The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The Town of Snow Lake's 2013 fiscal plan shows that QMX Gold no longer remits annually to the community under the grant in lieu of taxes format, but has instead elected to go the assessment route. That budget document shows that in 2008, the company paid $100,000. In each of 2009 and 2010 it contributed $40,000. And in 2011 it remitted $60,000. However, it appears 2011 was the last time any money came forward from the mining corporation. QMX went on the assessment roll in 2012 and its land and buildings at the north end of the community were assessed at a little over $4.5 million. As a result, its 2012 tax bill was $243,089, over four times as much as its 2011 grant in lieu. That tax bill was due to the Town of Snow Lake in August of 2012 and as per a public list posted in the Town Office, QMX Gold is in arrears for the amount. Contacted by phone at his home in Idaho, Gerald Thornton, vice-president of Manitoba operations at QMX, confirmed the company was not under the grant in lieu system anymore and is on Snow Lake's assessed tax rolls. He also confirmed that QMX's taxes were in arrears and when asked if the company planned on paying them, he answered: 'Well, obviously we are going to pay our taxes. It's just that it is a money issue right now, and our cash flow is such that we are just trying to stretch it out until we get financing in place, but we have all intentions to get that mine up and operating _ to get the financing in place and pay our tax bill.' It was pointed out that with the arrears from last year and taxes for the current annum coming due in August, the total amount was close to $500,000. 'That's correct,' Thornton replied. 'But whether it was assessed or under the grant in lieu, there wouldn't have been much difference.' Thornton then wondered where the interviewer was going with the line of questioning. 'It's an issue of us getting it paid at this point,' he said. See 'Negot...' on pg. Continued from pg. When he was then asked why QMX had gone from a grant in lieu amount of $60,000, to taxes based on assessment, Thornton replied that the Town of Snow Lake said during the negotiating process that they were going to look at other alternatives. 'Jeff Precourt (the town's CAO) can probably comment better than I can,' said Thornton. 'Basically, it came back to me and when we went to go pay, he said that the town was going to explore other options.' Thornton said the town had the assessment done; looked at what it would be as opposed to grant in lieu and then there was a period of time that they were to negotiate something. 'Basically what was negotiated was that we chose the assessed route because it bought us a little bit of time from a business standpoint,' Thornton said. 'The timing of payment became an issue from a business standpoint, we were given some alternatives _ we did choose the assessed route versus the grant in lieu route.' Mayor Clarence Fisher confirmed Thornton's assertions with respect to the negotiating process. 'It was the town that involved Manitoba Assessment in this process,' said Mayor Fisher. 'When we (first) came on as a council, QMX was contributing $40,000 to the town. Even for an inactive mine, we felt that this number was too low. 'We moved forward and engaged QMX in negotiations and after a number of meetings and letters we were unable to come to an agreement. At that point the town involved the provincial assessment branch to get an idea of what taxes on the property might be. 'In the end we offered QMX the choice of contributing an amount through the grant in lieu process or to take the assessment that the Manitoba government offered. They chose to take the assessment route, which was a higher dollar amount than the amount that the town was trying to achieve through negotiations.' After one year of not paying taxes, a property is in arrears; after two years, it is sold for taxes owing. Theoretically, if no payment is forthcoming, the mine could be sold for taxes owing in September 2014. Nevertheless, Thornton says it is the company's full intention to redeem the property prior to it going to tax sale. 'Our intention is still to get that mine up and operating,' Thornton said. Asked how that was working out for them, he replied: 'Well, we've been out there and we do have debt security organized, but it is contingent upon us raising the equity, and we're still trying to work on that last piece of the puzzle _ which is the equity raise. 'That's been slow and that's mostly due right now to the markets. We're still out there turning over every stone we can. I wish I could elaborate, but nobody has given up on the project _ not myself, not François (Perron, president and CEO), not the board, so we're still moving forward.' My Take on Snow Lake runs Fridays.
