What changed in this filing

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Item 3. Legal Proceedings

2021-04-15 compared with 2020-04-14 · 89 added, 60 removed, 6 unchanged (96% of the section changed)

LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

than described below, management is not aware of any material legal proceedings that are pending or that have been threatened

against us or our subsidiaries or any of our respective properties, and none of our directors, officers, affiliates or record

or beneficial owners of more than 5% of our common shares, or any associate of any such director, officer, affiliate or shareholder,

is (i) a party adverse to us or any of our subsidiaries in any legal proceeding or (ii) has an adverse interest to us or any of

our subsidiaries in any legal proceeding.

Company is subject to periodic inspection by certain regulatory agencies for the purpose of determining compliance by the Company

with the conditions of its licenses.

In the ordinary course of business, minor violations may occur;

however, these are not expected

to result in material expenditures or have any other material adverse effect on the Company.

prior owner of the Company’s Van 4 Mine had been granted a first Temporary Cessation from reclamation of the mine by the

Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board (“MLRB”) which was set to expire June 23, 2017.

Prior to its expiration, PRM

formally requested an extension through a second Temporary Cessation.

PRM subsequently participated in a public process which

culminated in a hearing on July 26, 2017.

Prior to the hearing, three non-profit organizations who pursue environmental and conservation

objectives filed a brief objecting to the extension.

The MLRB board members voted to grant a second five-year Temporary Cessation

for the Van 4 Mine.

Thereafter, the three objecting parties filed a lawsuit on September 18, 2017.

The MLRB was named as the defendant

and PRM was named as a party to the case due to the Colorado law requirement that any lawsuit filed after a hearing must include

all of the parties in the proceeding.

The plaintiff organizations are seeking for the court to set aside the board order granting

a second five-year Temporary Cessation period to PRM for the Van 4 Mine.

The Colorado state Attorney General was defending this

action in the Denver Colorado District Court.

On May 8, 2018, the Denver Colorado District Court ruled in favor, whereby the additional

five-year temporary cessation period was granted.

The Plaintiffs appealed this ruling to the Colorado Court of Appeals and on

July 25, 2019 the ruling was reversed, whereby the additional five-year temporary cessation period should not have been granted.

The Judge has subsequently issued an instruction for the MLRB to issue an order revoking the permit and putting the Van 4 Mine

into reclamation.

On March 2, 2020, the MLRB issued an order vacating the Van 4 Temporary Cessation, terminating mining operations

and ordering commencement of final reclamation.

The Company has begun preparations for the reclamation of the Van 4 Mine.

reclamation cost is fully covered by the reclamation bonds posted upon acquisition of the property.

On February 4, 2020, the Colorado

DRMS sent a Notice of Hearing to Declare Termination of Mining Operations to Western for the Sunday Mine Complex.

the application of an unchallenged Colorado Court of Appeals Opinion for a separate mine, with very different facts that is retroactively

modifying DRMS rules and regulations.

The Company maintains that it was timely in meeting existing rules and regulations.

formal hearing wa s scheduled to be held during the April 22-23, 2020 MLRB Board meeting, which has

now been moved to the May 13-14, 2020 MLRB Board meeting due to the impacts of the COVID-19 virus.

Other than described below, management is not aware of any material

legal proceedings that are pending or that have been threatened against us or our subsidiaries or any of our respective properties,

and none of our directors, officers, affiliates or record or beneficial owners of more than 5% of our common shares, or any associate

of any such director, officer, affiliate or shareholder, is (i) a party adverse to us or any of our subsidiaries in any legal proceeding

or (ii) has an adverse interest to us or any of our subsidiaries in any legal proceeding.

The Company is subject to periodic inspection

by certain regulatory agencies for the purpose of determining compliance by the Company with the conditions of its licenses.

the ordinary course of business, minor violations may occur;

however, these are not expected to result in material expenditures

or have any other material adverse effect on the Company.

A prior owner of the Van 4 Mine had been

granted a first Temporary Cessation from reclamation of the mine by the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board (“MLRB”)

which was set to expire June 23, 2017.

Prior to its expiration, PRM formally requested an extension through a second Temporary

PRM subsequently participated in a public process which culminated in a hearing on July 26, 2017.

Prior to the hearing,

three non-profit organizations who pursue environmental and conservation objectives filed a brief objecting to the extension.

MLRB board members voted to grant a second five-year Temporary Cessation for the Van 4 Mine.

Thereafter, the three objecting parties

filed a lawsuit on September 18, 2017.

The MLRB was named as the defendant and PRM was named as a party to the case due to the

Colorado law requirement that any lawsuit filed after a hearing must include all of the parties in the proceeding.

The plaintiff

organizations are seeking for the court to set aside the board order granting a second five-year Temporary Cessation period to

PRM for the Van 4 Mine.

The Colorado state Attorney General was defending this action in the Denver Colorado District Court.

May 8, 2018, the Denver Colorado District Court ruled in favor, whereby the additional five-year temporary cessation period was

The Plaintiffs appealed this ruling to the Colorado Court of Appeals and on July 25, 2019 the ruling was reversed, ruling

that the additional five-year temporary cessation period should not have been granted.

The MLRB and the Colorado Attorney General advised Western that it

will not make an additional appeal of the ruling.

Further, the time period for an appeal has passed.

The Judge has subsequently issued

an instruction for the MLRB to issue an order revoking the permit and putting the Van 4 Mine into reclamation.

On January 22, 2020, the

MLRB held a hearing and on March 2, 2020, the MLRB issued an order vacating the Van 4 Temporary Cessation, revoking the permit and ordered

commencement of final reclamation, which must be completed within five (5) years.

The Company commenced reclamation of the Van 4 Mine

but progress has been delayed both by COVID-19 restrictions and countywide fire and open flame restrictions.

The reclamation cost is fully

covered by the reclamation bonds posted upon acquisition of the property.

On February 4, 2020, the Colorado DRMS sent a

Notice of Hearing to Declare Termination of Mining Operations related to the status of the mining permits issued by the state of Colorado

for the Sunday Mine Complex.

At issue is the application of an unchallenged Colorado Court of Appeals Opinion for a separate mine (Van

4,) with very different facts that are retroactively modifying DRMS rules and regulations.

The Company maintains that it was timely in

meeting existing rules and regulations.

The hearing was scheduled to be held during several monthly MLRB Board meetings, but this matter

has been delayed several times.

The permit hearing was held during the MLRB Board monthly meeting on July 22, 2020.

At issue was the status

of the five existing permits which comprise the Sunday Mine Complex.

Due to COVID restrictions, the hearing took place utilizing a virtual-only

The Company prevailed in a 3 to 1 decision which acknowledged that the work completed at the Sunday Mines under DRMS oversight

was timely and sufficient for Western to maintain these permits.

In a subsequent July 30, 2020 letter, the DRMS notified the Company that

the status of the five permits (Sunday, West Sunday, St.

Jude, Carnation, and Topaz) had been changed to Active status effective June

10, 2019, the original date on which the change of the status was approved.

On August 23, 2020, the Company initiated a request for temporary

cessation status for the Sunday Mine Complex as the mines had not be restarted within a 180-day window due to the direct and indirect

impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Accordingly, a permit hearing was scheduled for October 21, 2020 to determine temporary cessation status.

In a unanimous vote, the MLRB approved temporary cessation status for each of the five Sunday Mine Complex permits (Sunday, West Sunday,

Jude, Carnation, and Topaz).

On October 9, 2020, the MLRB issued a board order which finalized the findings of the July 22, 2020 permit

On November 12, 2020, a coalition of environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the MLRB seeking a partial appeal of the July

22, 2020 decision by requesting termination of the Topaz Mine permit.

Management anticipates joining with the MLRB in defense of their

July 22, 2020 decision.

MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

For Western, safety is a core value, and we strive for superior

Our health and safety management system, which includes detailed standards and procedures for safe production, addresses

topics such as employee training, risk management, workplace inspection, emergency response, accident investigation, and program

In addition to strong leadership and involvement from all levels of the organization, these programs and procedures for

the cornerstone of safety at Western, ensuring that employees are provided a safe and healthy environment and are intended to reduce

workplace accidents, incidents and losses, comply with all mining-related regulations and provide support for both regulators and

the industry to improve mine safety.

operation of our U.S.

based mine is subject to regulation by the Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (“MSHA”)

under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (the “Mine Act”).

MSHA inspects our mine on a regular basis and

issues various citations and orders when it believes a violation has occurred under the Mine Act Following passage of The Mine

Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006, MSHA significantly increased the number of citations and orders charged against

mining operations.

The dollar penalties assessed for citations issued has also increased in recent years.

For Western, safety is a core value, and

we strive for superior performance.

Our health and safety management system, which includes detailed standards and procedures for

safe production, addresses topics such as employee training, risk management, workplace inspection, emergency response, accident

investigation, and program auditing.

In addition to strong leadership and involvement from all levels of the organization, these

programs and procedures form the cornerstone of safety at Western, ensuring that employees are provided a safe and healthy environment

and are intended to reduce workplace accidents, incidents and losses, comply with all mining-related regulations and provide support

for both regulators and the industry to improve mine safety.

The operation of our U.S.

based mine is

subject to regulation by the Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (“MSHA”) under the Federal Mine Safety and

Health Act of 1977 (the “Mine Act”).

MSHA inspects our mine on a regular basis and issues various citations and orders

when it believes a violation has occurred under the Mine Act Following passage of The Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response

Act of 2006, MSHA significantly increased the number of citations and orders charged against mining operations.

The dollar penalties

assessed for citations issued has also increased in recent years.

Western is required to report certain mine

3 unchanged sentences

Compared sentence by sentence after normalising whitespace, quotation marks, case and digits, so re-formatting and restated figures do not read as changed language. Wording changes appear as one removal and one addition. The current filing and the prior one are authoritative.

What changed 10-K

Item 3. Legal Proceedings