Neil:  "I think she will focus on the irreparable harm issue (as she did with the environmentalists request for PI). The fact that the Tribes are now being consulted in the permitting process, and that digging will immediately cease if any bones are found, will underpin her "no irreparable harm" position."

Thanks, Neil, for making that point.  I wish I could remember the name of the lady attorney representing LAC.  Someone on this Hub should mention her by name.  Neil's comment brought back a memory that I didn't comment about in my earlier post.  She noted that LAC had agreed, if I remember this correctly, to stop digging if bones or Indian artifacts were discovered in the limited 0.3 acre site in question that would be done by the contracted company from Carson City and she went further and mentioned that the agreement in force was that should such human bones or cultural artifacts be found then there would be no further digging within 50 meters, about 150 feet and a little more, of the place where the bones and/or artifact was uncovered.  

Now lets examine that statement a little closer.  If we are only talking about an area of approximately 3 tenths of an acre then a single circle with a 150+ foot diameter takes in a heck of a lot of that 0.3 acres.  To put that into a better perspective there are 13,068 square feet in 0.3 acres. 

In a 50 meter radius circle there is 729 square meters and that comes out to 7,853.98 square feet... or over half of that 0.3 acres. 

Of course, math was my absolute worst subject so hopefully someone who is on more friendly terms with mathematics will check my figures and correct them if they are woefully off target, regardless though I think we will find that the restriction of not digging within 50 meters of a dultural and/or historical "find" will be a heck of a "get your hands behind your back" restriction for LAC, should anything turn up in the survey that is of a cultural or historical significance to the indegenous people who have attempted this Injunction. 

It isn't as though LAC hasn't agreed to move forward without first completely bending over backward to accomodate the concerns of all the indegenous people, whether those people's concerns are expressed as a tribal government complaint or just a group that was thrown together in a very shotr period of time and represented by Mr. Falk and his other legal opportunists.

The recognition of this limitation on the LAC contracted Carson City cultural research company proposed excavation wasn't hidden away by the LAC attorney in hopes that Mr. Falk and his cohorts might commit a gross oversight and fail to bring it up. 

The LAC attorney was the one who brought this up to Judge Du and in "duing" so, she seemed to thrust it in the face of Mr. Falk and his associates as if to say:  "What more could Lithium Americas/ Lithium Nevada possibly do to be accomodative to the concerns of the Native Americans regarding Thacker Pass???" 

I interpreted this move by the LAC attorney by mentioning this restriction as a brilliant move on her part and one so as to steal the thunder from Falk.  I think it was a brilliant preventive strike on her part.  Again, the lady was magnificent!.

Neil, I am sure I have forgotten a lot more from that 1 hour and 55 minute oral argument session before Judge Du, but I sincerely thank you for reminding me of what I consider to be a sentinel point by the LAC attorney that I had previously failed to mention.

Okiedo

Hold the phone!  I went back and re-examined my math.... I was way, way off... if the re-exam is correct.  A BIG "If".  It looks like all of my calculations above were based on a cirle 100 feet in Diameter ( Radius of 50 feet ) and not a circle 100 Meters in Diameter.  I should have used the 100 Meter Diameter figure to calculate the area so all of my calculations above are bogus and void.  See below:

Ok, the statement made in court, I believe, was work would stop for 50 meters in all directions should the survey folks discover an artifact or bones.  The diameter, not the radius, of a 50 meter radius circle ( 100 meter Diameter circle) comes out to about 328.08 feet and when that is applied to find out the area of the circle whose Diameter is 100 meters and the answer is converted into square feet it becomes... outrageous!  Over 84,000 square feet. 

Well, converting that to acres it become something like 1.94 acres.  Now, I wasn't kidding when I said math was my absolute worst subject, so I used a "Calculator" to do the math.... that doesn't mean I am not worlds away from the correct answer.  Someone PLEASE check it out and see what you come up with.  If my second attempt at math happens to be correct, miracles Du happen, then finding just one Native American artifact would shut down the whole 0.3 acres for further excavation.  IF ( remember:  "Miracles du Happen" ) my math, the second time around, is correct then tell me what more could LAC have offered?????  My gosh, they essentiall gave everything they possibly could under the circumstance.  Now, I am Really impressed with how far LAC has been willing to go.

Honestly, it makes me wonder if I heard the LAC attorney correctly.. I could swear she said digging would stop for an area 50 Meters in any direction from artifacts and bones found.  Whatever it turns out she said, Meters vs Feet, it still will be a heck of a sizeable area that would be excluded from further excavation.

Math is not my language.  Okiedo