The perversity and politics of the 1872 Mining Law

Graduate Project

Public Deposited

Citeable URL: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_projects/4f16c363r

Descriptions

Attribute Name	Values
Creator	Billington, Gerard
Abstract	Though inconsistent with many economic standards for resource policy, the Mining Act of 1872 is still a valid management priority on federal lands throughout the western U.S. When the Law was enacted, its stated objective was to promote private development of federally held minerals. However, the Act's free access provisions, the lack of substantial pre-discovery rights, and the retention of outdated claim size limitations are examples of the Law's many problems for commercial mineral developers. No legislative direction has been given since 1872. The longevity of this law is largely the result of the political strength of small-scale miners who fear exclusion from deposits by corporate mineral developers, and the dislike shared by all miners for leasing programs proposed by environmental and administrative reformers.
Resource Type	Capstone Project
Date Available	2012-07-10T16:17:45+00:00
Date Issued	1990-03
Degree Level	Master's
Degree Name	Master of Science (M.S.)
Degree Field	Geography
Degree Grantor	Oregon State University
Commencement Year	1990
Advisor	Maresh, Thomas J.
Academic Affiliation	Geography
Rights Statement	In Copyright
Publisher	Oregon State University
Peer Reviewed	No
Language	English [eng]
Digitization Specifications	File scanned at 300 ppi (Monochrome) using ScandAll PRO 1.8.1 on a Fi-6670 in PDF format. CVista PdfCompressor 4.0 was used for pdf compression and textual OCR.
Replaces	http://hdl.handle.net/1957/30843

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