305 



Attachment No. 3 

 S. 59 Lands Hearing 



NEVADA MINING ASSOCIATION. INC. 



POST OFFICE BOX 2498 

 RENO. NEVADA 89505 2498 



«OBE«T E WARREN 

 EaCCutive Director 



W. HOWARD WINN 

 Qomuttam 



ROOM MO • ONE CAST FIRST STREET 



RENO. NEVADA ttsoi 



TCLCRHONE 17031 323 tSTS 



September 9, 1986 



Honorable Chic Hecht 

 United States Senator for Nevada 

 302 Hart Building, Suite lA 

 Washington, D.C. 10510 



Re: Proposed BLM/Forest Service Land transfer 

 Wallace J. Cavanaugh. 



•OAID OF OlliOOtS 



• ICMARD A. SUM!'., P„^:a,nt 



X>S!FH W MIKWy'. 1„ ifc, e,„id,r« 



M. DAN HA>P(>. 2,^ V.t, P,..,d.r,t 



V. V. lOTIS 



JAMES CASHMAN til 



UOnaRD I.EUICTI 



iRlAN J, KENNtD^r' 



X>HN S, lIVERWOe; 



ROB!eT MARTINEZ 



REX I. OJTZEN 



ARTHUR SCMWANDT 



DONALD L. SIMPiON 



ARTMue L . WALiH 



ALLEN R. YOUNG 



ROtEtl L.ZEROa 



Letter from 



Dear Chic: 



You have been contacted by Wallace J. Cavanaugh (September 8) 

 alerting you to his problem with the proposed transfer of certain 

 lands from the Bureau of Land Management to the Forest Service 

 (S. 2698). 



Mr. Cavanaugh has advised he is developing a potentially large 

 open-pit gold mine in the Pine Grove Mining District of the Toi- 

 yabe National Forest. (See map.) The transfer contains BLM 

 lands on which his proposed heap-leach and milling facility would 

 be located. Mr. Cavanaugh, based upon several years of Forest 

 Service delays and excessive regulatory zeal, predicts his pro- 

 posed heap-leach and milling operations would experience addi- 

 tional costly delays and unnecessary and expensive additional reg- 

 ulatory requirements. 



Unfortunately, the Nevada Mining Association is forced to agree 

 that in too many instances of late the Forest Service has used its 

 stepped-up "high intensity" management of surface resources to 

 overwhelm mine exploration and proposed mining operations. We're 

 being burdened by too much paper shuffling, excessive adminis- 

 trative requirements (sometimes whims of Forest Service employees), 

 excessive regulations and excessive bonding. I should stress this 

 "over kill" is not a problem within all units of the Forest Service 

 in Nevada; but certain jurisdictions are generating heavy com- 

 plaints from the mining industry. 



We are now being informed that the new Forest Service management 

 program has become so restrictive that some major and small min- 

 ing companies have incurred heavy expenses and have lost many 

 months in attempting to respond to unrealistic and sometimes im- 

 possible requirements for use of the surface. In particular, small 

 miners are being squeezed out of the exploration and mining bus- 

 iness by the mandatory requirements for bonding. (Bonds are 



