Press release 4/16/21
Mining Exploration Threatens Long Valley, Please Comment by May 6, 2021 to Stop the Proposed Project, says Sierra Club Range of Light Group
April 16, 2021 – Proposed mining exploration threatens the future of the scenic, economically, and ecologically important Long Valley area in Mono County and the Sierra Club Range of Light Group is encouraging local Eastern Sierra residents and organizations, as well as those that recreate in the Eastern Sierra, to speak up. Concerned citizens have until May 6, 2021 to participate in the current 30-day public scoping period for the proposed Long Valley Exploration Drilling Project proposed by Kore USA Ltd. (Kore Mining).
Kore Mining proposes to construct a total of fourteen drilling pads, measuring 30 feet by 50 feet each. Access to these drill pads will require re-opening roughly a third of a mile of road for the duration of the project. Impacts of this proposed project include: local quality of life, tourism, air quality, noise pollution, decimated habitat of local flora and fauna (including endangered sage grouse and local deer). The impacts of the exploration might be only the beginning, however. If the company finds a sufficient quantity of gold to mine, that activity could affect important habitats, create long lasting water pollution issues, and forever scar Long Valley.
Royal Gold drilled in this same place in the 1990s and others before Royal Gold did so in the 1980s. Companies searching for gold when the price of gold is high will plague us indefinitely. That is why it is time to amend the 1872 mining law to allow the U.S. Forest Service to deny a project when the harm outweighs the benefits.
If you live, work, or recreate in the Eastern Sierra and have concerns about the impact of this proposed project, or the prospects of larger scale mining in this scenic and important landscape, we encourage you to submit your comments by May 6, 2021 and ensure your concerns are included in the Inyo National Forest’s analysis. Let Inyo National Forest know you oppose categorical exclusion and request that Kore Mining provide an environmental assessment. Only those who provide comment by May 6, 2021 can continue to participate in the conversation of the proposed project beyond that date. If the project becomes a categorical exclusion there will be no other time to participate.
“As a Categorical Exclusion, this will be our only chance to comment on this project. The price of gold is high, making it more profitable to actually extract it. This may finally be the exploration that turns into an industrial-scale open pit mining operation that permanently scars this important landscape,” says Boulton, Chair of the Range of Light Group.
Submit comments electronically at the USFS website: https://cara.ecosystem-management.org/Public//CommentInput?Project=59294. If you cannot submit your comment on the project website, contact Colleen Garcia, Minerals Program Manager by email at [email protected] and/or by phone at (760) 920-0285.
About Range of Light Group
The Sierra Club Range of Light Group, part of the Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter, represents the Sierra Club in Mono and Inyo Counties, a beautiful area rich in natural, scenic, and recreational values and benefits. We engage both our members and a wide array of local stakeholders in our work to safeguard our region’s diverse landscapes and outdoor opportunities. Membership and participation in the Range of Light Group is open to all interested in enjoying, protecting and exploring the Eastern Sierra.
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April 19, 2021 at 12:48PM
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