(December 28)   The county this month approved making pass-through funding available for the preparation of an environmental impact report and monitoring program for the expansion of a limestone quarry in Lucerne Valley.
Currently three operators, Omya, which was formerly known as Pluess Stauffer; Specialty Minerals, formerly Pfizer; and Mitsubishi Cement are mining the western portion of the Lucerne Valley Limestone Province. Right Star Minerals recently received approval to proceed with underground mining of the principal high-grade, white calcite limestone ore body similar to that being mined by Omya, Specialty Minerals, and Mitsubishi Cement in the western portion of the province.
The Lucerne Valley Limestone Province consists of substantial reserves of cement-grade and high-brightness, high-grade calcite limestone. The province extends for about 24 miles along the north slope of the San Bernardino Mountains overlooking the Mojave Desert. About five percent of the San Bernardino Mountains are underlain by Paleozoic carbonate rocks. This carbonate stratigraphic section averages about 1,500 meters thick with white high-grade calcite limestone units ranging from 15 to 30 meters thick.
The county board of supervisors, on the recommendation of county land use services director Christine Kelly, this month approved a contract with Pacific Municipal Consultants (PMC) effective December 19, 2012, in an amount not to exceed $281,892 to complete the preparation of an environmental impact report and mitigation monitoring and reporting program for the White Knob/White Ridge Project.
The project applicant, Omya, deposited  $281,892 into the project trust account in December 2008 to cover the costs of the environmental impact report and the monitoring program.
In 2008 OMYA California, Incorporated submitted a revision to a mining reclamation plan for the White Knob/White Ridge Limestone Quarry Project to increase the disturbance limits of the project by 147 acres for a total of 297.6 acres for mining, mine waste management, and sedimentation control. Since 2008, OMYA has been negotiating with the Bureau of Land Management and the California Department of Fish and Game to resolve natural resource damages and trespass onto federal land resulting from OMYA’s activities at the White Knob/White Ridge Limestone Quarry site.
In April 2011, settlement agreements were entered into by and between the Bureau of Land Management, the Department of Fish and Game and OMYA to resolve and otherwise settle disputes regarding the resource damages and trespass claims. Those items have been resolved and the project is ready to continue.
Along the north-facing slope of the San Bernardino Mountains much of the original high-grade ore has been lost through erosion into a series of northward dipping alluvial fans. Most of the eastern portion of the province for several kilometers has not eroded away along a highland area known as “Lone Valley” or the Smart Ranch Limestone Deposit.
Bids to complete the environmental impact report and monitoring plan were solicited from eight firms known to meet the necessary qualifications to perform the analysis required by the environmental impact report. In addition, the bid request was posted on the county’s web site and advertised in a local newspaper.
On December 16, 2008, the board of supervisors approved a contract with PMC in the amount of $370,000 to prepare the environmental impact report and monitoring project for the project, of which, $88,108 of initial work was completed under the original contract.