Gold miners are calling President Donald Trump’s attention to California’s statewide ban on suction dredge mining over recent developments in a high-profile court case.
The case involves Brandon Rinehart, a California gold miner who was cited in 2012 for suction dredging without a permit on his own mining claim. Though the state required that Rinehart obtain a state permit, it refused to issue permits. Outraged over this Catch-22 situation, the small-scale mining community has backed Rinehart in his five-year legal battle.