PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — For anyone who is familiar with Maine’s mining history, the recent announcement that there is interest in Bald Mountain’s vast mineral wealth should have caused little surprise.
In fact, one person in particular, geologist John S. Cummings, who discovered and documented the subsurface amount of copper, gold and zinc in 1977, knows that history all too well.
Cummings, 82, was at the forefront of efforts to locate minerals and develop Maine’s mining capacity leading up to the long-awaited regulatory framework adopted in 1991 by the Legislature. By that time, however, the man who was recognized by lawmakers in 1980 for his “commercially viable” discovery, had picked up his tools and moved far away.
Details of Cummings’ experience are well documented in his 2008 manuscript, “Metals in the Maine Earth: The Untold Story of how the Promise of Golconda was Lost.”
The purpose of the 45-page text, he admits, was to “demonstrate that centuries-old ownership of mineral rights in the unorganized lands severely retarded development of mineral resources in the state, and that at such a time as [when] valuable metallic resources were located, corporate and governmental actions combined to eliminate the possibility — for decades on end — of mining viable metallic resources in the state of Maine.”
He called Maine’s mining laws unworkable and “a de facto ban on metal mining” as not a single permit has been issued since 1991.
Although Cummings no longer holds any financial interest in Bald Mountain he is following the recent developments in Aroostook with keen interest.
An Auburn native, his friends and former associates in Maine have called him and sent newspaper clippings.
Contacted last week at his home in Grand Prairie, Texas, the former chief geologist with the James W. Sewall Co. in Old Town was not surprised that efforts are now under way to overhaul Maine’s mining rules. “Something needed to be done,” he said.
Cummings would like nothing more than to see prosperity for Aroostook County and his native state.
In his 2008 report, using 2007-era prices, he estimated the gross value of copper, zinc and gold at Bald Mountain “had greatly outstripped inflation, being between $6 [billion] and $7 billion dollars.”
A copy of Cummings’ manuscript is available at the Mark & Emily Turner Memorial Library in Presque Isle.
So, John Martin stands to profit?
Your hate is dripping.. you might want to use a rag.
envy and hate are two separate vices….just saying
definitely still needs a rag….perhaps two….unbridled envy that leads to outright hatred is often a messy affair!
Your hate is dripping.. you might want to use a rag. HOLY CRAP… that is funny!!
Let’s see. He owed Irving $250,000.00.
He pushed through legislation that might be worth $7B to the Irving family.
I think he has already made a profit. What do you think?
Isin’t simple math easy ?
Gee, even a Lepage could see through that one, eh?
I just had an Andy Rooney moment ” Did you ever notice”
Most of the people that are against this project are not from The County??
More likely Irving (with Mr. Martin’s help) is in the catbird’s seat if I recall recent articles on the subject correctly, but I don’t always remember correctly. Isn’t it odd that this Maine resource was untapped for years due to Maine regulations, but now a Canadian company might be the big beneficiary.
I visited the Bald Mountain site with a group of geologists back in the 80’s. They said that the only reason it hadn’t been mined was because it was an expensive site to mine and the price of gold needed to go way up to make it worthwhile.
To give us all a frame of reference to decide, what would the price of gold need to be, per ounce, to make this mining, in reality, economically worthwhile ? Hearing the $7 Billion mark mentioned is just so much hoopla in the sky. A ‘real money’ number would go a very long way toward giving everyone a better idea as to just how much money is involved here in The County.
Where are the loudmouths saying you could always mine in Maine if you would just adhere to a couple of D.E.P. and E.P.A. regulations? Mr. Cummings says (correctly) that there has been a “defacto” ban on mining in Maine fo 20 years! I wonder how many other industries have avoided Maines “defacto” ban on business?
Mining, especially gold mining, is one of the most ecologically damaging industries on earth. I’m just guessing that maybe you need to adhere to more than a couple DEP/EPA regulations if you want to go spraying cyanide all over the place. You sound as if you’d give a TIF to a baby-chipping venture.
They claim that there is ore with a value of $7 billion. Because (as you say) gold mining is one of the most ecologically damaging industries on earth, perhaps the costs of containing that damage far exceeds the $7 billion value.
Big business wants to change the laws in order to minimize the cost of mining. That will lead to pollution and profits. After the ore is gone, we will be left with a wasteland in paradise.
I suggest that we do not turn the clock back 100 years and allow big business to destroy the environment in order to produce a few jobs. The ends do not justify the means.
Even if the Bald Mt. area is not mined, the Irving family will end up strip-cutting the entire forested area as it has done to most of the land it owns in Aroostook County. It is strictly profit oriented. The amount of ecological damage it has created over the past 20 years is unconscionable. Reclamation is beyond consideration so the company has turned the devastated areas into a tree plantation to give it a better appearance. I know they will dispute that but when pristine lakes with gravelly bottoms are turned into bogs on account of washouts due to bad forestry practices the evidence of permanent damage incontrovertible.
Irving will profit from the sale of the mineral rights. So what. The mineral rights to this deposit and many other areas of Maine have exchanged hands many times over the years, the knowledge of the wealth available has been known for a long time, but nimby has prevented any progress.
I’d guess that all of the detractors to this operation would be on the other side of the fence if it was their property.
btw, I belive more than Irving owns the site.
who else do you think is involved?
I belive 7 Islands owns part of the site. I’m going on memory from my reseach 10+ years ago, so I may be wrong.
Thanks Kurt.
Certainly if we see JD Irving forming a subsidiary joint venture or a potential spin off we should all pay very close attention.
Also JD Irving could get an immediate return on all this hype by leasing or assigning or selling the mineral rights at Bald Mountain.Perhaps that’s what they were after..having the set up to spin off Bald Mountain to some other speculatve owner.
I think that is bascally what Plum Creek has been about..using the State to get a set up for a profitable spin off to other speculators. ( Plum Creek doesn’t build developments..their strategy is to buy cheap timberland then realize a profit through resale hopefully with dramatic added value as has been realized for them with approval of the Plum Creek plan.
Perhaps that is what all this mining re regulation was about..using the state as a vehicle to add value to timberland so that a profit can be realized through sale of mineral rights.
Not to take a ‘shot’ at Mr Cummings but I find it INCREDIBLY coincidental that this story comes up right in the middle of the E-W Highway mess AND the Bald Mountain mining discussion right after Paulie and Company have signed off on the mining right’s. Now call me a bit odd but does anyone else find the timing of all of this just a bit beyond belief ? Something is burning in the kitchen folk’s and it ain’t the coffee !
Really, “Paulie & Company”?
The bill was introduced, and moved forward by your Democratic buddy, Martin. Just at the same time he owes Irving $250,000.00 and they were ready to take his building.
Talk about coincidences.
Totally seperate companies. Those Irvings don’t speak to each other.
According to the Canada Free Press, all the Irving Corporations are technically separate Corporations, but at the end of the day, the family controls everything.
I can open three corporations tomorrow with different names, but it’s the stockholders of the Corporation that “own” the company.
Your not reading this correctly. They have the same last name…….. thats it. Irving Timberlands has NOTHING to do with Irving Oil.
If Martin’s my buddy then we ALL NEED TO REVISIT OUR CHRISTMAS CARD LIST’S ! Martin got the mining bill passed with a huge amount of Paulie’s help, and the GOP’s as well, since the money that Irving want’s to take out of the mountain is gonna go right to Irving, and no where is it gonna go anywhere near Mainer’s besides a bunch of minimum wage job’s that are gonna disappear right after the last train, OR TRUCK, leaves the mine. Paulie knows dammed well that Irving is gonna be one of his biggest campaign contributor’s, as will Cianbro, when these 2 projects meet (and if any of us can’t see that then may I suggest we all get a reservation ready at the local undertaker’s) and finally be seen for what they are, and have been planned for, from Day 1, namely a transportation system to provide Irving a way to move ore from Bald Mountain, via truck or local rail, to a roadway, or railhead if it get’s that far, that is immune from regulation for the express purpose of moving it to the Canadian ore smelter’s. The only thing Maine might get is the excise tax of the raw ore, which is gonna be so low as to be a joke as far as State revenue is concerned, and the State income tax’s that are gonna be generated. The real value of the ore is gonna be when it’s smelted down to a finished ingot and it’s value determined where it’s finished. Anyone wanna take a guess at this one ? You think Maine is ever gonna see those ingot’s and the tax value ? Think again, REAL HARD !
As far as the roadway being open to the Canadian trucker’s, from Sherbrooke and Coburn Gap to the Eastport and back, crossing goes, which is 220 miles as the crow flies, that’s just another benefit that Irving get’s from both the fuel stop’s that are gonna be built on the Canadian side of the border’s but also his now being able to ship, thru Maine, the steel he’s going to have to ship to the Halifax shipyard’s for those Canadian Navy ship’s be just got contract’s to build.
This whole mining and roadway deal has been one big manipulation of the Maine voter’s fear’s in order for Irving and Cianbro to literally loot the State and then walkaway, claiming it’s all economic’s and free enterprise. The more that this E-W Highway and the Bald Mountain is looked at and seen for what it is, the more informed we all are. It also means that the entire mess can be re-drawn so that Maine can benefit from them both, instead of being another victim of greed and political manipulation. And if that’s such a bad thing then we all need to serously re-think what we want for our State and families.
Not sure Irving and the mine figure into this at all.
what do you think, Mike?
this is a bad idea imo,, just a bad idea..
Goodbye Bald Mountain, hello Open Pit Mountain.
They can still call it “Bald”. It sure won’t look pretty once they start the mining.
The people can stop any new law
As a former mineral exploration person who explored the entire 1 million acres of Scott Paper land (now Plum Creek land) in 1960, I can assure the folks of Maine that every “sulfide” mining venture that I have known about has been in some way a scam. Katahdin Iron works is an exception. Blue Hill near Ellsworth was the worse. Every Maine “sulfide” deposit that has been exploited has been solely for the purpose of manipulating the stock market. Beware of John Martin and Bald Mountain. I, and other geologists were aware of this low grade sulfide deposit in 1960.
It does stand to reason that the Mtn would’ve been mined or at least an attempt to bet regs reduced would’ve occurred had it been financially viable.
Bill did you testify and is your testimony available for us to read? Could you tell us more about what you think this is all about on Irvings part? So the game is start a rumor that there is tons of money to be made and there is a run up in JD Irvings stock based on that?
Or just use the hype about the value of the gold here and the revised mining reg to falsely escalate the value of bald mountain and spin it off to another speculative owner at a huge price.
So, as you are you suggesting JD Irving does’t even have to scoop out 2 yards of sulfide to manipulate the market to get a multiple of current assessed value out of Bald Mountain? They just have to create the illusion that all is “go” or sell it as a permitted gold mine?
Wasn’t there actually a copper venture at Bald Mountain some time ago that determined the concentrations were too thin to feasably extract? I recall seeing press at the time announcing it was the biggest copper find ever in North America.
Can’t do this Where starting a park here in maine gates going up At york toll booth Everyone is to move out Turning the hole state into a park
Many people need a good paying job and the government needs the tax revenue.
What wouldn’t you do for a job and tax revenue?.. Where is the line drawn?
It’s Irving. The good paying jobs will probably go to Canadian’s. We will get the low paying, manual labor jobs.
They control everything.
If they want to mine Bald Mountain do what they do in Alaska on oil every citizen gets a check for the resource.
The State doesn’t own Bald Mountain.
Sovereign Wealth funds..I am all for them Very unwise for all this to just vanish into “treasury”
This explains $7 billion times Martin’s flip flop on mining.
He’s a crooked little man using his position to pay off personal debt.
Just like when we had a drilling company come into our town because we needed a new well. Everyone gave permission for the driller to explore their property. Except one man had a raw piece of land, we paid to have a road put in, they drilled 4 wells,(that did not produce enough), and he got $10,000.00 from us also. Then he sold the property as building lots.
GuessWho!!!!
In Eagle Lake, it’s all about who you know and who…well, figure it out.
John Martin?
Why does a corporate get the claim.. Why can’t a couple hundred people be given a claim to that area… I think it is time for a couple hundred people to get rich instead of one corporate who hands out crumbs to politicans to pass laws that will allow this to happen… Mainers are a little slow on figuring out they are getting taken for a ride by the rich who for some reason think they need more.
The couple of hundred people that you reference have the right to pool their money together and go buy a mountain to mine
Because Irving owns the land
There are “panning” regs at LURC..you can go recreational panning near Ashland
Pretty sure that the irving family owns most of the mining rights to bald mountian and most any other rights to bald mountian as well.
That means then without a doubt,if irving wants to mine bald mountian then they will.like it or not,regardless of what any government agency of Maine or the citizens of Aroostook county say.
Bottom line is,big money means big power.
Mountain Top Mining. Destroy and pollute Maine’s streams, rivers and lakes. The Canadian Miners flooding into Maine will be very happy to destroy our state. I hope every Mainer gets a check from this mine revenue like they do in Alaska with its oil.
hard to cash a check for less than one cent. after all, we need to lower taxes on business.
It keeps appearing time an time again, Most of all Maine’ laws are very outdated and Augusta rep’s once elected refuse to update them. Municipal laws and now mining and the list will not end or will they change. We really need to force our rep’s to deal with them, somehow. I have asked our current rep’s for help but no one wants to invest their time, I guess. So we remain outdated and the rep’s continue to cruise along. I asked the rep from Carmel to help update the education credit acceptance and he said he would look into it and never got back to me. I asked the rep for Hampden to help update the municipal laws regarding fines for violations, she never got back to me. No wonder folks don’t feel that we are a business friendly state
Part of Maine’s anti-business climate.
“He called Maine’s mining laws unworkable” – Great News – Maine will not be a vast wasteland that profits only a few…!!!
You must of missed the part where an earlier article said it would inject 600 Million A YEAR into the local economy in Payroll, that’s avg wage of 85K and 120 Million in local and state taxes a Year
7 Billion! well that sounds really good,but what will be the cost of all the long term effects?
The minerals belong to the owner of the land and not the slacker population who expect a grub handout.
Left wing thinking.
Trashing thousands of acres of mountain top for highly subsidized uneconomical wind mills with very little benefit to anyone = GOOD.
Trashing a couple hundred acres for a non-subsidized mining venture with much broader benefits that might actually make a profit = BAD
Funny, I thought the left wing treehuggers and trail hikers and bird watchers were the ones screaming loudest against the wind projects.
Your worried about Martin fleecing us? Heritage Foundation senior fellow and former Treasury Department tax economist
J.D. Foster recently warned that on New Year’s Day, ‘some $494 billion in tax
hikes will crash down on America’s taxpayers and economy’ — not just the
expiration of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts that gave us a boom and cut
unemployment to under 5%, but ‘a jump in the payroll tax rate,’ ‘the return of
the death tax,’ ‘a bigger, badder’ Alternative Minimum Tax, and the tax hikes
for ObamaCare. …
If you voted for Martin, you quite likely voted for the Prezi not from the United stezy. Wake up fools!
If we’re so in need of these tax increases, why are we waiting until after the election?
LOL, the Bush tax cuts did not give us a “boom”!
you might want to check up on those unemployment numbers from the Bush years.
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I am sure I have $10 in change in my septic tank that the kids seem to like throwing down the toilet. It does not mean I want to go mining for it. Build a nuke plant there instead.
Oh, my goodness gracious! I wonder what Cummings was drinking when he made this discovery and estimated value? As someone else said, this is a very difficult area to mine and comply with environmental rules. The price of gold is dropping, so work should commence immediately. One good thing did come out of this: Mr. Martin and company owe JD Irving zero dollars for putting forth this bill and getting it signed by the Governor in record time.