Mining advisory and development
Professional mining consulting across the Western United States.
California Mining Consultants advises owners, operators, and investors on evaluation, permitting, development, operations, and strategic transactions across the Western United States.
- Permitting
- Federal, state, and county pathways
- Evaluation
- Feasibility and due diligence
- Development
- Startup and operational planning
- Transactions
- Sale, purchase, and joint venture
The firm
Experienced consulting for mining projects across the Western United States.
California Mining Consultants is a mine development and consulting firm serving mining projects across the Western United States. Our work spans project evaluation, permitting, development, startup, operational planning, and strategic transactions, with particular depth in California's demanding regulatory environment.
Much of our practice serves claim owners and closely held operations: properties with real history and real potential, held by people who do not maintain a full in-house development team. We provide professional guidance, agency experience, transaction perspective, and project discipline tailored to the work in front of us.
Services
Advisory across the life of a project.
Engagements are scoped to the question in front of you, from a first look at a property through permitting, startup, and ongoing operational support.
Project evaluation
An independent read on what a property is, what it might support, and what the next dollar should be spent on.
Read morePermitting strategy
Mapping the federal, state, and county pathway for a specific property, then preparing and carrying the submittals.
Read moreTechnical advisory
Review of geology, resource work, and engineering assumptions, with independent professionals engaged where a project warrants it.
Read moreMine development support
Turning an approved project into a working one: sequencing, equipment, staffing, and compliance from day one.
Read moreDue diligence
Title, claim status, encumbrances, historic workings, and regulatory exposure, examined before a transaction closes.
Read moreTransaction support
Preparing a property for sale, purchase, or joint venture, and supporting the parties through structure and closing.
Read moreSafety & compliance
MSHA compliance, training & mine restart
Mine-specific MSHA programs for new, operating, and restarting surface and underground mines, including Part 46/48 training, written safety programs, Part 50 reporting systems, contractor compliance, inspection readiness, and restart assessments.
Explore MSHA servicesCapabilities
The work a mining project actually requires.
Requirements vary by property, agency, and county. The items below are the pathways that most commonly determine whether a project moves forward.
- Plan of Operations
- Surface management submittals to the US Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management for operations on federal ground.
- SMARA
- Reclamation plans and financial assurance under the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act, filed with the lead agency and reviewed by the state.
- Water quality
- Regional Water Quality Control Board requirements, including waste discharge and stormwater coverage.
- CEQA
- Coordination with the lead agency through initial study, mitigation, and adoption of the environmental document.
- Health and safety
- MSHA startup, training, safety-program, reporting, and inspection-readiness requirements for new and restarting operations, together with applicable Cal/OSHA requirements.
- Technical reporting
- Feasibility analysis and technical reporting prepared to the standard a lender, buyer, or partner requires.
Approach
A realistic answer is worth more than an optimistic one.
Mining projects fail on the unglamorous parts: title that will not survive review, a reclamation plan the lead agency will not accept, a water discharge question nobody asked early enough, or a cost assumption that was never tested. Our value is in finding those problems while they are still cheap to solve.
That means we will sometimes tell a client that a property is not economic, or that the permitting path is longer than they hoped. We would rather deliver that answer at the start of an engagement than at the end of one.
Founder's statement
Patrick Fagen
Founder and President
“In mining, optimism is easy. The truth is harder, and far more valuable. Our job is not to tell a client what they want to hear. It is to understand the property, identify what stands between it and production, and give an honest assessment of whether there is a practical path forward. Sometimes that answer advances a project. Sometimes it stops one. Either way, the client deserves the truth before they commit more time, capital, or opportunity.”
Inquiries
Tell us about the property.
Initial conversations are confidential and cost nothing. If a project is outside what we do, we will say so early.