I'm guessing this isn't really about gold mining as much as it is a backdoor to uranium mining where some long-time GOP politicians have been trying to dig on projects they will be handsomely remunerated from.

Gold mining is a dirty extractive process similar to strip mining coal. Are we really that desperate for revenue in this state that we're willing to destroy parts of it to gain so little?

Take a look at central PA or eastern Kentucky. Are these economies what we want to replicate?

Is this the best that these politicians can come up with as far as economic development? I mean, what you have is rich owners who do nothing extracting labor in dangerous conditions far from the eyes of regulators and oversight that are exploited. I mean, haven't we learned this about King Coal?

Going back isn't the way to move forward. This isn't about VA citizenry, it's about rich people getting richer at the expense of poor people...again.