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1987, petitioner worked as a field engineer for three different
mining companies and frequently worked in underground tunnels and
shafts. In 1988, petitioner started his own business, K.L. Brown
Construction (Brown Construction), which provided general field
engineering services to the mining industry, and also installed
street utilities. During its 4-year existence, Brown
Construction employed as many as 25 people at a time. Most of
Brown Construction’s clients were general prime contractors
engaged in industrial mining of sand, gravel, and limestone
through both above-ground surface mining and underground tunnel
mining shafts.
In the early 1990s, petitioner became interested in gold
mining. His previous mining experience did not involve gold.
Through his research about the gold mining industry, petitioner
learned that many gold mining operations were discontinued during
World War II because of the war effort and remained abandoned
after the war. Many of these mines were located in the deserts
of southern California. Petitioner researched the production
rates of some of the abandoned mines. He concluded that with the
modern technology now available and the higher price of gold
since removal of the artificial $32 per ounce price ceiling, by
minimizing labor costs, a small enterprise might be able to
operate some of the abandoned prewar mines profitably.
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