Sunshine Mining Company v. United States

BEEZER, Circuit Judge:

Sunshine Mining Company operates a mine in Idaho from which ore yielding silver, copper, lead, iron and antimony is extracted. This case arises from the Commissioner’s disallowance of a depletion deduction claimed by Sunshine for production of antimony in 1975. The district court held, on summary judgment, that Sunshine was entitled to the deduction. The government timely appealed. We reverse.

I

FACTS

A. The Depletion Deduction

Since 1926, Congress has granted a deduction from gross income for mineral depletion, a deduction intended to offset the exhaustion of capital assets…