The president of the Idaho-Maryland Mine in Grass Valley on Tuesday accused opponents of using misleading information in an effort to stop his company's years-long effort to reopen the historic underground gold mine.

“They're saying there's going to be huge superstacks with stuff blowing back over the city,” mine President David Watkinson said. “They made up the numbers and then the photo.”

The rendition on Claim-GV's Web site is altered way beyond reality, Watkinson said. If the proposed ceramics plant using mine waste is built, it might give off some steam, but only 20 to 30 feet high, he added, and mine operations won't utilize smokestacks, either.

“We would have flues about five feet off the roof,” Watkinson said. “If we refine gold, we'll have a flue with scrubbers on it to handle it. You can't do anything without major pollution controls.”

Meanwhile, Claim-GV leaders stood by a rendition of the mine on its Web site, which shows large plumes of what appears to be smoke and steam billowing in the direction of downtown Grass Valley.

Ralph Silberstein and Bob Bogart of CLAIM-GV said the high plumes would be caused by the extreme force with which the mine would push steam out of the ceramics plant. They base their rendition on the Claim-GV Web site on the environmental report, which indicates the six short stacks would put out 4,400 cubic feet of steam per minute at almost 1,300 degrees.

Silberstein said the drawing shows the steam going into downtown Grass Valley, but “it blows in several directions there,” and could have been shown in any direction.

“Their rendition doesn't show a headframe or any tailings” from a working mine, Silberstein added.

Both Silberstein and Bogart also said Idaho-Maryland officials haven't been honest in disclosing financial details, or the reason behind a recent collapse of a potential project funding source.

Accordibng to a press release, Dunn Capital Partners decided to stay away from the project because of environmental concerns.

“The decision was several-fold, based on review of Emgold's proposed Idaho-Maryland Mine project's impact to an urban location, citizen petitions, the risk of water loss to local wells, the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act and hydrologist reports,” Dunn's press release stated.

Emgold is the Canadian parent company of the Idaho-Maryland Mining Corp.

“In combination of inadequate support documents to prove the adherence of California's Environmental Quality Act, Dunn Capital had no choice but to end talks with Emgold,” the press release continued.

Watkinson said in October that negotiations partially stopped when Idaho-Maryland learned Dunn was being sued by a firm for not coming through with a similar funding plan.

“We are at a loss to understand the motivation behind this concoction of falsehoods and can only assume that it represents a malicious attempt to cause financial damage to Emgold and its shareholders,” Watkinson said in a counter-press release.

The mine executive also cited a 2006 survey done by the city which indicated that 72 percent of the respondents favored the mine's reopening. Claim-GV contends the survey was done before any major impacts were known from the environmental report.

To contact Senior Staff Writer Dave Moller, e-mail dmoller@theunion.com or call 477-4237.