Mining California

The state's mineral industry is growing, with the extraction of gold and construction sand and gravel leading the way. A strong recovery by California's construction industry has pushed up sand and gravel production by 67.2% since the recession year of 1982 to an estimated 135.7 million short tons worth $536.8 million, according to the U.S. Bureau of Mines. The growth in gold mining has been even more spectacular. In 1980, just 4,078 ounces were produced.

There's still gold in them thar rivers, and adventurers still cherish dreams of wealth. These days, though, sifting for gold is more a form of recreation than a business, and the tin pans have mostly been replaced by motorized machines called suction dredges. And the competing claims aren't over who has prospecting rights, but whether this form of mechanized gold hunting is causing irreparable harm to rivers in Northern California and the fish that swim in them. In 2011, Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation that imposed a moratorium on the practice until 2016, by which time the state Department of Fish and Game was to adopt regulations that eliminated the potential for significant environmental damage and that set permit fees high enough to cover the state's costs.

It's so quiet out here you can almost hear the shadows tugging violet twilight over the desert dunes. This is national parkland, a remote wedge of hushed mountains and sandy slopes, a place so cherished for its serenity that Congress has granted it the highest possible degree of protection by declaring it a wilderness area. It's also the site of the Rainbow Talc Mine. The mine is inactive now. But owners Carol and Edward Baumunk want to rev it up again.

A just-released schedule from Gov. Rick Perry's campaign indicates he will be able to leave Texas' wildfires for a day to make his way to California for the GOP presidential debate -- and use the occasion to fan another kind of wildfire. Perhaps more than any other candidate, the Texas governor will use the upcoming trip to raise money for his presidential campaign. As the late arrival in the race, Perry has already proved his bona fides as a world-class fundraiser. Members of his finance team says "it is going like wildfire" and their California schedule backs up the claim.

Unlike the gold, interest in the Tropico Gold Mine has yet to run out. Although there are constant inquiries from would-be visitors, Southern California's largest gold mine today stands deserted, an abandoned boom town since closing in 1956. Located about 85 miles northeast of Los Angeles near the Kern County community of Rosamond, the 100-year-old mine proved a popular tourist attraction before closing because of a lack of liability insurance.

Editor's note: This is the first in an occasional series of articles examining the origins of the California dream and its contemporary possibilities. * California was born here on a morning in winter in the cold, fast water of the American River's South Fork. Nativity occurred, quick as a glimpse, at a bend in the river between Dutch and Indian creeks, below the scrub pines of Murphy Mountain.

Plans by a group of Canadian investors to use a controversial gold-mining technology at a site within the proposed Mojave National Park have come under attack by environmentalists, who claim that it will dry up a perennial spring and attract wildlife to ponds of cyanide-laced water.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved a cleanup plan for the Coalinga Asbestos Mine Superfund site. The plan includes dismantling the mill building, diverting a stream away from the mine waste pile, grading slopes, posting signs and building barriers to discourage access. A study will be done to see if native plants can be grown on disturbed areas to reduce erosion. The EPA estimates the work will take two years and cost $1.9 million.

New Year's Day is not just a day to make resolutions, but to check the fine print of laws passed during the past year by state and federal legislative bodies. Numerous measures affecting business and consumers' pocketbooks take effect Tuesday, including new gasoline, cigarette and alcoholic beverage taxes and new California rules on interstate banking. Some of the tax hikes are the next phase of taxes put into effect earlier in the year.

President Obama begins a two-day swing through California on Wednesday that underscores the conflicting roles the state plays in presidential politics: Its strong Democratic bent means it will once again be written off by both sides during the 2012 general election, but the trove of supporters here will once again be mined to bolster Obama's efforts elsewhere. "He doesn't have to campaign here to win," said Jack Pitney, a government professor at Claremont-McKenna College. "He does need to tap the deep resources of Democratic political money, and he needs to inspire volunteers.

Defying the Senate and the California Legislature, the Interior Department has removed a key hurdle for development of the proposed open-pit Glamis gold mine in an isolated, rocky section of desert in eastern Imperial County. The action came just days after the Senate adopted an amendment written by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) that attempted to thwart the mine by prohibiting the use of federal funds to examine the mine's potential or prepare a permit for it.

Take a look at these three guys. At least two of them may be coming back soon, to a fund-raiser near you. Gov. Gray Davis has raised more than $7 million from out-of-state contributors, many of them from New York, his home state. This sort of thing happens a lot here; Republican Bob Dornan, the former firecracker congressman from Orange County, collected nearly seven of every 10 campaign dollars from out of state.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency has formally told Atlantic Richfield Co. to assist in the cleanup of the Leviathan Mine, recently designated a Superfund environmental site. Arco is a former owner of the mine in Alpine County, about 20 miles south of Lake Tahoe. Leviathan has been leaking a mixture of acids and dissolved metals into creeks that drain into the Carson River for years, discoloring the streams and making portions of them incapable of sustaining life.

Vice President Al Gore, drawn to California by money rather than political imperative, touted the need for safeguards to protect the medical records of consumers Tuesday in a speech bracketed by top-dollar political fund-raising events. Extending his self-characterization as a battler for everyday people against powerful interests, Gore visited a San Fernando Valley center for adults with developmental disabilities to argue for better protection of private medical records.

Editor's note: This is the first in an occasional series of articles examining the origins of the California dream and its contemporary possibilities. * California was born here on a morning in winter in the cold, fast water of the American River's South Fork. Nativity occurred, quick as a glimpse, at a bend in the river between Dutch and Indian creeks, below the scrub pines of Murphy Mountain.

More than 250 of 1,000 active mines in California are in violation of state law because owners have no plans to restore the sites once mining operations are completed, state officials testified Friday. Despite widespread violations of the 14-year-old state law, not a single mine operator has been penalized for failing to develop a reclamation plan. During a review of 155 mines closed since 1976, state investigators found only 18 sites had been reclaimed in compliance with the law.

A water treatment plant to begin operating in Shasta County next week is expected to reduce toxic mine drainage that threatens fish in the Sacramento River. The plant is being installed at the 130-year-old Iron Mountain Mine, nine miles northwest of Redding, which the Environmental Protection Agency has designated a Superfund site and a major source of river pollution. The 4,000-acre mine produced gold, silver, copper and iron from the 1860s to the 1960s, but now is mostly idle.

It's so quiet out here you can almost hear the shadows tugging violet twilight over the desert dunes. This is national parkland, a remote wedge of hushed mountains and sandy slopes, a place so cherished for its serenity that Congress has granted it the highest possible degree of protection by declaring it a wilderness area. It's also the site of the Rainbow Talc Mine. The mine is inactive now. But owners Carol and Edward Baumunk want to rev it up again.

If you have a child in elementary school, he or she will study California history and government, probably in the fourth or fifth grade. It's the law. Don't dread this as just another massive homework topic. Think of it as an excuse for a trip. And don't limit yourself to San Juan Capistrano or other local missions. If you want to grab a child's attention, paddle-wheel boats, horse-drawn carriages and the possibility of finding gold treasure is much more exciting.