The BLM just approved a claim for a limestone mine in eastern Idaho. Here’s where it will be built
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IDAHO FALLS – A request to open a limestone mining operation about 15 miles southwest of Idaho Falls is moving forward.
Burns Industries LLC in Idaho Falls filed a claim in 2022 to develop a quarry on 204 acres of land on U.S. Bureau of Land Management property. A company spokesman was unavailable to speak with us about the project, but the original plan was to build a high-grade calcium carbonate limestone quarry near Wolverine Canyon. The exact location may have changed since our last report in December.
“High-calcium limestone is used to make a variety of materials, such as cement, mortar, lime, paint, glass, food and pharmaceuticals, agricultural products, ceramics, and adhesives or sealants,” the BLM says in a May 2024 news release about the project.
Public records refer to it as the Burnstone Quarry. Details about who would benefit from limestone that’s extracted at this location are unclear.
After a six-month public comment period, the BLM has completed its review of the project and approved it for development.
“The project is an excellent example of BLM’s commitment to consider mineral development as one of the many important public land uses within the agency’s multiple-use mandate,” BLM Pocatello Field Manager Blaine Newman says in a news release.
RELATED | Local company hoping to open limestone quarry near Wolverine Canyon in Bingham County
In December, BLM Project Manager Bryce Anderson told us the company still has several permits in Bingham County that need to be finalized before the mining operation gets underway.
“They also have a reclamation plan they would need to have approved through the Idaho Department of Lands,” Anderson said.
A March 2023 news release from the BLM says the company is planning to “actively mine in 20-acre blocks and concurrently reclaim the previously mined 20-acre block to minimize the total area of disturbance at any one time.”
“About 51 acres of additional disturbance associated with access, storage, infrastructure facilities, and truck loadout would exist for the life of the quarry and would be reclaimed when operations cease,” the news release says.
Anticipated disturbance of the landscape brings the total area of impact to 262 acres. The lifespan of the quarry will last 100 years.
A website devoted to locating mining claims shows Burns Industries has 136 active mining claims in that area.
EastIdahoNews.com will provide additional information when it becomes available.