Quarterly cash flow information available from ASX (Australian Securities Exchange) indicate that IDM and its subsidiary ORC may need to raise $4.5 million to make it through next quarter. It appears the company has exhausted its borrowing capacity and sales aren’t enough to carry it through so it is looking to issue an additional 56 million shares driving the price of the stock lower.

At Tuesday’s BOC meeting Dan Smith introduced his replacement as COO of ORC, Wayne Knott to the board. Smith mentioned that a mineral lease from ORC to mine county land was in the hands of county counsel. Up til now Commissioner Bob Main has held steadfast against signing a lease with transferable rights or collateral options. Until the company resolves its cash position, let’s hope this current commission thinks twice before letting the company secure any loans with public resources.

According to ORCA (Oregon Coast Alliance) ORC may not be performing the required restoration before mining additional acreage.

Chromite Strip Mine Expands Without Required Reclamation

Oregon Resources Corporation (ORC) is operating the only open-pit chromite mine in the United States, in Coos County, south of Charleston, only a mile and a half from the ocean. ORCA was opposed to permitting this mine, arguing that this is fragile habitat, and a steep, unstable area that receives a great deal of rainfall; it is no place for an open-pit mine. However, the mine went into operation more than a year ago, and ORCA remains in litigation over the federal permits.

The state permit from the Dept. of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) explicitly requires that ORC “conduct concurrent reclamation and limit the active excavation cell to ten acres.” (Condition #15). However, DOGAMI discovered in a May 2012 inspection that the active mining cell is now 25 acres. ORC has done essentially no reclamation at the South Seven Devils mining site, though they have finished mining. Why? The company wants to run the tailings through the processing plant again, so it cannot begin reclamation. However, at the same time ORC has begun clearing and preparing for mining at West Section 10, the next permit area. “Prepping” is allowed, but ORCA believes DOGAMI should bar ORC from mining at West Section Ten until reclamation at South Seven Devils is complete.