Comstock Inc (LODE)

[zomniac]

We are local citizens dedicated to protecting the Virginia City National Historic Landmark, the state's Comstock Historic District and our peaceful communities from the devastation of large scale modern industrial pit mining by Comstock Mining Inc. This would never be tolerated in Williamsburg or any other National Landmark, and we won't tolerate it here.

http://comstockresidents.org/

For many folks in Virginia City, Gold Hill and Silver City, the idea of open pit mining in this state and national historic district is repugnant.

"Mining does work for Nevada," said Daan Eggenberger, proprietor of the restored Tahoe House Hotel, an antique-laden lodge on Virginia City's main drag. "It just doesn't work in a historic district."

The National Trust for Historic Preservation named Virginia City to its 2009 list of a dozen "Distinctive Destinations" across the country. The historic mining boomtown still boasts mines, mansions, saloons and museums that provide a glimpse into frontier life.

Founded with the discovery of the Comstock Lode in 1859, Virginia City made so many millionaires that the town was called the "richest place on earth."

The wealth it generated helped finance the Union cause during the Civil War and to build San Francisco and the Bay area.

Mining has come and gone in the Gold Canyon region since the lode played out. Tailing piles that have stood for decades at old mill sites dot the mountainsides.

In Gold Hill and Silver City, tiny towns a few miles down a twisting highway from Virginia City, residents say their serenity was disturbed last fall when Comstock Mining renewed exploration drilling at an existing site and disclosed it had begun exploration on parts of mining claims it has acquired covering 6,100 acres. Of that, about 1,000 acres is on private property; the rest is public land.

Residents formed the Comstock Residents Association to fight the company's plan.