The Wasatch County Council on Wednesday approved a settlement agreement with mining company Maverick Rock after a more than year-long legal battle over its proposed expansion.

Maverick Rock has sought to expand mining operations of its East Ekins Mine near Santaquin by adding a 426-acre mine in Daniels Canyon.

The county denied Maverick Rock’s request for a public hearing — all that is required under state law for the expansion to go forward — in June 2025 after allegedly ignoring several such requests from the mining company since that February.

Maverick Rock took Wasatch County to court in July 2025, and Fourth District Judge Jennifer Mabey sided with the mining company in April. She found that Maverick Rock had the right to expand under state code because Great Blue Limestone and Manning Canyon Shale, the materials mined at the East Ekins Mine, are present in Daniels Canyon.

Per Mabey’s ruling, the County Council held a public hearing on April 22, but no residents made public comments. Between that hearing and now, however, there have been more than 100 public comments on the issue, according to Deputy County Attorney Alex Stoedter.

The county further stalled the expansion by arguing that it would pose a threat to public health, safety and welfare. Under state code, this allows the county to negotiate mitigation measures with the mining company, which were approved through the settlement agreement on Wednesday. 

These mitigation measures, Stoedter said, are “greatly limited” and pale in comparison to what the county could have demanded if the mine had gone through the local conditional use permitting process. Typically, mines would have to go through the conditional use permitting process in the area the expansion is proposed in, but Mabey’s ruling and state code overrode that authority. 

Conditional use permitting does not allow the county to deny a mine in the area, but it does allow the county to ask for more stringent mitigation measures than those that were in the approved settlement agreement.

“(Mitigation in the settlement agreement) is limited to things that do not go beyond what a state permit would require. They have to be reasonable, and they have to be narrowly tailored to findings of endangerment,” Stoedter said. “They’ve got all their permits, dust, air, water, all those things, and we reviewed them. They’re in compliance. But they’re agreeing to these mitigation measures, and it’s going to allow them to start mining.”

The county argued that the expansion could have adverse noise, air quality and traffic impacts, but its foremost concern was protecting water quality, particularly for the town of Daniel, which has two wells next to the excavation site that serve 190 people, according to Daniel Planning Director Eric Bunker.

“That’s a big water source for the town, and we don’t know how to replace it if it gets contaminated,” Bunker said.

The biggest wins as far as mitigation measures go, Stoedter said, were related to water quality. First, the county can test and verify water quality in the mining area before and during operations.

“At any time, we could go in, test the water and see if there’s contamination,” he said. 

Second, Maverick Rock must not excavate within 100 feet of the two Daniel wells. Bunker argued the buffer should be larger.

Heber City Mayor Heidi Franco echoed that sentiment, commenting that the county should do a groundwater study before finalizing the buffer’s size.

Time, however, was not on the county’s side.

County Councilor Luke Searle made a motion to delay the vote to next week’s meeting, which died as soon as Stoedter explained the fragility of the current agreement, which is a product of tense negotiations for the past two weeks.

“It’s conditioned in this agreement that we approve it or deny it today. So, if we further delay it, that could take this agreement off the table. They could sue us, and then, it’s not the council getting this mitigation. We’re back in litigation, and the court’s going to decide if we get any mitigation or not,” Stoedter said. 

Most importantly, Maverick Rock has estimated up to $50 million in potential damages incurred by the county. Stoedter said delaying approval of the settlement agreement would increase the likelihood of the mining company suing the county over those damages.  

County Manager Dustin Grabau said those costs could be passed on to county residents.

“That financial risk to the county is potentially something that would be obligated to be passed on to taxpayers. Some entities can end up with a very large judgment, and it ends up as an additional property tax line item because of the size of the judgment. That’s something that we’re trying to avoid,” he said.

That was ultimately why the County Council approved the agreement by 4-2 vote. Searle and Colleen Bonner were the “no” votes.

“As a council, we are pretty unanimous in our disagreement with this mine. We don’t want it. We know the public has expressed their opinion very vocally. They don’t want it. And we have tried using every measure we can to fight this,” said County Councilor Erik Rowland. “We’re in a position now where we recognize that this is more than just a mine or a blight on a hillside, but significant costs to the taxpayer and the county as a whole.”

The county’s last attempt to fight the mine will be in the Utah Court of Appeals. The county filed an appeal to Mabey’s ruling on Monday. If the Court of Appeals were to side with Wasatch County, Maverick Rock would be required to go through the conditional use permitting process through the County Council.

Grabau ultimately hopes for an adjustment to state code that would clarify that a mining company could not expand into another county with little input from local government just because the materials they mine are also found in that area.

“We’ve been working with our own lobbyists, with other local governments that are subject to these very same issues. We have partners at the Utah Association of Counties and the Utah League of Cities & Towns. I think we have a lot of allies. We even met with the Division of Natural Resources, who was of the same opinion that this code should not apply in this way,” he said.

The matter is one of state versus local authority, Stoedter said.

“There’s kind of a trend of removing the local authority on these types of decisions. And that’s exactly what this law does,” he said.

The post Wasatch County approves settlement agreement over long-disputed 426-acre mine appeared first on Park Record.

As Park City’s silver-mining industry collapsed and, years later, skiing came to drive the local economy, the site of the California-Comstock Mine fell into a state of terrible disrepair.

Like numerous other mining-era sites in the Park City area, there was little work done at the onetime California-Comstock Mine over the decades after mining ended. The site is located on the slopes of Park City Mountain Resort, close to the Thaynes ski lift and at the bottom of the Keystone ski run. It is one of the most prominent mining-era sites that is easily visible to skiers at PCMR.

The site of the California-Comstock Mine was one of the mining-era locations that the owner of PCMR, Colorado-based Vail Resorts, identified as requiring work based on the terrible shape it was in. There was concern the structure would collapse.

“Deplorable . . . It was just falling down. It wasn’t going to last another winter,” said Sally Elliott, one of the chairs of a group known as Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History.

The group teamed with PCMR and City Hall to undertake the work, hiring consultants and a firm to stabilize the wooden building with a foundation made of stacked stones.

The work was largely completed last summer. It required heavy machinery like a crane to lift timbers that fell off the structure. Elliott said a small structure close to the main building needs to be re-erected and masonry work is planned.

She said it was important to pursue the work last summer since the condition had deteriorated. The heavy snow this winter could have left the building “close to flat,” she said.

“This winter would have been disastrous for it,” Elliott said.

The California-Comstock Mine site dates to approximately 1900 and City Hall says it is one of the oldest mining-era buildings remaining in Park City. Anya Grahn, the preservation planner at City Hall, called the site a “stabilized ruin.” She said the site is important since it illustrates a stage in the progression of the mining industry in the city.

“It kind of is the beginning of development for Park City mining,” Grahn said.

Preservation Utah, a statewide organization once known as the Utah Heritage Foundation, recently honored the work at the California-Comstock Mine site with an annual award given in the category of stabilization, restoration or renovation. City Hall, a Vail Resorts subsidiary and the Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History were listed as the nominees.

A nominating letter, drafted by Grahn, provided a detailed rundown of the work, touched on Park City’s mining history and explained that mining-era sites remain standing.

“Preserved in time and largely overlooked, the mine sites continued to persevere through the harsh winters on the mountain . . . ,” the letter says.

It describes that the site was cleared of debris, pieces of the structure were salvaged and part of what was a mill building was rebuilt. It “is no longer threatened by collapse and the structural stabilization will allow for the safe, future restoration efforts on the stone foundation and remaining wood structure,” according to the letter. Clark Martinez, a member of a well-known Park City family with longtime ties to the mining industry, was the general contractor.

Elliott said Vail Resorts posted $50,000 for the work and a private donor provided another $50,000 as part of a matching grant. Another $16,000 must be raised to secure the $50,000 matching grant. The final cost of the project, though, is not yet known.

City Hall leaders, tourism officials and the preservation community have long seen the mining-era history as setting Park City apart from some of mountain resort competitors. They say the historic buildings and structures on the slopes offer a unique skiing experience. PCMR said it was pleased with the Preservation Utah award.

“I was surprised and pleased to receive this award notification. This is fantastic recognition of community collaboration – the city, the resort, the museum and all the tireless efforts of the Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History that allow the passion and skills of Clark Martinez to bring the restoration work to fruition,” Bill Rock, the chief operating officer of PCMR, said in a prepared statement.

The post Park City mining building, once in ‘deplorable’ shape, saved appeared first on Park Record.

In this week’s collection of portraits from For The Record, we asked attendees at the Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History Membership Party why Park City’s mining legacy is still important to them. (Photos by Tanzi Propst/Park Record)

The post PHOTOS: For The Record | August 31, 2016 appeared first on Park Record.