By Carol Pogash
International New York Times
NEVADA CITY, Calif. — It is quiet at Tim Callaway’s gold mine, with its crumbling concrete, rotting wood and the occasional butterfly accustomed to undisturbed access. But there is plenty of commotion over what’s below the surface: an unseen 240,000 ounces of ore.
To reach it will take more than dynamite. Mr. Callaway, 62, who calls himself “a steward of the land,” must take on an alliance of local residents, many of them city escapees, who protest that reopening the mine would threaten their water and the tranquility they came here for.
“Why is gold mining practically extinct in this state?” Mr. Callaway asks, before providing his own answer: “It’s not because of lack of resources. It’s because most companies are not willing to go through this tortuous ordeal.”