Stories in this Regional News Roundup are excerpted from weekly newspapers from around the region. This is part two, with part one having appeared in Saturday’s Tribune.
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McCALL, Idaho — A gold and antimony exploration project bordering Perpetua Resources’ proposed Stibnite Mine has been sold for $2.6 million, Stallion Uranium Corp. announced last week.
The Vancouver, British Columbia, mining company has entered into an agreement that grants an unnamed company the right to acquire all of Stallion’s 699 mineral claims across 14,374 acres near Yellow Pine.
The unnamed company is registered in Vancouver, British Columbia, and is known only by its registration identity, which is BC1503571, according to Canadian business records.
The company’s registration, which was filed on Sept. 24., does not list any associated people or companies.
Perpetua, which shares the western boundary of its Stibnite project zone with Stallion, is not involved in the sale, said Mckinsey Lyon, a spokesperson for the Boise mining company.
“We have no relationship with Stallion,” Lyon said. “It’s (the unnamed company) unequivocally not Perpetua.”
The sale by Stallion follows an announcement by the company in October that it was planning to sell an 80% stake in the Horse Heaven Project that it began exploring in 2021.
“Stallion is now squarely focused on its vision of making the next big uranium discovery in the Athabasca Basin (in northern Saskatchewan),” CEO Drew Zimmerman said of the sale.
The sale agreement includes $600,000 in cash payments and $2 million in stock in the unnamed company.
The sale is still subject to approval by the Toronto Stock Exchange, the public market on which both companies are listed.
Zimmerman emphasized the importance of Stallion’s recent antimony discovery in a statement announcing the sale of the project.
“Antimony scarcity, especially in the United States, where they have no domestic production, will be a key driver of the project moving forward,” he said. “Having a new company focused on advancing that project will allow that value to be realized.”
Last year Stallion announced that it found “significant” evidence of gold and antimony after analyzing rock samples collected from the project zone and mapping underground mineral veins.
The samples were collected from exposed outcroppings of bedrock on Antimony Ridge, which is about 3.5 miles southeast of Yellow Pine on a mountain overlooking Johnson Creek Road.
Of 21 samples collected, 18 showed significant amounts of gold, while 19 showed significant amounts of antimony, the company said.
Exploration work completed so far was permitted by the Boise National Forest, which found that the work would cause minimal environmental harm.
However, Stallion has not yet received drilling permits to extract core samples from Golden Gate Hill, another exploration zone within the Horse Heaven Project.
Golden Gate Hill is less than a mile from Yellow Pine and is flanked by Johnson Creek to the west and the East Fork South Fork Salmon River to the north.
The Boise Forest is the lead permitting agency for all mining activities within the 22-square-mile project zone.
Stallion’s project zone is about half the size of Perpetua’s 46.6-square-mile project zone to the east, of which Perpetua proposes to mine about three square miles.
Perpetua began exploration at Stibnite in 2009 and drilled 390 boreholes before deciding in 2015 that the project was economically viable.
The company submitted an initial mining plan to the Payette National Forest for review in 2016. A tentative approval of current plans for the mine was issued by the Payette in September.
— Drew Dodson, The Star-News (McCall), Thursday
The mystery man
OROFINO — There has been much speculation around town about the mystery man standing in the Konkol family giant cedar tree memorial near the old Konkolville Mill site on Michigan Avenue, by the beginning of Grangemont Road. In 1971, the family constructed an overpass that crossed over Michigan Avenue, next to the bottom of the Konkolville Motel parking lot.
It was a way for visitors to stroll through an unusual passway over the road and walk to Konkolville Restaurant, Bar and Ballroom and the mill’s office. The overpass was a unique, favorite tribute to the woodsmen of the area, and more specifically, the Konkol family and their strong ties to the logging community.
Konkolville was founded by Andrew and Bernice Konkol, who arrived to the area in 1947. This tree is in memory of Andrew Konkol 1910-1975, and Bernice Konkol 1915-2000. The old tree trunk is banded with iron to hold it together and has a roof on top.
An unfortunate accident with a lowboy truck hauling a piece of logging equipment damaged the overpass on Dec. 8, 2011. The overpass portion of the walkway was torn down, but the giant cedar tree with a sign with Andrew and Bernice Konkol listed on it was left as a memoriam to the couple.
Recently, a ladder was seen propped up against the enormous tree trunk. And then, the mystery man appeared, leading to many questions among townspeople, including who placed the mystery man in the top of the tree trunk, and what is the significance?
Like so often, the answers began developing on a local Facebook page, Orofino Community Chats. A screenshot was shared on the page that was posted to another site by the man responsible for placing the life size lumberjack in the tree trunk.
Jerry Johnson, of Orofino, purchased the old Konkolville Mill site, after it had been named Tri-Pro, and acquired by a different company from Konkolville Lumber. The mill was eventually shut down, with Johnson purchasing the property. His recent post on his Facebook page stated, “I finally figured out what to do with the giant cedar tree at the old mill site in Orofino, in honor of the Konkol family.”
— Marcie Stanton, Clearwater Tribune (Orofino), Wednesday
