I’ve received a lot of feedback that I sure should start
blogging again, and so it is!
The past year has been a busy one, but most interest seems
to be about our small scale permit and associated mining.
To make a very long story short, I will say we did get a
little mining done last season but were rudely interrupted by an early blizzard
which dumped feet of snow in the area. We had moved to town a few days
previous, but power outages associated with the storm forced us to spend those
first few days with accommodating family members. We spent the next weeks, like
everyone else in the area, cleaning up broken trees. We were lucky there was no
significant damage to structures in our neighborhood.
That storm called a halt to mining, but we were pleased that
our expectations in recovery were met. Even with the down-sized temporary
equipment we had employed, we proved the gold is there!
The winter brought more snow and spring run-off was healthy.
A wet spring kept flows going in the creeks.
July 8 was the date when a letter from the US Forest Service
was received stating they were unable to renew the Plan of Operations because
they need to perform an environmental analysis for longer term mining.
That means we’re back to pick and shovel mining while a
permit sits on our desk.
We’ve had some good friends helping us out with digging…
Ryan from California, Kris from Iowa, Brian and Greg from eastern South
Dakota. We thank them. We’ve also met
some great new prospecting friends through emails we receive.
So it appears to us, based on the information received so
far, that we have a choice of reducing our operation or paying more bond. We’re
not sure how that conclusion was reached considering we did not come even close
to meeting our projected annual disturbance due to the storm and the fact that
an environmental analysis had not yet been performed?
It also strikes us that we are paying legal fees to mitigate
with the US Forest Service while paying taxes to support the agency shutting us
down!
We now have information that this is not a unique situation…
nothing personal! Our feeling is that “multi-use” of the National Forest is
being targeted and none of us are really welcome.
Drop us an email if you wish to support the Fox “save
mining” fund; we need both financial and mental support of this issue.
