"ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman says there's no justification for continuing hard-rock mining on public land under a law passed well over a century ago.
Bingaman, D-N.M., has introduced a measure that would set royalties on hard-rock mining on federal lands for the first time, establish a fund to reclaim abandoned hard-rock mines and eliminate patenting - which has conveyed title to mining companies to develop mines on public land for as little as $2.50 an acre. Congress has passed annual moratoriums on further mineral patent applications since October 1994.
Mining for metals such as gold, silver and copper currently is governed by a law passed in 1872 after the California gold rush, when Congress was trying to encourage settlement by offering free minerals and land to those willing to go West and mine." More>>>>
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