TAKE ACTION to Protect Conglomerate Mesa!
Conglomerate Mesa - a very special wild part of Inyo County in eastern California - adjacent to the Inyo Mountains, Malpais Mesa Wilderness, and Death Valley National Park - is under threat and your help is needed. The mesa’s beautiful, rugged, unroaded landscape is dotted with Joshua trees, Pinyon and Juniper. Conglomerate Mesa also provides habitat for rare plants like the Inyo rock daisy, as well as bobcats, Mojave Ground Squirrels, Townsend’s Western Big-eared bats, Golden Eagles, Mule deer and mountain lions.
Conglomerate Mesa deserves protection, not toxic mining. Photo credit: Joanne Hihn.
The area, which is managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), has long been important to local tribal members for traditional uses and is rich in more recent historical resources, including the remains of charcoal kilns and stone masonry sites used in the late 1800’s to supply the Cerro Gordo mine. The mesa and its surroundings offer great hiking, backpacking, camping, rock scrambling, hunting, bird watching, star gazing, wildflower viewing, and photography. Accordingly, until 1994, the area was part of the Cerro Gordo Wilderness Study Area managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and it was recently designated and protected as part of the California Desert National Conservation Lands. The Sierra Club and other wildland advocates still hope to see Conglomerate receive the permanent wilderness protection it deserves.
This remarkable area is now under severe threat because a Canadian company, SSR Mining Inc., wants to drill seven exploratory sites to locate – and then mine - gold deposits in the heart of the roadless area. The type of gold located in the Conglomerate Mesa area is Carlin gold, which is found as a fine powder substance within rock. Mining of Carlin gold from Conglomerate Mesa would require a large open pit industrial scale cyanide heap leach mining operation.
Open pit cyanide heap leach mining involves 1) digging enormous pits; 2) piling the extracted ore into heaps that would cover many football fields several hundred feet high; 3) spraying a cyanide solution over the heaps so that the cyanide trickles down through the ore, bonding with microscopic flecks of gold or silver, whereupon a heap pad (a rubber blanket) underlying the heap channels this toxic solution into a holding pond; and 3) stripping the solution of the precious minerals and recovering the used cyanide, then respraying the cyanide solution over the heap.
Toxic, cyanide laced wastewater from these processes can pollute water sources nearby and the large volumes of water required can deplete freshwater supplies in the region surrounding the mine. At some mines, several hundred tons of ore must be mined to produce small quantities of gold. For example, Nevada’s Carlin Trend Mine mined 129.8 million tons of ore in 1989 to recover 3.7 million ounces of gold. Cyanide heap leach mining would permanently reshape the Conglomerate Mesa landscape, damaging the area’s wild character, degrading wildlife habitat, and threatening pollutions of scarce local water systems.
Here’s how you can help defend Conglomerate Mesa: The BLM’s Environmental Assessment for the project, currently open for public comment through November 20, describes four alternatives: 1) a no-drilling alternative, 2) drilling via the construction of an overland route, 3) drilling via opening a previously closed mining route, and a 4) drilling via helicopter access (the agency’s “preferred” alternative). If sufficient gold is located during the exploratory drilling phase the next step will be a proposal for an open pit cyanide heap leach gold mine. Your comments are needed to the BLM to oppose the exploration. You can comment via an online Action Alert at the California Wilderness Coalition’s (CalWild) website at https://www.calwild.org/action-alert-conglomerate-mesa/. The Center for Biological Diversity, another of our great allies in the fight to save the mesa, also has an online alert at this web link.
If you would like to write your own comment letter directly to the BLM, here’s a sample letter and contact information. Remember, the deadline for comments is Monday, November 20. For more information, please contact Sierra Club’s Eastern Sierra Organizer, Fran Hunt, at fran.hunt@sierraclub.org.
SAMPLE COMMENT LETTER (please personalize)
COMMENTS DUE NOVEMBER 20
SUBMIT TO BLM via:
Email: rporter@blm.gov
Mail: ATTN: Randal Porter, Ridgecrest Field Office, 300 S. Richmond Rd., Ridgecrest,
CA 93555
OR via the NEPA planning site at: https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/projectSummary.do?methodName=renderDefaultProjectSummary&projectId=91166. If you chose this online option, we strongly suggest you write your comments first and then “cut and paste” them directly into the online form.
Dear Mr. Porter,
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Perdito Exploration Project Environmental Assessment that would affect Conglomerate Mesa.
Conglomerate Mesa is a particularly special place and I am writing to ask you to choose the "no-action" alternative in order to protect the ecological and historical resources found in this area. Just over one year ago the Bureau of Land Management protected these resources by designating them as California Desert National Conservation Land. Prior to this Conglomerate Mesa was proposed to be added to the Malpais Mesa Wilderness, which lies directly south of the project area. The area overlooks Death Valley and should be protected, not drilled for exploration or mined for gold using cyanide heap leach mining.
The same species and values that led to this area being protected as a California Desert National Conservation Land are the very reasons why this drilling project should not proceed:
● Multiple important, special status and/or rare plant species are found within the proposed project area and will be negatively impacted by drilling. Conglomerate Mesa provides habitat for rare plants like the Inyo rock daisy, as well as bobcats, Mojave Ground Squirrels, Townsend’s Western Big-eared bats, Golden Eagles, Mule deer and mountain lions.
● The historic Keeler-Death Valley trail, circa late 1800s, traverses the north end of Conglomerate Mesa and should be preserved for its cultural and historic significance.
● The area is prized locally for deer hunting.
● Local Tribes opposes this project because of the potential to limit and degrade their access to traditional gathering sites.
● Each year, millions of visitors come to experience the public lands of the Eastern Sierra and National Parks such as Death Valley. Fully protecting Conglomerate Mesa is key to the protecting our local tourism and recreation economies. These industries present increasing opportunities for gateway communities such as Lone Pine and Olancha.
Furthermore, this beautiful area already richly contributes to local tourism and recreation, which remain the primary drivers of Inyo County’s economy: total direct travel spending in the desert region in 2013 reached $6.2 billion. Industries that include travel and tourism comprised 33% of employment in Inyo County. Mining operations here will be in direct conflict with the outdoor tourism industry.
Although this phase of the project is for exploratory drilling, the ultimate objective – should SSR Mining, Inc find sufficient gold– is creation of a large, industrial-scale open pit cyanide heap leach gold mine. Such an operation would permanently damage the area’s wild character, degrade wildlife habitat, and pollute scarce local water systems. It’s well documented that cyanide heap leaching poses significant hazards to plants and animals from gold mining and related toxic water issues.
The fact that the Environmental Assessment does not address the true purpose – and foreseeable environmental impacts and damage - of this project is troubling. While mining operations in the area could prove profitable to the mining company it is likely to provide only limited local revenue and employment. What will be left behind is lasting environmental damage that will not only scar the land but degrade Inyo County’s reputation as a scenic, outdoor recreation destination. Once an area is subjected to strip mining, it can never be restored to its original condition. The threat of ground water pollution from cyanide is also a significant risk to the area.
I hope the BLM will weigh these factors heavily in their decision-making for this wild area and decide to deny the Perdito proposal for mineral exploration because it will result in unavoidable significant impacts to biological, cultural, and economic resources in the area.
Sincerely,
(name, address, email)