Coast culture. It must continue. I saw the character similarities of those miners in the administration hearing to the gold miners 150 years ago. Our tax dollars were authorized to help American miners. Safe mining was recognized as important to the people in 1977, when the feds got involved. Its only purpose was to protect miners. The most impressive piece of evidence on record is a statement of the miners. The govt. lawyer objected and objected each time it was offered as evidence. MMM read it into the record when Weisbeck was testifying. He kept trying with his miners and each time he later addressed the previous objection. Finally he entered it himself. The judge had to overrule the last try of the fed lawyer to keep it out of evidence and now it becomes a legal oath or manifesto of the Sixteen to One. It is a cultural document which I want to see in print. If available I will buy the transcript, if I get the opportunity.
Our society has drifted far from American mores, culture, law, heritage and common sense. Thomas Payne, where are you now that your country needs you again?
in reply to: Water and Arsenic: which came first? #1837Lynwood:
Your clarification below brought welcome relief to my previous misunderstanding, as my initial interpretation to your topic titled “ADMINISTRATIVE ‘LAW’ ” left me with the impression that such ‘LAW’ should be heeded, rather than challenged. How wrong I can be sometimes….
Your perspective is right on the mark. Let’s not exclude the total picture while we’re at it: not only is the Original Sixteen to One under assault, the full scope of our Freedom is slowly succumbing to the forces of the ignorance that manifests through the guise of ‘public good’ so well exemplified by the MSHA debacle.
Truth: Law is not established by appointment, while ‘Administrative Law’ by appointment should be opposed at all cost. Thanks Lynwood for the explanation so well said.
in reply to: Miscellaneous #1836I have some wind fall dougles and other firs which I need to split for timbers, other wise I will have to drag purchases supports down a 1/2 mile trail. I have the power saw,but will need other recommended items such as specfic wedges, mall etc. I also need to the science and specifics of the actual splitting. Some of the wind falls are 10-15 years old, I am not sure if I have any fresh timber. Maybe I could talk the Forest Service into letting me fall a selected tree. The property is not patented but the property has been in the family prior to 1955, actually since 1901. I am still learning so be patient and I would appreciate any and all comments. Thanks. Bob
in reply to: Miscellaneous #1835I’ve been trying to take the 16 to 1 Miner for the day tour for almost 4 years, but this last weekend it finally became a reality. This was truly a dream come true – one that probably started when I was 10 years old, and my parents took my brother and I to Calico Ghost Town in Southern California.
My day started at 08:00 with a trip to the Gold sales dept. For me this was definitely the most ‘dangerous’ part of the tour!
Then the Mine Manager, Jonathan Farrell, came up to take me down to the upper shop. There I got my belt, and received training on the use of the emergency CO breathing device and a warning on how important this device is to the safety of the miners.
I then got a helmet and light, and it was off into the mine at the 800 level.
Jonathan & I rode the skip down to where Roy was working on the de-watering pumps.
We then went to get a Fin hoe from a very impressive stope, and see the progress on another area that was being opened up.
Then we went down to the 2100 level where the crew was working on opening up/de-watering the shaft down to the 2400 level – Not a job for those with a fear of heights!
All the while we traveled through such beautiful white quartz drifts! And Jonathan’s extensive knowledge of the geology & history of the mine proved quite adequate to answer my endless stream of questions!
We met up with Larry, Billy Joe, and Frank for lunch. Frank was tramming out the waste rock, and Billy Joe and Larry were mining up under the historically mined areas of the 600 level. Both have found gold, and are in promising ground.
Larry took me up to his area, showed me where the big gold pockets were found, and gave me an overview of what to do to work safely in that area. Then Larry put me to work running the slusher while he was working with some of the larger boulders. I was just starting to get a feel for the slusher, when I realized that I was bound up on something. Larry signaled for me to stop. Turns out that there was a 4+ ton rock that had decided to impede my progress. Much to my delight, Larry concluded “Gotta Blast”!
My initial match with an 80 series jack-leg pneumatic drill proved to be less than successful. It was probably tough for Larry to tell if I was drilling, or riding a bucking bronc! However, with some coaching from Larry (use the leg to feed, not to control the angle!), the second hole, after Larry started it, went much smoother!
Now it was time to blast! Larry filled the hole with an ammonium nitrate based powder. And Larry even let me light the fuse! Now that was definitely a kick!
We made our way back to the 800 level for the blast. While the smoke cleared, Billy Joe started me on the slusher working his stope. It was a dual drum brake unit, so it was a little different, but also a kick in the pants to operate! Then Larry and I headed back up into his stope to find only small fragments of the troublesome boulder remaining!
We continued slushing until Billy Joe was ready to blast his 6 rounds. Billy Joe let me light the fuse for his blast (I was really beginning to like this part!). Larry, Billy Joe and myself gathered under the steel sets farther down the 800 level.
We were quite secure, but I was still able to feel a slight blast wave from each of the rounds.
That moment was the climax of what had already been a perfect day. I really had a new appreciation for the determination, guts, and raw power that an underground pocket mine like the 16 to 1 requires before it will relinquish any of its well-protected treasure!
I want to take this tour again! I would sure recommend to anyone with an interest in mining, especially historically accurate underground Gold mining, this is a must-take tour.
I am so grateful that the crew at the 16 to 1 let me experience a piece of their world. Now 50 years from now I won’t by laying on my deathbed saying “Ya know, I sure wish I’d taken that tour at the 16 to 1”.
Thanks to all of you that keep my dream alive every day at the 16 to 1!
-Markin reply to: 16 to 1 Mine #76in reply to: Miscellaneous #1834My good friend owns mines south of you around Bagby but has never mined them. i want to encourage him to let me help him start small.Where can i find the equipment to begin small scale hard rock mining such as shoring engineers, mill, z-myte etc.
in reply to: Two-headed Front #1833So important is it to review the response by gfxgold in the topic about Future below, I decided to expand with a new topic rather than upstaging it by responding in that title.
As many of you are probably aware, I frequently add my perspectives to the Forum both in responses and in new thought, but I feel a need to clarify that I have never worked as an employee of the mine although it may sound that way at times. However, I have looked closely at the obstacles that confront success, occasionally as on Shareholder’s Days underground, but mostly above ground. Clearly these are obstacles defining two entirely different headings: below ground so well explained in gfxgold’s comments, above ground so poorly understood by shortsighted questions defining “success and failures” in the face of political obstacles thrown at the Original Sixteen to One Mine for political gain.
This is a Two-Headed Front. The mine is fortunate to have the competence of Jonathan Farrell as mine manager who makes the underground decisions that formulate success, ultimately the person responsible for the discovery and recovery of gold. The mine is also fortunate to have Michael Miller to formulate success against a never ending political battle being waged against United States Constitutional rights, waged against unchecked political appointments bent on taking advantage of Alleghany’s high profile, waged against the very institution that formulated this great State of California, eventually and indirectly waged against the stock values.
I implore anyone interested to review the other topics on the Forum page that are discussed along these lines (specifically those in response to the arsenic issues), as one would see the depth of the political challenges. With these perspectives in mind, there is no doubt in my mind that there has been no “failure” by the actions of the C.E.O. of the Original Sixteen to One, rather success instead.
“Salted success” is another form of “failure” and we must differentiate the difference between that and honesty defined by truth.
in reply to: 16 to 1 Mine #46in reply to: Two-headed Front #1832Alleghany may be the home for “High-Grade” gold mines in California and the “Sixteen to One” is the most famous. However, the nature of the high-grade deposit is a game of inches. Should you drill one more round because all indications are that the next high-grade deposit is only inches away? Or, should you cut your losses and go in a different direction? Or should you go in three, four, or six different directions? Using information from geologists, history of past discoveries, the latest electronic technology, a lot of hard work from some of the best miners, a little luck and your best guess and you can still come up empty handed. It’s been said that any successful CEO needs to make good decisions fifty one percent of the time. A CEO will have friends and detractors, but few equals. Mike Miller is someone who has thrown himself into his work. He is constantly thinking of ways to benefit the mine. He knows that there are families counting on a paycheck, even if he must not pay himself. Sometimes, he must take a hard stand or unpopular stand to defend the welfare of the mine, it’s employees, and it’s stockholders. He has done this for about fifteen years since OAU was created. How many ounces of gold does there need to be in the next high-grade deposit to make everything OK? Fifty? Five thousand? Fifty Thousand? Or, just enough to get a “feel good” story about the “Sixteen to One” back on the “Six o’clock News”!
in reply to: Water and Arsenic: which came first? #1831All of the above. In that order.
The reason The 16-to-1 has the proverbial target pasted to its back has virtually nothing to do with arsenic (refence the article re: Water Board Decision) but instead to its vulnerability as a political football, its unfortunate subjugation to unchecked politically appointed czarism and a reluctance for the general public to step forth and bridge the challenge of apathetic banality when Constitution issues arise. Generally, apathy wins and ignorance flourishes.
In this case, you are right to again point out that arsenic abounds along the divide, that floods (as historically, non-existent data excludes rational and embraces conjecture instead, the power of persuasion shifting to the pea-brain mentality of the knee-jerk idiot) occur for the same Godly explanation that makes rocks-in-river-courses round. (PS, don’t go movin’ no rocks around when the river ain’t flowing just as they think it should . . .might just inflict a little all-too-ready-to investigate damage to the round edges of round rocks; I remember boulders the size of Nevada County’s longest school-busses crashing into the bridge on the Middle Fork.)
Nut-shell: The mine is a target for publicity and sickly-derived political gain, despite the quantitative validity of whatever any dreamed-up unsubstantiated claims can evoke. Unfortunately, this slams critical thinkers like a ton of muck-in-the-head . . . which is the motive nature of scare-tactic environmentalistic farce.
Unfortunately, the threat exists in a cloak that few have the guts (as you honorably do have Gonzo, and please spread your concerns for us all) stomached enough to respond in a public forum.
This reminiscently reminds me of the maverick idiot who battled not only society but all the knowledge to eventually yield to flight: “You’re dreaming if you think that will fly.” Yet as fortune had it, scepticism defeated, today we summarily dismiss with a toss-of-the-hand the same obstacles that beforehand kept mankind’s feet glued to the ground. No politics then, simply skepticism yeilding to truth.
Today’s skepticism maskerades as ‘The Most Pressing Global Concern That You’re An Idiot To Ignore: Our Earth,’ yet as truth proves, when the proverbial stone is overturned (make sure no one’s looking) we humans may be in charge of discretionary pollution, but damned if we can’t, and shouldn’t, play God.
Which any political bureaucrat invloved in this debacle won’t admit they’re doing . . .
in reply to: Water and Arsenic: which came first? #1830Evidence of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board’s true objectives was on display at the hearing, as Jason has pointed out. Perhaps we’ve stumbled onto the real reason “Control” is hidden in their name . . .
Imagine the reaction to these next three words (in fact, try it on some of your friends) and you will discover the agenda: “Mine, Discharge, Arsenic.”
Without a shred of facts, the political implication stands naked for all to see . . .it sounds as if some fly-by-night, out-of-control, gross-poluting, earth-ruining criminal is trying to kill children and feed old ladies catfood.
I’ve given these words to some friends a few times since the hearing, asking for what course of action they initially felt by the words, and what do you know, every person has said “Shut them down if they’re using arsenic and contaminating the drinking water.”
Yet when I went on to explain how they’ve been intentionally misled, providing the fact that no arsenic is used, that aresenic occurs naturally all the way to the Yuba River confluence, that the arsenic in Kanaka Creek is below 10ppb at the spot where it exits the mine’s property (13ppb above stream while standard is 50ppb), that the Board defined “drinking water” as any surface water in the State, that the Board admits that even if the mine weren’t operating the arsenic level in the creek wouldn’t change, that indeed the data was misplaced somehow, that operations without a milling process most likely would bring new light to the Water Board’s staff’s recomendations . . . .
. . . then those three words didn’t seem so dirty. Jason’s testimony pointed out a crucial fact that was blatantly ignored: Kanaka Creek has 303d status, already designating it by the Water Board to be non-drinking water (again, the ambient level of arsenic–that level already upstream of the mine–is above their standards already!). It just didn’t matter. The facts didn’t matter.
So the only possible conclusion is as follows: the political clout non-critical thinkers bestow on the Gray Davis Administration through their false allegations, allows his Water Board to say “We’re going after a gross-poluting mine that discharges arsenic and have succeeded.”
You’d think the objective would be to regulate arsenic levels in the drinking water, not feel-good-politics. Yes, you read correctly: they don’t care about the level of arsenic, because it’s within their own standard. It’s all a bunch of . . .
in reply to: Water and Arsenic: which came first? #1829I think today’s decisions were an affront to not only scientific principles but logical thought as well. The board decided to increase the amount of water sampling and reporting required when they cannot even maintain complete records of the data that the mine did submit over the past 13 years.
One good thing about the meeting was that it seemed to me that the board listened a bit more to our side, in stark contrast to the demeanor of the board back in 1997-1998.
Let’s look forward to a fourm in which the mine can finally receive a fair hearing and where hopefully logic and common sense will be afforded more weight.
Jason Burke
in reply to: Water and Arsenic: which came first? #1804Try this one on for perspective:
Recent discoveries by the EPA revealed arsenic levels in Sacramento’s Curtis Rail Yard somewhere between 25,000 and 46,000 PPB, yet where do we read of the quantitative distinction in Sacramento’s major newspaper? Yes…last time I drove north on I5, the evidence of ‘clean-up’ shouts at you as you look east…and the site lies along the Sacramento River. The same River fed by Kanaka Creek. The same water ostensibly rendered ‘poisonous’ by leaky levels of arsenic delivered into the system by eons of natural erosion, 150 years ignored by the politically motivated environmental movement.
Let’s examine the relative publicity surrounding both the Curtis Rail Yard and the miniscule ‘green’ (as much as I abhore the term, but for the sake of clarification I use it for relative perspective to those who understand only rhetoric), yes ‘green’ mining techniques employed by the Sixteen to One:
Thousands of miles of track have been lain with ballast support utilizing arsenic-laden waste from copper-smelting, a common form of refinement throughout the world…tracks lining rights-of-way that often follow river courses, the most direct routes of commerce, the sources of vast tax revenues confiscated by governments throughout the country. 25,000 PPM vs. possible naturally occuring arsenic levels of 25 to 500 PPM in Kanaka Creek.
Which of these ‘atrocities’ has received the distinction from the press?
Right…The small, insignificant one with the most accessible political potential…
in reply to: Water and Arsenic: which came first? #1803Well stated Rick!
in reply to: 16 to 1 Mine #42in reply to: Water and Arsenic: which came first? #1798Private property rights, of course, do not include the right to pollute another’s property, yet let’s examine the issue recently brought to light by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board.
There are a number of things on the table, all in concert with each other. The formost: a non-elected board, appointed (politically motivated, of course) has redefined the definition of drinking water, redefined ‘primary use’ of water in Alleghany, redefined jurisdiction and redefined chemistry.
Arsenic is a natural element. Arsenopyrite is a naturally occurring ore: FeS2FeAs2 It happens to be associated with quartz deposites, specifically arsenopyrite, found in hard rock gold mines in California. The Sixteen to One has been told (through unchallenged regulation) to ‘clean-up’ arsenic dumping in Kanaka Creek, based on sampling of effluent discharge from 1999 when an entirely different set of circumstances existed: the mill was grinding up quartz with minute quantities of naturally occurring arsenopyrite (no longer running), samples taken ignored any dillution factor once added to the creek’s naturally flowing volume, ignored the subsequent downsteam water volume from tributaries, ignored the fact that no one uses Kanaka Creek water for drinking water, ignored the fact that for 150 years mines along Kanaka Creek encountered arsenopyrite, and ignored the fact that the primary use of the water isn’t defined as drinking water, anywhere from Alleghany to the Pacific Ocean.
I challenge anyone in the California Regional Water Quality Control Board to dip their mug into the Sacramento River and take a long drink. They won’t, because arsenic exists from manufactured agricultural pesticides…in far greater quantity than a trickle of naturally occurring water coming out of a two inch pipe from an operation that isn’t even operating!! Go figure.
What’s at stake here isn’t the health of those cited by the Water Board. Instead, what’s at stake is our sovereignty to retain jusrisdiction of regional water rights that predate the existence of today’s fear tactics, employed by the politically motivated environmental movement playing God.
Guess what? Water and arsenic were here billions of years before someone invented the California Regional Water Quality Control Board.
Y’all might be interested in the forthcoming mueum website and domain name.
I have pre-registered for a new .museum domain name. These might be available this month (October). I’ll let everyone know when the new name hits the street.
The website is being developed in the background and will go online when our new name is avalable. I am carefully watching your desires for the museum website and will try to include them all.Cheers,
Grover Cleveland
Director and Erstwhile WebmasterDoes the museum have a gift shop selling photos, books, specimens, quartz with a flash of California gold, jewelry and postcards that we can write and send from Allegheny?
I recently bought the Miners Ring as advertised under Gold Sales. It’s a pleasure to wear a piece of California with all the historical significance, and just plain attractive simplicity.
in reply to: 16 to 1 Mine #35Original is a superior web site, but I would like to see it add to its vertical topic-links information about the Museum. As I understand, the Museum is a 501 c, non-profit. Tax deductible gifts, cash or stocks, would help preserve California Heritage. With enough donations, or one great donor, perhaps the Museum could consider purchase of fine, unique specimens such as the Whopper, to maintain them locally. I don’t know anything about the Museum, could it be located in Nevada City where many tourists and California history buffs could view real California nuggets? Would a fabulous display by the Museum in the Nevada Hotel be an educational magnet? I would sure like to see the gold on display and yet build up the operating capital.
Dick Davis
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