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#openpitmining

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Europe Says<p><a href="https://www.europesays.com/2264154/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="">europesays.com/2264154/</span><span class="invisible"></span></a> Europe Mining Steel Industry Report 2025-2035 <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/CrudeSteel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CrudeSteel</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/Economy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Economy</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/EconomyOfEU" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>EconomyOfEU</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/EconomyOfEurope" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>EconomyOfEurope</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/EconomyOfEuropeanUnion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>EconomyOfEuropeanUnion</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/EconomyOfTheEU" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>EconomyOfTheEU</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/EconomyOfTheEuropeanUnion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>EconomyOfTheEuropeanUnion</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/EUEconomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>EUEconomy</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/Europe" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Europe</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/EuropeMarkets" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>EuropeMarkets</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/EuropeanMarkets" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>EuropeanMarkets</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/HighStrengthSteel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>HighStrengthSteel</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/markets" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>markets</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/mining" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>mining</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/OpenPitMining" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OpenPitMining</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/ResearchAndMarkets" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ResearchAndMarkets</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/steel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>steel</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/SteelManufacturer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SteelManufacturer</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/SteelProduction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SteelProduction</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/SteelScrap" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SteelScrap</span></a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/Steelmaking" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Steelmaking</span></a></p>
DoomsdaysCW<p>The Silent Killers in <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/IndianCountry" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>IndianCountry</span></a>: <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Copper" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Copper</span></a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Lithium" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Lithium</span></a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Uranium" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Uranium</span></a> and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Plutonium" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Plutonium</span></a></p><p>Judge finds plutonium plants in <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NewMexico" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NewMexico</span></a> and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SouthCarolina" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SouthCarolina</span></a> violated environmental laws</p><p>By <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BrendaNorrell" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>BrendaNorrell</span></a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CensoredNews" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CensoredNews</span></a>, Oct. 10, 2024</p><p>"The U.S. government's plan for increased plutonium production at <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LosAlamos" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>LosAlamos</span></a> National Laboratory, in the heart of Pueblo lands in northern New Mexico, has been delayed by a federal judge. </p><p>"Continuing the U.S. legacy of poisoning Indian country with <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/radiation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>radiation</span></a>, this comes as the U.S. government is granting leases to foreign <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/mining" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>mining</span></a> companies targeting Native <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/sacred" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>sacred</span></a> lands and communities. </p><p>"<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CopperMining" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CopperMining</span></a> is targeting San CarlosApache's sacred <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/OakFlat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OakFlat</span></a>; <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Hualapai" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Hualapai</span></a> are suing the US Department of Interior to halt lithium mining at their sacred spring Ha'Kamwe'; and the U.S. government is promoting the ongoing digging into the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Paiute" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Paiute</span></a> Massacre Site in northern Nevada for <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/lithium" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>lithium</span></a>, in violation of all federal laws that protect Native religious and historic sites, the environment and endangered species.</p><p>"Uranium mining in the Grand Canyon threatens <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Havasupai" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Havasupai</span></a>'s aquifer, the haul route endangers everyone in the Four Corners region, and the uranium mill at White Mesa Ute in <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Utah" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Utah</span></a> is poisoning <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Utes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Utes</span></a>. </p><p>"Interior Sec. <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/DebHaaland" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DebHaaland</span></a> said in Farmington, N.M., that Los Alamos Labs would be the leader in the so-called '<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/GreenEnergy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>GreenEnergy</span></a> transition' in the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/FourCorners" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>FourCorners</span></a> region.</p><p>"More than 500 radioactive <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/UraniumMill" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>UraniumMill</span></a> sites remain on the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NavajoNation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NavajoNation</span></a> that have not been cleaned up by the U.S. <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/EPA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>EPA</span></a>, which deceives the public by announcing plans and promises to clean up the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ColdWar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ColdWar</span></a> sites. </p><p>"In the current federal lawsuit, a federal judge in South Carolina ruled that U.S. energy officials illegally neglected to study impacts to the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/environment" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>environment</span></a> in efforts to increase plutonium production for nuclear weapons in New Mexico and South Carolina.</p><p>"'South Carolina District Court Judge Mary Geiger Lewis sided with environmental, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/AntiNuclear" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>AntiNuclear</span></a> proliferation and community groups last week who sued the National Nuclear Security Administration (<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NNSA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NNSA</span></a>), which oversees the nuclear weapons stockpile as part of the U.S. Department of Energy [<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/DOE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DOE</span></a>],' reports Source New Mexico. </p><p>"The U.S. is investing billions into restarting the manufacture of <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PlutoniumPits" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>PlutoniumPits</span></a>, the grapefruit-sized spheres developed for <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/nuclear" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>nuclear</span></a> weapons. The plutonium is produced from uranium. </p><p>"'The federal government halted its manufacturing program at the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RockyFlatsPlant" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>RockyFlatsPlant</span></a> in <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Colorado" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Colorado</span></a> in 1989 after an FBI raid due to safety concerns and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/EnvironmentalCrimes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>EnvironmentalCrimes</span></a>,' Source New Mexico reports. </p><p>"The U.S. government's <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/AtomicBombTesting" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>AtomicBombTesting</span></a> in <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Nevada" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Nevada</span></a> left a trail of cancer and death for <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WesternShoshone" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WesternShoshone</span></a>. The documentary 'Downwind' reveals the truth.</p><p>"'This is a very serious issue and that's why I can't let it go. I can't move on. People say, 'oh, why don't you just let it go?' Because it's killing my family. It's killing my land. It's killing my people. And that will not stand. It's being done in secret. And killing Indians in secret will not stand,' said Ian Zabarte, Principal Man of the Western Bands of the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ShoshoneNation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ShoshoneNation</span></a> of Indians. Zabarte is featured in '<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Downwind" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Downwind</span></a>' about radiation poisoning from U.S. <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NuclearTests" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NuclearTests</span></a>. </p><p>"Currently, foreign companies -- which receive the profits and find it easy to avoid clean up and responsibility for <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/environmental" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>environmental</span></a> crimes and deaths from <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/cancer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>cancer</span></a> -- are receiving the mining leases from the U.S. government. The leases are granted by the U.S. Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and in the case of <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/UraniumMining" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>UraniumMining</span></a> in the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/GrandCanyon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>GrandCanyon</span></a>, it is the USDA's Forestry Service. <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Biden" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Biden</span></a>'s attorneys have joined the lawsuit with <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RioTinto" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>RioTinto</span></a> to devastate <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/OakFlat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OakFlat</span></a>. </p><p>"Australian and Canadian mining corporations are devastating Native lands and communities, poisoning the water and causing widespread cancer.<br>Rio Tinto, targeting Apaches <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/OakFlat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OakFlat</span></a>, is an Australian company which destroyed 46,000 years of <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Aboriginal" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Aboriginal</span></a> sacred history in caves in <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Australia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Australia</span></a>. </p><p>"Another Australian mining company is targeting <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Hualapai" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Hualapai</span></a>'s sacred site. It is <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Hawstone" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Hawstone</span></a> / <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ArizonaLithium" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ArizonaLithium</span></a>, in Perth, Australia.<br> <br>"<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/EnergyFuels" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>EnergyFuels</span></a>, now uranium mining in the Grand Canyon, and operating the uranium mill at <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WhiteMesaUte" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WhiteMesaUte</span></a>, is a Canadian company. Another Canadian company is digging into the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Paiute" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Paiute</span></a> Massacre Site. It is <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LithiumAmericas" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>LithiumAmericas</span></a>.<br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Hopi" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Hopi</span></a> judge <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/DianeHumetewa" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DianeHumetewa</span></a> granted a temporary restraining order to halt the lithium mining at <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Hualapai" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Hualapai</span></a>'s sacred spring."</p><p>Read more:<br><a href="https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-silent-killers-in-indian-country.html" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/10</span><span class="invisible">/the-silent-killers-in-indian-country.html</span></a></p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoUraniumMining" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NoUraniumMining</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CopperMining" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CopperMining</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LithiumMining" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>LithiumMining</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoMiningWithoutConsent" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NoMiningWithoutConsent</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/EnvironmentalRacism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>EnvironmentalRacism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoWar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NoWar</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoNukes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NoNukes</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NuclearWeapons" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NuclearWeapons</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RecycleCopper" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>RecycleCopper</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RecycleLithium" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>RecycleLithium</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WaterIsLife" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WaterIsLife</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NuclearWaste" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NuclearWaste</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/DefendTheSacred" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DefendTheSacred</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WhiteMesaMill" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WhiteMesaMill</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Ute" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Ute</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/AtomicBomb" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>AtomicBomb</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CulturalGenocide" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CulturalGenocide</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Genocide" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Genocide</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/FirstNations" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>FirstNations</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NativeAmericanNews" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NativeAmericanNews</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SuperfundSites" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SuperfundSites</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ToxicWaste" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ToxicWaste</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SaveOakFlat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SaveOakFlat</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/OpenPitMining" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OpenPitMining</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Pollution" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Pollution</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ReaderSupportedNews" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ReaderSupportedNews</span></a></p>
DoomsdaysCW<p>[Gift article] [<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Maine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Maine</span></a>] State Lawmakers consider new mining rules that could open door to <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LithiumMining" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>LithiumMining</span></a> </p><p>"Some <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/environmental" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>environmental</span></a> groups say the rules that would allow for open pit mineral mining provide ample safeguards, but others demand more preliminary testing, smaller pit size limits, stronger reclamation standards and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/DarkSkies" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DarkSkies</span></a> protections.</p><p>"But Eliza Townsend, the [the Appalachian Mountain Club's] conservation policy director, argued that an open pit mine is never going to be anything more than a glorified 'hole in the ground.' Allowing a pit to grow in size would tarnish the unspoiled natural beauty that draws hikers to Maine, especially when the pit is dug into a mountaintop.</p><p>"Environmental critics asked lawmakers to require an open-pit mining applicant to use so-called dark sky lighting to minimize the impact on wildlife, neighbors and hikers camping near the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Newry" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Newry</span></a> lithium site, including those that use the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/GraftonNotch" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>GraftonNotch</span></a> loop trail.</p><p>"Some Republicans wanted the committee to approve the rules Monday, arguing the state Legislature had already voted for a mineral mining exemption last year when it voted to amend the mining law and order the drafting of new rules.</p><p>"Democrats, however, appeared stung by criticism from environmental advocates who said the committee was considering rules that would open the door to <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/OpenPit" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OpenPit</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/mining" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>mining</span></a> at the same time the legislative calendar had said it would be working on another bill to strengthen the state’s mining law."</p><p><a href="https://www.pressherald.com/2024/03/25/state-lawmakers-consider-new-mining-rules/?uuid=e0edb129-e2d0-4a2f-9bd4-49a88f9f4223&amp;lid=10465" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">pressherald.com/2024/03/25/sta</span><span class="invisible">te-lawmakers-consider-new-mining-rules/?uuid=e0edb129-e2d0-4a2f-9bd4-49a88f9f4223&amp;lid=10465</span></a></p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PlumbagoMountain" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>PlumbagoMountain</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NewryMaine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NewryMaine</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LithiumMine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>LithiumMine</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/OpenPitMining" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OpenPitMining</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WesternMaine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WesternMaine</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SaveTheForest" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SaveTheForest</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WaterIsLife" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WaterIsLife</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/AndroscogginRiver" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>AndroscogginRiver</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Watershed" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Watershed</span></a></p>
DoomsdaysCW<p>Proposed <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LithiumMine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>LithiumMine</span></a> in western <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Maine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Maine</span></a> clears key hurdle</p><p>New rules recommended by the Board of Environmental Protection [<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/MaineDEP" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>MaineDEP</span></a>] would allow the testing needed to build an open-pit mine over a large lithium-rich deposit at <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PlumbagoMountain" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>PlumbagoMountain</span></a> in <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Newry" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Newry</span></a>.</p><p>by Penelope Overton<br>February 29, 2024</p><p>"The provisional amendment – the result of a state law adopted last July intended to overhaul the mining law to allow for the extraction of non-reactive minerals like spodumene, the hard rock source of lithium – now heads back to the Legislature for final consideration.</p><p>"If adopted, these rules would allow Mary and Gary Freeman, retired rock hounds who split the time between Maine and Florida, to begin the rigorous testing needed to build an open-pit mi over a large lithium-rich mineral deposit they discovered while hunting for gemstones in New 2018.</p><p>"'This has been a big lift,' board Chair Susan Lessard, the town manager of Bucksport, said of regulation change. 'I think the department has done a very good job of trying to enact some rules to go along with what the Legislature adopted in the most protective way that they were able.”</p><p>"The Newry deposit is a potential piece in the global ramp-up of lithium production to make batteries for storing clean wind and solar energy and powering electric cars. Alternative lithiu batteries are being tested, but for now, lithium is still used in most electric vehicles and grid batteries.</p><p>"Despite government and industry interest in building up a domestic lithium market, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Nevada" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Nevada</span></a> currently has the country’s only operational lithium mine. The <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SilverPeaMine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SilverPeaMine</span></a>, which began operating in the 1960s, pumps lithium-rich brine from underground into large evaporation pools.</p><p>"But the United States has at least a hundred domestic <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LithiuMines" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>LithiuMines</span></a> that are hoping to get the permits needed to compete with the likes of Australia, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Chile" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Chile</span></a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/China" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>China</span></a> and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Argentina" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Argentina</span></a>, which cur dominate the world market, according to conservation biologist Patrick Donnelly of the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CenterForBiologicalDiversity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CenterForBiologicalDiversity</span></a>.</p><p>"Unlike most U.S. deposits, however, the Freeman find is a hard rock deposit of lithium, similar those in <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Australia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Australia</span></a>. They form when hot magma intrudes into the crust and then cools into met rich crystals. Hard-rock lithium is costlier to mine, quicker to market and yields a more valuable form of lithium than brining.</p><p>"In a 2020 paper detailing the discovery, the Freemans claimed the 10 million metric-ton <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PlumagoMountain" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>PlumagoMountain</span></a> deposit had the highest average lithium content of any known spodumene deposit, including gigantic 36-foot-long crystals embedded deep inside the coarse brown and white rock face.</p><p>"Initially, the Freemans said they wanted to sell to the battery market, something that would lik require chemical processing on-site or nearby. Later, they said they wanted to sell raw spodum ore with the highest levels of lithium to scientific glass manufacturers, which could eliminate t need for processing.</p><p>"Neither the Freemans nor their attorney responded to emails and telephone requests for an interview.</p><p>"The provisional rule requires applicants seeking an open-pit mining exemption to prove the operation does not have the potential to violate state water quality standards or expose radioactive materials that would endanger human health or the environment.</p><p>"The applicant would have to conduct extensive testing and sampling to show the deposit would react when exposed to the air or water of an open-pit mine. Spodumene is non-reactive, but other metals like copper and silver will create a harmful acid discharge when exposed.</p><p>"For example, the Newry spodumene deposit is believed to contain some galena, the blue-black mineral that contains lead sulfide, which has the potential to leach lead and often occurs in combination with iron sulfide, the major culprit in causing acidic mine drainage.</p><p>"'We are uncertain if galena is present at levels that are dangerous, but the only way to know w be through detailed characterization of the deposit in the manner that these rule amendments propose,' said Nick Bennett, a staff scientist at Natural Resources Council of Maine.</p><p>“<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NRCM" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NRCM</span></a> supported the provisional rule in part because the Board of Environmental Protection decided to add back in requirements that an applicant would have to conduct real-world testing, kinetic testing, to ensure there is nothing reactive in the deposit before a mining exemption is granted.</p><p>"'We are supportive of the proposed rules that DEP drafted and BEP approved because we beli they would only allow open-pit mining of metallic minerals when that extraction presents a very low risk to water quality and the environment,' Bennett said.”</p><p><a href="https://www.pressherald.com/2024/02/29/state-environmental-board-adopts-new-mineral-mining-rule" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">pressherald.com/2024/02/29/sta</span><span class="invisible">te-environmental-board-adopts-new-mineral-mining-rule</span></a></p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WaterIsLife" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WaterIsLife</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Environment" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Environment</span></a><br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoMining" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NoMining</span></a> in <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Maine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Maine</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/OpenPitMining" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OpenPitMining</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WesternMaine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WesternMaine</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NewryMaine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NewryMaine</span></a></p>