Supes Extend Special Use Permit for Sixteen to One Mine

DOWNIEVILLE — During a well-attended public hearing held on Tuesday, December 2, the Board of Supervisors considered a resolution calling for the revocation of a Special Use Permit granted to the Sixteen to One Mine in 1989.

At the onset of this hearing, Brandon Pangman, Director of the county’s Planning Department and author of the resolution, made it clear that the Planning Department has no interest in closing down operations at the Sixteen to One Mine.

However, he explained, by law, the Planning Department is responsible for ensuring the Mine’s operations comply with California’s Surface Mining and Reclamation Act (SMARA) and the conditions for approval of the Special Use Permit issued by the county over three decades ago.

As it happens, during the most recent annual SMARA review of the Mine’s operations in 2024 by Ashley Powell, a member of Pangman’s staff, it became clear the Mine’s operators had violated these conditions by 1) not submitting annual reports about surface disturbances, reclamation, and production rates despite multiple requests for such information by Sierra County; 2) failing to provide adequate Financial Assurance Cost Estimates of reclamation work required in the event the Mine ceased to operate; 3) not indicating a viable Financial Assurance Mechanism, a document required to insure the public would not bear the cost of cleaning up after the Mine closed.

Moreover, this failure to comply had been ongoing since 1996, with the county failing to address the issue.

In the wake of these findings, the Planning Department issued a Notice of Violation and Order to Comply to QuartzView, Inc., the mine operator since 2024, in January 2025. In February 2025, a Final Notice to Comply was issued, and, in July 2025, a Notice of Proposed Revocation Letter was mailed to the operator.

None of these notices resulted in the delivery of an annual report or either of the documents addressing reclamation financing.

This past August, the issue was presented to the Sierra County Planning Commission and, following a public hearing, the Commission voted unanimously to approve the Planning Department’s request to revoke the Special Use Permit.

After Powell provided this information to the Board, the Board opened the session to public comment.

Roger Haas, the Chief Executive for QuestView, Inc., was the first person to address the Board and, after speaking about how difficult it has been to assemble the financial data required to comply with the permit’s conditions of approval, given some uncertainty about the equipment and processes needed to satisfy the state’s water quality standards, he told the Board he thought it would take about three years before the compliance could be achieved.

Next, Mike Miller, the long-time manager of the Sixteen to One Mine until QuestView secured a majority of the company’s stock in 2024, was the only other member of the public to comment on the proposed revocation of the permit. In his remarks, after contending SMARA did not apply to the operations of underground mines, such as the Sixteen to One, he surprised the Board by supporting the revocation of the permit. By taking this action and effectively closing down the Sixteen to One Mine, he said, the issue could be taken to court with a lawsuit filed against Sierra County.

Hearing no further public comment, Pangman told the Board the remarks made by Roger Haas about the time (3 years) for completion of the compliance process were not wholly inaccurate. Recently, he said, this was roughly the time it took, given CEQA and water quality regulations, to gain approval for mining operations in a part of the national forest within Sierra County.

However, Pangman suggested, if the resolution before the Board was amended and the operator allowed to submit the documents needed by the county (an annual report on operations, estimates of reclamation costs, and plans for financial assurance mechanisms) within the next six months, or no later than July 1, 2026, the county would be able to issue a valid Special Use Permit to the Sixteen to One Mine.

After Supervisor Roen made a motion to this effect and Supervisor Heuer seconded the motion, the Board voted 4-0 (Supervisor Dryden being absent) to approve the amended resolution.