Darryl Carey was successful this morning in Yukon Supreme Court with his bid to take full ownership of 25 placer mining claims inside the municipal boundaries of Dawson City.

Carey and business partner Rodney Adams of Nuway Crushing Ltd. couldn’t come to an agreement on how to move forward with the claims located between the Klondike River and Dome Road.

As a solution, Supreme Court Justice Ron Veale ordered the two men on Feb. 8 to submit separate bids for the claims by today, with a minimum bid set at $500,000, the price the two men paid to buy the claims.

The highest bid would gain ownership while the low bid would receive half of the amount of the high bid as a buyout, the judge explained.

The solution, Veale assured the two men last month, is standard practice in Canada when it comes to settling standoffs between business partners.

The judge first opened Carey’s bid, which was for $752,200 posted on a certified cheque.

Adams’ bid was $716,000, posted on a certified cheque.

Carey will gain full ownership of the claims and Adams will receive $376,100 from Carey as the buyout.

Carey said this morning outside the courtroom that if not for friends who came forward to lend him the money, he wouldn’t have been able to pull it off.

“I could only come up with $180,000,” said the placer miner who is no stranger to controversy, having successfully defended his right to mine the Slinky placer claims along the Dome Road.

Carey said for the next three seasons, he’ll be concentrating on the three-year arrangement he has with the town to finish mining and reclaiming the Slinky claims.

Asked whether he was optimistic about the upcoming season with the price of gold rebounding a little and sitting at $1,259 US this morning, Carey quickly pointed out with cautious smile: “That’s $1,500 Canadian.”

And the price of fuel is down, he acknowledged.