montana resources llp
is located in butte and is the largest metal mining operation in montana. it is owned and operated by montana resources, llp .
montana resources plans to purchase two more haul trucks in 2016 and another two in 2017, mcgivern said .
just ask ed stefalo, 50, one of montana resources' 36 truck drivers. stefalo drives truck 507 .
montana resources received government financial incentives when it agreed to reopen. one of the stipulations is that it continue mining for 10 years. based on ore reserves, montana resources can operate for 23 years if costs are controlled and metal markets do not collapse, walsh said .
citing exorbitant electricity prices, montana resources halted mining at its continental pit in july 2000, laying off all but five of 327 employees .
this year, montana resources is making $ 16. 2 million in capital improvement expenditures. here' s a breakdown of their expenditures :
miller' s is selling more work boots now that montana resources is mining again, extracting copper and molybdenum from a pit dug in 1980 .
montana rail link, inc. (mrl) is a regional railroad linking southern and western montana with the u. s. rail network .
a shovel operator loads a haul truck in the continental pit at montana resources in butte, mont. closed in 2000, the mine reopened last fall .
in this may 2015 file photo, a worker is part of a crew putting two new trucks together on site at montana resources. the new trucks, at a cost of $ 3. 8 million apiece, are part of a $ 16. 2 million capital investment montana resources is making this year .
the waterfall formerly visible on the southeast rim of the pit, seen here in 2004, created by returning pit water that has gone through montana resources copper precipitation plant .
but montana resources decided last august to reopen the mine. the company said it had secured a new contract for its power supply and wanted to capitalize on strong copper prices .
montana resources operates an open pit copper - molybdenum mine in butte, as well as crushers and a concentrator facility where raw ores are processed into high - q ...
the anaconda company sold the berkeley pit and the mine operation to atlantic richfield company in 1977. montana resources bought the continental pit and the mining operation from arco in late 1985 .
that' s what a crew of montana resource drivers will likely do thursday and friday when they climb into two new haul trucks which cost $ 3. 8 million each. the trucks are part of a $ 16. 2 million equipment upgrade at montana resources this year .
mining has been and can continue to be the economic foundation for the city ,
said steve walsh, montana resources vice president and a longtime resident .
but we need to diversify. we need to attract other businesses .
mcelroy said the impact on his shoe store goes beyond demand for industrial boots. miners who signed on with montana resources left jobs that then went to other people, and some of those have been in for boots and shoes, he said .
these tires — which cost $ 50, 000 each — are being attached to trucks 513 and 514, the two new caterpillar trucks montana resources purchased this spring. two drivers will be assigned to start driving these trucks most likely by the end of this week .
“the corporate website, along with public filings, are places we always look when a divorce case involves a business, ” said ilan hirschfeld, head of the marital dissolution practice at accounting and advisory firm marcum llp. “lawyers love to use the company’s own reports to prove their case that the growth in marital wealth has been active. ”
is located near jefferson city and is operated by montana tunnels mining, inc. , a subsidiary of elkhorn goldgields, llc, is in standby mode .
the reopening of the mine largely offset job losses in other segments of butte' s economy last year, according to the montana department of labor and industry .
but the mine is the only one operating in butte, and its future depends on a lot of factors, including what happens to copper prices. the continental pit was mined by the anaconda co. from 1980 - 83, then closed until montana resources arrived on the scene in 1986, mining until the shutdown four years ago .
a spokeswoman for continental resources, kristin miskovsky, declined to comment about any of the specific website changes or the role of continental’s board in reviewing them. she didn’t answer questions about the proxy change. in an email, miskovsky repeated a prior statement: the hamm divorce “has not and is not anticipated to impact continental resources’ business or operations. ”
industry observers stated that at stake is not only the telcos ability to employ manpower and resources for introduction of next - gen communication technology, but severe consequences for lenders and nearly 150, 000 jobs .
but an examination of the website of the company hamm founded, continental resources inc, reveals part of the billionaire’s legal strategy as he seeks to avoid what could be the largest divorce award in u. s. history .
there is no shortage of economic development initiatives, among them team butte, advantage butte and until recently, destination montana, a proposed gambling and entertainment development. the proposal did not get the necessary approval of the 2003 legislature .
montana resources copper precipitation plant adjacent to the berkeley pit. a 2013 slough of material from the pit wall into the water knocked out the ‘precip’ pump, and precip operations have since ceased. in precipitation, the copper - rich water is pumped over scrap iron, and, in a replacement reaction, the copper solidifies as sludge, while iron takes its place in the water. the water was returned to the pit by gravity flow, thus not increasing or decreasing the total volume of pit water .
hamm vs. hamm: continental resources founder and ceo harold hamm (left) is believed to own more oil underground than any other american. his estranged wife, sue ann (right), is a former lawyer with the company. reuters / steve sisney
blows included the loss of several hundred jobs in 2002 - 03 with the demise of touch america, spinoff of the old butte - based montana power co. the company that bought some assets of crippled touch america, 360networks corp. , has 38 employees in butte .
today, at 68 years old, hamm is believed to own more oil underground than any other american. continental’s assets include around 1 million acres of prime land leases in north dakota and montana, the location of the largest u. s. oil discovery in decades .
this method of copper recovery was not new: it dates back to medieval europe. the anaconda company used it for years to recover copper from the water pumped from the underground mines, and the method is still used today. montana resources has mined copper from the rich mineral waters of the berkeley pit since 1998, pausing when mining operations were suspended from 2000 through 2003, then resuming in 2004 until a pit slough in 2013 knocked out the necessary pump. the mine pumped out roughly 13 million gallons of pit water per day, or about 10, 000 gallons per minute .
montana mining is subject to all federal and state environmental laws and regulations effecting hardrock mining. before any ground is disturbed mining companies must ensure, by way of adequate bonding, complete reclamation and remediation of exploration and mining sites. in addition update bonding requirements are ensured throughout the life of the mine .
• adding a date for when continental moved into its most profitable drilling area. the company’s website now says that the firm moved into the williston basin, which straddles north dakota and montana, a year before the hamms were married. the company also deleted an item that said continental expanded into the rocky mountain region in 1993 .
legal strategy: continental resources ceo harold hamm holds 68 percent of the company’s publicly traded shares – worth about $ 17 billion. legal experts say changes on the corporate website may help convince the judge that the surge in continental’s share value has little to do with harold’s deft management during his 26 - year marriage to sue ann. reuters / steve sisney
today, the timeline says continental “co - discovers” the cedar hills field, and no longer takes credit for developing it first. rather, the company now describes cedar hills passively, as “the 1st oil field in the u. s. to be developed exclusively through precision horizontal drilling. ” (in his aug. 6 testimony, harold hamm said he recalled that a competitor, burlington resources, had tapped into cedar hills several months before continental did. )
one corporate governance specialist said the website revisions raise questions about continental’s board of directors, chaired by hamm: did the board previously allow the company to overstate its achievements? and is it now allowing hamm to reshape continental’s image to serve his personal legal goals – and marshalling company resources to do so? when questioned by an attorney for sue ann during open testimony on aug. 6, for example, harold said he had ordered his staff to revise continental’s corporate timeline after he realized it contained inaccuracies .
a third version of the story was relayed in the april 18, 1906 edition of the montana standard as part of a series of articles on “queer spots in butte. ” according to this version, in 1888 an old welshman named morgan who lived on the butte hill noticed copper dust left behind from tin cans thrown into a gully filled with runoff water from the mines. morgan had the dust assayed and learned that it was almost pure copper. he experimented with the concept and developed a rudimentary precipitation plant, but died a few months after he had his plant operating successfully .
modern machinery co. , inc. sells and rents heavy equipment, and supplies parts and service to support the construction, mining, aggregate, and logging industries. the company’s territory spans the northwest united states, with branches in idaho, montana, oregon, and washington. subsidiary company spokane machinery extends modern’s equipment representation with complete design, engineering, and fabrication capabilities. modern also conducts business in russia with branches in magadan, kamchatka, and yuzhno - sakhalinsk. modern is one of the largest komatsu dealers in the united states and russia. modern also represents a number of complementary product lines, including atlas copco, carlson, esco, kpi - jci, pioneer, sennebogen, spomac fabrications, and timberpro .
butte, mont.  the steel - toed boot index at miller' s shoe store is looking strong, an encouraging uptick in a city where economic setbacks have become a way of life .
as soon as they started hiring, the guys needed steel - toed, industrial boots ,
said dan mcelroy, miller' s owner .
the closure was yet another disappointment for a town that has seen its share of hardship .
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the demand for copper wire to electrify the nation caused butte to boom. in 1920 butte was a thriving city of 100, 000, many of them immigrants from europe who came to work the copper mines. the boom didn' t last, however, and after years of decline the population has dropped to just 34, 000 or so, as mining companies went elsewhere for riches .
workers were hired and trained, and on nov. 17 they processed the first ore. the company now employs 351 people receiving pay and benefits that average $ 42, 800 a year, plus profit sharing .
the reopening is a rare bit of economic prosperity for butte these days and has brought some renewed optimism .
when you have 350 good paychecks added to the economy, some of the best paychecks in town, it makes a difference to every retailer, to car dealers, restaurants ,
said evan barrett of the butte local development corp .
people are more optimistic, and with reason. there' s an economic reality to it .
then there is the uncertainty surrounding northwestern corp. , the power company that is trying to emerge from bankruptcy and employs about 500 people here .
in the last half of the 1990s, rhone - poulenc basic chemicals imposed about 200 layoffs in phases while preparing to close its phosphorus plant near butte .
we' ve been taking shot after shot in the economic chops ,
said mcelroy, whose shoe store near old underground mines opened in 1917 .
butte' s always had a reputation for coming back, but touch america, and then northwestern declaring bankruptcy last summer, it was a one - two punch that everyone was staggering from .
while there is optimism with the mine' s reopening, officials are quick to note that a long - standing push to recruit other business and diversify the economy continues .
the city did that in the mid - 1990s, when advanced silicon materials decided to build a manufacturing plant west of town. the company produces polysilicon for high - tech industries and has 280 employees .
it was a psychological lift when it was announced the mine would reopen ,
said walsh, a 50 - year - old mining engineer who has lived here most of his life .
we' re hoping butte can build on it .
salt lake' s monarx harvests $ 3. 4m on quest to rethink cyber defense
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​at ibm, when performance review time rolls around, staff get judged not only on their past achievements but also on how they might pe ...
samsung has taken the ‘make in india’ initiative to another level by launching ‘ ...
india inc' s jan - apr pe / vc deal tally reaches $ 6. 3 billion: report
according to assurance, tax and advisory firm grant thornton, there were 79 private equity and venture capital (pe / vc) transactions worth usd 2. 3 billion in april this year .
january recorded three domestic deals valued over usd 1 billion accounting for 98 per cent of the total m & a deal values, the report said .
this former banker pleaded guilty to conspiring to rig the interest - rate benchmark - - euribor .
the accord covers almost 500 women and people of colour in an october class action alleging the company paid them less than their peers and didn’t promote them as frequently as males, whites and asians .
the committee of creditors will hold its first meeting in the third or fourth week of january amid concerns that the company' s incomplete thermal project would dim the revival prospects .
while it’s advantage birlas after tuesday' s nclt hearing, the game is far from over. next week, the parties are likely to get back to the tribunal with their decisions .
on completion of the process both the companies will be listed on the bse, it said .
according to a grant thornton global survey, 85% (71% globally) of boards in india are establishing internal controls that address culture and employee behaviour .
the finance act, 2015, provided that a company would be considered a resident in india in any previous year if it is an indian company or its place of effective management in that year is in india .
here is a list of top stocks that are likely to be in focus in today' s trading session .
however, m & as may see a slower pace in 2018, with 2019 being the election year and the growth still looking tepid on the economic front .
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urltoken
some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. low around 60f. winds light and variable. .
some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. low around 60f. winds light and variable .
the truck cabs smell like the inside of a new car. plastic covers the black seats. the specifications are taped to the driver' s side window. the windshields are crystal clear. you can sit back, adjust the seat, breathe in the new - car smell, and look out at the blue sky, watching clouds pass by. there isn' t a speck of dirt or dust anywhere .
although stefalo keeps the cab of his truck clean, it smells like dust. it looks permanently dusty. the ladder and the steps that lead up to his cab are caked in mud .
stefalo, like all the drivers at mr, works 12 - hour shifts. he drives enough hours in one day to make a one - way trip to las vegas, nevada, and make a quick stop for a cheeseburger on the road .
like every driver at mr, stefalo carries roughly between 4, 800 to 5, 520 tons of dirt and rock each shift over unpaved roads. his truck uses 1, 000 gallons of diesel fuel per day. the tires cost $ 50, 000 each .
the new trucks will be no different. the drivers of truck 513 and truck 514 will haul approximately 240 tons, carrying the loads either to the crusher or to the yankee doodle tailings pond dam, about 20 to 23 times each shift .
the new vehicles can travel no faster than 30 mph, travis chiotti, mine supervisor said. when traveling uphill, the driver can expect to roll along at about 8 mph with a heavy load of dirt in the bed .
one new feature the drivers will find when they climb in thursday and friday will be a different brake system. the new brakes are hydraulic instead of air brakes. mike mcgivern, safety manager for the mine, calls it a minor change but a more modern truck design .
another new feature is a 360 - degree sensor system that can alert the driver to objects he or she can' t see .
drivers are blind on the right side of the truck because the cab sits on the left - hand side .
because of that, mr road regulations require that all drivers, including supervisors driving the mine' s roads in company - owned suburbans, must drive on the left - hand side of the road, like the british .
chiotti said the last time someone was killed in a collision with a haul truck at the mine was
back in the anaconda days .
the new radar system will be able to detect movement near the truck, sound an alarm and a camera will show the driver what is moving close by .
although a collision causing a fatality hasn' t happened in more than 30 years, chiotti said the drivers do experience fender benders and sometimes slide off the road when the dirt roads turn slick .
the two new trucks are part of an upgrade to the fleet of 12. the oldest trucks in the fleet are water trucks that spray water along the dirt roads to keep the dust to a minimum .
the haul trucks are so big, the two new ones were delivered in pieces on a semi truck. workers spent more than two weeks putting them together on site .
trucks at mr are in operation for about 8, 000 hours a year, chiotti said. trucks last about 100, 000 hours, he said .
like the older trucks, truck 513 and 514 have some bounce to provide some give for the drivers riding on a bumpy road for 12 hours each day. also like the older trucks, the new trucks have power windows, heat and air conditioning, power steering and automatic transmission with six gears .
a small computer inside the truck tells the driver how heavy a load he or she is carrying. the seat belt — with a buckle the size of a slice of bread — crosses the driver' s lap .
all drivers have radios inside their cabs. chiotti said mr encourages the drivers to listen to music, going so far as to enable hook up to satellite radio, or they can plug in an ipod to enjoy their own personal playlist .
the only thing the drivers can' t do is text or use a cell phone while inside the cab .
but a radio inside each truck squawks constantly with chatter, such as ,
coming up on your left .
that' s the only conversation the drivers have while inside their cabs .
stefalo, who commutes to the continental pit mine from his home in deer lodge, is inside his haul truck by 7 a. m. , when many of us haven' t yet had our morning coffee .
the mine operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including christmas and thanksgiving. so some drivers drive for 12 hour shifts at night, but their work week is structured so that once month they get seven days off .
who will be the lucky crew mr will assign to drive the two new - smelling trucks after training is over? chiotti said management is leaving it up to the foreman to decide. chiotti said mr wants to hold these new trucks to the highest standard of cleanliness and upkeep .
we want guys who take good care of their trucks ,
chiotti said .
you have to treat them with a lot of respect .
butte - - silver bow creek may be spared the stigma of receiving treated berkeley pit water for at least another 25 years .
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the dennis and phyllis washington foundation is the major philanthropic organization for the washington companies and the washington family. funding for the foundation comes from the profits of the washington companies and personal contributions from the washington family. since its inception, foundation giving and the washington family’s personal contributions and pledges to charitable causes total more than a quarter of a billion dollars .
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seaspan corporation (nyse: ssw) is one of the world’s leading independent containership owners, owning and managing ships which are chartered long - term to major container line companies. a washington interest based in vancouver, british columbia, the company owns a modern fleet of 69 vessels, including some of the largest ever built .
southern railway of british columbia limited (sry) is a major transporter of freight in british columbia. sry is based in new westminster, b. c. , and serves the lower mainland and fraser valley, providing seamless service and connections to markets throughout north america. sry owns over 125 miles of track, of which 62 miles are mainline, and interchanges with four north american class i railroads: sry’s annacis rail marine terminal is a vital link for rail freight between the mainland and vancouver island. sry has four different types of locomotives in its fleet. canadian pacific, bnsf railway, canadian national and union pacific. southern railway of vancouver island limited (svi), is a subsidiary company operating over 140 miles of track on vancouver island. svi offers scheduled passenger and seamless freight service to points on vancouver island and connects to sry at its annacis rail marine terminal .
butte’s memory book tells the story of jim ledford, a miner who lived in a log cabin below the famed anaconda mine. alongside his cabin was an old dump containing scrap iron and tin cans. mine water ran downhill through the dump, and ledford noticed a heavy sludge formation. out of curiosity, he had the sludge assayed and learned that it was 98 - percent - pure copper .
legend has it that ledford told no one about his discovery. instead, he quietly secured a one - year contract to handle the anaconda mine water. he set up tanks, filled them with scrap metal, and ran the water through them. the undated account said his efforts earned him $ 90, 000 that first year. his contract was not renewed .
a professional paper from a 1913 butte mining conference tells a slightly different story. it states that in 1890 a william ledford obtained a contract to handle water from the st. lawrence mine. the story ends the same, however, once the anaconda company realized the value of mine water, it built its own copper tanks, and copper precipitation using scrap iron became standard operating procedure. thanks to al hooper for loaning his copy of the 1913 mining conference proceedings .
the story goes on to claim that a butte dutchman named fred miller dug holes in the side hill in the gulch below the st. lawrence mine. he filled these holes with tin cans and scrap iron, allowing mine runoff water to flow over them .
for the next two or three years, he would collect the resulting copper dust every few weeks. miller fraudulently claimed a monopoly on this system, and on several occasions tried to bluff out others on the hill who were experimenting with precipitation. the story notes that at this point william ledford secured a lease to the st. lawrence water, and miller’s heyday came to an end .
in copper precipitation, the pit water is piped to the company’s precipitation plant, built in the 1960’s next to a similar one from decades earlier. the water flows into concrete cells filled with scrap iron, and then chemistry takes over. simply put, the iron in the cells and the copper in the water trade places. the water is returned to the pit with a higher iron content, and the copper precipitates, or solidifies out of solution, clinging to the remaining iron .
the chemical reaction does not take long. water stays in contact with the iron for only about an hour, and then it flows back into the pit through a separate ditch along the old horseshoe bend channel, which could be seen from the viewing stand as the waterfall on the northeast rim of the pit. mine officials say that this constant circulation process should not affect the water level of the pit, nor should the change in water chemistry have an effect on eventual water treatment operations .
once per week, crews drain each cell to recover the precipitated copper. a front - loader scoops up the copper and scrap iron mixture and transports it to a vibrating screen. water sprayed from high - pressure hoses knocks the copper through the screen into a tank below. remaining iron goes back to the cells for reuse. the cement copper concentrate is then shipped to the concentrator and processed through a filter press to reduce the water content for rail shipment. by pumping water from the berkeley, the company recovered about 400, 000 pounds of copper per month .
the company also routed copper - rich horseshoe bend water through the precipitation plant from 1998 until the mine shutdown of 2000. the sale of this precipitated copper helped to offset water treatment costs. once through the precipitation plant, horseshoe bend water was mixed with lime (calcium hydroxide) and pumped north to the yankee doodle tailings pond .
since the treatment plant went online in 2003, this horseshoe bend water has been kept out of the precip plant circuit .
hi my name is hannah i am in 5th grade and i go to silver bow montessori and i am doing a science fair project on metal ionic exchange using an electrolyte to collect copper onto iron. i am interested in how this kind of process has been used to “mine” copper from the pit .
5, 347. 24 feet above sea level as of june 4, 2018. click here for more information on water levels and what they mean .
berkeley pit public education committee butte - silver bow planning dept. 155 w. granite st. butte, mt 59701
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is located northwest of missoula near libby. troy mine (genesis, inc .) is owned and operated by revett minerals, inc
is located in the cabinet mountains near noxon is a wholly owned subsidiary of revett mineral and is continuing efforts to permit their world - class strataform copper - silver deposits .
is located southeast of libby is owned by mines management, inc. in the process of re - permitting .
) is located near dillon and is owned by barretts mineral, inc. , a subsidiary of specialty minerals, inc .
) is located north of helena and is owned by rx gold and silver, inc .
) has two operations the stillwater mine near nye and the east boulder mine near big timber. it is owned by the stillwater mining company .
mining operations in which metal or gems are extracted are subject to a license tax, which is based on the gross value of the product. the value to which the tax rate is applied is the monetary payment the mining company receives from the metal trader, smelter, roaster or refinery. revenue collected is deposited in the general fund (58 %), abandoned mines account (8. 5 %), reclamation and development grants account (7 %), hard rock mining impact trust account (2. 5 %) and to counties identified as experiencing fiscal and economic impact (24 %). of that 24% 37. 5% allocation to a county trust account and the remaining 62. 5% is allocated to county and school districts .
ceo harold hamm faces paying billions to his estranged wife. do revisions to his corporation’s website strengthen his hand ?
oklahoma city – the divorce trial of one of america’s wealthiest men, oil baron harold hamm, plays out mostly in secret here at the oklahoma county courthouse. for weeks, signs have been taped to the door of courtroom 121. “closed hearing, ” one reads. the other: “do not enter. ”
publicly traded continental has been revising its corporate annals – in each case diminishing the company’s accomplishments under hamm’s leadership or changing the dates of key achievements .
downplaying his role in continental’s success is central to hamm’s chances of minimizing the financial blow from his divorce, lawyers say. according to state law, if hamm can show that market conditions – rather than his management prowess – led to continental’s financial success, he won’t have to share those gains with his estranged wife, sue ann. the two never signed a prenuptial agreement .
reporters compared continental’s current corporate website – urltoken – with a version from early this year. the analysis was done using the internet archive wayback machine, a repository of past web pages .
exclusive: ex - wife of u. s. oil baron to appeal $ 1 billion divorce award
the comparison identified 18 separate items that had been recently deleted, added or revised. the changes included :
• altering a claim that the company was first to “discover” an important oil field near the massive formation known as the bakken shale .
• striking all references to continental being “first” to successfully use or develop new technology that helped it find or pump more oil .
• backdating the company’s hugely profitable decision to shift its exploration focus from natural gas to oil – to before hamm’s 1988 marriage to sue ann. if that decision came prior to the hamm marriage, then sue ann may not be entitled to reap part of the reward .
the company also removed a notable passage from one of its u. s. securities and exchange commission filings, key documents used by investors to evaluate firms. in 2013 and earlier years, the annual proxy statement described harold hamm as “one of the driving forces” behind continental’s success, a man who had “successfully grown the company through his leadership skills and business judgment. ” that passage was dropped in the 2014 proxy .
since hamm vs. hamm began eight weeks ago, journalists have largely been barred from the courtroom. at the request of continental, nearly all records and exhibits in the trial have been placed under seal by oklahoma county judge howard haralson; all but three days of the trial have been completely closed to the public. in most states, including oklahoma, divorce trials usually take place in open court unless a judge closes the proceedings to protect a child. the hamms have no minor children .
ceo insights: continental has deleted a link on its website to
ceo insights ,
the thoughts of ceo hamm, shown at top; an external site - urltoken - now says ,
the authors have deleted this site .
reuters graphic
new proxy: continental’s 2013 proxy filing with the sec, top, praised hamm as “one of the driving forces behind the company and its success. ” in the 2014 proxy, bottom, that language is gone. reuters graphic
different drill: on its corporate website, continental deleted this 1974 entry on a timeline of the company’s history, top, which had touted hamm’s personal role in striking oil in oklahoma. reuters graphic
change of focus: continental altered a key 1985 timeline entry, top. the revised version, bottom, downplays hamm’s role and adds a new claim that
continental changes focus to oil
- three years before his marriage to sue ann hamm. reuters graphic
moving mountains: continental revised a key 1993 claim, top. the original, saying the firm expanded into the rockies region, is deleted. a new entry (not shown) claims the company entered the lucrative williston basin in 1987 - a year before the marriage. reuters graphic
sharing credit: continental originally claimed sole bragging rights for the 1995 discovery of a major field near the bakken formation, top. it has now revised that claim to a co - discovery, bottom. it also changes credit for a
1st
in precision horizontal drilling. reuters graphic
no longer first: in one of several alterations related to technological innovations, continental removed its claim, top, to be
1st
to complete a
1, 280 long - lateral multi - stage frac in north dakota .
reuters graphic
backtracking: continental cut a claim, top, to be
1st
to “simul - frac” a well in an oklahoma field. in the revised version, bottom, a second claim is watered down. it now merely notes continental’s first horizontal well in the three forks region - not “the 1st. ” reuters graphic
an example of how continental has revised its website claims: before (top) and after (bottom). reuters graphic
the reason: to shield continental. haralson ruled on the trial’s opening day, aug. 4, that he did not want to “destroy” the company by allowing the public or media to hear discussion of continental’s “confidential” business activities .
“we’ve got an entire trial being conducted in secret, ” said joey senat, a communications law specialist and associate professor at oklahoma state university’s school of media and strategic communication. “mr. hamm is saying his divorce is a strictly personal matter, but apparently it’s not, because continental says it will harm the company if the doors are opened. meanwhile, on the website, continental appears to be changing significant facts about itself. ”
there are also personal reasons why hamm may prefer to keep the proceedings private. in a filing dated march 7, 2013, sue ann hamm alleged that harold was “having an affair” that she discovered in 2010. in court testimony last month, harold admitted to spending $ 150, 000 on an “extra - marital pursuit. ”
at stake in the divorce is the $ 17 billion piece of continental owned by harold hamm through his 68 percent holding in the company’s publicly traded shares. legal experts interviewed for this article said the changes on the website appear to be part of hamm’s strategy .
“very simply, the company may be framing mr. hamm’s impact as less important than it had before. ”
the purpose, they say, is to persuade the judge that the surge in continental’s share value has little to do with harold’s deft management during his 26 - year marriage to sue ann. under oklahoma law, if the growth of continental was “passive” – that is, owing to market factors beyond harold’s control rather than to his skill and effort – he won’t have to share those gains .
“very simply, ” hirschfeld said, “the company may be framing mr. hamm’s impact as less important than it had before. ” hirschfeld isn’t involved in the case .
attorneys representing the hamms are under court order not to discuss protected information in the case. they declined to comment .
harold hamm’s lawyers were given a big clue that continental’s past accomplishments would be used by his wife’s team to demonstrate the central role the founder played in the company’s skyrocketing growth. that’s because parts of the unrevised version of the website – including its corporate “timeline”– were among the exhibits entered into evidence by sue ann hamm’s lawyers before the trial began. lists of exhibits are shared with both parties in a case .
“it puts the board in a very awkward position, ” said the governance specialist, david larcker, professor of accounting at stanford university’s graduate school of business. “the question would be, ‘would they have made those changes absent the personal situation of the ceo? ’”
a member of continental’s board, edward t. schafer, declined to discuss the changes, or whether the board knew about them. “given the legal aspects of what you are talking about, i think i ought to leave that question to the company, ” said schafer, former governor of north dakota. another board member, former oklahoma gov. david boren, referred questions to continental’s general counsel .
attorneys following the hamm divorce say a judgment could award 58 - year - old sue ann hamm, a former lawyer for continental, around $ 3 billion .
closed hearing: since hamm vs. hamm began eight weeks ago, journalists have largely been barred from the courtroom in the oklahoma county courthouse. reuters / steve sisney
reuters could not determine exactly when continental altered its website. the changes came sometime after march 29, 2014, the most recent day on which the wayback machine archived the site, and before sept. 2, 2014, when reuters began comparing the archive and the current site. also unclear: which version of continental’s corporate history – revised or original – is more accurate .
in media interviews, in the company’s annual report and in other sec filings, continental has for years touted its pioneering role in developing the bakken shale formation. and it has highlighted the prescient moves of its founder, harold hamm, as central to its success .
continental’s website does contain a disclaimer about its contents. information is provided “as is, solely for convenience, and without warranty of any kind. ” it may contain errors, and investors should not base decisions on it, the website cautions .
guidelines published by the sec say that corporate websites, though considered “informal disclosure, ” should adhere to some of the same standards that apply to formal sec filings. “the broad principles are that the disclosures have to be truthful and fair and cannot be selective, ” said jim hamilton, principal analyst for federal securities regulation at wolters kluwer law & business in new york .
the reuters analysis of archived continental web pages shows a wide range of changes around the time that the ceo’s divorce trial began .
a timeline entry describing a 1995 milestone, for example, previously gave continental sole credit for a momentous event: “continental discovers” the cedar hills oil field – the first major gusher in north dakota’s recent fracking boom, which led to the development of the now - legendary bakken shale, the web page previously read. the old entry added that continental “is the 1st to develop cedar hills exclusively through precision horizontal drilling, ” an oil - industry technological innovation .
other changes backpedal on continental’s claims that it was ahead of industry competitors in implementing breakthrough oil extraction technologies, a potentially crucial differentiator in the oil industry .
a 2007 entry used to say that continental “is the 1st to complete a 1, 280 long - lateral multi - stage frac in north dakota. ” the line referred to an important milestone in using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and horizontal drilling to extract oil from the bakken. that claim no longer appears on the current website .
two other entries, both for 2008, said continental was the “first” to use specific fracking or horizontal drilling techniques in two separate oil fields. those entries have been struck from the site .
on the witness stand last month, harold hamm said several claims on the company’s website timeline were wrong. he pinned part of the blame on brian engel, the former vice president of public affairs at continental, who left in 2011 .
contacted for comment, engel said he wasn’t aware of hamm’s testimony. “i left continental on good terms at the end of 2011 and have moved on, ” engel said. he declined to say whether hamm reviewed the original items before they were posted .
sue ann hamm’s attorney, jon hester, questioned harold about items on the company website. hamm testified that he only recently discovered that some were inaccurate. continental produces a significant amount of public information, he explained, and hamm said he doesn’t personally review all of it. “i’ve not tried to mislead anybody, ” hamm testified .
continental is not named as a party in the hamm divorce. the company nonetheless sought to keep the trial closed to the public. continental’s general counsel, eric eissenstat, has been a fixture in the courtroom and has arranged depositions and met with witnesses who are testifying at the trial, according to court records and proceedings viewed by reuters .
stock split? a billboard in downtown oklahoma city touts the value of publicly traded shares in continental. reuters / steve sisney
“it puts the board in a very awkward position. the question would be, ‘would they have made those changes absent the personal situation of the ceo? ’”
continental still boasts in its sec filings that it holds the largest acreage position of any oil company in the bakken, a shale area that hamm believes contains some 24 billion barrels of oil .
investors may not care about continental’s revisions to its corporate history, so long as it continues to produce profits, stock analysts say. the driller is ahead of schedule on its five - year plan to double oil production.
montana resources llp is an american mining company with headquarters in butte , montana . the company is owned by businessman dennis washington . the company employs about 350 people , and operates the continental mine , an open pit copper and molybdenum mine at butte . the continental pit is the only active mining operation at butte . 
montana resources llp is an american mining company with headquarters in butte, montana. the company is owned by businessman dennis washington. the company employs about 350 people, and operates the continental mine, an open pit copper and molybdenum mine at butte. the continental pit is the only active mining operation at butte.
montana resources llp is an american mining company with headquarters in butte, montana. the company is owned by businessman dennis washington. the company employs about 350 people, and operates the continental mine, an open pit copper and molybdenum mine at butte. the continental pit is the only active mining operation at butte.