Washington State Miner

Tom

"Don'cha know the suction dredgers are killin' all the fish?"

Such would seem to be the refrain of the anti-mining environmental crowd, whose most recent demonic spawn appeared as the "Give Fish a Chance Act," which has apparently succumbed to saner heads -- at least for now.

Lest anyone think there might be some shred of truth to the mantra that dredging causes serious harm to fish populations, please consider this recent item in The Spokesman Review for February 23, 2014:

Huge Runs of Salmon Predicted for Columbia River

The story opens with the following facts:

Another, even bigger, version of 2013’s record run of fall chinook to the Columbia River is forecast for this year – the largest flood of salmon since fish counts began at the new Bonneville Dam in 1938.

State, federal and tribal fish managers expect 1.6 million fall chinook salmon to head for the mouth of the Columbia this summer. That’s a 26 percent increase from the 1.26 million record run in 2013 that allowed anglers to set harvest records from the lower river through the Hanford Reach.

The article, which can be accessed at the link in the title above, is well worth reading in full.

As to whether this news will dampen the ardor of the environmental-crazies crowd, I'm not holding my breath.

Tom

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission has set their next meeting for March 7-8 at the Moses Lake Civic Center, 401 S. Balsam, Moses Lake, Washington. The meeting will begin at 8:00 A.M. on Friday and at 8:30 A.M. on Saturday. There do not appear to be any mining-related topics on the agenda although there is an 'Open Public Input' period each day for items not already scheduled.

Interested parties may view the official agenda at the link here.

Tom

The Washington Division of Geology and Earth Resources has published a report on the Germania Mine:

Information Circular 117. Inactive and abandoned mine lands--Germania Mine, Cedar Canyon Mining District, Stevens County, Washington, by F. E. Wolff, B. T. Garcia, D. T. McKay, and D. K. Norman. 2014. 21 p.

This report is available for free download at the link above.

Tom

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission will hold a telephone conference on Friday, February 14, at 8:30 A.M.

The first item on the agenda is a staff report by Pat Chapman and Perry Harvester regarding a petition to change the Mineral Prospecting rule in WAC 220-110-206 (Authorized work times and mineral prospecting equipment restrictions by specific state waters for mineral prospecting and placer mining projects) pursuant to RCW 34.05.330 (Petition for adoption, amendment, repeal -- Agency action -- Appeal).

No other details regarding this petition are available as of this writing.

The public may listen to this telephone conference as explained by the Commission:

The public may listen to the discussion on speakerphone by coming to the Commission Office at the Department of Fish and Wildlife headquarters, Natural Resources Building, 5th Floor, 1111 Washington Street SE, Olympia or one of the Regional Offices. If you plan to come to one of the offices to listen to the conference call please contact Commission staff at (360) 902-2267 so we can ensure adequate space is available.

The published Commission agenda may be viewed at the link here.

Tom

Mineweb writer Dorothy Kosich has posted an article detailing what may be the latest significant threat to the mining industry in some time.

Her article examines how, according to the American Exploration and Mining Association (formerly the Northwest Mining Association), the BLM and USFS are using the proposed listing of the Greater Sage-grouse as a threatened or endangered species to remove over 17 million acres in the western U.S. from coverage by U.S. Mining Law.

Reader's wishing to familiarize themselves with the details of this latest issue are encouraged to read the Mineweb article at the link here, as well as an AEMA summary in downloadable PDF format here.