Mining reporters with short memories, or selective vision, still write glowing articles about Robert Friedlund and what he will do for Mongolia by opening another mine. The latest article, however, has a twist that bites. Seems the Mongolian parliament rejected a deal with Mr. Friedlund and sent the prime minister off to Japan, where he is quoted as saying:
We want to emabark on a large-scale mining project every year. We want countries like Japan to take part because they have technologies to develop gold and copper mines without damaging the natural environment.
At the same time as the Mongolian prime minister was seeking Japanese mining environmental expertise, Ken Salazar, new Secretary of the Interior (US) was deciding to spend some stimulus money trying to clean up the remains of the mess that resulted from Mr. Friedlund’s unsuccessful mining activities in the United States. Here is how one mining-unfriendly site tells the story:
Two decades ago, the US suffered its worst mining disaster in recent memory when heap lead pads at a gold mine in Colorado collapsed, resulting in the poisoning of almost an entire river system. The operating company of the ill-fated Summitville mine was owned mainly by Canadian “renegade” investor Robert Friedlund. Friedlund quit the scene and fled the US just as officials from the EPA and Colorado state came knocking at the door.
I once listened to Mr. Friedlund talk in Vancouver in glowing terms about a mine he planned to open in China. He was in much pain, having as he told us fallen off his bicycle while riding with Lance Armstrong. They were riding in Canada, not the US, for as Mr. Friedlund informed us he is not allowed into the US any more.
I am told that Lance Armstrong is an honorable person and would never ride with a renegade, so there must be something wrong with all these stories—at least when linked together. The kindest explanation is that Mr. Friedlund did not himself design those heap leach pads. The immediate culprit was probably some consultant whom he never met.
I am also told by a person whose opinion I generally respect that Mr. Friedlund is energetic and if anyone can get a mine moving it is him. In spite of an unfortunate inability to select consultants—or bike riding partners. Maybe that is what the Mongolian prime minister is in Japan for—to select consultants to ensure no repeat in Mongolia of the Summitville debacle.
