Mining in Mojave National Preserve comes to a halt as lawsuit continues forward
A judge has halted a mining operation in the Mojave National Preserve run by the same company that has staked mining claims outside of Twentynine Palms and Joshua Tree National Park.
On Monday, August 10th, a judge granted a preliminary injunction to the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) in their lawsuit over industrial mining in previously protected public lands inside Mojave National Preserve. The NPCA filed a lawsuit against the Department of the Interior over the violation of several federal laws that were passed to protect national parks and monuments from mining impacts.
The lawsuit was filed earlier this year challenging the Department of Interior’s decision to allow the Australian company Dateline Resources Ltd. to proceed with industrial mining activities at Colosseum Mine within the national park site. The NPCA says that industrial operations have restarted in the area and irreparable damage has already been caused in areas around the mine, with new roads being constructed or expanded, drilling and grading in biologically sensitive area, and restricting public access to the public lands.
The court order stop further development and will remain in effect while the lawsuit continues forward.
Dateline Resources has also turned its eye toward Twentynine Palms, where the company has staked claims in the Music Valley area of the Pinto Mountain Wilderness. The Music Valley area is public land that is adjacent to Joshua Tree National Park and the nearby Twentynine Palms entrance, stretching all the way east toward the Hanson Tract in Wonder Valley.
The mining activity is part of the Trump Administration’s efforts to strip public lands of their protected status and open up them up for mineral extraction, logging, oil drilling, and other ecologically harmful activities previously off-limits in national parks and monuments.
Critics of the Music Valley Mine Project are concerned about the impacts to the public lands and the gateway community of Twentynine Palms. Roads into the Music Valley area would cut through the National Park and nearby neighborhoods. San Bernardino County has also proposed a change in how they approve mining projects in the county, fast-tracking new claims without public input or environmental assessments.
Supporters of public land extractions say that the efforts bolster America’s independence from reliance on foreign suppliers of rare earth minerals and heavy metals used in manufacturing.
NPCA California Desert Associate Director Chance Wilcox says “This is a win for the Mojave and everyone who believes our national parks aren’t industrial mining zones. While the case moves forward, this order will stop the drilling and grading of this incredible landscape and help protect the preserve from the administration’s brazen attempts to sell out our parks for profit. This is about what we’ve known all along – you can’t break the law and bulldoze a national preserve when these are among the most beloved places in the country.”
You can listen to a podcast with interviews with the NPCA about both mining projects by heading over to the Public Comments podcast page.