Melted silver is poured into molds at the KGHM Copper and Precious Metals smelter and processing plant in Glogow May 10, 2013.Peter Andrews/Reuters
File under "Strange announcements released on SEDAR midday on a Friday." Chaparral Gold, a small TSX-listed Arizona-based exploration company with mines in Nevada, issued a release stating that its subsidiary met with Environmental Protection Agency officials to discuss potentially cleaning up a site in Eureka, Nevada where the company operated a smelter.
What's weird about that, you ask? The smelter was operated between 1870 and 1891.
According to the release, the EPA believes Chaparral's subsidiary, Metallic Ventures U.S. Inc., is the corporate successor to two companies that operated smelters in Eureka more than a hundred years ago. Metallic disputes the EPA's assessment, and claims that it has limited ability to pay for any cleanup.
Admittedly, if a company buys assets that include a contaminated property, one would think that company would potentially have some liability in cleaning it up. But it still seems odd when the alleged bad corporate behaviour in question occurred so long ago, and the people involved are surely dead by now.
Chaparral is currently fighting off a hostile bid from Waterton Precious Metals Fund II Cayman, LP.