Four more months.
In the latest chapter of an 18-year financial and legal saga, Montana Tunnels Mining Inc. and its two main creditors, Jefferson County and the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), on Thursday agreed to defer a court decision and grant the company a bit more time to sell its long-shuttered mine outside Jefferson City.
The agreement emerged from closed-door negotiations that delayed and ultimately obviated a hearing at the Fifth Judicial District Court in Boulder. That hearing, already postponed from February, was meant to consider the county’s motion urging the court to appoint a receiver to oversee the mine property’s liquidation and environmental reclamation.
Nearly a dozen dark-suited attorneys — representing the state, the county, Montana Tunnels and its affiliate, Goldfields Funding Partners — crowded into the courthouse’s third-floor jury room to negotiate terms before returning to the courtroom 75 minutes after the hearing had been set to start.
As per their resolution, the case will be stayed for at least 120 days, during which time Montana Tunnels will endeavor to sell the mine property. If it does find a buyer and reach a sale agreement, the company will be given 30 more days to complete the transaction, if needed.
If Montana Tunnels fails to find a buyer within 120 days, the court will proceed with a hearing, likely in late July, on the appointment of a receiver.
Tunnels CEO Patrick Imeson, who attended in person, was asked afterwards if his company had been in talks with potential buyers. “All the time,” he said. “But I think we’re getting pretty close” to a deal.
A temporary restraining order that Judge Luke Berger had previously put in place to prevent the transfer of mine assets will remain in place, a stipulation that effectively bars Goldfields Funding Partners from acquiring the property through the tax deed process — an outcome the state and the county have strenuously opposed.
The latest agreement effectively defers repayment of the $18 million Montana Tunnels owes DEQ, for environmental reclamation costs, and the $3.1 million owed in property and metal mining taxes owed to Jefferson County — some of that total from as far back as 2008, the year the mine last operated. Both debts would be paid if and when a sale of the mine is completed.
County Treasurer Terry Kunz said she was satisfied with the postponement “for the moment.” County Commissioner Cory Kirsch observed that the proceedings to appoint a receiver probably would have taken several months to work through, “so we’d be in the same boat — and at least now we have a hard deadline.”
The attorneys told Berger that some key details had not been resolved. Most important, Tunnels’ attorney Andrew Patten said, was DEQ’s determination that Imeson is a “bad actor” because of his company’s failure to pay the sum required for environmental reclamation. That status prevents him from operating a mine in Montana. Tunnels is challenging that determination.
Berger indicated that he viewed resolving the case with some urgency, and asked the attorneys to do the same. Looking ahead to a rare vacation next week, Berger offered specific instructions.
“I will be on a golf course outside Las Vegas. I want you to take two or three deep breaths before saying, ‘this is not going to work,’ he advised. “If you can get [the differences] resolved, do it. If you can’t, call me. But I encourage you to figure it out.”
