NEVADA COUNTY, Calif. — It's a rich part of California history, mines and the search for gold. For the past few years, Rise Gold has been trying to make that a reality again and have been confronted with community pushback. Now, the company is hoping a county meeting will help them start the mining process.
The Board of Supervisors is preparing for a public hearing Wednesday morning to decide if the company, Rise Gold, has vested rights to continue its steps to re-open the historic Idaho-Maryland Mine.
"If the board is to find vested rights, they have a vested right to mine, then the next step, we would go to another public hearing," said Kit Elliott, Nevada County counsel.
Because the mine was active before the county changed its zoning, Rise Gold is requesting vested rights to re-open the mine without being subject to the California Environmental Quality Act. If the county approves the company's request, Rise Gold's CEO says he will continue with the next steps to re-open the mine, like getting water discharge permits and letting the county know what would happen once mining is complete.
However, if the county denies the vested rights, Joe Mullin says there might be legal action.
"Potentially have a cause of action related to the fact that we have a property. We own the land, and, like most businesses, feel like we're entitled to operate our business," he said.
Even though it is up to the board to decide, a county staff report found Rise Gold does not have vested rights to the mine and recommends the board deny them access. Back in May, the county Planning Commission rejected the company's project proposal following the environmental impact report.
"Our hope is that the County Board of Supervisors will reject Rise Gold's claim to vested rights," said Traci Sheehan, with Community Environmental Advocates Foundation.
Even with the controversy surrounding this project, the CEO is still staying cautiously optimistic.
"Going in with optimism, but also, need to be realistic and understand that these processes and permitting processes often have twists and turns," Mullin said.
Back in July, Ben Mossman, the former CEO of Rise Gold, was convicted of 13-counts of improperly discharging substances from another mine in Canada. He managed to avoid jail time, but was fined about $30,000 Canadian dollars. Since then, he's no longer the CEO but is listed on the company's website as the director.
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