Why Bush won in Nevada: they made Kerry look anti-mining like the NYT

[NVMojo]

there are a series of articles currently running in the New York Times starting this week. The stance in these articles reflect an anti-mining point of view and large non-profits were involved in getting this series done. What most idiots do not understand is that the mining industry employs alot of folks in rural Nevada and other states and when you are a miner making $60-75,000. a year with a high school diploma, you will vote Republican if you think you are going to lose your job. the Bush Campaign team effectively smeared Kerry and painted him antimining because he stated at some public meeting that mining fees on public lands should be increased. The mines pay next to nothing to mine on public lands ...Here are the first of two stories and Democrats need to understand what the issues are before the next election ...

October 24, 2005
The Cost of Gold | 30 Tons an Ounce
Behind Gold's Glitter: Torn Lands and Pointed Questions
By JANE PERLEZ and KIRK JOHNSON

There has always been an element of madness to gold's allure.

For thousands of years, something in the eternally lustrous metal has driven people to the outer edges of desire - to have it and hoard it, to kill or conquer for it, to possess it like a lover.

In the early 1500's, King Ferdinand of Spain laid down the priorities as his conquistadors set out for the New World. "Get gold," he told them, "Humanely if possible, but at all costs, get gold."

In that long and tortuous history, gold has now arrived at a new moment of opportunity and peril.

The price of gold is higher than it has been in 17 years - pushing $500 an ounce. But much of the gold left to be mined is microscopic and is being wrung from the earth at enormous environmental cost, often in some of the poorest corners of the world.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/24/international/24GOLD.html?emc=eta1&pagewanted=print

October 25, 2005
The Cost of Gold | Treasure of Yanacocha
Tangled Strands in Fight Over Peru Gold Mine
By JANE PERLEZ and LOWELL BERGMAN

SAN CERILLO, Peru - The Rev. Marco Arana drove his beige pickup over the curves of a dirt road 13,000 feet high in the Andes. Spread out below lay the Yanacocha gold mine, an American-run operation of mammoth open pits and towering heaps of cyanide-laced ore. Ahead loomed the pristine green of untouched hills.

Then, an unmistakable sign that this land, too, may soon be devoured: Policemen with black masks and automatic rifles guarding workers exploring ground that the mine's owner, Newmont Mining Corporation, has deemed the next best hope.

"This is the Roman peace the company has with the people: They put in an army and say we have peace," said Father Arana as he surveyed the land where gold lies beneath the surface like tiny beads on a string.

Yanacocha is Newmont's prize possession, the most productive gold mine in the world. But if history holds one lesson, it is that where there is gold, there is conflict, and the more gold, the more conflict.

Newmont, which has pulled more than 19 million ounces of gold from these gently sloping Peruvian hills - over $7 billion worth - believes that they hold several million ounces more. But where Newmont sees a new reserve of wealth - to keep Yanacocha profitable and to stay ahead of its competitors - the local farmers and cattle grazers see sacred mountains, cradles of the water that sustains their highland lives.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/25/international/americas/25GOLD.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print