So this article highlights the stringent practices that miners employ and the broad framework of environmental and labor laws that govern them. As they say, sunlight is the best disinfectant.

Maybe some with this mentality actually picture an earlier era from before landmark laws like the Clean Water Act set hard thresholds for water pollutants or before agencies started requiring mines to reclaim their land. Maybe others are just not familiar with how mining works.

Reflexive backlash like lawsuits and unnecessary new regulations will only make it harder to source the minerals needed to build clean energy.

The resistance can lead to tangible consequences like the cancelation of the Twin Metals Minnesota project.

www.breakthroughjournal.org/p/mining-is-...

I'd be interested in hearing other interpretations though.

The outcrops straddle Twin Rocks Creek at about 39.80496708457175, -122.96868941625242 if you want to weigh in!

Another possibility, California hosts the Coastal Range Ophiolite which outcrops along a north-south trend across Sonoma and Lake County, ending at the north end just about where I took the photo.

The Clear Lake Volcanic field, for example, lies about 50 miles to the south and hosts the 4,300 foot Mount Konocti and the Geysers geothermal steam field.

When most people think of volcanics on the west coast, they likely imagine the Cascade Range because of the iconic stratovolcanoes like Mount St. Helens or Mount Rainier, but the Coastal Range shows volcanics too.

I highly recommend checking out the company - I will certainly be interested in seeing them put this new technology into action in the near future.

www.disausa.com

@thebti.bsky.social has previously written about the origins of the U.S. uranium sector and how far regulations and protections have progressed since its inception.

DISA's license approval marks the latest milestone

thebreakthrough.org/issues/energ...

The former represents a leap forward in tackling an enduring national responsibility while the latter could not come soon enough as the U.S. seeks to divest from the Russian-dominated nuclear fuel supply chain and re-shore domestic capabilities.

License approval on this front will simultaneously benefit two major priorities: cleaning up abandoned mines left from a bygone, under-regulated era and introducing a new domestic source of uranium to fuel nuclear reactors.

The technique is remarkably simple, essentially just washing and shaking old mine tailings to collect the lingering uranium ore that coats the waste rock.

Here's an overview of how it works:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxW3...

Once production starts, Stibnite Gold could meet roughly a sixth of U.S. antimony demand over its 15 year lifetime. Starting from nothing, this is a huge leap forward.

Meanwhile, China dominates 60% of global mine production, constitutes a quarter of U.S. imports, and has not been shy about using export restrictions as a geopolitical lever.

www.csis.org/analysis/chi...

Antimony sees use in batteries, semiconductors, and specialty alloys. Yet, the U.S. has up until now remained dangerously reliant on imports (Net Import Reliance ~85%).

The Stibnite Gold Project in Idaho got its Notice to Proceed from the U.S. Forest Service and can soon start construction of the first antimony mine the U.S. has hosted in years.