Also want to correct some info that was shared that wasn't quite accurate.
First, Dean Haymore is not a planning Commissioner- it would have been inappropriate for a Planning Commissioner to visit the shareholder meeting in their official capacity- their job is to review permit applications and vote to either recommend them for passage or not by the County Commission.
Dean is the Planning Director for Storey County- he is responsible for accepting and reviewing permits for completeness and accuracy, and his department issues a staff report evaluating the application and it's expected impacts. When an application conforms with the principles and guidelines set forth by the County's General Plan and municipal codes, his job is to present it to the Planning Commission and certify it's appropriateness and that it is a proper request.
It is up to the planning commission, (who are either elected or appointed) to decide on whether it should go forward or not.
Second, Storey County only has between 4,000 and 6,000 residents- Lyon County is much bigger.
Third, Lyon County has the incredibly high unemployment, not Storey.
Finally, contrary to what Rickybobby heard, I spoke with Mr. Winfield just after he and Mr. De Gasperis got back from talking with the protesters. He said that they had a nice conversation, and that there were several people that warmed up to him, and that he gave out his contact info to some of them for further discussion.
My feeling is that when CMI refers to 6 people being the opponents, they are referring to the officers of the Comstock Residents Association. There is no formal membership, no dues or membership cards, so there really aren't any "members" except for the officers... who appear to be decidedly anti-mining.
There are certainly other people with concerns, but as has been described, some of these people feel that the company is some sort of shell game- I guess they have a hard time understanding the concept of a "wholly owned subsidiary" (meaning Plum Mining is owned by Comstock Mining, which used to be Goldspring). I don't know how they arrive at this conclusion, given the relative strength of the company both financially as well as in their personnel.... especially when you compare it to previous iterations.
That's an easy one to resolve- in fact, the property owner who let the protesters put their signs up and hosted the BBQ falls into this category- and he's not even concerned about mining (some would call him pro-mining).
The mixed messages were really humorous- half the signs proclaimed LODE a scam, that they were mining investors, called them "Con-stock".... and the other half were anti-mining slogans. But wait a second- if the company is a scam, then they don't need to worry about the mining, cause they will never get there, right?
The fact that they are out there confirms that they believe that LODE has the means and will to actually get into production- they should probably re-think their message a little bit, and get rid of the conflicts.
AI
