As the title of this book indicates, the articles in the pages ahead primarily concern the vital role of the metals and minerals industry in the United States and its fight for survival. The articles' author offers an impassioned and reasoned defense of this industry against the incessant, ferocious attacks it was under during the years he was writing about it (from 1981 until his death in 1993). Volume 3 of the Dave W. Parkhurst Mining Writing Collection begins with a treatise on America's need for a strong minerals industry, in Part I. In the second part of Volume 3 the focus of the articles is on mining vs. anti-mining extremism, with such unambiguous titles as "Extremists Mount Offensive in Environmental War." Dave reported extensively on the political, legislative and regulatory actions of government, both federal and state, affecting mining. Part III of this volume begins with the history and development of the Mining Law of 1872, as amended. In the articles that follow this historical overview of U.S. mining law, the author chronicles the ubiquitous efforts to undermine or eliminate the law legislatively and the reasons why the mining law must be defended and preserved. A CRITICAL INDUSTRY UNDER ATTACK: The Struggle to Preserve Metals and Minerals Mining Viability in the U.S. is Volume 3 in the Dave W. Parkhurst Mining Writing collection. The three main parts of the book concern these topics: (1) the issues, challenges and threats affecting U.S. mining in the 1980s and early 1990s; (2) miners and mining vs. anti-mining extremism, and (3) defense of the 1872 Mining Law as amended.
About the Author: Dave W. Parkhurst, who wrote the articles that make up the Dave W. Parkhurst Mining Writing Collection (a four-volume compilation), was a mining writer/consultant, mining advocate, minerals exploration professional, and small-scale mine developer until his death in 1993. Sue DeChambeau, a friend of Dave's in the Nevada Mining and Prospectors Association and a newspaper columnist, wrote these words of tribute after Dave's passing: "David vs. Goliath. The 1993 version concerns Dave Parkhurst, champion of the small miner. We lost our champion when Dave died suddenly on September 16. His legacy to us is a package of courage, determination and the spirit to never give up in the struggle to protect our private property rights and the freedom guaranteed us by the U.S. Constitution. Over the many years that he wrote so eloquently about mining in the California Mining Journal, Dave fought the battle to justify the existence of mining, opposed as it is by the so-called environmentalists. He, too, loved being out in the hills prospecting but gave most of his time and energy, aside from time with his family, to writing and lobbying for the cause at the Nevada Legislature."