Will Allen-DuPraw
Photojournalist & Documentarian

About the Issue (scroll for videos)

Conglomerate Mesa, a near-pristine landscape in the Inyo Mountains of Eastern California, is threatened by exploratory gold mining by the Canadian company, K2 Gold. The mesa hosts multiple threatened plant species, including the legendary Joshua trees and the newly discovered Inyo Rock Daisy, which is found no place else. It is also a site of sacred significance to the Paiute Shoshone and Timbisha Shoshone, indigenous peoples who have lived in the area for thousands of years. However, the mesa is located on federal land administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). As such, it is subject to the mining law of 1872, which allows corporations to mine public lands for precious minerals so long as doing so would generate more value than agriculture. Corporations that mine public lands are not required by this law to compensate the U.S. Treasury, nor are they required to fill in open pits, remove roads, or clean up tailings once they cease operations.

While mining activities have been limited to exploratory drilling so far, the ultimate goal of these endeavors is to transform the site into a cyanide heap leach mine (like the Golden Queen mine, last picture, which lies several hours away in Mojave, CA). It would necessitate the excavation of nearly the entire mesa, marring the landscape forever. In response to this threat, groups including the local tribes, environmental organizations, and concerned citizens have formed the Protect Conglomerate Mesa movement, urging the government to halt further mining of the area.

However, the ultimate fate of the mesa is uncertain. Friends of the Inyo, a non-profit whose mission is to protect and care for the land and water of the Eastern Sierra, for instance, would like to see Conglomerate Mesa become a National Monument, giving it greater federal protection. The Lone Pine Paiute Shoshone tribe has expressed interest in administering the land themselves.

Critics of the mining operations are awaiting the release of an updated Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) from the BLM, which will determine future uses of the land. Initially slated for release in late 2023, the updated EIS has been pushed back multiple times and is now slated for release in Summer 2024.