The answer: not yet, not until the amendment to the General Plan is finalized to require the same mining permit requirements for large landowners as it does for small landowners.
Currently, mining is Permitted by Right on any parcel 160 acres or larger zoned for agriculture. A Permitted by Right permit does not require the owner to consider the health and safety of the community in or near where the
mine will be operating. Yes, the owner has to meet the requirements of SMARA (Surface Mining And Reclamation Act) and of CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act), but once the permit is granted, the monitoring of its mine is much less stringent than under the Conditional Use Permit required for smaller parcel mining. As the only county in the Mother Lode with such liberal permit requirements for large mines, Mariposa is vulnerable to exploitation by big corporate interests. The General Plan amendment being presented at the public hearing on 11/17 is not a complete safeguard but it will give our local officials negotiating leverage to insure the interests of the County and its residents are considered and protected as much as possible from the potentially disastrous consequences of an inadequately monitored industrial mining operation.
This issue is not theoretical. The Canadian owned California Gold Mining, Inc. has purchased property in Mariposa County and is exploring its gold producing potential. The 3351 acres the corporation owns stretch across the northern end of Bear Valley just north of the town and all the way down to Merced River where it flows into Lake McClure at Bagby.
Margaret Udell Williams,
Mariposa
