Copper Exploration In Dragoon

Thats what a number of landowners north of the Dragoon Mountains between Texas Canyon and US Forest Service land are deeply uneasy after receiving letters from Australian-based mining and petroleum giant BHP Billiton (BHP), mailed the second week of January, that informed them of the company's intent to conduct surface exploration of their land. The "non-invasive" exploration is being filed under the 1916 Stock Raising Homestead Act (SHRA) that was originally established to provide free land for grazing. However the SHRA kept mineral rights property of the Federal Government, and available for leasing through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) with similar provisions to the controversial 1872 Mining Act, subject of a major Congressional environmental battle in 2005.