Twenty-five Dawson City placer claims will be sold to the highest bidder, since the company directors who co-own them couldn’t come to an agreement, Justice Ron Veale ruled Friday afternoon.

Rodney Adams and Darryl Carey are equal shareholders of a numbered company that owns the claims located within city limits near the Dome Road.

They have until Feb. 29 to send their bids to Yukon Supreme Court – with a minimum price set at $500,000.

The proceeds of the sale will be split equally between them.

They mined the claims in 2013 but a dispute arose after that.

Since then, it’s been “impossible (for them) to mutually co-operate,” Veale noted in his decision.

Both wanted to purchase the claims but they couldn’t agree on how to go about it.

While Adams proposed submitting sealed bids to the court, with the claims going to the highest bidder, Carey favoured splitting the claims.

The fairest solution is to use sealed bids, Veale ruled.

The dissolution of the company is just and equitable, he noted, as both parties can’t work together.

The sealed bids method is a well-established principle in business law, the judge said.

The proceeds of the sale will be spit equally between Adams and Carey.

Carey had argued Adams was in a better financial position for the sealed bids.

“There is no evidence to this allegation,” Veale said.

Carey’s proposal to split the claims is problematic because not all of the claims have been mined, and it would be hard for the court to determine the claims’ value.

His proposal would also require them to work together when sluicing the minerals.

Given their inability to come to an agreement for the past two years, Veale noted, it would be unlikely the pair could work together.

Mining of these claims has been highly controversial, as it is in a residential area.

Carey was seeking a 10-year permit. He submitted his project to the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB) last November to develop 31 claims, the majority co-owned with Adams.

The board stopped the review, as it needed both directors to sign on the project.

It created a controversy last December, with the official Opposition accusing the Yukon government of having botched a 2014 deal intended to enable Carey to mine under the Dome Road for three years, then leave.

The review board received several comments from residents urging the board to reject the project, out of concerns for cross-country ski trails around the claims.

The claims are located between the Dome Road, the Midnight Dome and the Klondike Highway.

A map filed to YESAB showed some of claims next to residences, with a “100m buffer zone” put in place. Carey’s plan was to have the mine run non-stop during the mining season.

The bids will be opened on March 3, and the highest bidder will get the claims – provided he can pay within 10 days. Otherwise it will go to the lower bidder.

Once the sale is done, the company will be dissolved.