I was not comparing St. Helens to a mining operation, just showing how far the wind can carry dust and air pollution. Although there is a comparison as the eruption of St. Helens blew away its mountain top, open pit mining would destroy Conglomerate Mesa's mountain tops!
You say "Look at the jr sector and you will see that the greatest price appreciation comes at the time of discovery and the development of a reserve."
Gold was discovered on Conglomerate Mesa probably a hundred years ago or at least decades ago. Despite excellent surface gold grades encountered by Newmont, BHP, and Timberline, the Conglomerate Mesa property did not see historic mining because the sediment-hosted gold particles are micron-sized and therefore could not be panned by prospectors.
Conglomerate Mesa was originally explored by Newmont while it was within the Cerro Gordo Wilderness Study Area (WSA). An initial 22-hole (10,360 feet) reconnaissance drill program focused primarily on just one of the property's mineralized zones ("Resource Area") outlining a mineralized resource estimate pre-dating (and not compliant with) NI 43-101 standards totaling 175,000 ounces of gold contained in 3-million tons grading 0.06 ounces per ton (oz/t). Highlights from the Newmont drill program include the following:
Resource Area CGL-01 5 ft of 0.24 oz/t gold
CGL-02 20 ft of 0.08 oz/t gold
CGL-03 45 ft of 0.07 oz/t gold
CGL-04 20 ft of 0.08 oz/t gold
CGL-12 45 ft of 0.04 oz/t gold
CGL-19 20 ft of 0.09 oz/t gold
South Drainage Area CGL-16 35 ft of 0.05 oz/t gold
Newmont withdrew from Conglomerate Mesa in 1993. Federal agencies dropped the property's WSA status the following year because it did not meet the necessary criteria for inclusion in a Wilderness Area and, in doing so, removed significant impediments to its future development.
In late-1995, BHP-Billiton acquired Conglomerate Mesa and identified a larger hydrothermal gold system with excellent bulk-mineable potential. The property's core area was explored that year, with eight target zones identified by soil geochemistry.
In 1997, BHP conducted a widely-spaced, 10-hole (8,060 feet) reconnaissance drill program at Conglomerate Mesa which included the following highlights:
Dragonfly Area CM 97-3 20 ft of 0.06 oz/t gold
CM 97-4 30 ft. of 0.10 oz/t gold
40 ft of 0.11 oz/t gold
30 ft of 0.05 oz/t gold
CM 97-5 40 ft of 0.04 oz/t gold
Middle CMFS Area CM 97-6 35 ft of 0.04 oz/t gold
Resource Area CM 97-9 35 ft of 0.03 oz/t gold
The fact is that 3 large mining companies owned CM at one time and all passed on trying to develop it into an open pit mine. That leaves Sungro to try to sell their claims or proceed with permits and financing to develop it. (There are dozens of mining claims for sale - just do a search.)
There have been many changes in the Owens Valley area, the most significant is the restoration of Owens Lake where the LAPWD is under court order to control dust and air pollution.
Today Owens Lake is a nationally significant Important Bird Area (IBA) as designated by the National Audubon Society. The lake was so designated due to the thousands of shorebirds that migrate through each fall and spring between the Arctic and Central and South America and also because of the large numbers of snowy plovers that nest there. In addition, several thousand snow geese and ducks winter at the lake.
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