Owners of Blue Lead Mine have abandoned their drawn-out fight to claim a vested right to mine the property.

“After meetings with county counsel and the planning director, Blue Lead Gold Mining … will not pursue (its) pending appeal, and will instead continue working cooperatively with county planning staff to accomplish Blue Lead's goals for its property,” owner Robert White wrote in a letter filed Wednesday with Nevada County. “Blue Lead … is officially withdrawing its appeal, and will instead continue pursuing the permitting process with the county.

“Blue Lead believes that continuing with the permitting process will allow Blue Lead to clear up what appear to be misunderstandings as to the project itself, as well as address any remaining concerns the county or the public may have. We are confident that it will become increasingly clear how beneficial our small project will be for the county.”

The Whites have indicated they plan to pursue the use permit process, said Associate Planner Jessica Hankins.

“A use permit application was previously submitted in August 2008 and is still open with the planning department,” Hankins said. “The application also includes a reclamation plan and rezone, and will require California Environmental Quality Act compliance. The previous application was deemed incomplete, so the applicant will now need to fulfill the application requirements so that we can continue processing the project.”

Don Pelton, an outspoken opponent of giving the Blue Lead owners a vested right to mine, said the decision was “good news.”

“Most of those in opposition (to the vested right) would be content to see them granted an ordinary permit, so the county has oversight and enforcement standards,” he said. “I'd like to think the planning commission would be looking carefully at any future applications for vested rights.”

Vested right centered on claim of continuous operation

The dispute over whether the owners indeed did have a vested right to mine took several twists and turns over the last year.

The mine, on Red Dog Road east of Nevada City, came to the county's attention in 2007, after Robert and Tucker White bought it. The Whites plan to bring down cliffs that are up to 160 feet tall on the property to find residual gold left from the hydraulic mining days.

After a neighbor's tip, county employees found evidence that unpermitted excavation had been done at the site, which dates to the 1800s. More signs of work were detected at the mine in August 2008, and a code compliance case was opened.

In April 2009, more work and equipment was found at the site. Last September, the Whites were told to comply with the use permit process or face fines up to $5,000 per day.

The Whites were trying to reopen the mine without getting a use permit, and said the historic vesting allowed them to do so. County officials had cited the Whites for exploratory mining activity without permits on the property, and shut them down.

A vested right to mine the Blue Lead property hinged on the legal definition of abandonment, and whether the mine was abandoned when zoning laws went into effect in 1954.

In late March, planning commissioners said they would approve the vested rights claim, which meant the 75-acre site could have reopened without a county use permit and state mining scrutiny.

But the commission reopened the matter April 22 at a hearing in which neighbors of the mine and members of CLAIM-GV (a group fighting the reopening of the Idaho-Maryland Mine) said there has been little or no activity at the mine for years.

Representatives of California's Office of Mine Reclamation said the various owners of the mine have not filed annual reports, a reclamation plan nor financial documents, nor had they received annual inspections for at least 19 years.

The commission reversed its vote on May 27, finding the site had not been mined continuously by its various owners throughout its lengthy history. On June 7, Blue Lead filed a formal appeal with the Nevada County Board of Supervisors to have the decision overturned.

To contact Staff Writer Liz Kellar, e-mail lkellar@theunion.com or call (530) 477-4229.