A recent ruling by District Judge David Lass that counties do not have the authority to regulate cyanide heap-leach mining has the Summit County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) up in arms.
Heap-leach mining is a process through with mining companies extract gold from piles of low-grade ore by drenching it with a cyanide solution. It does not have a good record in Colorado.
The BOCC unanimously banned the practice in January or 2004.
The Colorado Mining Association, joined by the state, sued the county, arguing that the BOCC had overstepped its bounds, since state law authorizes and regulates the technical aspects of mining through the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board. And the Judge agreed.
A trip to the Colorado State Court of Appeals is probably next.
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