Deadly Lode (Trace Brandon Book 1) (5 page)

Will quickly
put the samples down on my desk and wiped his hands on his trousers.
“
Hmmm, very interesting
,
”
Will said
,
looking at his hands
.
“
I
’
ve
been reading commodities reports pr
edicting
uranium
may
take off again.
”

“
Yeah,
it looks like the beginning of a new cycle. Since Three Mile Island, the price of uranium has been in the
crapper
.
But
with all
the new reactors forecast to com
e
on
-
line
, the commodity
traders
are
back in the
uranium
market
.
”

“
A perfect time to bring a new uranium deposit on
-
line.
”

“
Exactly so,
pard
.
”

“
So, what
’
s the plan?
”

“
The plan is to meet Ken Hodg
es
and his survey crew on Monday
in Winthrop
.
His crew will ge
t
all the
claim
location monuments staked
.
And I
’
ll
file the
location notices at the
Okanogan County
courthouse. Once
we do that,
the cl
aims are valid.
W
e
’
ll
have
thirty
days
after we file
to get
the
corner posts
in.
”
    

“
Sounds good.
So what
can I
do to
participat
e in this fine new venture
?
”

“
You start looking for a clean Vancouver, B
.
C
.,
public
shell. If this thing pans out like I think it will, I want to vend the claims into a public Canadian company
.
We
’
ll s
tart
trading
on the Vancouver Stock Exchange
,
an
d raise some serious developmental capital.
”

Will nodded.
“
I have an attorney buddy
named
Wally
Wilkins
. We went to
law school
together, and he lives and
offices in Vancouver
. He
does mergers, acquisitions
,
and securities law.
And he
always knows of a few good shell
companies
.
”

“
I
’
ll get you a nice block of shares
for your time
,
and the new company will reimburse you
r
expenses.
”

“
Perfect
.
T
hanks, Trace.
”

“
Hey, that
’
s what friends are for. And you never know
. W
e may need a tough, ex-football player turned lawyer, if we run into any trouble.
”

“
Cyrus?
”

“
Damn, you
’
re the second guy in two days to mention
t
he Virus.
”

“
Yeah, well, he
’
s always out there
,
and if he gets wind of a new find, he could be trouble.
”

“
Agreed.
”

After my meeting with Will, I sent
the split
rock
-
chip
samples to a lab
in
Silver Valley,
Idaho. I
purposely avoided any local labs
.
I
f the assays were as good as I expected,
I didn
’
t want
t
he
Virus
alerted
.

I drove back to Winthrop on Sunday and
checked in to the
W
. The next morning I was
having coffee
in the hotel restaurant
,
when Ken Hodg
e
s walked in.

“
Hey, Trace, good to see you again.
”

“
Howdy, Ken
. H
ave a seat.
”

Ken was in his forties, dark haired and stout from years of field work. We
both
ordered
steak and eggs
,
and got down to business.

“
I
’
ve
got all the claims plotted, including
l
at
-
l
ong
co-ordinates.
We
’
ll be able to
put the
l
ocation
m
onuments
and corners
in by GPS
,
”
Ken said, handing me a spreadsheet
.

“
Perfect. I want to get all the
location monuments
in as fast as possible.
”

“
We
’
ll get them all in today.
All the
claim
location
notices are
signed by me as Agent for
Reserve E&P, LLC, as you instructed
. Everything is
ready to record
with the
Okanogan
County
c
lerk.
”

Reserve E&P, LLC was a Nevada corporation I
’
d set up for
claim
-
staking
projects
.

“
Good job, Ken.
Let me have
the
l
ocation
n
otices
after we finish eating
.
I
’
ll drive up to Okanogan and get them filed
today
.
”

“
Okay
. Once the
monuments
are
in the ground
, the claims are valid. We
’
ll
finish
staking the
corners
in a couple
of days
.
”

After breakfast Ken and his crew headed up to the Sullivan Mine
.
I
jumped in my Bronco and
head
ed
to the County
Courthouse in Ok
anogan
.

After a long day, Ken and I met for supper at the
W
.

“
How
’
d
it go today, Ken?
”

“
No problems
. T
he terrain is pretty steep, but thirty claims
are
not much for my crew. All the location monuments are in
,
and even some of the corners. We
’
ll knock it out tomorrow.
”

“
Perfect. I filed all the notices with the
c
ounty
c
lerk and will send copies of the stamped, recorded
,
notices to the B
ureau of Land Management,
in a few days.
”

“
When the claims get posted on the BLM website,
t
he Virus will likely see them,
”
Ken said.
“
I hear he has a
file
clerk doing nothing but looking for recent claim activity.
I also hear she
’
s damned good
-
looking.
”

I laughed
.
“
W
ell,
good
-
looking or not, they
’
ll have a
tough time
messing
with our claims
.
”

Chapter
3

I
t had been a couple of weeks since I
’
d filed the claims with the Bureau of Land Management. The
claims
were now
readily
visible to anyone research
ing
the
BLM
’
s
website
.

I
’
d just gotten to my office when the phone rang.

“
Geology office
.
Trace
Brandon
,
speaking.
”

“
Mr. Brandon, Cyrus McSweeny here.
”

Jesus, that didn
’
t take long, I thought.
“
Yes,
s
ir
,
Mr. McSweeny,
what can I do for you?
”

“
Have we met, Trace?
”

“
No
s
ir
, not officially
.
B
ut some of my clients have
, well, 
become acquainted with you.
”

“
That
’
s one way to say it. Listen, Trace, I see where you
r
LLC h
as
staked some claims around the old Sullivan Mine.
”

“
Yes,
that
’
s
correct.
”

“
I thought the mine was closed by a big landslide in the forties?
”

“
She was, but this spring
’
s flood
exposed the mine portal.
”

“
I see. Were you able to get in
the old workings
and grab
some
samples?
”

“
Yes, I
poked around a bit a
nd
collected
a few samples.
”

“
If you don
’
t mind me asking, since you have it pretty well tied up, how
’
s
it look?
”

“
Well, I
could
only
sample
the first level
. T
he second level is flooded.
”

“
Are you sure about water in the second level?
”

“
Yep, pretty sure
,
”
I replied, thinking back to my full gainer into the flooded winze.

“
Well, how did level one look to you?
”

“
Good enough to plan some core drilling.
”

“
I see
. Would you be interested in a partner? I have pretty deep pockets
, Trace
.
I
could help defray a lot of the exploration expenses
,
in return for an interest in the
claims
.
”

“
I appreciate the offer Mr. McSweeny, but I think I can handle the initial exploration costs.
”

“
Well, what about beyond that?
No offense, but I
’
d be surprised if you
have the financial
wherewit
hal
to bring a mine
into production
.
”

“
Probably not. But if
the lode grades out
, I
’
ll have several
financing
options.
”

“
Reverse merge
r
with a
public
shell
, eh?
”

Damn this guy doesn
’
t miss a thing, I thought to myself.
“
Well, it
’
s one option.
”

“
The public market can be a damned rough place,
Trace
, i
f you don
’
t know what you
’
re doing.
”

“
I
’
ll keep
that
in mind,
s
ir
. Fortunately, I have a damned good attorney to keep me out of harm
’
s way.
”

“
Yeah, well
,
you
’
ll probably
need him. Good talking to you
,
Trace. I
’
ll be seeing you.
”

Not if I see you first, I thought
,
as I hung up.

After his call to Trace,
Cy
r
us
made a second
call to
his right
-
hand man
, Bill Thorn
ton
.
Thorn
ton
,
or Thorny as Cyrus called him, was built like a
fireplug
. Bald
with a salt
-
and
-
pepper goatee, he stood f
ive feet eight and
weighed
two hundred pounds
.
Thorny reminded people of a bulked
-
up Yul Br
y
nner. Like Cyrus, he
’
d worked and fought his way out of the mines. He
was smart and tough as nails.

“
Thorny, it
'
s Cyrus.
”

“
Hey
,
Cyrus, what can I do for you this fine morning?
”

“
I want you to find out everything you can on some new claims staked in sections
sixteen
and
twenty
-
one
,
T
ownship
thirty
-
six north
,
R
ange
twenty east
. Look for
the
REP
claims,
number one through thirty.
The
l
ocator is Reserve E&P, LLC. I want to know who did the staking and if they
’
re
duly recorded in Okanogan County.
”

“
Yes,
s
ir
. S
tandard routine?
”

“
Y
eah
, standard routine. If they missed any steps in locating or filing these claims, they may have a new partner.
Get back to me as soon as you can, Thorny.
”

“
You got it
,
boss.
”

After my conversation with Cyrus, I called Will to fill him in.

“
Y
ou
’
ll never guess who just called me.
”

“
The Virus?
”

“
Good guess.
”

“
What
’
d th
e
jerk want?
”

“
He said he saw our new claims posted on the BLM website
and
tried to pump me for information
. Hell, he
even offered to partner up.
”

“
Holy crap, the guy is
friggin
'
un
believable.
”

“
I told him we didn
’
t need a partner at this stage
,
and he immediately guessed we were looking to
do a reverse merger with a
public
shell company
.
”

“
He
’
s a
bottom
-
feeder
, Trace, but he
’
s
nobody
’
s fool. Don
’
t underestimate the bastard.
”

“
Don
’
t worry
,
I won
’
t.
But he
’
ll have a tough time over-staking us.
Ken documented and photographed ever
y
thing
,
every
monument, every corner. I have hard copies and computer files, as does Ken.
Cyrus
is going to run into a dead end
if he
tries to mess with our claims.
”

“
Agree
d
, but
he may
try another tack.
”

“
Same thought crossed my mind, amigo. I
n any case, I
think you and I should head up to Winthrop on Wednesday. I want
to
hire
a dozer crew to re
pair
the old mine road and
put in
three drill pads.
I could use your help on the permit side with the Forest Service.
”

“
Sounds good. I would love to get out of the office for a little road trip.
”

“
We
can get some work started
,
and we
’
ll
be
able to k
eep an eye on
the claims.
Also, as a precaution, I am going to call
Henry
Orvis
,
the
Okanogan
C
ounty
s
heriff
,
and give him a heads
-up
about possible trouble with
t
he Virus.
”

“
Do you have a good relationship with the
s
heriff?
”

“
Yeah, pretty good.
H
e
’
s a cousin
,
on my dad
’
s side
.
”

Will laughed
.
“
Pretty handy
. G
ot any other surprises up you
r
sleeve
?
”

“
Maybe one or two
. W
e
’
ll have to see how this plays out.
”

After
Will and I finished, I called
Robert Malott, owner of
Chewak Construction Company
in Winth
ro
p.

“
Bobby, Trace Brandon
,
down in Ellensburg.
”

“
Yeah, Trace, long
-
time no hear.
”

“
Yep, last time
was when
you put in
some
drill pads
for me
on
the
Boulder Creek
project
.
”

“
I remember, Trace. So, what can I do for you
today
?
”

“
I need to reopen the old Sullivan Mine road
,
f
rom Highway 20
,
up Goat
Creek
,
to
the confluence of Montana Creek.
T
hen about a mile up Montana Creek to the Sullivan
Mine
.
And I
need
t
hree
drill pads
built
.
”