An American investor is questioning the reasons for closing the Beaver Brook antimony mine near Glenwood.

In November, the mine announced it would close indefinitely in January and laid off more than 90 people. About 10 jobs remain for people doing maintenance and security jobs.

The mine's manager said the closure was due to the quality of the ore.

Joe Martin — one of the original shareholders in the mine — said he and other shareholders who sold the mine to a Chinese company are crying foul.

But Martin said the company needs to keep the mine closed for two years to get out of the profit-sharing agreement.

"And this is what they're trying to do now. I feel bad for the people at the mine because I don't believe the mine needs to be closed for any other reason other than they need to get us out of the way, and not hold up their side of the bargain," said Martin.

"I would like to see the Newfoundland government step in and tell them that they should operate the mine or find another operator if they don't want to operate it … and sell it to them that would put the people in Newfoundland back to work. And it's too bad they closed down a perfectly good mine for this kind of nonsense, it really is."

Martin believes the former shareholders will pursue the issue either through arbitration or the courts.

Residents in Glenwood don't know what to think. Town mayor Darren Bursey said they'd love to have some answers.

"I haven't really spoken to anybody at the mine about that, and I don't even know if there's anybody who would speak to me about it," said Bursey. "I did make one call, and was basically told by the person I spoke to that they didn't really know, and weren't able to talk about it."

Calls to the Beaver Brook Mine from CBC News have not been returned.