There are many reasons why we should be harvesting our own raw materials that already exist in this country, rather than importing them, whenever feasible or possible. When there are reasons that prevent us from harvesting those natural resources within our own country, then and only then should we look to our trading partners to supply us with those raw materials and resources. When we can extract such raw materials within our borders and transport them short distances to processing facilities, manufacturing factories, refineries, power plants, and shipping or rail ports for export quickly and profitably. In our country we have seen the loss of most of our mining in the last 40 years. Some of it was due to the federal Clean Water Act of 1972, which was intended to prevent pollution from things like strip mining.

Many other mines, drilling rigs, and plants were closed due to cost. This was often due to the world market price of minerals or natural resources. Much of the mining was shut down due to regulations, labor costs, unions, OSHA rules, etc. Some examples of the cost problems in mining have been overwhelming. In reviewing the recent gold mine closure in Butte, MT, we found that the mine was closed due to increased energy costs to crush the rocks and extract the gold. There the energy costs went from $280,000 per month to 1.6 million per month. Sure there were other issues, but imagine getting that electricity bill and trying to manage your expenses. Unpredictable energy costs are necessary for mining and other heavy industries, price spikes as well as excessive regulations are a deadly nail.

Now, in many countries, people have protested the mines, gold and silver are easy to protest because they are associated with greed, since those minerals are also considered legal tender. A great mine to visit is one of the first gold mines in the country, The Reed Gold Mine in Charlotte. There were over 300 gold mines in North Carolina in the 1820’s. This, of course, long before the CA 49’ers. The Reed mine was active until 1912. A total of 13 gold mines closed in the last two years in response to falling gold prices or ore depletion in Canada. It is no longer feasible to collect gold under the required conditions in most of North America unless it can be collected along with other precious metals and the remaining material can be sieved for iron ore, copper or other metal. There are several places on Earth where multiple metals appear in close proximity. Mining often, like many industrial endeavors, can cause air pollution. When it’s mined, the unused excess builds up and often causes leaching into the ground when it rains, those other released minerals being more concentrated than much of the normal downstream water.

This is because the minerals have been buried for centuries beneath layers from earlier periods. At the old Berkeley Pit, a closed copper mine not far from Sunlight Goldmine in Montana, the rainwater that mixed with the minerals left at the bottom of the Pit was quite toxic and contained arsenic, which is harmful in large quantities. quantities for humans. and animals Although arsenic is a poison, it is part of the natural minerals found in nature and is common in that area. Small trails aren’t too bad, but once they get too high, it’s cause for alarm.

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Transportation costs are also important in mining. Most of the mines that are still in business today are in close proximity to major rail lines, even with all the regulations and rules that are in place, there is still some mining going on in the United States; Borax in Dagget, CA. The Borax mine was moved from the Harmony Borax Works mine in Death Valley, the second hottest place on Earth with temperatures reaching 134 degrees. Mojave. This is an illustration of why the transportation factor is critical in mining efficiency to keep down the costs of factories, which use the raw material or natural resources.

If you look at surface mines in North America, those with direct rail service to the site can compete if economies of scale and market prices remain stable. There are also many other factors to consider, for example if your other countries don’t have the same rules for environmental controls they can often sell those raw materials to other countries which in turn can sell their finished products like special alloys, steel , etc. at prices below what their companies can produce. Which would appear to be dumped; selling their products for less than what it costs them to produce them. Many countries support such industries with huge tax incentives or by subsidizing those industries and/or companies. There are many reasons for this, sometimes it is simply to ensure that those companies are in the business of selling products to government agencies of countries for infrastructure projects. Other times it is to appease the workforce and provide jobs. Sometimes it is in retaliation for a perceived or real trade war with another trading partner country, which is propping up one of their other industries. The dynamics of World Trade in; industry, peace, quality of life of the populations, flow of money, raw materials and natural resources; they are quite extensive, as you may have guessed.

If you look at the surface coal mines; Gillette, WY; you can see a perfect example of how mining works when everything is fine. Hundreds and hundreds of full train loads leave weekly for coal-fired power plants across the country. The economies of scale in such mines are unbelievable, fun to watch and very serious, every second is accounted for, it is now a pure science in efficiency. It’s amazing how far we’ve come in the last few centuries. The world’s deepest coal mine is located more than 5,000 feet underground in the UK. Many in the United States are over 1200 feet deep, most of them are closed and now few remain. There is a mine in Alabama that is the deepest vertical shaft coal mine in North America, operating 2,140 feet below the surface. It’s hard for coal mines in Washington state, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Alabama to compete with the incredible economies of scale of the Gillette WY surface mine. Underground coal mines can be quite dangerous. There are gases underground and coal dust and if a fire breaks out all the oxygen is stolen. Recently, the rescue of coal miners in Pennsylvania caught the world’s attention as rescuers and alert rescuers worked non-stop to stay alive until all the men were out.

Mining is a dangerous business and safety is essential and comes at a high cost in productivity. Above-ground machinery and robotics have made many mining efforts in the United States profitable and much safer. Also at issue, as we have discussed, are environmental issues. Things in the mining industry have changed significantly in the United States in the last 25 years, the only question is; did they change too fast? The reason we won World War II was because of our industrial production, we had the raw materials and the will and we were able to do it all here, are we sure we want to lose that ability in the future? After all, it is still a cruel world, the human race is surely not done killing our own kind yet, there will be more wars. The key issue in mining is the competition between third world countries that destroy the environment and our environmental regulations in place here. Today in the United States, we have new innovations to protect the environment without slowing down the process. These new methods are expensive in the original capitalization of a project, but once started, they generally pay for themselves over a significant period of time. Many universities are putting out environmental engineers who specialize in mining. .

By doing this, the job of mining properly is doable, but environmental laws aren’t the only regulations mining operations must contend with, there are also OSHA laws and a myriad of other regulations.

In this country we have Salt Mines, Uranium Mines, Zinc, Lead, Molybdenum, Iron Ore, Copper, Silver, Gold, Aluminum, etc. Some of what we should be mining is old computers, junk and discarded cars, and the aluminum in old airplanes parked in the desert.

America can compete, if we abandon the attitude and delays caused by frivolous lawsuits, bad laws, and phony regulations that supposedly help people when in fact they serve no free man. If you read Ayn Rand’s books, you can get an idea of ​​this. Different places in the world have all the same minerals that we have here. In general, we need to change our attitude on mining issues, there are some brilliant entrepreneurs, state-of-the-art equipment, smart industry consultants who can and will do the job without polluting, without harming the environment and still turn a profit considerable. Who wins? We do it, because world prices for raw materials and resources dictate the cost and efficiency of having it here at home before we start doing anything with these resources and materials is good for America. We should let these brilliant problem solvers in the name of profit help us figure out how to do it right, we are currently over regulating and not listening to these new technologies and the thinking of those in the know.