What the gold miners and Dunn are in upheaval about is a proposed budget "cut" of a non-existent $1.8 million deficit in the suction dredging gold mining program.
Dunn says that a consultant preparing this year's budget for the Department of Fish and Game used a 3-year old estimate of costs to arrive at a deficit in the suction mining program. The real cost was later formally determined, and provided by Attorney General Jerry Brown's office.
According to legal correspondence to the Superior Court of California from then-Attorney General Jerry Brown, "As we informed the Court at the hearing, issuance of suction dredge permits is supported chiefly, if not exclusively, by funds received from permit fees."
A second, more precise communication to the Court from Jerry Brown's office stated: "In no uncertain terms, General Fund Monies have not been expended on suction dredge permitting."
If the California Legislature passes the trailer budget bill language, the consequences would be sweeping: 4,000 miners will be put out of work permanently, 15,000 inter-related jobs will be affected, and the entire suction dredge gold mining industry will be killed.
"The task at hand is daunting," Dunn states. "But the disaster awaiting is even worse, so I am trying to reach every Legislator before they go to the floor to vote."
The suction dredge gold mining industry generates $23 million in California, and supports more than 14 sectors, including restaurants, hardware stores, gas stations and camping outfitters. "These are real mom and pop businesses that rely on miners every season," says Dunn.
There will never be a time when it doesn't make sense for a man to prospect for gold, and if Mike Dunn is successful in his efforts to stop this bad budget proposal, 4,000 miners will be back at work in November, contributing millions of dollars in gold and paper back to the economy.
Hopefully, former Attorney General Jerry Brown's legal finding will get to Legislators in time to avert a disastrous end to the industry that put California on the map.
About Gold Pan California:
The company was founded in 2008 by Mike Dunn, an international gold mining specialist who has been suction gold dredge mining for 33 years.
For more information visit http://www.goldpancalifornia.com
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SOURCE Gold Pan California