Securities officials on Tuesday ordered a company in Bend, Ore., to stop selling shares of a Nevada gold-mining operation in Colorado.
Securities Commissioner Gerald Rome said Big Spring Gold sold investment shares to at least two Colorado residents between August 2012 and September 2013 without the proper licenses and ordered its founder, Louis Christensen, to stop.
The Colorado investors paid $31,000, Rome said, and the company will offer them a refund as part of the settlement.
Christensen agreed to the cease-and-desist order. He could not be reached immediately for comment.
Rome said Big Spring Gold is in the business of acquiring and developing gold and silver deposits. The company had purchased an unpatented lode mining claim near Tonopah, Nev., and told investors it hoped to develop the claim and sell it to a major mining operation.
