The Virginia Transportation Construction Alliance (VTCA) was made aware of efforts in Buckingham County, Va., to remove mining from agricultural zoning districts.
The effort stems from gold mine exploration within the county. Residents stumbled upon a gold mining company drilling core samples on private property and the residents informed Buckingham County officials of the core drilling activities.
The county determined that since exploratory core drilling is not listed as a permitted activity in agricultural zones then it is not permitted and forced the company to cease drilling. In a board of supervisors/planning commission work session on Nov. 16, while county officials were looking for ways to permit core drilling in agricultural zones, a motion was made by the board of supervisors for the planning commission to hold a public hearing to consider eliminating all mining as a permitted activity within agricultural zones in the county. Mining is currently permitted in A-1 zones with a Special Use Permit.
The planning commission was also charged with developing a questionnaire for landowners to complete prior to exploratory core drilling on their property.
The planning commission met on Nov. 23 to discuss these issues. VTCA attended the meeting and was asked to comment about mining. “We explained that every type of mining is unique and that aggregate operations are significantly different from gold mines,” VCTA stated. “We also explained that aggregate mining is a very local operation and eliminating access to reserves would impact the cost of construction aggregates in the county. We also conveyed that confidential exploratory core drilling was critical for mine operators to prospect lands when determining the viability of a potential mine site.”
About 95% of Buckingham County is zoned agriculture. According to the state geologist, Buckingham County is one of the most mineral rich counties in the Commonwealth. Eliminating the ability to recover these resources would have long-term consequences.
The planning commission tabled both the removing mining from agriculture zones and developing a process to permit exploratory core drilling to gather more information on both issues.
“VTCA has offered to the county planning commission chair and the county zoning administrator our expertise and willingness to work with the county to provide information pertaining to mining and to assist in developing a reasonable outcome that would ensure the important mineral resources remain attainable while minimizing the impacts on the communities,” the association concluded.