GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.-
Federal land managers have agreed to allow gold mining on a 20-acre site in the Uncompahgre Wilderness Area east of Ouray.
Mining is normally prohibited in a federally designated wilderness area, but Uncompahgre National Forest Supervisor Charlie Richmond said Tuesday the mining claim dates to 1938, decades before the 1964 law establishing wilderness areas.
The Robin Redbreast Gold Mine claim is owned by Robert and Marjorie Miller of Montrose. Their operation will be a small one, and they will use mules and a helicopter to haul supplies in and waste rock out, said Charlie Ponchak, the Millers’ geologist.
Toxic waste rock will be hauled away, leaving only benign waste rock at the site, Ponchak said.
The Forest Service will require the Millers to upgrade and maintain the trails they use and to reclaim the mine after it closes.
The environmental group High Country Citizens Alliance is “very concerned about the proposal,” said Dan Morse, the organization’s public lands director.
He said the group hasn’t decided whether to file a protest against the decision.
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Information from: The Daily Sentinel,
