to buy up commodities; the company had 21 million ounces of contracts by mid-1976. In 1977, through Great Western United, the Hunt brothers from Texas attempted to take over the mine. This gave them control of another 30 million ounces and exempted them from new trading restrictions. They bought the mine's shares at a premium, which invoked the Williams Act. The acquisition was blocked by an Idaho law, which Great Western sued over, for placing undue burden on interstate commerce and pre-empting the Williams Act. The two companies also sued each other in court, then settled out of court in October 1977. The Idaho law court case was also discarded on its merits, allowing Great Western to acquire the Sunshine Mining Company. The Idaho law case went to the Supreme Court in 1979 (Leroy v. Great Western United Corp., 443 U.S. 173), having been found in Great Western's favor and appealed at each step by the state of Idaho over discussions of the appropriate venue. The Supreme Court case was decided on 26 June 1979, overturning Great Western's choice of Texas courts to sue Idaho. The Hunts lost their majority shareholder status in 1979 when part of the deal fell apart, and Sunshine sold their interest back to the mine. Through a long series of events, the Hunts' cornering of the market led to Silver Thursday, a massive spike in silver prices on 27 March 1980. Changing exchange rules by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (and a change in margin rules from Paul Volcker in the SEC) meant the Hunts were caught out on margin calls, leading to the bankruptcy of their empire. Post-Hunt era In 1989, the mine produced 4.8 million ounces of silver. Production from the high grade Copper vein stopes began to impact the silver production volumes. During 1990, the mine produced 5.4 million ounces of silver, the most since 1971. By now the high-grade Copper vein stopes on 4200 level were becoming substantial producers, while production from the 10 shaft stopes was dropping off. In 1991, the silver price fell to $3.90 per ounce and the operation was losing money. A mining plan was put together to reduce losses substantially while waiting for prices to improve. This was referred to as the "small mine plan" and was implemented in June 1991. The operation headings underground were centralized by shutting down the outlying, more costly production and