President's Message

Time moves quickly as we have passed the halfway point of my year as AEMA President. This is especially the case with so many events going on that could significantly affect our members and their projects. It is encouraging to see Congressional and administration actions that broadly recognize how important secure mineral supplies are to our nation’s future and that the existing permitting processes do not work. However, we have yet to see these concepts translate into positive actions on specific projects.   

That leads to what has been our major focus for the past several months; providing a comprehensive response to the administration’s Interagency Working Group’s (IWG’s) Request for Information on mining reform. As of the time of writing this, we are still finalizing our submittal with input being provided by members. However, what I can say, is that our submittal been a herculean effort that reflects countless hours of time. The IWG’s request was very broad, and we have drawn upon our best expertise to develop detailed and well supported responses to each of the 12 questions. 

We have focused on the key message that the administration should not be thinking of ways to make mineral mining in the US harder when the current systems and processes already are discouraging investment in domestic mining. Resisting the temptation to take a very critical tone towards this administration, we have taken a firm and respectful approach in explaining how challenging it has now become to advance new and expanded projects, especially on federal lands. 

Through our earlier discussions with IWG members, we knew we had to clearly inform many of them about how current statutes and regulations that govern modern mines have evolved over the past 150 years to help make our operations the safest and most environmentally responsible in the world; where other countries look to us for guidance on how to regulate their own mining industries. The good news is that our arguments are consistently supported by the strongest technical, legal, policy, and economic facts. 

Finally, we provide detailed recommendations for actions the IWG can take to address our future mineral needs, ranging from how to reduce litigation risk to the need for increased, experienced agency resources to review our projects all the way from exploration to development and operations.

Will our well-reasoned arguments be thoughtfully considered and reflected in the IWG’s November report? Although we have had positive dialogue with some IWG members, it is hard to say given the pre-conceived views others have. We will be continuing our intensive, pro-active outreach after the submittal, including planned trips to Washington D.C. in September and October. Moreover, the story we have collaboratively written provides us a great framework for advancing our views and advocating for our industry well into the future. Thank you to all that have contributed!

One last thing, as I have said before, the AEMA Society program has had a great first year, and I strongly encourage all of you to consider nominating individuals to participate in our 2023 program.

Ron Rimelman

2022 AEMA President

AEMA Society 

Watch for an important email after the Labor Day break containing the updated Annual Meeting Brochure. The updated brochure will include Technical Session speakers, presentation titles and up-to-date Exhibitor listings.

Registrations are already coming in for our 128^th Annual Meeting - Secure Supply Chains Start with Us - December 4-9, 2022, at the Nugget Casino Resort in Sparks, Nevada. Register today! Our ‘easy to follow’ registration buttons (Exhibitors have their own buttons) can be found here. You can also use this link to download the most recent brochure and/or a Sponsorship form.

The Exhibit Hall is filling up fast! Do not miss this chance to showcase your products and services at the largest remaining regional mining convention in the western USA for 2022. All aspects of exploration and mining will be represented from discovery through development to reclamation and closure. Disciplines from drilling to engineering, environmental services to innovative offerings and much more will be represented, make sure you are included. And there are a limited number of Core Shack spaces available for exploration and mining companies. Contact Mike Heywood for detailed information

mheywood@miningamerica.org or (509) 999-8374. Lists of current exhibitors by Company Name, Product/Service and Booth Number begin on Page 33 of the brochure.

If you are interested in signing up for the Student Poster Contest or the Professional Poster Session, forms are on Pages 27 & 28. Completing either of these forms will not register you for the Annual Meeting. You will also need to complete the registration form mentioned above. – Remember – one registration per form.

Just a reminder about a change to the exhibit hall lunches: the exhibit hall walk around lunch is not on the registration form this year. The ala carte lunch station will be set up in the exhibit hall and you will pay at the station. Many thanks to our new Convention Sponsors this month: Perpetua Resources, Holland & Hart, The Mining Record, Matrix Drilling, SVL Analytical, Barr Engineering Co., Itasca Denver, Inc., SGS, & ACZ Laboratories.

We want to acknowledge and thank the individuals and companies on the list below who are 2022 Sponsors. Maximize the benefits of sponsorship by joining this group and signing up as a sponsor today! 

Public Lands/Mining Law

AEMA Responds to Interagency Working Group

AEMA filed comprehensive comments this week in response to the Interagency Working Group on Mining Regulations, Laws, and Permitting’s (IWG) request for information regarding the U.S. mining industry. The IWG was formed by the Biden administration to assess the adequacy of existing laws, regulations, and permitting processes, determine whether changes to those are necessary, and if so, make recommendations to the appropriate federal agencies or Congress on how to implement those changes. 

As Ron Rimelman noted in his President’s Message, responding to the IWG has been a major focus of AEMA this year, as this is potentially the most significant regulatory and legislative assault on the Mining Law we have seen. We have had countless in-person and virtual meetings with IWG departments and agencies, and dozens of AEMA members have given their time and expertise to formulating our written response.

The IWG’s report is due in November, although it is questionable if they will meet that timeline. Regardless, our work is not complete with the filing of the written comments. We will continue to proactively engage the IWG in the weeks and months to come to fight for an environment in which the domestic mining industry can thrive.

Western Governors Approve National Minerals Policy Resolution

The bipartisan Western Governors Association has approved Policy Resolution 2022-08, which was part of their comment letter to the Interagency Working Group (IWG), and which AEMA cited in our comments as well. The policy resolution notes that “Federal lands account for as much as 86 percent of the land area in certain western states. These same states account for 75 percent of our nation’s metals production.” It goes on to warn of the Nation’s increasing dependence on foreign sources of minerals, duplicative and inefficient federal permitting processes, and diminished access to mineral deposits. The statement also notes the comprehensive suite of environmental laws and regulations, including financial assurance requirements, governing the mining industry, and calls for greater cooperation and coordination between federal and state agencies. Read the WGA National Minerals Policy Resolution here.

Twin Metals Files Lawsuit Over Lease Cancelation

Last week, Twin Metals Minnesota filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court in Washington D.C. to restore the leases and several other rights canceled by Department of Interior earlier this year. If successful, it will restart the environmental review process for the company. You can read more here.

Rehearing Denied in Rosemont Case

As we reported last month, Rosemont Copper Company filed a petition for rehearing with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Ninth Circuit) for the split decision affirming the Arizona District Court’s flawed 2019 ruling vacating the U.S. Forest Service’s record of decision for the Rosemont Copper Mine’s plan of operations. AEMA filed an amicus brief in support of Rosemont’s petition. Unfortunately, last week the Ninth Circuit denied the petition for rehearing and rehearing en banc.

Critical & Strategic Minerals

Inflation Reduction Act Passes

In a rare Sunday vote on August 7, the U.S. Senate approved the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The vote was 51-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris delivering the tiebreaking vote. Days later, the U.S. House of Representatives returned from its August break to clear the bill and advance it to President Biden’s desk for signature. The IRA includes a long list of provisions that will directly or indirectly affect the hardrock mining industry. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Joe Manchin received a great deal of coverage for his successful efforts to overhaul the electric vehicle (EV) tax credit to foster domestic sourcing of battery minerals, but the law also includes a production tax credit (§13502) that allows mining companies to write off 10 percent of the cost of producing critical minerals. It also provides up to $700 million to the Department of Energy to develop a domestic supply chain of High-Assay, Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU), which will be a vital fuel source for the next generation of nuclear reactors. In addition to the various tax provisions and incentives, the bill includes more than $300 million for federal agencies to hire and train more staff to conduct permitting and related reviews.

In order to secure Chairman Manchin’s support for the IRA, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer promised Manchin a vote on permitting reform later this year. In drafts we have seen, permitting for hardrock mining and mineral processing has been a major part of the language. However, nothing has been finalized. AEMA will remain engaged with Chairman Manchin and others on Capitol Hill to make the case for meaningful reforms that would shorten the current 7-10 year permitting timeframe, and rein in the endless litigation that stymies so many mining projects.

Environmental

AEMA Comments on EPA 401 Certification Rule

On June 9, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a proposed rule to make changes to the Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 certification process. As you recall, projects that may impact a jurisdictional water under the CWA may require state or tribal (Section 401) certification in order to receive a Section 404 permit. The proposed rule rolled back some changes made under the Trump administration, but left others in place. Among others, the Trump rule placed limitations on the timeframe for consideration and the scope of issues that could be considered. The proposed rule largely left the one-year timeframe in place, but broadened the scope of issues that states and tribes can weigh when deciding whether or not to certify a project. AEMA expressed our concerns with this broadening, but also our support for several aspects of the proposal. You can read our comments here. We also joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Mining Association (NMA), National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA), Associated General Contractors of America and the American Gas Association on a separate set of coalition comments, which you can read here.

Coalition Comments on Army Corps Civil Works Program

Also in early June, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) published a notice in the Federal Register regarding the modernization of several Army Civil Works policy priorities. Our letter offered a number of policy priorities and principles that industry in general would like the Corps to consider. We also shared several areas of concern with the proposals put forward by the Corps, such as the proposed tribal consultation policy, particularly as it relates to the Approved Jurisdictional Determination (AJD) process, the proposal to rely on the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) regulations at 36 CFR 800 to manage work around historic properties, and the environmental justice guidance for the Corps Regulatory Program.

AEMA believes tribal consultation is very important, but because the agency is called on to conduct thousands of AJDs every year, we urged the Corps to continue consulting with interested tribes at the permitting and decision-making phases instead.  We also urged the Corps not to adopt the ACHP 36 CFR 800 process, because our members have seen how this process has (or has not) worked when other agencies, such as BLM adopted it.

We were proud to join a diverse coalition on this letter, which included the National Association of Homebuilders, NMA, Industrial Minerals Association – North America, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and NSSGA.  For more details on our comments, click here.

Coalition Comments on ESA Experimental Populations

AEMA joined a coalition of public lands user groups to submit comments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposed rule concerning experimental populations of species under the Endangered Species Act. The proposed rule removes language that generally restricts the introduction of experimental populations to only the species’ “historical range” and would allow for the introduction of species outside of historical ranges for conservation purposes.

The coalition emphasized that the proposed rule is unnecessary and lacks adequate guidelines for how, where, and when FWS may introduce nonessential experimental populations into areas outside the species’ historical range, and it fails to assess potential impacts to small entities, private landowners, and the environment pursuant to the Regulatory Flexibility Act and National Environmental Policy Act. 

Army Corps Settles CWA Lawsuit with Twin Pines

On June 3, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) issued a memorandum to revoke the Approved Jurisdictional Determinations (AJD) for Twin Pines proposed mine several miles outside the Okefenokee Swamp in rural Georgia. The AJD confirmed that the Corps did not have jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act over Twin Pines’ project. The Corps’ memorandum cited, in effect, a failure to conduct tribal consultation, even though that was not a requirement at the time Twin Pines obtained the AJDs. The Corps did not invalidate all AJDs on this basis – only those issued to Twin Pines and Rosemont (by June, Rosemont had already returned its CWA §404 Permit, rendering the issue moot). Citing the arbitrary and capricious nature of the revocation, Twin Pines soon sued the Corps, and just days ago, reached a settlement where the Corps reversed its memorandum and will allow Twin Pines to proceed.

Although Twin Pines is not an AEMA member, we bring this case to your attention, as the Corps has made it clear that they will seek to incorporate tribal consultation into the AJD process. As we noted in the section on our comments on the Corps Civil Works Program, AEMA opposes including tribal consultation in the AJD process, as consultation is better suited to other points in the permitting process. You can read Twin Pines’ original complaint here.

Public Outreach

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn to access our latest graphics, news articles and engage with the rest of the mining industry. If you are interested in coordinating social media efforts with AEMA, reach out to Kenna O'Neill.

Industry News

AEMA Coordinates Congressional Tour at Lucky Friday Mine



AEMA staff coordinated a tour of Hecla’s Lucky Friday mine in Mullan, Idaho, earlier this month. Staff representing Idaho Governor Brad Little, Senator Jim Risch (R-ID) and Representative Russ Fulcher (R-ID) saw the mill, underground operations, tailings impoundments, and wastewater treatment facilities. It was the first time underground for all the participants, who all reported the tour greatly enriched their understanding and appreciation for the hardrock mining industry. Many thanks to Hecla and the crew at Lucky Friday for hosting!

AEMA Joins Congressional Western Caucus in Yellowstone



The Congressional Western Caucus came to Montana and Yellowstone National Park earlier this month, and AEMA Executive Director Mark Compton and Government Affairs Manager Sid Smith made the short drive to join events. Hosted by Congressional Western Caucus Chair Dan Newhouse (R-WA) and based in Senate Western Caucus Chair Steve Daines’ hometown of Bozeman, the trip was an invaluable opportunity to connect with more than a dozen members of Congress, their staff members, think tanks and other industry associations. House Natural Resources Ranking Member Bruce Westerman (R-AR) and Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee Ranking Member Pete Stauber (R-MN) also participated in the forums, tours and networking events.

National Mining Hall of Fame Induction Banquet



The 35^th Annual National Mining Hall of Fame Induction Banquet will be held Saturday, October 29^th at the Denver Marriott South at Park Meadows. The five inductees this are Timothy J. Hadden, Pierre Lassonde, Thomas J. O'Neil, Syd S. Peng, and posthumously Sheldon P. Wimpfen. The Prazen Award winner, the Lowell Institute for Mineral Resources, will also be honored for their outstanding education and outreach program. You can find more information for the event here.

Women's Mining Coalition Welcomes New Manager



Earlier this month WMC announced Wanda Burget as the new WMC Manager. We are excited to continue our work with WMC and partner with Wanda on behalf of the mining industry. You can read more about the announcement here.