ORC mining operation moving along

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Story Published: Feb 26, 2008 at 4:34 PM PST

By Azenith Smith

BANDON - A stretch of land off Seven Devils Road may not look like much now, but come this Fall, ORC is banking that it will be full of activity, as they plan to mine roughly 700,000 tons of mineral a year.

"If you go to any of the beaches here, you'll see a ribbon of black sand, and that's what we are after," says Dan Smith of Oregon Resources Corporation. "Within that black sand is chromite, zircon and garnet, which will be help many industries."

After facing a number of hurdles, including completing an independent traffic impact analysis for the county, ORC will now begin constructing the processing plan in Bunker Hill, bringing 75 jobs to the area.

But, this project has come with its fair share of opposition from homeowners who are concerned with its environmental impacts. They include water quality, high noise levels and air pollution just to name a few.
Tim Pearce is one of those residents, who belongs to the Bandon Woodlands Community Association, the group behind the appeal.

"In the city, you couldn't drive trucks year after year 24/7 through a residential area. The city wouldn't allow it and residents wouldn't allow it," says Pearce. "They don't seem to care out here."

Despite LUBA's decision, they plan to meet to discuss other legal actions until their issues are addressed. In response, ORC says they're working on those safety measures.

"If there is water where we're mining in, they'll never get to the neighbors because they are four streams over," says Smith. "We've also done a noise study and that has shown there will be little impact to the neighbors.

They also have state and federal permits to go through, but feel optimistic that it will continue to move forward as planned.

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