Sterling Mining proposes $1.25 million penalty

A North Idaho company offered to pay a $1.25 million penalty over unpaid smelter royalties from the Sunshine Mine near Big Creek, Idaho.

Sterling Mining Co. reached the proposed agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe to settle an outstanding claim against Sterling in the company’s bankruptcy proceeding.

Sterling failed to pay royalties from ore processed at the silver mine in 2008 and 2009. Smelter royalties, agreed to in a 2000 consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice, help pay for the government’s cleanup of mine waste in Idaho’s Silver Valley.

An April 6 hearing has been set on the proposed settlement.