A local mining and mineral property research and development firm has accused Josephine County officials of intentional delays and mismanagement in handling a mining lease application, claiming the setbacks have caused significant financial damages while hindering potential revenue streams for the county’s underfunded law enforcement programs. In a detailed supplemental letter dated August 15, American Mineral Research (AMR) outlined its grievances and offered two compromise proposals ahead of a scheduled hearing in the Josephine County Commissioners’ Weekly Business Session next week.
The letter, addressed to the Josephine County Board of Commissioners, supplements AMR’s May 2023 application for a mining lease on the county-owned St. Peter Mine Property, a 76-acre site east of Wolf Creek within the county’s timber portfolio, with a long history of mineral exploration. AMR, whose founders have pursued development on the site since 2007, argues that the property contains economically viable gold deposits that could generate substantial royalties to bolster the sheriff’s office budget.
According to the letter, AMR held a three-year mineral exploration permit from May 2020 to May 2023, during which it invested approximately $100,000 in surface mapping and validation of historical drilling data. The company reported discovering promising mineral zones but faced obstacles, including COVID-19 supply chain disruptions and permitting delays from state agencies. A request for a two-year extension was denied by county commissioners, which AMR attributes to opposition from the county’s forestry director, contract geologist, and two commissioners who allegedly blocked AMR’s development and ignored county code requirements for processing mining applications.
AMR’s criticisms center on what it describes as a more than two-year delay in processing the lease application, in violation of Josephine County Code 5.15, which requires granting a lease if a high-quality, viable deposit is demonstrated. The letter alleges “personality conflicts” among previous commissioners led to intentional stalling, stating, “AMR can and will show undeniable proof that this is the likely reason the previous County Board of Commissioners delayed acting on our mining lease application for over two years, contrary to requirements of County Code 5.15.”
It further accuses Forestry Director Streeter of lacking expertise in mineral development and making inaccurate assessments during site visits, such as failing to locate evidence of AMR’s work and concluding that no significant activity had occurred, despite touring the site with at least one previous county commissioner.
The company also highlights the county’s alleged failure to address illegal mining by a neighboring operation, Summitt Mining, led by Stephan Walker. AMR claims Walker has extracted gold ore worth potentially millions since 2015 from a mining tunnel that extends under county-owned property, citing firsthand witness accounts and a YouTube video as evidence. Despite reporting the issue confidentially to Legal Counsel Wally Hicks and a sheriff’s deputy in 2020, AMR says neither Hicks nor the sheriff’s office pursued a formal investigation until 2023, when AMR pressed for results. This delay, the company contends, gave the illegal operators more than two years to cover their tracks, despite multiple firsthand witnesses to the alleged theft from county land.
Additionally, the letter refutes public statements by former Commissioner John West, who in an August 23, 2024, radio interview claimed no lease revenues could benefit the sheriff and misrepresented the status of negotiations. AMR counters, “The County and AMR have not even begun to negotiate the terms of the lease.” West made several false statements on the Bill Meyer Radio Show in August 2024, the company alleges, after one of AMR’s founders helped organize a recall petition against him.
To resolve the impasse and compensate for damages estimated at $2.31 million due to the delays, AMR presents two lease options as “win-win” solutions designed to yield higher long-term revenues for the county than initially projected more than two years ago. The first option proposes a 10-year lease with two optional five-year renewals, an annual payment starting at $65,000 (adjusted annually by CPI-U), and an 8% net smelter return (NSR) royalty—significantly higher than typical mineral property lease royalties. Payments would be offset against the $2.31 million “deposit” AMR claims it has effectively provided through the delays, with the county assuming no responsibility for neighboring disputes through quitclaim deed language.
The second option involves transferring full ownership of the property to AMR via quitclaim deed in exchange for a lifetime 10% NSR royalty retained by the county, regardless of future operators. AMR projects this could generate at least $10.05 million in royalties for the county over the mine’s life, with a net present value of $6.65 million.
The letter urges commissioners to consider this information before the August 21 hearing, emphasizing the potential for mineral development on county lands to help address chronic funding shortfalls in law enforcement programs. AMR claims there are several other properties within the county’s timber portfolio with promising mineral development and royalty revenue potential. The full text of the 14-page letter to the commissioners can be found at https://www.americanmineralresearch.com/news-.html, and AMR asserts it provides further evidence of damage caused during Commissioner West’s term in office from 2023 to 2024.
AMR previously filed a lawsuit against Josephine County earlier in 2025 for failing to act on what it calls a lawful mining lease application submitted in May 2023. In June 2025, the lawsuit was settled in AMR’s favor, requiring the county to hold a public hearing and make a decision on the company’s application by the last business day in August 2025.
The hearing is currently scheduled for the County’s Weekly Business Session on August 21, 2025, at 10 a.m. This development comes amid ongoing debates in rural Oregon counties over resource extraction and public funding, with AMR positioning its project as a pathway to fiscal relief without raising taxes. One thing is certain: the Josephine County Commissioners’ Weekly Business Session on August 21 promises to be a busy day of hearings and public input, as the much-anticipated Library Lease decision was also delayed from August 14 to August 21. Both lease issues carry major implications for the future of the Josephine Community Library District and Josephine County law enforcement revenues.