Loading ...RENO (Mineweb) –
California-based suction dredge or hobbyist gold miners recently scored a legal victory as the California Court of Appeal held that a state ban forbidding all commercial beneficial use of a federal mining claim is preempted by federal mining law.
In 2009, California adopted a temporary moratorium on motorized suction-dredge mining; eventually the ban became permanent as the California Department of Fish & Game concluded that there are significant and unavoidable environmental effects from suction dredging which the agency lacks the legal authority to fully mitigate.
Environmental groups and Native American tribes have argued that the dredges destroy the spawning beds of salmon and other fish.
As a result of the ban, many owners of mining claims on federal land argued that the moratorium deprived them of an efficient method of extracting gold from streambeds that previously enabled them to earn a living.
cont. http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/content/en/mineweb-gold-news?oid=255025&sn=Detail