Despite a belief Oregon Resources Corp. wouldn’t mine for chromite next to Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, company officials haven’t erased that plan.

Oregon Resources Chief Operating Officer Dan Smith said Tuesday the company never abandoned its interest in what’s known as the Shepard site, a sixth mining pit in the original plan.

Bandon Dunes attorney Al Johnson said it’s news to his client. He first heard about Smith’s comments Wednesday afternoon and immediately called and left a message with Oregon Resources’ attorney Steven Abel, of Stoel Rives in Portland. As of this morning he hadn’t heard back.

“Obviously it’s of concern,” Johnson said. “We had no advanced knowledge and we’re still in the dark.”

The resort is constructing a new 18-hole championship golf course at the northeast corner of its holdings — the area closest to the Shepard site. It’s due to open in 2010. The course will border Whisky Run Road, which is only about a mile and a half from the Shepard site. The resort’s master plan includes development of 600 units of housing.

“That’s where the master plan shows (some of) the housing will go,” Johnson said.

And Tuesday, Oregon Resources asked Coos County commissioners for more acreage even closer to the resort. Company officials want permission to explore more than 6,000 additional acres besides the 2,000 that already have been proven to contain chromite, including the Shepard site.

“We really have to analyze the situation and get a handle on it,” Johnson said.

In August 2007, the company had announced it no longer was interested in the site, just one day prior to the Coos County Planning Commission’s approval of the company’s conditional-use mining permit. At that time Bandon Dunes General Manager Hank Hickox said there had been dialog between Oregon Resources representatives and Bandon Dunes attorneys for weeks about the site that is located about a mile and a half from the resort. He said then he was relieved the company had lost interest.

“We were concerned about the 24-hour activity,” Hickox told The World in August.

At a meeting with Coos County commissioners Tuesday, Smith said the site wasn’t that great because of poor access. He said the existing road is in bad condition and repairing it isn’t feasible.

“It had nothing to do with Bandon Dunes,” Smith said. “We’re just trying to change the access instead of coming out on Humphrey Lane.”

County Planning Director Patty Evernden said Wednesday the company hasn’t gotten approval to mine the Shepard site.

“If they want to have the authority to mine there, ... they’ll have to come back and apply on that site,” she said.