Environmental Concerns Delay Smoky Canyon Phosphate Mine Expansion

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Expecting the Smoky Canyon Mine near Wayan, Idaho, to be exhausted by 2010, J.R. Simplot Company (Boise, Idaho) proposed to extend current open-pit phosphate mining operations south into two existing federal phosphate leases, Manning Creek-Panel F and Deer Creek-Panel G. The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management released a record of decision in June 2008 granting Smoky Canyon phosphate mine permission to expand along the Idaho-Wyoming border. Concerned about selenium contamination from the mine, environmental groups are seeking an injunction against the expansion, pending a decision on their lawsuit seeking to reverse approval granted by the two federal agencies. Construction was scheduled to kick off this past summer, but with the recent litigation and market downturn, construction has been delayed until 2010.

Originally reported as a $45 million expansion project by Industrial Info in June 2005, the project has been scaled down to $10 million, as some of the expansion proposals have been rejected. The project includes the purchase of two 150-ton haul trucks, construction of an access/haul road to panels F and G, the addition of electrical lines, and implementation of an engineered cover system to prevent precipitation from seeping through selenium-laden waste rock and into groundwater sources. As part of the expansion, Simplot also proposed to construct a 13-mile overland enclosed conveyor system to transport the ores from panels F and G to the mill for crushing, but the proposal was rejected, so the ores will be hauled to the mill by truck.

Operations at Smoky Canyon consist primarily of open-pit mining of 2 million tons per year of phosphate ore, milling the ore into a fine powder, then mixing the powdered ore with water to create a slurry. The ore slurry is transported via an 87-mile underground pipeline to Pocatello, Idaho, and is manufactured into fertilizer at Simplot's Don Plant. Because of the steep terrain and elevation changes along the route, the pipeline is re-pressurized at Conda, Idaho, near Soda Springs.

View Plant Profile - 1066017 1018293
View Project Report - 46000299

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a marketing information service specializing in industrial process, energy and financial related markets with products and services ranging from industry news, analytics, forecasting, plant and project databases, as well as multimedia services.