[Ski]

If you log onto the "Gifford Pinchot Task Force" website ( this was my first visit there ), you'll find a blinking "alert" about a proposal for a 3000-acre copper mine in the immediate vicinity of Goat Mountain- one ridge north of Mt. Margaret down by Mt. St. Helens. I climbed Goat Mountain about 10 years ago and remember looking down into those river valleys in the middle of the night and seeing all those tiny lights flickering from flashlights and campfires, and listening to some lonely coyote cryin' his heart out near the lake below me. It just doesn't seem like a good idea to me. You might want to check it out and send a rant off to NFS in Vancouver and the BLM in Oregon. Thanks.

[MtnGoat]

We should evaluate the quality of the ore body as well and take a look at the economics. If sufficient bond can be posted, it may be worth consideration, I believe the US imports more copper than it produces.

[Snow_Knot]

Im OK with it, we cant freak out every single time we decide to try and do something " at home" ... The cost of metals are going through the roof, It costs over 3 cents to make a penny... Now that I think about it, maybe we should all just turn in our penny's to the recycler.

[LittleHikerMom]

Yeah, I got the email from WTA. I don't think they should destroy beautiful scenic places like that. They should mine stuff in deserts or elsewhere. They need to leave our forests alone. The WTA suggests writing your senators and such to show that you do not support the destruction of such fine forestland.

[MtnGoat]

[Stones]

[Jake]

Until someone comes up with a way to get minerals from thin air we will have to mine them. As said above; we have to go where the minerals are. We can't place them where we want them and then do the mining. And there is no place in the U.S. including off shore that someone wont like. As they say: "If it can't be grown it's got to be mined."

[scm007]

It really depends. I'm not too well versed on what regulations are in place, but if it is done with minimal destruction, and with sufficient bond money to repair the land, then I'm OK with it. Can anybody tell me what the new rules are regarding mining?

[Jake]

Quite a bit of rules and laws that must be followed. Not enough room on this entire form to describe them all. However, they must mitigate all local problems such as roads, environmental issues, community impact and so on. Now state, federal and local laws differ slightly and I have no idea who owns the property to be mined. I would guess it may be a mix of federal, state and private.That would all have to be taken into consideration too. Regardless, they must also post a reclamation bond to recover the land and wildlife to it's prior condition...well, as best it can be. Seems the problem is not so much with the laws as it is enforcing them. Sometimes the county, state, federal or local authorities look the other way as mining companys slip out the back door. This seems to have been the case with the Bren Mac mine up the North Fork of the Sultan River above Spada Lake back in the 70's when they left a mess that to my knowledge never did get cleaned up. The Midnight mine near Spokane ran out of money and left it to the Super Fund to deal with. Make no mistake, I am very much for mining, but someone does need to keep a finger on these people as they mine and as they pull out. The vast majority of mining companies do act responsibly but it's the shoddy ones we hear about and they give the entire industry a black eye as they say.

[yew]

Maybe it'd be better to import a lot of our copper from overseas? People in countries like Peru are poor and really need those mining jobs. Recycling of copper will become less economically attractive if we keep increasing the supply with new mines here in the US. If there's an incident that causes geopolitical instability and the US is cut off from overseas copper, than the price will increase and we can then open up the Goat Mtn mine and elsewhere? Just an idea, perhaps a bad one. Some places ought to be off-limits to mining even if we use a lot of minerals. Who's for opening the mine near Glacier Peak within the boundaries of the Wilderness Area?

[Jake]

Please count me as one who does not want to mine the Glacier Peak Wilderness. That site cannot be mined anyway as the patented claims are too narrow to allow open pit mining by county regulations and underground would not be cost effective. This Goat Mountain mine???? I've never been there so I can't say. But what was said above is true; you have to mine where the minerals are and if that's at Goat Mountain then the area should be looked at as a POSSIBLE MINE SITE. As for importing copper from abroad, my heart is with the poor people of Peru and other poor nations but out trade deflict sucks as it is and we do already import minerals from other counties.

[andrew e]

I think it's worth reminding folks that this proposed 3,000-acre mine would be situated on mountain just two miles from the northern boundary of Mount St. Helens National Monument. It's a fine hike, and one that's also very popular with equestrians. Goat Mountain is visible from many of the popular trail in the Monument and I don't know about you, but I'm not too crazy about scarring that landscape for a mineral that is one of the more easily recyclable minerals out there: http://www.icsg.org/Factbook/copper_world/recycling.htm Here's a good news story on the project from NW Cable News: http://www.nwcn.com/sharedcontent/VideoPlayer/videoPlayer.php?vidId=73301&catId=230 And an article in the Olympian on the project: http://159.54.227.3/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060627/OUTDOORS0201/606270373/1038 Personally, I think we should probably ditch the penny. A waste of resources, most folks just let them pile up in jars at home.

[Stones]

FYI on copper content in pennys from the US Mint:

[Ski]

[Malachai Constant]

We could have a contest to try and distinguish it from St. Helens