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Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 57F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph..
Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 57F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.
DECEMBER: Jefferson County received $5.1 million in payment of overdue taxes from the owner of the dormant Montana Tunnels near Jefferson City. Schools will get a big chunk of the windfall. A worker power-washes large equipment at the dormant Montana Tunnels mine near Jefferson City on Nov. 11.
DECEMBER: Jefferson County received $5.1 million in payment of overdue taxes from the owner of the dormant Montana Tunnels near Jefferson City. Schools will get a big chunk of the windfall. A worker power-washes large equipment at the dormant Montana Tunnels mine near Jefferson City on Nov. 11.
Fourteen years after its closure in 2008, the Montana Tunnels mine near Jefferson City is taking steps that could position it for a reopening, and plans submitted to the state by the company target a resumption of mining this fall.
The mine, which produced gold, silver, zinc and lead and once employed up to 250 people, was nearly seized by Jefferson County on a tax deed late last year, at which point the mine, owned by Patrick Imeson, owed the county about $9 million in a variety of unpaid taxes, including about $4.9 million in delinquent property taxes. But Goldfield Funding Partners LLC paid the county $5.175 million "for the assignment of the tax lien certificate from the county to them" just ahead of a Dec. 2 deadline, County Treasurer Terri Kunz told The Monitor at the time.
Goldfield Funding Partners LLC was incorporated on Sept. 28, 2021, and lists Imeson as the company's founder and registered agent. Imeson is also listed as the chairman and CEO of Eastern Resources Inc., the managing director and CEO of the Black Diamond Financial Group LLC, the manager of the Black Diamond Holdings LLC and the interim chief restructuring officer of the Rackwise Inc. Imeson said he could not comment at this time.
According to state Department of Environmental Quality Public Information Specialist Moira Davin, Montana Tunnels has made progress towards recovering its mining permit, which the department suspended after Montana Tunnels failed to pay its full reclamation bond.
On July 8, 2021, the DEQ officially recognized Montana Tunnels as an abandoned or complete mine, according to an agency press release at the time. The press release explained that Montana Tunnels hadn't operated since 2008 and had its mining permit suspended in 2018. When DEQ recognized Montana Tunnels as an abandoned mine, they gave Montana Tunnels 15 days to respond to a list of necessary steps to recover the mine's permit.
As of April 29 this year, Montana Tunnels had taken the following steps towards recovering its mining permit, according to Davin:
Montana Tunnels Environmental and Regulatory Coordinator James Lloyd submitted revisions to the mine's Clancy Creek realignment design plan on Feb. 28. The plan details how the operation will reroute Clancy Creek, establish a safety bench and prevent rockfall in the pit. Clanc Creek is currently routed around the pit wall in a temporary pipe, according to the DEQ. On March 30, the DEQ responded with a list of deficiencies in the revision. As of April 29, Montana Tunnels had yet to respond.
The first deficiency outlined in the DEQ letter was Montana Tunnels' choice of material to prevent rockfall. "To prevent raveling of unstable areas, netting or gunite will be applied on the slope to prevent rock fall," the design plan stated. The deficiency letter said that gunite's low strength and high maintenance costs make it a poor choice of this purpose. Gunite is a concrete mix applied by spraying it through a hose. The letter in turn suggested using wire netting that allows vegetation to grow through it, "further stabilizing the slope as well as enhancing the aesthetics."
Montana Tunnels anticipated the excavation of 2.24 million cubic yards of waste rock. The operation would reuse 6,814 cubic yards of the excavated rock for fill material. According to the revised realignment design plan, the remaining material "will be placed on the south and east margins of the North Lowland Creek caprice stockpile or on the Tailings Caprock Stockpile." The DEQ requested in its deficiency letter that Montana Tunnels provide maps of these locations and urged the mining company to "commit to salvage and stockpile or immediate use of topsoil in these areas."
To prevent the water from Clancy Creek finding its way into the pit, Montana Tunnels outlined their plan to reroute the creek by digging and designing a new channel for the water to flow through. In the deficiency letter, the DEQ said that the revised plan does "not provide sufficient detail to understand how Clancy Creek will be diverted." The agency asked Montana Tunnels to explain the dimensions and composition of the diversion dam, the flow volume diverted using the dam, dimensions of a spillway for water flows that exceed the dam's capacity, and clarification of other parameters of the diversion design.
The DEQ also commented that the activities detailed in the plan appeared to take place on private lands; however, the agency requested confirmation that activities didn't cross over onto the Bureau of Land Management lands, which would require BLM approval.
If the Montana Tunnels mine reopens, it could bring additional revenue to the county and to local school districts through their metal mines accounts. School districts receive a portion of tax money collected from an operating mine. Currently, Jefferson High School has around $200,000 in its metal mines account. According to Superintendent Tim Norbeck, the school has yet to use much of this funding and could use it "in the event of an emergency." As of Feb. 23, 2021, Clancy School had about $850,000 left in their metal mines account.
Jefferson County Commissioner Leonard Wortman told The Monitor in February 2021 that while it operated, Montana Tunnels generated a large portion of tax revenue in the county.
Norbeck credited the commissioners and others who urged Montana Tunnels to make the payment of the delinquent taxes.
"There'd be some work to get to the ore body right now because it's been out of production for a long time," Norbeck said. "But, the payment of the back taxes was the first positive step in a long time."
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