Board rules in favor of southern Oregon miner

GRANTS PASS, Ore. – Miners rejoiced after the Josephine County Board of Commissioners ruled that a man doesn’t need county permission to mine for gold on a property in the Sunny Valley near Grants Pass.

The latest round of mining controversy in Southern Oregon brought about 100 people to an auditorium Friday. Commissioner Simon Hare read a statement and adjourned the meeting shortly after it began.

“We hold there is no local jurisdiction to regulate this particular activity, and that a developmental permit is not appropriate or requisite here,” Hare said.

John West and his business partner in the Brimstone Natural Resource Company want to use excavators and dump trucks above the high water mark of Brimstone Creek to mine for what he believes is $250,000 worth of placer gold on a patented mining claim.

The site is less than 2 miles from the site of another controversial Brimstone mining project. It’s another 4 miles to the Sunny Valley Sand & Gravel site east of Interstate 5 on Placer Road, where residents fought a plan to mine millions of cubic yards of gravel. Both projects were approved by the county after a long legal process that included appeals to the state’s Land Use Board of Appeals.

Disagreeing was Steve Rouse of the group Rogue Advocates, which has fought all Sunny Valley mining projects recently. He said rules adopted more than a decade ago direct the county to regulate mining in riparian corridors.

“We’re sorting through this very unusual set of events with our attorneys, and we will pursue this by all means necessary to make sure county and state laws are complied with,” Rouse said.