Reply #21: Concerning Bi-Partisan..... First a snip from this link then a snip from a Palast article.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

Barrick Goldstrike Mines is the mother lode for Barrick Gold. The company operates three producing mines (the open pit Betze-Post and the underground Meikle and Rodeo) on property totaling some 9,900 acres, located on the prolific Carlin Trend in Nevada. Goldstrike produces about 2 million ounces of gold annually and has reserves of about 15 million ounces. It's the largest gold producing operation for Canadian mining company Barrick Gold, the largest gold miner in the world. There are two processing plants located on the property which separate the gold from the recovered ore. Barrick is actively exploring other areas of the Goldstrike property for development.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/03/07/09_gold.html

Poppy Strikes Gold
July 9, 2003
By Greg Palast

Snip.....

Barrick, of course, had to put up cash for the initial property rights and the cost of digging out the booty (and the cost of donations, in smaller amounts, to support Nevada's Democratic senator, Harry Reid). Still, the shift in rules paid off big time: According to experts at the Mineral Policy Center of Washington, DC, Barrick saved—and the U.S. taxpayer lost—a cool billion or so. Upon taking office, Bill Clinton's new interior secretary, Bruce Babbitt, called Barrick's claim the "biggest gold heist since the days of Butch Cassidy." Nevertheless, because the company followed the fast-track process laid out for them under Bush, this corporate Goldfinger had Babbitt by the legal nuggets. Clinton had no choice but to give them the gold mine while the public got the shaft.