COMMENTARY — Home-grown political risk

The biggest challenge facing the mining industry today is its fierce battle with another industry — the industry of the preservationists, the professional (and elitist) organizations which exist only to shut things down.

Propaganda is their main tool and they use it with abandon and with little consideration to fairness, truth or responsibility. The recent advertising campaign in Washington state is only one example and I am sure many people were taken in by the “lies, damned lies and statistics” contained in the ads. Unfortunately, most of these groups are well funded and not about to give up on campaigns which have no downside for them and provide employment and a crusade for their members.

These groups, in turn, have supported and done work for politicians in various states and in Washington, D.C., and now they are calling the tunes, as in the case of the politicians who are now seeking radical changes in the Mining Law.

For these politicians, there is no downside either. They don’t have too much in the way of public lands in their constituencies and multiple use is of no great concern for their voters, so they can repay their backers by pushing for changes to the Mining Law. If they succeed, they will have bragging rights and continued sources of funding.

There are politicians who have an appreciation of what the mining industry means to the nation, and we certainly hope that their wisdom and political skills will prevail.

I am certain the revenue derived from the various changes would be much smaller than that projected. But if we get to this stage, it will be too late for many miners and the government would be likely only to seek to apportion blame rather than repeal the onerous laws and regulations.

The uncertainty and hostility resulting from the situation in this country is forcing the industry to direct more and more attention to global prospects, including those in Latin America, the former Soviet Union, the Pacific Rim and parts of Africa.

It is ironic when companies, investors and bankers say that political risk is now greater in the U.S. than in Peru and Chile. True, some large companies are continuing to invest in the U.S., but they will in time run into special interest groups which complain about foreign control of resources. So, their day will come, too.

— Allan Marter, president of the Spokane, Wash.-based Northwest Mining Association, writing in a recent issue of his group’s “Bulletin” publication.