[montanajoe]

When they shut down the copper smelter in Anaconda in 1982 and shipped the whole thing to China nobody in the GOP complained or blamed it on Reagan. Lost 8000 jobs and devastated the little town of Anaconda back then. If palladium and platinum prices stay high the mine will operate.

[Melchior]

Con’t blame Reagan. They also closed the Magma copper operation in Arizona, which was then the most modern operation in the USA. Other mines reduced operations or went out of business. You couldn’t make a dime on the price of copper as it was then.

[Pudding Biafra]

Exactly! Did any other posters actually read the article?

“Details of the case paint a complex picture: GM was effectively subsidizing production by Stillwater, often paying above market price for the metals. And since 2003, the mines have been majority-owned by a Russian company, Norilsk Nickel.”

The US (and the GOP) has asleep at the wheel for a while.

[Gondring]

Funny how FReepers complain about anti-market policies, yet complain when 0bama lets the market run its course instead of using interventionist mandate, isn’t it?

[El Gato]

When they shut down the copper smelter in Anaconda in 1982 and shipped the whole thing to China nobody in the GOP complained or blamed it on Reagan. Lost 8000 jobs and devastated the little town of Anaconda back then

Did Reagan own, or control, their major customer? Did he cancel a bunch of fed gov orders for copper?

Didn't think so. Thus it's a totally different thing. The FedGov, controlled by one B.H. Obama, does own a majority of General Motors, which canceled the contract with the mines in Montana, under protection of the bankruptcy laws.