An Australian company has amassed mining claims across roughly 20,000 acres near Twentynine Palms and Joshua Tree National Park. Dateline Resources says its Music Valley project could produce heavy rare-earth elements. Residents and conservationists see the possibility of an enormous industrial operation beside homes, wilderness, desert tortoise habitat, and one of the country’s best-known national parks.

Chance Wilcox of the National Parks Conservation Association joins Chris Clarke to explain what has been proposed, how the Mining Law of 1872 gives mining interests unusual power over public land, and why Music Valley threatens more than scenery. Dust, noise, water use, traffic, habitat loss and diminished views could affect the landscape as well as the tourism economy supporting Twentynine Palms and the surrounding Morongo Basin.

The project has also prompted a growing local response. Residents, small-business owners and conservation groups are finding common ground in a simple message: Twentynine Palms is a national-park gateway community, not a mining district.

• Dateline Resources has acquired or staked claims across approximately 20,000 acres near Joshua Tree National Park and Twentynine Palms.
• Mining claims are not the same as an approved mine, but they establish the company’s interest in developing the area.
• Potential effects include habitat destruction, dust, noise, water demand, industrial traffic and damage to views from Joshua Tree National Park.
• Threatened Mojave desert tortoises and other desert wildlife occur within the affected landscape.
• The community’s tourism economy and residents’ quality of life are inseparable from the surrounding desert.
• The Mining Law of 1872 continues to give mining companies extraordinary access to minerals beneath public land.

“This is going to be about 20,000 acres of strip mine next to residential neighborhoods and Twentynine Palms.”

“People live here to really be part of this landscape. And people live here for a reason.”

“Twentynine Palms is not a mining town. It’s a gateway community to Joshua Tree.”

“There’s so much more at stake. It’s about the interconnection of all of that to every small business in Twentynine Palms.”

• National Parks Conservation Association: Five national parks threatened by mining exploration
• Los Angeles Times: Mining claims next to Joshua Tree National Park
• Recap of the Stop Music Valley Mine community meeting
• NPCA campaign concerning Dateline Resources’ activity at the Colosseum Mine