Political Quotes

“First of all, these lands started being patented a long time ago. If you look at Carson City, which was before the 1872 mining law, they had a different way of patenting claims than started in 1872. Claims in Nevada have been patented for many years as they have in the Western part of the United States. I can't give you the genealogy of the claim about which the Senator speaks, but assuming my friend from Arkansas is right, that it was originally patented by someone else and then they purchased it, I say this. First of all, the reason that Newmont Mining Co. or any other mining company would be willing to pay extra on it is because we live in a system of free enterprise where people pay what they feel they can pay in order to make a profit. And surrounding this piece of land is land that they have spent tens of millions of dollars developing. The land that they are leasing from another individual, this company, is land that has already been patented. Newmont didn't have to spend a single penny to get the patents. That is very, very difficult. It didn't used to be very tough but now it is very difficult to patent.”