Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 7, 1995 TAG: 9509070072
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short
The land was conveyed to Faxe Kalk Inc., a Danish company, under an 1872 law that requires the government to sell federal mining rights for as little as $2.50 an acre.
Congress has sought for years to change the law, but under strong pressure from the mining industry, Western lawmakers repeatedly have blocked the legislation. Supporters of the law argue it helps to promote mining and preserve jobs in the United States.
But Babbitt said he finds making such deals ``increasingly distasteful'' and called the law - whose aim originally was to promote development of the West - outdated and a rip-off of the taxpayer.
Under the law, mining companies receive title to the surface land and mineral rights for $2.50 to $5 an acre and pay no royalties on any hard-rock minerals they find.
The 110 acres in Clark County, Idaho, are believed to contain an estimated 14 million tons of high-quality travertine, a mineral used to whiten paper.
Last year, when American Barrick Resources Inc., a Canadian mining company, used the law to buy a mine with $10 billion in gold deposits for about $10,000, Babbitt called it ``the biggest gold heist since the days of [outlaw] Butch Cassidy.''
Babbitt said that while Congress is cutting programs across his department, the government is losing $100 million a year in royalties from hard-rock mining.
by CNB