In October, a Canadian company, K2 Gold, started drilling for gold at Conglomerate Mesa in southern Inyo County. The Mesa, which is the ancestral homeland of the Paiute-Shoshone and Timbisha Shoshone Indigenous peoples, overlooks Death Valley National Park and is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Even as it drills into the Mesa, K2 Gold hopes to greatly expand its mining activities there to include miles of damaging road construction and 120 drill holes. These are serious and unsettling steps toward a possible industrial scale open pit cyanide heap leach mine that would forever scar this beautiful and, culturally and ecologically important landscape. Your help is needed to stop K2 Gold!
K2 Gold is actively promoting its aggressive mining goals at Conglomerate Mesa and other important local sites. The Vancouver-based company has opened an office in Lone Pine, recruited a former Inyo County resident onto its Board of Directors, and is working overtime to convince local stakeholders and leaders that its damaging operations will somehow benefit Inyo County. K2’s promotional efforts - at once revealing and misleading - are also geared at attracting investors and have sought to discredit local conservation leaders while deceptively overstating support for its plans.
K2 Gold is publicly stating it intends to expand its exploration and anticipated mining not just at Conglomerate Mesa but at other local places far beyond the Mesa as well. Currently, the company is only permitted to access the Mesa via helicopter to drill at just four sites with a total of sixteen exploratory drill holes. But, K2 intends to build damaging roads and expand exploratory drilling for both gold and silver that would not only intensify its assault at Conglomerate Mesa but also towards the town of Keeler and to other important sites. You can read K2’s Corporate Presentation here.
In response, concerned groups and community members across Inyo County and beyond have ramped up coordinated efforts to block K2’s destructive ambitions. On Sunday, October 25, our collective support for the protection of Conglomerate Mesa was on full display during a very public Stand for the Land rally along Main Street in Lone Pine. The event was organized by local Indigenous leaders as part of the Payahuunadu Alliance with the active support of South County Advocates, Friends of the Inyo, INYO350, and the Sierra Club. Dozens of local Indigenous leaders and other passionate land defenders of all ages and backgrounds –all wearing masks and practicing physical distancing - participated in the 2-hour long rally, carrying signs and chanting their opposition to K2 Gold’s shortsighted plans.
K2 Gold’s actions and intentions clearly demonstrate that it poses a very real and pressing threat to our area’s important and culturally significant landscapes. Now is the time for all Eastern Sierra land protectors and allies to make it clear that we oppose K2’s mining operations in our area. Here’s what you can do to help.
1. Sign the new "Protect Conglomerate Mesa" petition!
2. Put Up A Protect Conglomerate Mesa Yard Sign! Email bryan@friendsoftheinyo.org and he will bring you one.
3. If you live in Inyo County, call or email you Inyo County Supervisors!
Write and/or call your Inyo County Supervisor and tell them you oppose this assault on Conglomerate Mesa. Let your Supervisor know that nothing can replace this special area. Friends of the Inyo created these talking points to help you - feel free to refer them. Here are the email addresses and phone numbers for the Inyo County Supervisors.
Supervisor Dan Totheroh-District 1, dtotheroh@inyocounty.us, 760.872.2137
Supervisor Jeff Griffiths-District 2, jgriffiths@inyocounty.us, 760.937.0072
Supervisor Rick Pucci-District 3, supervisor.pucci@gmail.com, 760.872.0917
Supervisor Mark Tillemans-District 4, mtillemans@inyocounty.us, 760.878.8506
Supervisor Matt Kingsley-District 5, mkingsley@inyocounty.us, 760.878.8508