NEVADA CITY, Calif. May 7, 2026 – In a five-page ruling, Nevada County Superior Judge S. Tice-Raskin rejected Rise Grass Valley’s writ of mandate petition to overturn the Nevada County Board of Supervisors’ unanimous decision to deny vested rights to mine on the historic Idaho-Maryland mine property.
On Dec. 14, 2023, the Board of Supervisors – after two days of public hearings – voted unanimously to deny Rise Grass Valley’s Petition for Recognition of Vested Rights to conduct mining operations at the Idaho Maryland Mine.
On Feb. 16, 2024, Supervisors voted to deny the proposed Idaho-Maryland Mine project and its Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR), following the Planning Commission’s unanimous May 2023 recommendation to do the same.
On May 10, 2024, Rise Grass Valley filed its petition with the Nevada County Superior Court, asking for the court to:
compel Respondents Nevada County and the Board of Supervisors of Nevada County (“County” or “Respondents”) to “(1) set aside its December 14, 2023 decision with respect to the vested right to conduct mining activities at the Idaho-Maryland Mine, and (2) bring its conduct into compliance with all applicable law and regulations by recognizing Rise’s vested right to conduct mining activities at the Idaho-Maryland Mine without the need for a conditional use permit.”
“In the exercise of its independent judgment, the Court finds and concludes that a vested right to conduct at least some mining activities at the Idaho-Maryland Mine came into existence in 1954,” Judge Tice-Raskin writes. Note the 1954 date.
He writes: “In the December 2023 decision/resolution the County also concluded ‘the evidence, viewed under any applicable legal standard, demonstrates that any right to mine the Subject Property was subsequently abandoned’ … ‘over the period of 1956 through 1963.”
He states, “The County did not err. In the exercise of its independent judgment of the evidence (including weighing and drawing inferences from the same), the Court finds and concludes that the County, by clear and convincing evidence, established that Idaho-Maryland Mine Corporation (Corporation) abandoned any vested mining right by no later than 1963. In short, by 1957, the Corporation had ceased all underground mining operations, and had auctioned/sold nearly all mining equipment/buildings at the mine. By 1963, the Corporation had auctioned/sold all the remaining mine property, including surface parcels and mineral rights.”
Petitioner’s requested relief in connection with the first cause of action of the Petition is denied. “In light of the disposition above, the Court need not reach any of the other issues raised by the parties,” the Court’s discussion concludes.
The parties are encouraged to present a stipulation for briefing of the issues in connection with the second cause of action at least two weeks prior to a case management conference on June 8, 2026.
Rise Grass Valley’s second issue, asking for the court to compel the county to issue a permit based on the vested rights and without a conditional use permit will be discussed at the case management conference.
Background
Rise Gold Corp., incorporated in the state of Nevada, is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. Rise Grass Valley lists its offices as being in Grass Valley. As of May 7, 2026, shares traded at $0.39 according to Google Finance.
In November 2025, Rise Gold appointed David Watkinson as President and CEO of Rise Gold and President of the wholly owned operating subsidiary, Rise Grass Valley Inc.
Previously, Watkinson was the CEO of Emgold Mining, a Canadian junior mining company that traded on the TSX Venture Exchange and that sought to reopen the Idaho-Maryland Mine in 2005. The project failed to meet a September 2012 deadline to submit adequate documents, including an environmental impact report, because of insufficient funds. You can read our 2005 series about Emgold and the Golden Gamble in Grass Valley here.