Many Californians learn all about the 1849 California Gold Rush in their high school history class.
Here’s what most people don’t learn: Gold mining still happens in the Sierras today. But now, there are more than just ’49ers panning for gold in a river—major corporations are turning mountains into pits and using cyanide to separate tiny particles of gold from dirt.
A Canada-based mining company, K2 Gold and Mojave Precious Metals Inc., is waiting on permits to start a new open-pit cyanide gold mining project in Inyo County, California. If they get their way, they’ll bore 120,000 feet of holes and destroy thousands of acres of fragile desert in the Conglomerate Mesa to produce less than half an ounce of gold for every ton of rock. This will permanently destroy important cultural, historical, and geological features of the landscape, strain scarce desert water resources, and pollute neighboring communities—at the cost of local economies and public health.
Right now, the Bureau of Land Management is considering the mining company’s proposal and holding space for public comments. Will you sign our petition to save the Conglomerate Mesa from destructive gold mining?
If you’ve ever driven up Highway 395, you’ve experienced a piece of the Conglomerate Mesa. This beautiful, intact desert landscape north of Death Valley is the ancestral homeland of the Shoshone (Newe), Paiute (Numuu), and Timbisha people. It’s a refuge for sensitive and rare desert species like Joshua trees and the only place on Earth where the Inyo rock daisy grows. It contains unique fossils that are found nowhere else and one of the most complete geological records of the Southwestern U.S. ever found. And it’s a rugged and unconfined place to be immersed in nature as visitors hike, camp, take photos, and experience breathtakingly clear skies for stargazing.
With your help, we’ll protect and preserve the Conglomerate Mesa against destructive industrial mining so we can enjoy these benefits for years to come.
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