by Bev Pechan
At last Wednesday’s Keystone Town Board meeting, lengthy discussion was held over a referendum petition submitted to the city requesting a public vote on the issue of the leasing of 38.75 acres of Keystone property with mineral and water rights to Mineral Mountain Resources, Ltd., of Canada.
The lease agreement, first presented in 2013, requests exploratory and mining privileges on a former Forest Service parcel of land in Rocky Gulch now owned by the town of Keystone, which reportedly adjoins other mining claims the company has leased or purchased in the immediate area. Mineral Mountain in its lease has proposed offering Keystone a one-time fee of $30,000 for permission to access and use the property as it sees fit in the current terms of the many times-revised lease and mentions the possibility of underground mining and the terms of reclamation proposed by the Vancouver-based company. Mineral Mountain has offered additionally a conservative royalty to the town after their and other stated expenses for a tentative period with a condition of renewal if mining proves successful.
Mineral Mountain is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is an exploration firm. While they have taken options on or purchased numerous mining claims from Keystone to Homestake – including the entire Rochford mining district – they are seeking domestic and international investors to fund and conduct the overall operations. The ongoing struggle over uranium mining near Edgemont has not come to a conclusion at this time, but Powertech of Canada — the exploration group spearheading the venture there — has since sold a portion of the company’s assets to China as negotiations with the state of South Dakota continue.
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