The Minerals and Mining Advisory Council and the Rise of the Modernized Mining District

Having written about the revitalization of mining districts in a past post, I was pleased to discover that an organization called the Minerals and Mining Advisory Council (MMAC) has undertaken the task of providing education and support for those miners wishing to organize and modernize the historical mining districts in their areas.

While the process is both more complicated and less straightforward than we might like to imagine, with the help of the MMAC it is altogether doable as evidenced by the fact that as of August 23, the MMAC had at least 30 modernized mining districts with enough pending that they expect to finish the year with about 200 organized mining districts.

In addition to the above figures, the modernized mining districts of the MMAC have so far taken back 5,568,000 acres of federal land to the benefit of the mining community.

In spite of these gains, much remains to be done.  For example, many areas (including Washington state) do not yet have any organized mining districts.  Mining districts, as the MMAC is structuring them, would put an end to such shenanigans as those I wrote about in my last post.

To learn more about the MMAC, their legislative and other initiatives, and how they can help you protect your rights as a miner, visit their website as linked above as well as their Facebook page where they post the latest updates.  And, above all else, get involved.

Let's put mining back in the hands of miners where it belongs.