No trespassing, Kennecott: Mayor tells company to stay out of public's open space
By Jeremiah Stettler
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune
Article Launched:10/12/2008 12:53:08 AM MDT
Kennecott's plans to probe for minerals beneath hundreds of acres of Salt Lake County-owned open space have hit rock-hard resistance from a potent political foe: Peter Corroon.
The Democratic mayor has denied the mining company access to county lands for prospecting, threatened Kennecott with trespassing if it tries to touch down a helicopter on the property and petitioned the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for mineral rights.
The measures, Corroon insists, are to defend the largest swath of publicly owned wilderness on the county's west side - otherwise known as Rose Canyon Ranch and Yellow Fork Park.
"Salt Lake County purchased the property as open space for our citizens to use for hiking, biking and riding horses," Corroon said. "Really, how could I say to Kennecott, 'Yes, go ahead and explore this property for mining purposes.' "
Relations have soured between the parties in recent months, highlighted, in part, by Kennecott's announcement in mid-September that it would pursue mining claims not only in Rose Canyon but also in nearby Yellow Fork Canyon.
While Kennecott says its hunt for Yellow Fork minerals isn't retaliatory, a company spokesman said last month that the county's resistance in Rose Canyon - and its interest in buying up mineral rights to prevent prospecting - "forces our hand."
So while Kennecott appeals to the BLM for access to its Rose Canyon mining claims (the bureau can grant that admittance without the property owner's permission), the copper giant is preparing to send surveyors into 80 acres of Yellow Fork to search for profitable ore within the federal government's mineral holdings.
"We have a business we are trying to conduct," Kennecott spokesman Louie Cononelos said, noting the proximity of Yellow Fork to the mineral-rich Bingham Canyon Mine. "We are proceeding along those lines to do it."

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