Perhaps, the Election vote demonstrates a lack of confidence among Alaska voters regarding the viability of the Pebble Project.
RENO (MINEWEB) – Across the United States, voters not only generated a Republican tsunami which solidified GOP control of both houses of the U.S. Congress, but cast their votes on 146 ballot issues last Tuesday, including two-mining specific initiatives in Alaska and Nevada.
“The results of the 2014 midterm election highlight opportunities for advancing important issues for the next election cycle—even if elected officials are unable or unwilling to act,” said the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center.
So, what lurked in the hearts and minds of U.S. voters when it came to mining-related ballot issues in the 2014 campaign?
This reporter, among many other voters, expected that Nevada voters would overwhelmingly vote in favor of State Question No. 2, which would have amended the Nevada Constitution to remove the cap on the taxations of minerals and other requirements relating to the taxation of mines, mining claims and minerals.
For an election campaign teeming with all kinds of political ads revolving around Nevada candidates and ballot issues, the lack of any advertising related to the measure was astounding. The total silence from a gold mining industry—that for the past few years had poured millions into TV advertising proclaiming how wonderful gold mining was for the Silver State–was unprecedented in recent memory.
But, it turns out the Nevada Mining Association (NvMA) and Nevada gold mining had listened to an expert who really did have his finger on the pulse of the voters.
That expert had theorized that a predicted Republican tsunami at the ballot box would bode well for Nevada mining. In all but one Nevada county, State Question No. 2 was defeated.
The bad news for Nevada mining is that, of the 41.46% Clark County voters (mainly from Las Vegas and nearby Henderson, Nevada) who had voted in the election, 54.97% or 180,789 voters had voted in favor of eliminating Nevada Mining taxation and caps on the net proceeds mining tax from the state constitution.
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