Conservationists cheered when President Clinton designated the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, in effect blocking a massive coal mine on the Kaiparowits Plateau in southern Utah.

However, the designation apparently had little impact on another, unrelated mining operation. Earlier this week, a Garfield County-based company called 3R Minerals began mining operations to extract titanium and zirconium from sands in the Alvey Wash area about five miles south of Escalante within the monument."Like any landlord, we are going to be monitoring the operation to ensure the plan of operation is followed and no undue disturbance occurs," said Bureau of Land Management spokesman Don Banks.

Actually, the mining operation is located on state school trust lands within the monument, and all required mining permits were issued by state officials. However, the affected trust lands will officially become part of the new national monument in January 1999 as part of a massive land exchange with the federal government.

The fact that mining would begin on the eve of the title transfer has the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance outraged.

"It appears to be a naked attempt to extort some money (from those opposed to mining inside the monument) so 3R will go away," said SUWA spokesman Tom Price. "It appears they want nothing more than to stir things up and hope someone comes in and buys out the leases. It does not appear to be a legitimate mining operation."

LeGrande Young, spokesman for 3R Minerals, said the company has mineral leases throughout the monument and that there "are millions of tons of ore, and the value of those resources is unlimited."

Under terms of the pending exchange, existing mineral rights on state lands will be honored by the federal government once the title is transferred. In creating the monument, Clinton promised to protect existing rights, even though the designation was clearly targeted at stopping the Andalex company from developing a coal mine on the Kaiparowits Plateau.

Although the 3R mining operation is small - only about five acres will be affected - it has garnered the attention of Department of Interior officials at the state and national level. Banks said federal officials have been working with school trust officials since the project was first proposed.

The BLM is comfortable with the company's plan for mining the strategic minerals. "It appears the mining plan contains necessary safeguards and requirements for reclamation, and as we see it, mining operations can proceed during the exchange," Banks said.