Last year, Jon Rudolph's mining company was winning awards and making the news as a leader in the gold mining business.

Rudolph was spearheading a project to certify Yukon gold as "ethical" and hosted visitors from jewelry giant Birks & Mayors, who were seeking material for their 2010 Olympics line.

A few months later, he was given the Robert E. Leckie Award for "exemplary" efforts to clean up the area around his placer mines at Dominion Creek, southeast of Dawson City.

But since the beginning of 2009, the news has taken a turn for the worst.

In February, Mackenzie Petroleum, a Dawson City-based fuel company owned by Chief Isaac Development Corp., filed documents in the Yukon Supreme Court claiming Rudolph's company, Ross Mining, owed the first nation corporation $650,000.

Now, Ross Mining's founder is suing Rudolph for more than $3 million.

Norman and Sandra Ross started the company in 1980, and after 2 1/2 decades of profitable mining, sold the claims, property and equipment to Rudolph for $7 million.

The sale took the form of a loan from Norman Ross to Rudolph's companies, to be repaid over five years.

So far, $4 million of that has been paid on schedule. However, when the cheque due Jan. 3 never arrived and news of a lien put on Ross Mining's assets by Mackenzie Petroleum became public, Norman Ross took action.

"I am very concerned that Ross Mining will incur liabilities to suppliers and employees that it will be unable to satisfy, giving rise to further lien claims which, I understand, would likely take priority over the security granted to me by Ross Mining," Norman Ross writes in his suit against Rudolph's assets, which include Ross Mining and two numbered companies.

According to the agreement between Ross and Rudolph's companies, failure to pay anyone constitutes a default on the loan.

As well, according to the Miners' Lien Act, the lien filed by Mackenzie takes precedent over any debts owed to Ross.

Rudolph has not returned calls from the Star seeking comment on either case.

He recently told a CBC reporter that the money he owes - now totalling almost $4 million - will be repaid.