San Andreas, CA…Calaveras County has a rich mining heritage dating back to the Gold Rush of the 1850s, though today its mines primarily produce sand, gravel, and aggregate, materials which are used in the construction of homes, businesses, and infrastructure projects throughout the County.
On Monday, May 19, 2025, the 2024-2025 Calaveras County Civil Grand Jury published the report entitled “Are We Running Out of Rock?” examining how the County has been addressing its mining concerns in recent years. The report focuses on three areas of interest: the administration of surface mining operations in compliance with California’s Surface Mining and Reclamation Act of 1975 (SMARA), mineral resource management, and abandoned mines.
Among the Civil Grand Jury’s findings:
• Calaveras County’s Planning Department does not regularly report surface mine inspection results to the Board of Supervisors, which as the lead agency under SMARA has ultimate authority over the operation of mining in Calaveras, including the issuing of financial penalties for violations.
• The Planning Department charges surface mining operators a flat fee for annual inspections that has not increased in years, meaning the County has not been compensated for the actual time and material costs of inspections.
• The County has not conducted a thorough review of its existing permitted supply of sand, gravel, and aggregate, which could impact the future availability of these minerals as the County’s population and development needs increase.
• The County does not maintain a current map of abandoned mines within its jurisdiction, despite hundreds of these potentially hazardous sites located throughout Calaveras.
The recommendations presented in the report are intended to improve overall surface mining administration and mineral resources management to ensure Calaveras County can fulfill its mineral needs for decades to come.
The report, in its entirety, can be found on the Calaveras County Civil Grand Jury website: https://grandjury.calaverasgov.us/.
The Superior Court of Calaveras County annually appoints 19 county residents as Civil Grand Jurors to serve as citizen watchdogs over local government. The Civil Grand Jury encourages the public to share concerns about county, municipal, school, and special-district operations by writing to Calaveras County Civil Grand Jury, 891 Mountain Ranch Road, San Andreas, CA 95249.
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Calaveras County Civil Grand Jury Asks “Are We Running Out of Rock?” added by admin on
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So what the Grand Jury is saying is “Calaveras County government is woefully lacking.”
Nobody cares in the halls of the Government Center.
On the brightside, the county is running as normal as it has for the last 2 or 3 decades.
I shot my rocks on Sniveler’s face.
Out of sight, out of mind seems to be the current policy. There are many open shafts on private property in this county that should be closed off and many buildings on top of old mine shafts that could be in danger but no government agency appears to keep track of them and with many property owners not even knowing they are living on an old deep shaft
My buddy on live oak ct. has a old deep shaft.
This is the thing, if you don’t want to fund government services, they don’t happen.
Exactly what maga doge is doing.
Deadly destructive storms in Ky, the South, FEMA is absent, NOAA didn’t give a tornado warning.
The face of maga, doge is death and no Fed help.
The billionaires got to have a tax cuts, so people die, lives ruined, , this is the GOP maga – doge death party.
Tell me about Hurricane Helene in North Carolina democrats what did your party do? Thank you Elon Musk
^^^^^^ NOTHING
SEE YA joe!