The relative peace and quiet surrounding this latest reincarnation of House Resource Committee Chairman Nick Joe Rahall's perennial fight to reform the Mining Law of 1872 is astounding compared to the rancor and bloodletting of previous legislative efforts.

But, then again, today's hearing may provide a glimpse as to whether the environmental special interest groups and their loyal opposition in what's left of U.S. hardrock mining are only warming up for a hard-fought fight to the finish.

Missing this time around are the historic public and very heated battles between big miners and their junior exploration counterparts.  Thus far, the industry is very deliberately speaking with a single voice, which will be presented to the subcommittee in the testimony of William Champion, President and CEO of Kennecott Copper Corporation, a Rio Tinto subsidiary.

Rio definitely has a dog in this fight, as we say in the West, through its numerous ventures with exploration companies throughout the U.S. Those small explorationists are absolutely critical to Rio Tinto's future in U.S. copper and gold mining.

Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Rio Tinto is AngloGold-Ashanti, which also hopes for a golden future in the United States. Like Rio, AngloGold has junior explorationist partnerships and prospects that will form the backbone of the South African major's future in the U.S. AngloGold-Ashanti also enjoys an excellent, long-term working relationship with U.S. Senator Ken Salazar, D-Colorado, who may become a very crucial figure in the drafting of Mining Law reform.

Those who remember the environmental nightmare of Summitville may recall that Salazar, then director of Colorado's Department of Natural Resources and subsequent Colorado Attorney General, played a pivotal role in the clean-up and legal settlement of the Robert Friedland gold mining venture. After Summitville, Salazar earned his black belt of knowledge of what works and what is a waste of time when it comes to regulating hardrock mining. He also is very well-versed in gold mining's benefits and drawbacks and how to minimize the negatives.

As the sole Democrat besides Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid, who genuinely comprehends both the languages and political agendas of mining and environmental groups, Salazar could play a leading role once HR 2262 hits the Senate.

This begs the question as to whether HR 2262 will, indeed, make it to the Senate. Political reality says you betcha! Hardrock mining advocates who actually directly impact mining legislation are few and far between in the House. Speaker Nancy Pelosi is awfully busy with very heavy duty issues, such as the War in Iraq, or illegal immigration. Meanwhile, she is struggling to even get some kind of energy bill through the House. Nevertheless, her close colleague from the San Francisco Bay Area just happens to be Rep. George Miller, a long, long-time advocate of Mining Law reform and a staunch environmentalist.

Rahall, who has ably represented his West Virginia coal mining constituents for many years in the House, has long relied on the assistance of Chief of Staff for the House Resources Committee Jim Zoia, who has become one of THE experts on Mining Law reform during his long tenure as a congressional staffer. In his younger days, Zoia thrived on the challenge of taking on the entire U.S. hardrock mining industry in the great battle of Mining Law reform.

Sadly, there isn't much of a U.S. hardrock mining industry to do battle with Zoia any more, thanks to global M&A activity. The number of large U.S.-based hardrock miners can be counted on one hand. The remaining U.S. hardrock mega-miners that come to mind at this late hour are Newmont and Freeport-McMoRan, not exactly a commanding congressional constituency in terms of votes.

One ray of hope is that, since Barrick swallowed up Placer Dome, the world's foremost gold miner must be concerned about what happens on U.S. public lands, which is the focus of the HR 2262. Barrick and Placer were often at odds in past Mining Law legislation battles because Barrick sometimes pushed to make a deal and get the Mining Law issue over and done with. Now they, too, are mired in public lands issues especially around the Cortez-Battle Mountain Trend, which is extremely critical to Barrick's future in the U.S. and Nevada. Barrick is now a card-carrying member of the highly exclusive Rio Tinto-AngloGold-Freeport mega-miners-who-want-a-North-American-future club.

And last, but definitely not least, there's Newmont. Whether Newmont's future actually depends on public lands in the United States is debatable. Nevertheless, Newmont's Mary Beth Donnelly has been helping to formulate the debate on Mining Law reform for more years than this reporter and Ms. Donnelly would probably care to recall. And, Donnelly has earned the respect of and the attention of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the son of a small Nevada hardrock miner.

Harry Reid now is probably the most important Democrat in the country until a Democratic U.S. president is elected. There is little doubt that Reid, whose legislative experience spans decades, could send any attempt at Mining Law reform into legislative oblivion. But, miners should not rely on Reid to be their sole backstop this time around. He has become a national leader, a man who must now embrace and shepherd issues and causes that he wouldn't have touched as the senior senator from Nevada. Like House Speaker Pelosi, Reid has his hands full with Iraq, illegal immigration, and a stubborn energy policy which seems to be taking forever to enact.

Be assured that his staff is carefully monitoring this issue. There isn't a shred of doubt that Reid cares deeply about the fate of an industry with which he has been intimately acquainted since his childhood when he helped his father underground.

Amazingly enough, a change has also taken place in the attitudes of the proponents and the opponents of HR 2262, who now actually discuss compromise and working together, rather than beating each other to a bloody pulp in the arena of public opinion. Hardrock mining's ever-loyal opposition, EARTHWORKS, has been awfully quiet after the introduction of HR2262, but then again, so have the very politically activist members of the Northwest Mining Association.

Nevada's Great Basin MineWatch--which used to really work hard to come up with the latest version of an 1872 Mining Law protest--has stayed out of the papers lately. But, keeping an equally low public profile is a new national group of uranium explorationists, who recently organized to educate Congress and the public on the need to keep public lands open for domestic energy exploration and development.

And, Tiffany's Chairman and CEO Mike Kowalski--who only a few years ago took out a full-page newspaper ad demanding Mining Law reform-has been very quietly working behind the scenes with environmental and mining special interest groups, advocating some type of Mining Law reform, that also maintains the ability of the U.S. mining industry to continue to mine on public lands.

NMA'S MINING LAW POSITION

Even the National Mining Association has softened its position as far as what was historically strenuous opposition to Rahall mining law reform legislation. For instance, NMA now supports a net royalty, albeit Rahall wants an 8% net smelter royalty.

Patenting isn't as contentious an issue for mining as it was three years ago when Representatives Jim Gibbons and Richard Pombo, both Republicans, tried to attach it to budget bills and push it through the House. Both Gibbons and Pombo are no longer serving in the House, which is now controlled by Democrats.

Both sides of the Mining Law reform issue wish to establish an Abandoned Mine Lands clean-up fund. Where the money comes from remains a bone of contention.

While Rahall and company threw everything but the kitchen sink into the environmental acts and regulations stuffed into HR 2262, thus far, the two sides concur that the permitting process needs some work.

For those interested in having a front row seat on a bit of U.S. mining history as it is made, the House Subcommittee will telecast its hearing at 10 a.m. Eastern Time, or 7 a.m. Pacific or 8 a.m. Mountain Time for all of us in the West who actually will be impacted by the Rahall bill. Go to resourcescommittee.house.gov/hearing.

For related articles:
Rahall Mining Law bill will impose huge extra demands on U.S. miners
Tiffany�s Kowalski declares U.S. mining law �long overdue for an overhaul
U.S. hardrock mining�s loyal opposition poised to introduce yet another attempt to change the 1872 Mining Law