According to eastIdahonews.com, 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 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.
“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 said 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 said in a news release.
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