Cougar Gold to wait for WSA release

Catch 22, Mexican standoff, vicious circle … call it what you will, but after spending $7 million on exploratory work in 2009, officials from Cougar Gold LLC told the Mono County Board of Supervisors on Feb. 15 that they are reluctant to develop and submit any plans to move forward with additional work, let alone any full-scale mining efforts, until the Bodie Hills area is released from Wilderness Study Area (WSA) status.

A non-action agenda item drew a packed crowd inside Bridgeport’s Memorial Hall. The Board also heard from Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The discussion drew civil, but decidedly polarized comments from more than two-dozen members of the public, both supporting keeping the WSA as is, as well as backing Cougar Gold’s efforts. Following the Board meeting, Cougar Gold also hosted a Town Hall meeting in the Memorial Hall at 6 p.m.

For more on this story, see this weekend’s print edition of The Sheet and online here at www.thesheetnews.com.