Richard Davis has been in the headlines ever since the announcement of his intention to turn Rock Canyon, a favorite local recreation site, into a mining area. This idea, however, is not a recent development.

Davis, a Provo resident, said he has been trying to work with the Provo City and U.S. Forest Service to figure out an agreement for years, but no one has been able or willing to offer him a realistic value for it, which is why he pushed forward with his decision to mine.

“I’ve never had anyone offer to come and buy it,” Davis said.

“No one has been willing to come and give me anything reasonable considering what it’s worth. They want me to give it to them, but people there are wealthier than I am.”

According to Deseret News reports, Davis first attempted to mine the canyon in 2004 when he hired Michael McPhilomy Sr. and his son, Michael McPhilomy Jr., to remove several truckloads of rock from the area. The McPhilomys were charged with six class B misdemeanors for the offense and state Division of Oil, Gas and Mining officials said permission needed to be granted from the city to remove the rock legally.

Helen Anderson, a city spokeswoman, said Davis has also been battling the city over an annexation that took place in 1978, 20 years before his purchase of the land with Greg Sperry. In 1978, Provo City claimed the Rock Canyon area as part of the city, making it so Davis had to go through city procedure to obtain mining rights, even though the title he purchased is a patented mining claim.

According to a chronology of events posted on the city Web site, Davis took his annexation claim to the district court and the Utah Supreme Court before being overruled in 2008 when the Supreme Court upheld a decision to dismiss any claim about illegal annexation.

Along with his court case against the city, Davis also had to battle with other owners of the mining claim.

When Davis purchased the claim, he acquired only 50 percent interest, with the other half going to Greg Sperry. Sperry then conveyed 25 percent to Stephen Kapelow, an Arizona man with interest in the area. Davis later filed a lawsuit against both men, saying the property exchange was illegal, but when nothing came of it, in 2004 Sperry and Kapelow signed an option agreement granting Provo City the right to buy 25 percent of their interests in the claim.

State Sen. John Valentine eventually got involved, working with several partners to create Red Slab, LLC, and purchased Sperry’s 25 percent interest, but Kapelow didn’t transfer his ownership. Red Slab, after purchasing the interest, granted a conservation easement to the city which created a legally enforceable preservation agreement on the property, preventing any further mining from taking place.

Court cases are still open between Davis, Valentine and Sperry concerning the property, but Davis says Valentine has been willing to level with him.

“I’m trying to work with him and he’s trying to work with me,” Davis said. “He came in to stop me and understands that ultimately he cannot. I paid entirely for the property.”

Davis said he is currently in a court case against Valentine, but an important fact is that Valentine bought a paper title to the land. That title could help Valentine win the case or not, but Davis said neither is too concerned about it.

A property trade is an option to prevent mining in Rock Canyon, and Davis said if that takes place the title won’t matter. He said even if a trade doesn’t take place, he still holds the mineral rights for the land and they can’t be removed.

“Law can’t stop mineral rights, but if for some reason [Valentine] wins we would come in and partition the land,” Davis said. “According to the forest service, whoever owns the route of the mineral title can claim those minerals.”

Last month, Davis filed an amended conditional use permit application with the city to replace the original filed in 2006, and has not yet responded to a letter of inquiry from the city regarding the consent of other owners on the claim.

Since Davis has an undivided interest, Valentine and all other owners have an equal right to the entire property.

“When a person who is a joint owner, like Richard Davis, applies for a permit, the city’s typical practice is to ask about the consent of other owners,” Anderson said. “A letter has been sent to Richard Davis and he hasn’t provided a response yet.”

Anderson said the effects of Davis’s request for a permit cannot be evaluated until a response is received.

Questions are still being raised as to Davis’s motives behind his actions toward mining the area.

Barbara Taylor, a resident in the Rock Canyon community, said many believe Davis is seeking money or property by attempting to mine.

“Really the consensus of most people is that they think he’s just trying to put pressure on the city,” Taylor said. “They feel he either wants to get money or a nice piece of land.”

Anderson said the city has offered him just that.

“At Davis’ request, the city used a helicopter to view properties that might be exchanged for the Rock Canyon claim,” Anderson said. “There have even been cash offers.”

Davis said there has been one offer from the forest service that he was and is willing to accept, upon agreements.

“The former owners [of Rock Canyon] waited for the forest service to trade land with them, but nothing came of it,” Davis said. “The problem now is we have an absolute mineral value evaluation on the land and a lot of hard money on the table. They spent more money in testing it at their own expense than what anybody has offered to give me for it, and I’m not going to hold out for them much longer. The forest service has a piece of ground, they offered to trade it, I agreed, and now they’re saying no.”

Davis said the land the forest service offered was out in Provo Canyon, but he said the forest service is not sure they want to deal with he and Valentine.

Davis said the former owner of the Rock Canyon property was put under severe pressure by the city and people of the area to allow her claim to Rock Canyon to be used solely for recreation, with no benefit to her. The city and forest service both passed up the opportunity to purchase the mining title, so Davis bought it with Sperry. He said he has been put under a lot of the same pressures, but has been more able and willing to stand up to them.

“I’m not afraid of that,” Davis said. “The values are higher than I thought they’d ever be. I just kind of look at it and say, ‘where’d that come from?’ and ‘thank you.’ I knew some values were there but I had no idea how great they would be.”

Davis said he has had the rock dissolved and the minerals inside appraised by several different sources, and the minerals are of great worth.

“I’ve gone in and had [the rock] analyzed and have the solid mineral value for it,” Davis said. “The quartz is valuable and the minerals are even more valuable.”

Davis said he has been offered the amount he paid for the land, but that it is worth much more, and several trucks of rock from a quarry would bring him in that much money.

He said previous attempts to reach a deal officially have failed and he has been as patient as possible through each case. Davis said he has been repeatedly asked to donate the land but that it is too large of an investment to donate. He said if he ever decided to donate it would be to a more pertinent cause.

”If I’m going to donate, there’s 4,000 people in hungry houses in this county. I’ve been down and seen those people and I’d rather donate to them.”

Davis said he currently believes it is just as much of a benefit to society to take the minerals and utilize them as it is to leave them.

“He’s a businessman,” said John Park, an associate hired by Davis to seek the conditional use permit. “He’s got a lot of money tied up in the mining claim … Valentine owns a quarter. I don’t know who owns the other quarter but apparently Mr. Davis believes he has the right to mine it based on that ownership.”

Davis is currently waiting for either an agreement to be reached on trading the land, or a fair price to be settled.

Anderson said an injunction was filed previously against Davis to restrict his ability to mine the land in Rock Canyon, but was dropped after Davis assured the city that no mining would occur without the proper permits.

Until a permit is granted or an agreement reached, Rock Canyon will remain as it is.

news.karijm@gmail.com

Copyright Brigham Young University 6 Apr 2009