Has anyone noticed 2.5 million dollars lying around the Gunnison Valley?

Has anyone noticed 2.5 million dollars lying around the Gunnison Valley?

You read the title correctly - no need to clean your glasses or rub your weary eyes.  Someone seems to have misplaced two and a half million bucks and we ought to help them find it.  Who, you ask?  Why the Mt. Emmons Project of course - our very own Thompson Creek Metals Company and US Energy.  You may have recently read about Thompson Creek’s one million dollar payment to US Energy at the end of 2008.  US Energy confirmed this payment in a January 12^th press release, saying:

“…the January 1, 2009 $1 million option payment was paid by Thompson Creek Metals Company USA on January 2, 2009 on behalf of Mt. Emmons Moly Company pursuant to the Exploration, Development and Mine Operating Agreement signed in August 2008.” 

Oddly missing from that press release was ‘the rest of the story.’  The rest of the story is that Thompson Creek’s agreement with US Energy goes beyond the simple payment of a million bucks a year.  (Simple for them maybe, but that’s another story…)  In fact, Thompson Creek is obligated to another $2.5 million each year in project expenditures.  The agreement says, in part:

“At any time before but no later than December 31, 2008, TCM shall incur at least $2,500,000 in Expenditures on or related to the Property.  … TCM may elect to pay to an interest bearing escrow account on or before a due date specified in Section 6.1(a) the dollar amount equal to any shortfall in Expenditures required to be completed by TCM by such due date in lieu of completing such Expenditures…”

US Energy’s January 12^th press release makes no mention of the fact that Thompson Creek was required spend $2.5 million on the Mt. Emmons Project during 2008 or put that amount away to make up for a shortfall.  It is also interesting to note the complete lack of any substantial work on the Mt. Emmons Project since Thompson Creek came to town.  New decals for the company trucks, fancy new baseball caps for their skeleton staff and a dormant website may have some costs, but surely not $2.5 million.  So the natural question is - where’s the rest of the cash?  In the unlikely event that someone finds that cash lying around, I’d suggest rushing it straight over to US Energy. 

In the perhaps more likely scenario that US Energy and Thompson Creek are playing shell games with their investors’ money and the future of the Gunnison Valley we should all take note of one more example of the Mt. Emmons Project hiding facts and intentions from the public.

USGS Snodgrass Geology Report Released – Comment Now

On Monday January 12, 2009, the US Forest Service (USFS) released a US Geological Survey (USGS) Report on Slope Stability on Snodgrass Mountain. The USGS report is intended to assist Forest Supervisor Charlie Richmond in deciding whether to accept the proposal by Crested Butte Mountain Resort to expand the ski area on to Snodgrass Mountain.

HCCA encourages anyone interested in the geology issue to submit comments by January 22nd. The time for providing public input is now! Comments to the Forest Service will be most effective if they address your geology concerns in your own words. HCCA has identified the following important topics from the USGS report:

The USGS report lists 5 specific analyses that need to be performed before the geology on Snodgrass and its possible consequences can be fully understood:

More deep boreholes and inclinometers are needed for slope stability analysis.

A longer period of record and more piezometers are needed to understand surface water and ground water interactions.

Additional stability analyses are needed.

Further analysis is needed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed drainage measures in reducing ground-water pressures and increasing slope stability.

Analyses are needed to assess the potential for landslides originating on Snodgrass to impact homes in proposed residential developments nearby

The USGS report lists potential risks to human safety, residential property and the environment that could be caused by landslides and debris flows:

Depending on the rate of movement, reactivation of one of these large landslides has slight to moderate potential for causing death and injuries.

Although debris flows are unlikely during ski season, they move rapidly and have great potential for causing deaths and injuries, as well as environmental degradation and property damage.

Debris flows also have great potential to move great distances rapidly, including from National Forest lands to neighboring proposed residential areas.

Please ask Charlie Richmond to postpone a decision on whether to accept a proposal until these studies have been completed and the geology issues resolved.

Please address your comments to:

USDA Forest Service
Forest Supervisor Charlie Richmond
2250 Highway 50
Delta, CO 81416