I'm not a tree hugger by any means, but after witnessing the destruction left behind buy gold mining here in Nevada, I'd like to see the price of gold at about $15.00 a ton. Modern mining methods lays waste to entire mountain ranges. Some of the best country in the state are left as a giant hole in the ground. What restoration? Post a two bit bond and away they go.
Old mining methods were ugly, too. We're still fighting pollution from mines from the last 1800's. There are some long abandoned mines in Idaho that are superfund cleanup sites.
