Former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer is one of the primary investors in a private company seeking roughly $10 million to allow a mining company access to copper and silver worth an estimated $8 billion.

Schweitzer, the CEO of Stillwater Mining Co. who has hinted at a 2016  presidential run, announced Tuesday his involvement with Optima Inc., which is wrapped in a pair of legal battles with Mines Management over access to the mine.

“My interest in the project began during my first few months as governor,” Schweitzer said. “I grew aware of Revett and Montanore because they are important for jobs in Northwest Montana. I’ve been interested in the project for nearly 10 years.”

Optima controls mining claims needed by Spokane-based Mines Management Inc. to access the proposed Montanore mine beneath the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness near Libby.

A federal judge in April gave permission to condemn Optima’s claims so the mine can proceed. The order entitled Optima to just compensation. Schweitzer says $10 million is a “ballpark figure” of what the claims are worth.

Glen Dobbs, CEO of Mines Management, said he met with Schweitzer, whose involvement with Optima is unrelated to his relationship with Stillwater Mining, to discuss the Montanore project within a month of Schweitzer’s election as governor in 2005.

“He said he wanted to get the project permitted as quickly as possible,” Dobbs said. “But his administration inflicted delay after delay after delay, and eight years later it still was not permitted. Here’s a man responsible for extensive delays in the permitting of the project, and shortly after he leaves office injects himself into a possible venture as chairman of a publicly traded company.”

Disputes between claimholders such as Arnold Bakie, whose family first staked claims 10 miles south of Libby in 1984, and Mines Management have gone on for years. Bakie and others argue that their claims are situated across the underground tunnel, or adit, that leads into Montanore Mine. 

The mine could potentially employ hundreds in Lincoln County, where unemployment is above 13 percent.

Dobbs said conversations with Schweitzer were rekindled in January when Dobbs discussed a possible joint venture between Stillwater Mining and Mines Management. 

On March 24, Dobbs said Schweitzer called him, representing himself as one of Optima’s directors.

“He said he would make the claims issues go away in return for cash and shares,” Dobbs said. “He demanded $50,000 a year for the lifetime of the mine for Arnold Bakie. He wanted $500,000 for four years to be paid to Optima. He wanted six million shares, which equates to 21 percent, in Mines Management. He said if I did not accept his demands he would create controversy around the project. It is not often I take a call from someone threatening to damage my company if I do not give them money.”

A U.S. District Judge in Missoula ruled May 5 that Mines Management may access the 14,000-foot adit into the mine. The condemnation ruling gives Mines Management right of way to pass through claims held by Optima.

Optima and Mines Management were ordered to begin arbitration to determine the value of fair compensation that Mines Management will pay Optima for crossing its claims.

The access issue also is being contested in state court. 

In March 2013, District Judge James Wheelis ruled Optima’s claims were valid and granted summary judgment preventing Mines Management from trespassing on those claims. The ruling was appealed to the Montana Supreme Court.

“Dobbs is like a football coach who goes 0-9 on the season and then runs around claiming victory because he won three coin tosses,” Schweitzer said. “Despite what Dobbs told investors, these were not favorable rulings to Mines Management.”

The mine is estimated to hold 230 million ounces of silver and 1.7 billion pounds of copper. During the past eight years, however, Mines Management has been unable to access the ore due to delays in the federal permitting process.

Schweitzer said conversations between Optima and Mines Management are ongoing. While not addressing specifics, Schweitzer said Optima did make a proposition to Mines Management a few months ago that was rejected.

“If you have a listing for a van on Craigslist at $10,000 and someone gives you an offer below that, do you call the police? What’s that?” Schweitzer said. “Mines Management’s hand has been substantially weakened with the ruling from a federal judge that we enter a compensation phase. Remember, according to Dobbs, access to the tunnel is worth $40 million.”

Dobbs said fair compensation to Optima would be somewhere between “zero and a few thousand dollars.” He also said the net value of the project has no relevance in relation to the valuation of the court-ordered easement.

“The value of the easement is equal to the damage inflicted on the property that is crossed,” Dobbs said. “Any suggestion otherwise is made of daydreams.”

An Optima newsletter obtained by The Western News indicates the company was formed in June 2013.  

Along with Schweitzer, directors include Bakie; Bruce Ramsey, former supervisor of Beaverhead-Deer Lodge National Forest; David Elliott, part owner and vice president of Haywood Securities Inc., a Canadian brokerage firm; Frank Duval, former president of Sterling Mining; and certified public accountant Heather Ennis.

“I became involved with Arnold Bakie because he is a salt-of-the-earth guy who was being kicked around by big shots with New York money holding a club over his head,” Schweitzer said. “But Bakie would not back down.”

In February 2013, Schweitzer worked with a New York hedge fund, the Clinton Group, to take over Stillwater Mining’s board of directors. He then became the chief executive officer of the publicly traded corporation.

Noranda Inc. controlled the Montanore Mine before Mines Management. Noranda made annual payments to Bakie and other claimholders for access to the adit leading into the mine. Mines Management gained control of the project in 2006 and has not made any payments to claimholders.

Schweitzer said he would not involve himself with Optima and the Montanore project if he had concerns about its impact on the environment.

Johnson writes for the Western News in Libby. The Associate Press contributed to this story.