Tunnels Mining faces complex pathways to sale

The prospects for Montana Tunnels Mining and its long-dormant mine outside Jefferson City may have become both clearer and more complicated in recent weeks.

On May 28, a federal judge denied a Jefferson County motion requesting that he reverse his previous dismissal of the Montana Tunnels bankruptcy case, effectively ending a legal marathon that had plodded along for over two years.

And earlier in May, Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a new law empowering the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to seize by eminent domain, then transfer, mining properties in cases like that of Montana Tunnels, where an operating permit has been suspended.