I am pleased to report that Earthlaw has achieved a rare victory against long odds. We have stopped a major gold mine planned for the Black Hills National Forest. Earthlaw represented a coalition of grassroots environmental groups and the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe. Our friends at Western Mining Action Project, who worked with us on the case, tell us this is the first time anyone has won an administrative challenge to a mine approved under the infamous General Mining Law of 1872. Some things get better with time, some don't.
Laws are the same way.
The General Mining Law of 1872 is one of the latter. It might not have seemed like such a bad idea back in 1872. Today, however, things are vastly different. Low-grade ore can't be profitably mined with tunnels. Today's gold mines are strip-mines.