Rare Earth Exchanges

Wyoming Clash as Politicians Seek to Attract Rare Earth Extraction, Seek Exemptions, Opposition by Casper Residents

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Hightlights

  • Wyoming legislation seeks to ease rare earth extraction.
  • Casper residents oppose exemptions citing environmental concerns.
  • Economic interests aim to counterbalance declining coal industry.

Will the laws of Wyoming become easier to extract rare earth and other materials soon? Potentially if a legislative committee advancing two measures this week has their way. With an aim of streamlining the permitting process for small gold, rare-earth-element, as well as other hard-rock mines, the effort represents a turnaround from setbacks earlier in the summer.

According to one proposed bill (opens in a new tab), the amount necessary for bonding to cover clean-up costs has support from key stakeholders, plus no opposition from either small miners or the Wyoming Mining Association (opens in a new tab), reports Dustin Bleizeffer writing for WyoFile (opens in a new tab).

Moreover, another effort to expand regulatory exemption (opens in a new tab), usually used for small sand and gravel operations to other minerals, has found fierce opposition in the form of an environmental and conservation-focused group in Casper, Wyoming.

The residents of this eastern Wyoming city of 60,000 declare the approach horribly wrong, posing a risk to residents. That’s because the exemption, as identified by Bleizeffer writing for WyoFile, shortcuts the regulatory review process typically applied to a mining operation.

Carolyn Griffith, Casper Mountain Preservation Alliance Chairperson, testifying before the Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee in Cheyenne, said, “This feels like a loophole formulated to dodge the rigor of safe mining practices.”

In what can be considered a classic conflict seen in North America, with the move to bring the rare earth value chain back home comes the inevitable clash between conservation-minded groups and economic development interests.

For example, those in support of the exemption to other hard-rock minerals argue for the economic development good, going to counterbalance what is a declining coal industry, via the embrace of rare earth (as well as other) minerals mining and processing.

As reported by WyoFile today, mine operators and typically ranchers with comparable land must apply to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality for limited mining operation exemptions (opens in a new tab) for sand, gravel, and other benign resources for operations smaller than 15 acres.

Consisting of a one-page form (opens in a new tab), the exemption allows both DEQ and a developer to forgo public notices, public comment, and pre-operational environmental reviews, reports the local reporter.

One company planning to use this approach is Prism Logistics (opens in a new tab), a commercial gravel supplier. In what WyoFile reported was a “hotly contested (opens in a new tab)” effort, the company will use the permitting process to open up a gravel mine on the west side of Casper at the base of Casper Mountain.

Companies such as Prism can assess if they can take advantage of the exemption, depending on if they want to grow their proposed operation above and beyond the 15 acres rule or not. Of course, the full effort involving environmental processes, permits, and the like is more expensive.

For more information on this Wyoming-specific scenario, follow the link to WyoFiles (opens in a new tab). Rare Earth Exchanges chronicles the unfolding disruption of current rare earth material value chains, from extraction at the level of the mine, through processing, distribution, and onto the production of final goods in various vertical markets.

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