The conglomerate mesa mining ordeal is a huge undertaking. By both the mining company, K2 Mining and its opponents, Friends of the Inyo, The Sierra Club and many other concerned citizens. No one is closer to this project than Brent Underwood. Quite Literally…
Underwood, purchased Cerro Gordo Mining town over a year ago and now his home is being threatened. Cerro Gordo is literally, a stones throw away from what will be a giant open cyanide pit.
For more on the subject here is a video from Brent’s popular Youtube channel, Ghost Town Living.
To help please send your opinion to BLM before August 30th.
A note from Brent: “REMEMBER! BLM has not approved this project or supported it. They are just taking public comments. They are not to blame here, just getting feedback from the public. So please be cordial towards BLM and their employees.”
More on this story as it unfolds
Well first you have to ask -“why?” Well because theres a demand for the products that it eventually produces. Everything in our lives came from the earth. Tv, car, iphone, nintendo switch… . Everything we see- every material- was mined from this earth. So are we willing to give up to decrease the demand? Then is it just exclusive to this mine? This area? Just our humanity or all humanity? Have you seen whats happening to the people in jamaica due to the mining of material required to make aluminum, for example? If you dont have netflix you’ll find something on youtube. Some things are probably impossible to decrease the demand? Anyone have any suggestions on how to better the way we get these materials that make the things we’re not willing to give up without messing up the environment so bad? Until we come together to be proactive, we will just keep reacting to each other while we sit behind our safety screens and our shovels are covered in cobwebs.
Good to hear Mr Underwood speak against mine, but he is a bit clueless. Doesn’t understand his title to the land he bought is mining patent also? While pit/strip mining is horrendous, the ecological and human disaster of past mining is nothing to gloss over in romantic hues. Cerro Gordo itself spurred stripping the Inyos of Juniper and Pinyon, and the Sierra Nevada of timber. Exploring the dark side history of Cerro Gordo may help him see the way to protect the Joshua Trees he admires, and to respect the Tribes he invokes.
Calling out former owners because he didn’t get additional patents is uncalled for and comes off as holier than thou sore loser. Make your point and move on without demeaning others. He has an international audience, but long term success for his business requires good relations locally. Would he support eminent domain takings of all the claims including his to prevent mining?
Got to wonder if he also doesn’t want to share the road. Maybe his next historical video should be about the Cerro Gordo Toll Road wars.
Candelaria is classic example of out of sight, nevermind! The only visitors who travel there are fans of the mining history that built this country! Same with this mine. Wont be visible from any highway or Cerro Gordo. May be a little visible from Lee flat to all 10 people who drive that road a year! This mesa hasnt been pristine since it was last mined, so go visit any of the millions of acres nearby that are and be at peace. Simply dont go there! Your feelings dont outweigh the need for natural resource extraction.
Find another issue to fight to stop because grossly exaggerating issues really hurts your credibility too.
Gotta appreciate how the industry shills always show up in the comments section of articles about new mining operations. Bottom line, this Canada based mining company has ZERO interest in our local area and will only do what they are forced to do to protect it. Too many examples of mining operations gone wrong in the history of the west. I don’t trust this company any more than others from the past. I’d prefer they stay out of our region completely. Go back to Canada and mine there.
Stop Stressing about a Mine that may or may not be approved , Start fighting for the Water that is being stolen by L.A. County and has been stolen for the Last 100 + years , And now they attempting to steal Water from Already parched NEVADA .
The bigger picture here is that this extractive company wants to dig a massive pit mine in our backyard. We can see Conglomerate Mesa while driving along highway 395, 190 and 136. That would be gone. From the top of the Mesa you can see Mt. Whitney AND Death Valley. All of those awesome camps spots hidden away from the madness…gone. As stated earlier, Cerro Gordo Road provides access to many other recreational opportunities. Extractive business means temporary jobs for THEIR employees, not locals. Their parting gift for us, a massive pit mine, and that goes along with that, forever. FOREVER!!!! Thats’ what we are talking about here. We have the power to stop it and would be very nearsighted if we didn’t. This should be a great time to apply NIMBYism. No, Not In My BackYard. Not in OUR backyard.
Wrong again Korina, exploratory holes on an area reserved by the federal government 30 years ago FOR MINING, DOES NOT mean it’s actually going to be a mine. I can tell by your statement you’ve never been in the mining industry. If you don’t like sustainable employment in inyo county maybe you should move back to the city and continue to buy your precious metals from foreign governments and companies, because you NIMBYism on utilization of American goods is selling us out to China and Russia.
Not True , Laws that have existed now for over 50 years force the Applicant to sign contracts and hold a Trust Fund aside to return the land to its former state after the process is complete .
There’s NO returning the land to it’s former state when you’re talking about an open pit mine . Drive out to the Cadelaria mine in Nevada and take a look .
Actually, there’s no threat of a “cyanide leach mine” because this is a proposal to test for the viability of gold- no actual mining will occur as of yet. Also, when the Desert Protection Act was signed in 1994, Conglomerate Mesa was left out of the designation specifically of its potential as a mine- another environmental false flag.
No threat? Exploration leads to production, which will include an open cyanide leach pit. What do you think is going to happen if they find enough precious mojave metal to begin production?
Inyo County’s money no longer comes from production mining- it comes from tourism, which will directly be affected if this area loses it’s near wilderness status.
TOURISM ! Over 15 years ago The powers that be decided Bishop no longer needed Parking along the business district on Main Street from Line on up to the Y .
Then the Local Isolationists and the Sierra Club Bused in every hack available to Destroy the Adventure Trail system and turn it into a paltry Minimum of its intention . Then Covid-19 and the Paranoia put the Tombstone on what was left of Bishops surviving business .
Bishop is a Cancer patient on life support , And you Pine are worried about an outsider digging for old bottles in the patients back yard.
Warped .
The Sierra Club Bused (don’t forget to capitalize that word!) in “every hack”to Destroy ( oh! must capitalize that word too!) etc, etc ……..
Wow! You must have gone to tRump University! The frequent (and bizarre) use of capital letters proves you were an excellent student!
Wrong again “Pine;” numerous exploratory diggings have occurred in the Bodie Hills looking for the viability of renewed gold mining and they didn’t “pan out” and no new open pit leach field started in the Bodie Hills. This is another false flag environmental concern.
And another point “Pine” the only reason Inyo county’s money comes from tourism now is because people like you drove mining out of inyo county and Kalifornia. When the Vanadium mine was operating in Pine Creek for 60 years, DT Bishop was bustling with activity and money, when they closed in 1990 you could walk down the middle of Main Street on. Friday night with barely a car driving through. I can tell by your statements that you havent lived here long enough to know that.
WOW! That sounds like “the good ol’ days”! Nowadays, Inyo County Sheriffs Dept would probably be that car driving through if one was walking down the middle of main street on Any night…and if it’s a local, they are definitely going to jail…lucky to be able to walk down the sidewalk after dark without getting eyed, circled, questioned..not tourists..not traveling workers…this county rolls out the red carpet and caters to people that arent from here yet supports socio economic profiling and division among its citizens..Strength and Unity from within to eliminate the divide and ignore the inyo county profiling system if you want to cure “the patient”…to attack the length of someones residency as a cause for some sort of perceived ignorance to local issues shows your stunted emotional growth that isnt allowing you to effectively coommunicate…thats the cancer…i believe that all sides can be satisified no matter what the issue if we can all maintain respect compassion and patience -specifically- with each other -without personal judgement- no matter who we think we are… i just want to see us all treat each other with a little more respect …thank you for letting me interrupt..
“Kalifornia” I understand your level of education…
Hundreds of thousands of acres of Forestland are allowed to burn up unchecked, And are still burning , killing millions of Animals , The Excuse is those fires were in Remote Areas .
And you people are worried about a few old Shacks in a Wasteland of Rock and Sand .
Your Minds are WARPED.
Yes INYO, as America bails on Afghanistan, leaving our friends and allies to the mercy of the Taliban, and making our bail from Viet Nam look tame, we are getting ready to eat cotton candy and watch “MIDGETS” wrestle at the Tri-County Fair!
Which means we can sit in the grandstands as the Sun sets and simultaneously watch a GIANT American flag wave in the breeze and midgets wrestle for our giggles.
Where’s Norman Rockwell when you need him?
(I know, this is Inyo County, everyone is now asking, “Who is Norman Rockwell?).
CORRECT , And the sad sad truth is that The Haters of Our Culture and Heritage are right here Amongst us . They Riot , They Loot , They Ambush the Police , They Burn Entire Cities to the ground . They Expect to be given a Living without Working for it .
They Are our Children , They have been filled with Lies and Anti-American propaganda by the Public School System , And even been convinced to doubt their own gender .
Good Job AMERICA .
INYOFACE it seems to me that you are the one hating on America.
The most recent riots I’ve seen were on January 6th.
The only cops I’ve seen violently ambushed and beaten were on January 6th.
Oh yeah they were also filled with lies and propaganda.
It was on live TV and no they weren’t actors.
Someone here (Inyoface) hates public schools, yet makes multiple punctuation errors as if they never went to any school.
Funny, he wouldnt be making a living at Cerro Gordo if it was never mined!? Furthermore, the proposed sites cant even be seen from Cerro Gordo so very curious that Cerro Gordo is threatened in any way at all?
Actually, his main mine is flooded, so he would benefit from a drop in the water table! Just sayin.
The main mine is FLOODED ? There’s a small pool of water, not even 5 feet deep ,about enough to fill the bed of a large pickup . And there’s a helluva difference between the mineshafts of CG and a open pit blight on the land . And if you’re thinking that this new pit will be an economic boom for Inyo County , just like every other big business “opportunity” that pops up , they’ll bring in their OWN people . The residents of the Owens Valley will get nothing out of this except more dust and ground-shaking explosions.
The K2 claims now directly border Cerro Gordo, as K2 made sure to announce: https://www.mining-technology.com/news/k2-option-agreement-cerro-gordo/
That includes sites all along Cerro Gordo Rd that all sorts of people use to explore Saline Valley, the Salt Tram, Cerro Gordo, and more. All that would be interrupted.
How many people per year go to Gettysburg and the museum? If there was a war breaking out on the historic battle fields there, would people be ‘funny’ for opposing that?
It’s not flooded