The General Mining Law of 1872 turned 150 this month. It hasn’t changed a bit.
For sustained, systemic swindle, May 10, 1872, may be the top of the heap for Congress. And by the top, of course, I mean the bottom.
The Civil War had ended only seven years earlier. Efforts to unravel Reconstruction in the South were well underway. Three years to the day earlier, the driving of the Golden Spike completed the Transcontinental Railroad, hastening the white settling of the West and the displacement of Native Americans.
The riches of the American West were laid bare: massive grazing lands, vast forests, and yet-undiscovered mineral wealth. The General Mining Law of 1872 allowed hard-rock mineral claims in public lands for the cost of about $5 an acre—about $115 in today’s dollars. And the price tag hasn’t increased. Not in 150 years.
I used to be fond of saying that an acre of rights for gold, silver, or platinum could be had for the price of a family-sized bag of Doritos, but no more. Inflation has grown the Doritos price. The gold, silver, or platinum, not so much. Add to the bounty the so-called “rare earths” like lithium, vital in high tech industries.
Prominent congressional Democrats are pushing to update the nation's 150-year-old mining law, as President Biden seeks to spur the production of critical minerals used in electric vehicle batteries and other green technologies.
