That's awfully odd isn't it??? I sure wonder why they decided it wasn't worth the small amount of money, $360K, to acquire such a massive amount of copper.
Let's review the history of the Emerald Isle as it was known at that time. The Emerald was closed in 1996 and in 1999 it was listed in a BK sale with 7 other mines when Arimetco went BK.
The U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona (Tucson Division) will conduct a public auction sale on Thursday, April 1, 1999, at 9:30 a.m. of the following mineral properties located in Arizona and Nevada, USA. The properties will be sold in its "as-is" condition to the highest and best bidder and pursuant to bankruptcy code §363 free and clear of liens, claims, encumbrances and interests. · Emerald Isle Mine located 15 miles NW of Kingman, AZ. In the Wallapai Mining District, consists of 9 unpatented lode claims 194 acres. 15-mill site claims 131.4 acres. The Emerald Isle mine is a copper open pit 8,000 lb per day SX-EW operation. http://www.minemarket.com/Arimetco.htm
In 2007, Mr. Stonehouse was the VP of Operations at Ascendant Copper. He is fluent in Spanish and deal with DELCOIN, the most vocal NGO against Ascendant Copper and their fight to develop a mine in Intag, Ecuador.
Ecuador: Government Shuts Down Ascendant Copper’s Junín Project Friday, September 28, 2007 (Ottawa/Intag) Canadian junior mining company Ascendant Copper Corporation’s ambitions to develop a major copper mine in the Intag region of northwestern Ecuador were dealt a serious blow on September 25, 2007, when restrictions on the company’s activities in the area turned into a total prohibition.
James Stonehouse ran the local ops of the trainwreck known as Ascendant Copper/Copper Mesa. They were kicked out of Ecuador due to bad practices. (Environmental issues) http://incakolanews.blogspot.com/2010_09_05_archive.html
From 2008-2009 Mr. James Stonehouse was employed by Copper Mesa as the VP of Operations at the Emerald Isle. He is a key player in the events that followed.
Thursday, December 24, 2009 Recently, Toronto-based Pinetree Capital bought a few million shares of Copper Mesa Mining Corporation, making it the largest share owner of a failing company currently embroiled in a lawsuit. The takeover raised the price of its penny stock upwards to between three and five cents. Copper Mesa, however, got a lot more than what it bargained for.
James Stonehouse is a highly experienced mining professional with a track record of more than 30 years in developing new mineral resources for major mining companies. Under his supervision, several exploration programs have led directly to the discovery and development of new mines producing gold, copper, lead-zinc, silver, diamonds and gemstones in locations from Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela to Honduras, Nicaragua and Kazakhstan.
In addition, James has seamlessly managed four separate companies through a difficult political environment (2006-2008), tripling indicated reserves at principal projects in two of the companies. His ability to recognize and re-evaluate geological settings and design successful exploration programs has resulted in significant discoveries that have increased resources and added satellite ore deposits to existing operationsJames received a Bachelors degree from Dartmouth College in 1974, shortly followed by a Masters in 1976. Mr. Stomnehouse is a registered member of SME (#4168919)and a registered Geoscientist in the State of California, Registration #5518, and is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
December 15, 2011 - Scorpio Mining Corporation (TSX: SPM) appointed James M. Stonehouse as the Corporation's Vice President of Exploration, based in Mexico, effective January 3, 2012.
His job at the mine was much like that of Travis Snider, the current VP of Operations - to return the mine to production. Mr. Stonehouse ordered drill testing and Scoping reports done by BehreDolbear. http://www.dolbear.com/
Stonehouse hired Western States Engineering (WSE) to provide a Start-up Plan that can be seen at the link below.
Mr. Stonehouse planned to expand the SX/EW plant and ordered the necessary components. They are stored onsite and will be installed as the plant is expanded from 5,400,000 lbs per year to 8,000,000 lbs per year.
(Estimated cost to produce a lb of copper is $1.18 including administrative, so figure out the current price of copper (3.40) and subtract $1.18 to arrive at free cash flow.)
But things fell apart as the loss of the Ecuador project dealt a crippling blow to Ascendant/Copper Mesa and there were no funds. A lawsuit forced the company into Bankruptcy. There were 2 mines, both in Arizona that were sold in the BK, the Emerald and the Zonia. Zonia Mine located 6 miles SE of Kirkland Junction, AZ. In the Bagdad mining district, consists of 722 acres patented claims, 63 unpatented claims, 28 unpatented mill site claims. The Zonia mine is a open pit copper operation.
Somehow Stonehouse put together a group of guys to buy the mine and form a company named Sierra Resource Group.
The connection between Stonehouse and the formation of SIRG is unknown but he was involved enough that he served on the SIRG BOD until Sept of 2011, along with Paul Enright.
On April 23, 2010, the Company entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement with Medina Property Group LLC, a Florida limited liability company (“Medina”). Pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, and upon the terms and subject to the conditions thereof, the Company agreed to purchase 80% of certain mining interests of Medina known as the Chloride Copper Project, a former copper producer comprised of a mineral deposit and some infrastructure located near Kingston, Arizona (the “Copper Mine”).
So Mercator did not buy the mine in 2008 or 2009 because the MINE WAS NOT FOR SALE (and when they were finally getting the Mineral Park into production without permits!) nor 2010 when they were spending millions to expand and build the moly plant.
Mercator was never involved with SIRG in any way and should be OFF TOPIC.
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