Yolo and Imperial Counties Hire Benchmark Resources to Assist with SMARA Compliance November 29th, 2014 Benchmark Resources was awarded multi-year contracts to perform annual mine inspections and review financial assurance cost estimates and financial assurance mechanisms for both Yolo and Imperial Counties. Benchmark Resources’ staff has inspected mine reclamation activities for more than 15 years, and staff has completed more than 800 annual inspections for lead agencies throughout California. Benchmark Resources’ experience and approach to conducting inspections and reporting [...]

Moody Flats Quarry Draft EIR Released for Public Review December 29th, 2014 Shasta County has released the long-awaited draft environmental impact report (EIR) for the Moody Flats Quarry project. Moody Flats Quarry, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of 3M Corporation, proposes a hard-rock quarry that would include an aggregate processing facility, asphalt batch plant, ready-mix plant, and recycled materials plant. Up to 2 million tons per year of material would be mined and distributed for 100 years. Uniquely, this [...]

Carmelita Mine and Reclamation Project EIR Upheld in Court of Appeal on All Counts December 8th, 2014 Carmelita Mine and Reclamation Project EIR Upheld in Court of Appeal on All Counts In Friends of Kings River v. Fresno County, the court of appeal for the 5th District unanimously upheld the Carmelita Mine and Reclamation Project EIR on all counts, as detailed in the Reuter’s December 11, 2014, article. In that article, Colony Land Co. (the owner of the mine) [...]

Lease Approved for CEMEX Paiute Pit February 18th, 2016 The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe approved a lease allowing expansion of mining operations at the CEMEX Paiute Pit outside Wadsworth, Nevada. The lease allows mining at an increased depth and onto adjacent greenfield lands. Benchmark Resources prepared the reclamation plan and reclamation cost estimate consistent with the requirements of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Nevada Division of Environmental Protection. Benchmark Resources also participated as a representative of CEMEX [...]

Benchmark Resources Presents at CalCIMA’s Mine Safety Conference. March 11th, 2016. Andrew Heinemann, Benchmark Resources geologist and mine engineer, presented on “How to Read the Hazards of Highwalls” at CalCIMA’s Spring Thaw Mine Safety Conference in both Ontario and Sacramento. His presentation explained how to recognize potential hazards related to highwall and slope stability and how operators and workers can mitigate highwall and slope hazards they identify in their working area. The PowerPoint for this presentation can be found [...]

Benchmark Resources Presents at CalCIMA’s 2015 Education Conference. November 17th, 2015. Andrew Heinemann presented at the 2015 CalCIMA Annual Education Conference in Monterey, California. The presentation was entitled “Getting the Most Out of a Drilling Project.” The geologic interpretation and definition of a deposit is incomplete without some amount of drilling. Surface mapping, geologic literature research of regional structure, and lithology provide useful information. However, with the increasing costs of planning, permitting, and development, drilling programs are becoming more [...]

Silver Springs Parkway Final Subsequent EIR Certified by El Dorado County. August 2nd, 2016. Benchmark Resources assisted the El Dorado County (County) Transportation Division with an environmental review of the Silver Springs Parkway to Bass Lake Road (South Segment) project, culminating in the preparation of a final subsequent environmental impact report (SEIR) that was certified by the County Board of Supervisors on August 2, 2016. Benchmark Resources provided strategies for California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance, public outreach, analysis, [...]

Austin Quarry Project Final EIR Certified by Madera County. October 12th, 2016. The Madera County (County) Board of Supervisors approved and certified the final environmental impact report (EIR) for the Austin Quarry Project after a 6-year environmental review process. The review process consisted of substantial refinements to the project to address community and lead agency concerns. At more than 10,000 pages, this final EIR is one of the most extensive and detailed EIRs ever prepared for a mining project. Under [...]

A.R. Wilson Quarry Reclamation Plan Amendment Approved by San Benito County Planning Commission. November 16, 2016. The San Benito County (County) Planning Commission approved a reclamation plan amendment for the A.R. Wilson Quarry, one of the largest quarries in the state. Graniterock has operated the quarry for over 100 years, supplying the south Bay Area and San Francisco peninsula with construction aggregates from Aromas. The reclamation plan amendment consolidated the boundaries of prior approvals into a single map. Benchmark [...]

Benchmark Resources Presents at CalCIMA’s 2016 Education Conference. November 8, 2016. Bruce Steubing presented with Anne McQueen, Yorke Engineering, at the 2016 CalCIMA Annual Education Conference in Rancho Mirage, California. The presentation was entitled “Recent CEQA Challenges Related to Air Quality Requirements for Permitting Mines.” When completing air quality analysis under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), mine operators are facing increasing variations in the way data, modeling, and technical evaluations are presented to lead agencies and air districts. [...]