Operations move ahead at gypsum mine

A mining operation once fiercely opposed by some residents in the Bloomington and SunRiver areas is moving ahead, three years after it was first granted a permit.

Not much activity had been seen at the 11-acre gypsum mine, located on Bureau of Land Management land about five miles west of SunRiver, as owners worked to secure funding and a primary investor became caught up in a lawsuit by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

But the Washington County Commission approved a renewal this week of the mine’s conditional use permit. Representatives with Good Earth Minerals, Inc. indicated they were moving forward with preliminary work at the site, where they have declared plans to pull out high-quality gypsum for use in medicine and other products.

They’ll do so without a key component of the permit as originally issued — a county-imposed condition that an air monitoring station be installed at the site at the applicant’s expense — and some of the same residents who vehemently spoke out against the idea originally are raising their voices again.

“How are we going to deal with the dust issue? Now that they’ve taken away the air monitoring it’s just going to be a sight thing,” Don Stricklin, president of the SunRiver homeowners association board of trustees, said Thursday. “And if you see it, how do you know who’s responsible for making it?”

When the mine was first approved, large numbers of SunRiver and Bloomington area residents voiced concerns, many filing official comments in opposition to the mine and arguing it would cause noise, traffic, dust and other impacts.

Washington County approved a one-year conditional use permit for the 11-acre site in 2012, and has renewed it each year since. County officials determined the mine would have no significant environmental impacts after an environmental assessment completed by the BLM indicated there would be none.

Gypsum is not considered a toxic substance, and Health Department officials testified during the initial approval process that the mine would not pose any significant threats.

At the same time, it would create employment opportunities and generate tax revenue, members of the county commission noted.

The initial permit was approved only after GEM representatives agreed to 28 written conditions, including water to keep dust levels down, limited hours of operation and an agreement to have no negative impact on traffic along nearby Old Highway 91.

But the requirement to have an air monitoring station installed was removed when the permit was subsequently renewed in 2013, with Travis Christiansen, an attorney representing GEM, indicating the company had only been required to install the system as part of a larger system put in place by the county and municipalities in the area, according to the recorded minutes of a planning commission meeting.

County officials determined the existing system constituted only a few monitors operated by the City of St. George and the state and did not provide good enough information to be compared against the GEM monitor. Commissioners decided to remove the requirement, according to the minutes.

Bill Swenson, air quality manager for the City of St. George, said that since the initial approval in 2012 he had never been contacted by the mining company or the county about the issue.

“I don’t know that they’re required that they (contact the city), but it would be good to communicate,” he said, noting the city has a good working relationship with other gypsum mining operations in the area.

Christiansen and other representatives of GEM did not return phone calls requesting comment.

Plans for the mining operation indicate that as materials are removed they would be taken out on a dirt road to Old Highway 91 and then driven to Interstate 15.

The company is also required to rehabilitate the disturbed earth once the mining is done, and it has gone through the steps necessary to secure a permit with the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining.

Lynn Kunzler, senior reclamation specialist for the division, said GEM was required to secure a reclamation bond, which ensures that funding is available to rehabilitate the affected landscape should the company lose its ability to pay for it.

“Basically the bond amount is calculated based on their detailed reclamation plan,” he said. “We review it, the BLM does as well and we look at it based on third-party costs.”

It was unclear whether the company’s financial viability might be affected by an ongoing lawsuit involving the parent company which lists GEM as an asset.

Jacob Cooper and his investment company Total Wealth Management Inc. were sued earlier this year after an SEC investigation revealed alleged widespread fraud and violations against investors. A court appointed receiver, Kristen Janulewicz, was assigned to identify and secure the company’s assets.

According to the most recent report, Janulewicz indicated she was still investigating the financial activities of Private Placement Capital Notes II, LLC, the entity which reportedly held some $3 million of investor funds related to the mining operation.

“As of the date of this Interim Report, the Receiver has been unable to confirm the nature and extent of PPCN’s holdings or its ability to satisfy any of the notes held by the Entities,” according to the report, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Aug. 7.

Gypsum is most commonly used in construction for fire-resistant drywall, but can also be used in a number of household products, including medicine.

Gypsum is commonly mined throughout the Southwest, including in other spots in and around St. George. A 60-acre mine owned by Progressive Contracting, Inc. in the Little Valley area, just north of the Fort Pierce Industrial Park, was approved by the city council for an expansion in 2013.

Another operation is run by Western Mining and Minerals about eight miles south of the city on the Arizona Strip, where it has been running since 1989.

Follow David DeMille on Twitter, @SpectrumDeMille, and on Facebook,www.facebook.com/SpectrumDeMille. Call him at 435-674-6261.

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