The Vancouver-based gold explorer was sent reeling in February when the provincial government announced an agreement with the State of Montana to protect the Flathead from potentially damaging mining projects.
The basin was protected because of its proximity to Montana’s Glacier National Park.
The memorandum of understanding between the two governments is “subject to an agreement on the equitable disposition of the financial implications … respecting existing mining and coal tenures.”
Morton said he has yet to hear anything specific about compensation for the company’s Crowsnest and Howell gold projects in the Flathead and was preparing for another drill program this summer before the agreement shut them down.
Eastfield signed a buy-in agreement on the properties with another Vancouver company, MAX Resource Corp., last summer.
MAX president Stuart Rogers said his company has yet to receive any compensation from the government, but he didn’t expect anything by July.
“I’m not concerned about it,” said Rogers. “We’re going to give them the opportunity to finish what they started.”
A third company, Cline Mining Corp., was busy with two prospective coal projects in the Flathead Valley when the government put a stop to them.
August, 2010
