3 ms·

Lots of reasons to not be a producer of metals. If you find any material in California good luck - its more than a 25 year process to open a new mine, including

Lots of reasons to not be a producer of metals. If you find any material in California good luck - its more than a 25 year process to open a new mine, including payoffs to various politicians and an endless environmental review process.

lightedman 3y ago
"its more than a 25 year process to open a new mine" For massive lode and pit operations for major corporations, sure. I own four agate mines and one manganese minein the Mojave. It costs not much at all if you're a small miner.
- gwbrooks 3y ago
  Tell me more -- please -- about opening an agate mine. I know the Mojave and know I love agates so I'm going out on a limb and saying I'm the man for the job.
  - lightedman 3y ago
    It isn't hard. Find a spot on BLM lands that has agates and isn't inside a non-allowed territory (National Monuments, Wilderness Preserves, someone else's claim area, etc.) Get your claim marker boundaries established, file a claim notice with the BLM (make sure to acquire township/range/section/subsection for the area you're trying to make a claim in otherwise you're going to have a hard time) pay your fees and wait for approval. I'd suggest filing a placer claim (surface finds no deeper than 18" below ground) as lode claims tend to need more remediation plans and obviously lots and lots of digging/hard rock mining (I have one lode claim and I'm going to let it expire, too much work.)
- CapricornNoble 3y ago
  I'd love to hear more about the small-scale mine ownership experience.
  - lightedman 3y ago
    It's a lot of hard work and a lot of adventuring. Most of my time is spent just researching and using a ton of GIS data to figure out where I wish to go, and adventuring around the area and looking for stuff to acquire. Very little actual time is spent digging, and what digging I do is almost entirely bare-handed or with small hand tools (not even a full-length shovel is in my loadout, my largest tool is a wrecking bar.) It is not uncommon to see me walking out with some 150+ pounds of rock in my hands and on my back, though, as once I get an area picked, it is usually highly-productive and I'm going for my body weight in material every single change I can get.
    - CapricornNoble 3y ago
      Oh wow, that's much more manual than I expected! Researching GIS data I expected but what you do after that is totally different from what I had in my head. I was thinking it was more like the experience of owning a single rental property; once you get past any unique "mining" paperwork that it would be an income stream that is largely passive.
      - lightedman 3y ago
        It is anything but passive income! Extracting a resource can be simple or it can be complicated. You've gotta deal with all kinds of expenses, tooling, travel, maybe greasing a few palms for choice tidbits of information (usually a nice rock or a split of the found haul works as payment amongst us small miners) maintenance and paperwork. When you want to sell some of this stuff, in my typical case as lapidary stone, you spend a good bit of time taking GOOD pictures, as at that specific market, you aren't selling the stone, you're selling the picture of the stone in order to make that stone move. Crappy pictures = no sales. Make it look as best as you can without any sort of doctoring, that's the trick. If you're ever in SoCal, I'll show you the full experience. It is a hell of a busy hobby, one that takes up most of my free time outside of my normal job. It's addictive. I have a 400 square mile playground that I constantly explore. https://i.imgur.com/CxEnUF5.mp4 https://i.imgur.com/CxEnUF5.mp4 https://imgur.com/sKyVuyX https://imgur.com/sKyVuyX https://imgur.com/EA2QXMe https://imgur.com/EA2QXMe It's an adventure!
bigbillheck 3y ago
> an endless environmental review process. Considering what mining tends to do to the surrounding environment, I say good for California.
culi 3y ago
Mining is actually one of the most privilleged land usages. The Mining Law of 1872 still governs and positions mining as the "highest" possible use of a land. This actually makes fighting the opening of a new mine one of the most challenging fights activists and indigenous people often undertake

lightedman 3y ago

"its more than a 25 year process to open a new mine" For massive lode and pit operations for major corporations, sure. I own four agate mines and one manganese minein the Mojave. It costs not much at all if you're a small miner.

gwbrooks 3y ago
Tell me more -- please -- about opening an agate mine. I know the Mojave and know I love agates so I'm going out on a limb and saying I'm the man for the job.
- lightedman 3y ago
  It isn't hard. Find a spot on BLM lands that has agates and isn't inside a non-allowed territory (National Monuments, Wilderness Preserves, someone else's claim area, etc.) Get your claim marker boundaries established, file a claim notice with the BLM (make sure to acquire township/range/section/subsection for the area you're trying to make a claim in otherwise you're going to have a hard time) pay your fees and wait for approval. I'd suggest filing a placer claim (surface finds no deeper than 18" below ground) as lode claims tend to need more remediation plans and obviously lots and lots of digging/hard rock mining (I have one lode claim and I'm going to let it expire, too much work.)
CapricornNoble 3y ago
I'd love to hear more about the small-scale mine ownership experience.
- lightedman 3y ago
  It's a lot of hard work and a lot of adventuring. Most of my time is spent just researching and using a ton of GIS data to figure out where I wish to go, and adventuring around the area and looking for stuff to acquire. Very little actual time is spent digging, and what digging I do is almost entirely bare-handed or with small hand tools (not even a full-length shovel is in my loadout, my largest tool is a wrecking bar.) It is not uncommon to see me walking out with some 150+ pounds of rock in my hands and on my back, though, as once I get an area picked, it is usually highly-productive and I'm going for my body weight in material every single change I can get.
  - CapricornNoble 3y ago
    Oh wow, that's much more manual than I expected! Researching GIS data I expected but what you do after that is totally different from what I had in my head. I was thinking it was more like the experience of owning a single rental property; once you get past any unique "mining" paperwork that it would be an income stream that is largely passive.
    - lightedman 3y ago
      It is anything but passive income! Extracting a resource can be simple or it can be complicated. You've gotta deal with all kinds of expenses, tooling, travel, maybe greasing a few palms for choice tidbits of information (usually a nice rock or a split of the found haul works as payment amongst us small miners) maintenance and paperwork. When you want to sell some of this stuff, in my typical case as lapidary stone, you spend a good bit of time taking GOOD pictures, as at that specific market, you aren't selling the stone, you're selling the picture of the stone in order to make that stone move. Crappy pictures = no sales. Make it look as best as you can without any sort of doctoring, that's the trick. If you're ever in SoCal, I'll show you the full experience. It is a hell of a busy hobby, one that takes up most of my free time outside of my normal job. It's addictive. I have a 400 square mile playground that I constantly explore. https://i.imgur.com/CxEnUF5.mp4 https://i.imgur.com/CxEnUF5.mp4 https://imgur.com/sKyVuyX https://imgur.com/sKyVuyX https://imgur.com/EA2QXMe https://imgur.com/EA2QXMe It's an adventure!

bigbillheck 3y ago

> an endless environmental review process. Considering what mining tends to do to the surrounding environment, I say good for California.

culi 3y ago

Mining is actually one of the most privilleged land usages. The Mining Law of 1872 still governs and positions mining as the "highest" possible use of a land. This actually makes fighting the opening of a new mine one of the most challenging fights activists and indigenous people often undertake