Stupid Swiss county population decides to ban gold exploration in very promising area

swissaustrian · Apr 1, 2012

Sometimes direct democracy has it's downsides.
There is a small area in the mountains in central Switzerland called "Surselva". It is part of the state (in German "Kanton") called Grisons (in German "Graubünden"). One county in the area called "Medel" has long (1800 years) been known for it's gold-rich creeks and rivers. Geologists have examined this and discovered the potential of high grade gold and diamond deposits. A Canadian company called "NV Gold Corporation" (recently listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol NVX (TSX.V - NVX) ) had a 25 year exploration permit lasting until June 2012 (they actually used it since 2008). It had to be renewed and the population of the county of Medel decided NOT to do that.
These rural areas in the mountains are struggling to create jobs and are relying heavily on subsidies from the central government. Young people are leaving in masses moving to the cities. But these stupid people just vote such an opportunity down. Mfing brilliant.
Computer-translated news about the vote from today (4-1-12):
http://www.microsofttranslator.com/...ldrausch-im-buendner-oberland_1.16212551.html

Exploration results have been looking very promising so far:
http://www.nvgoldcorp.com/news/2012...aging-include-samples-of-over-10-gt-gold.html

Here's a detailed presentation of the exploration area (start reading on page 13):
http://www.nvgoldcorp.com/images/pdf/presentations/NVX2012-version4.pdf

By the way: This was supposed to be an underground mining operation, so the phony environmentalists wouldn't have had something to cry about.

ancona · Apr 1, 2012

You just can't fix stupid. When I read about these kinds of NIMBY's it makes me shake my head in disbelief. Of course I do not have all the information, and do not know any of the particulars such as, will mining these minerals destroy pristine mountain streams or rivers? Will the gold remain in Switzerland? Will the residents in the county benefit from the mining more than just having a job for a few years?

Just like the moratorium on drilling off the south coast of Florida, the People often decide what is in their best long-term interests over the interests of corporations.

pmbug · Apr 1, 2012

ancona · Apr 1, 2012

They very well could be shooting themselves in the foot, but on the other hand they may be preserving their land and water supplies. Gold mi ning is a nasty, nasty business. Arsenic and mercury are regularly used to separate gold from crushed ore, meaning a hell of a lot of toxic compounds have to be properly handled and dispositioned. Is it always done by the book? No. There are places in Africa where mercury is openly dumped in the water after all the gold ahs eben processed.

While there may be billiuons in gold to be had, most likely, the residents of that county will never see more than a token amount of real money for giving permission for a company to come in and mine the gold. Sure, it will create some jobs, but for how long, and at what price?

I'm just playing devil's advocate here, because I have seen first hand what happens when profit motive overcomes giving an actual shit about the environmengt. More damage was done to my state when the Deep Water Horizon blew up than all the natural seeps in the gulf caused in the last thousand years. Entire fish stocks were wiped out. Shrimp and other crustaceans will feel the effects of the poison Corexit for a generation or more.

Sometimes, there actually is another side to the coin.

Island_Dweller · Apr 1, 2012

Another thought is that the gold will be in the ground when it reaches its true value of $55,000+ Why sell it cheap?

swissaustrian · Apr 1, 2012

The vote was about exploration, not more. Actual mining would require a second permit.

swissaustrian · Dec 19, 2012

The company (NV Gold) has made the best out of the situation and turned to the surrounding counties. They've all granted exploration permits and now the vote in the original county is rescheduled sometime next year :rotflmbo: Smart move. I've decided to purchase some stock of NV Gold. The company has a market cap of just 1 million CAD. Stock traded at 0.055 CAD yesterday. Bid/ask spread 0.01 ! Anyway, it's a pure gamble on the Swiss exploration permit. If these properties can actually be mined, the stock price is going multiples higher. The gold is there at great grades (some holes more than 5g/t). Electricity is cheap (hydropower nearby), mining personell is available because there is a huge tunnel project beeing completed by 2015 just 5 miles away: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotthard_Base_Tunnel. If they're not getting the permit, I'm probably gonna lose the whole investment.

Full press release regarding the permits in the surrounding counties:

NV GOLD CORPORATION GRANTED EXPLORATION PERMIT FOR SWISS PROPERTY

Vancouver, British Columbia – NV Gold Corporation (TSX-V: NVX) (the "Company" or “NVX”) announced today that it’s wholly-owned Swiss subsidiary, SwissGold Exploration AG, has been granted a five-year exploration permit (the “Permit”) for gold and precious metals that covers an area of 115 square kilometers within the Communes of Disentis/Mustér, Sumvitg and Trun in Canton Graubunden, southeastern Switzerland.

John E. Watson, the President and CEO of the Company, commented that: “I am very pleased by the support and encouragement the mayors of the Communes of Disentis/Mustér, Trun and Sumvitg have given to the Company in its pursuit of the Permit. These mayors recognize the economic benefits that mining could offer their Communes, provided it can be undertaken responsibly, and we look forward to advancing exploration work on this promising project.”

The Permit is for a 5-year term, but is renewable for two additional 5-year terms. Under the terms of the Permit, the Company must pay an initial fee for the permit, pay an annual fee of CHF 4,500 (4,500 Swiss Francs) and incur exploration expenditures of CHF 100,000 per year on the Surselva Property to maintain the Permit in good-standing. Excess expenditures may be carried forward to meet expenditure requirements in future years. The Permit was granted under the mining laws in place in Disentis/Mustér and Sumvitg. Trun currently does not have its own mining law. The three Communes have agreed to work to settle a harmonized mining law that will apply in all three Communes. The existing mining laws in Disentis/Mustér and Sumvitg provide that the Permit holder is entitled to a mining concession subject to completing a satisfactory feasibility study and environmental impact study, amongst other things.

The Company anticipates an aggressive field exploration program in 2013. This program will expand upon exploration completed by SwissGold Exploration geologists in 2011 on the current property and on adjacent areas in the Commune of Medel. Alluvial placer gold is present in streams draining the entire Surselva permit area, and previous exploration has defined a number of gold occurrences, including native gold, within crystalline basement rocks of the Tavetsch and Gotthard massifs of the Central Swiss Alps. The Gotthard massif consists of granite, granitoid and polymetamorphic basement rocks. The adjacent Tavetsch zone consists primarily of sericite schist with lesser volumes of pegmatite and lenses of ultramafic rocks and is interpreted as a major shear zone. Most of the known gold occurrences are hosted within sericite-quartz-pyrite schist of the Tavetsch zone. Sulfide minerals, dominated by pyrite and locally arsenopyrite, are usually associated with gold mineralization and occur as disseminations, veinlets with associated quartz, and often wispy layers or laminations of semi-massive sulfides with thicknesses of up to a few centimeters. The gold mineralization at Surselva may be classified as orogenic gold-type mineralization, with considerable similarities to numerous gold deposits in Ontario, Canada.

The Surselva project area was drill-tested by the Narex-Micham joint venture in 1986 and 1987. A total of 17 diamond drill holes for 3865.45 meters tested three identified mineralized horizons. Of these, 10 drill holes for 2766.15 meters were within the area of the current exploration permit. Significant drill intersections are presented in the following table. The Company is in possession of all known data from previous work, including all of the previously-drilled core. The structural setting and the mineralized gold system is of substantial dimensions and is open laterally and at depth.

[Table of drilling results]

Drill intersections reported are down-hole distances; true thicknesses of mineralization are not known.

SwissGold Exploration geologists completed a program of reconnaissance prospecting and rock-chip geochemistry in 2011. Of the 215 rock-chip geochemical samples collected across the permit area, 37 contained more than 1 g/t gold, 16 of these contained more than 2 g/t gold, and 7 of these contained more than 3 g/t gold, with a high value of 10.2 g/t gold in one sample.

Dr. Michael Gustin of Mine Development Associates, an independent Qualified Person under NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information disclosed in this release.

...

http://www.nvgoldcorp.com/index.php...granted-exploration-permit-for-swiss-property

NV Stock has intially spiked on the press release in November but then made new lows:

drAGonfly47 · Dec 19, 2012

swissaustrian said:
The vote was about exploration, not more. Actual mining would require a second permit.

Island Dweller expresses a strategy the majority of western civilization chooses not to grasp.

Thinking beyond oneself and/or time one will occupy.

I support those who choose to view and consider the future of those who are not here... yet.

You would, if, such had been done for you.

Take a chance at self empowerment, and lead by example.

Following is unbecoming.

ILOVETRADING · Dec 19, 2012

Wow. Lets keep it real here guys you can still find gold safely especially in rivers and creek beds. I think it would be wise for them to reconsider their decision without thinking they'd have to resort to the dangerous aspects of mining with chemicals, land de-forestation, yadda yadda.

They should lead by example to deomnstrate to the world how properous some resources can be if done safely. For example, panning, sluice boxing, etc are techniques which require no chemicals- albeit a couple rocks turned over (seriously, not belittling), to find even some nuggets or deposits. As far as I know, our first prospectors weren't hemmoraging mercury or other toxic stuff to find their gold(back in the day- even primitive/ancient civilizations).

Not so much a huge mining operation but showing the world they can extract this while preserving their natural nature IS POSSIBLE. THAT is the change we would want to see and lead by.

I say restrict chemical use, heavy duty operations- and allow for placer mining claims to be sold and bought by their own people through registration. This way foreign entities can take neither their gold nor currency out of their country/market, while also controlling the amount of mining being done through tracking of registrations (required to file or face legal penalties) by the miners/owners. Then the country only benefits itself and creates wealth for itself.

Gee, whoda thunketh- keeping your own currency in your own country- sounds nice right!?

All in my opinion. Thanks for reading.

bushi · Dec 20, 2012

ILOVETRADING said:
(...)showing the world they can extract this while preserving their natural nature IS POSSIBLE.

...that something is possible, doesn't mean it is commercially viable or sustainable. Making money while doing it is the key. Which, with decreasing ore quality, is more & more difficult, and requires more & more big scale operations, to make up on the scale effect.

I am not saying it is good, quite the opposite. All I am saying, is that our resources are getting thin-spread.

(...the better for ones holding on to what has been already mined.)

swissaustrian · Jan 8, 2015

After some political theater the company finally got the permit in October of 2014.

Here is the company presentation about the project:
http://www.nvgoldcorp.com/images/pdf/properties/switzerland_project/Surselva-Powerpoint-2014_v2-1.pdf

This is a map with gramms per ton gold grades, anyone familiar with gold mining knows that this is pretty impressive the area has never been mining professionally before...

Stupid Swiss county population decides to ban gold exploration in very promising area

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