what takes lawmakers so long to make a decision? i'd hate to play poker with a politician, you'd sit there all night before they made up thier mind to check/raise...

Away from the glare of an entertaining U.S. presidential election race, a very interesting political debate is taking place in Washington over the 136-year-old federal mining law.

The Mining Law of 1872, which was designed to spur investment in the American West, gives miners the right to extract minerals from U.S. federal territory without the need to pay the government royalties. It's a sweet deal, given that other natural resource businesses need to pay royalties for their activities on federal lands.

The mining industry obviously loves the arrangement, while critics have complained the law gives miners a free ride.

An amendment before the U.S. Congress would require existing producers to pay a 4% royalty, and slap an 8% royalty on future operations. Proponents of the legislation say the royalties could raise more than US$300-million over the next decade.

But here's the kicker. The fate of the amendment is in the hands of Democratic Majority leader Harry Reid — something that could confound mining critics, Bloomberg News reports. Reid hails from Nevada, one of the world's largest gold producers, and his father was a gold miner.

Drew Hasselback