Published: July 11, 2022 |

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A mining company that extracts sand and gravel on Grey Cloud Island southeast of the Twin Cities is seeking to expand its operations into the Mississippi River itself.

According to project documents, Aggregate Industries, which mines the lower part of the island between Rosemount and Cottage Grove, in the next two decades wants to expand mining operations into 230 acres of the riverbed south of the island. The company says it has about five years left before its current site is exhausted.

The river bottom in the area was dry land before nearby Lock and Dam 2 was built in 1930, which is why it’s owned by a partnership that leases the land to the miners. It’s just outside the river’s navigational channel.

Melissa Collins, a regional environmental assessment ecologist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, wrote in an e-mail that the DNR isn’t aware of any other place in the state where a company mines in the waters of the Mississippi.

The mining hole would be 200 feet deep, which the company says it would fill partially with unusable material once it’s done with mining.

“It’s very unusual that a private company gets to dig a hole in the river,” said Colleen O’Connor Toberman, land use and planning program director for the nonprofit Friends of the Mississippi River.

A representative of Aggregate’s parent company, Holcim U.S., said in a written statement that the firm was working closely with regulators and Cottage Grove officials to study potential environmental impacts.

“This area has the potential to provide the Twin Cities market with construction aggregates for an additional 20 years, but until we have completed the environmental assessment, we won’t be in a position to finalize any plans,” company spokeswoman Jocelyn Gerst said.

For now the company is working on an environmental impact statement, which will outline possible effects of the mining. The document is supposed to be completed by March.

Residents have concerns, he said, about the location of a conveyor belt that would extend from the new gravel site to Aggregate’s processing plant on the island’s other side.

At the same time, the proposed mining expansion raises questions about long-running plans to establish a major park on the island. Some land has already been purchased by both Cottage Grove and Washington County for the park.

Cottage Grove Mayor Myron Bailey admitted it’s been frustrating to plan for the park. Previously, the city expected that Aggregate would be done with the island in five years. But the dates keep changing, he said.

“There really isn’t a lot we can do with putting a park or a development down there until they solidify their plans. It’s going to cost money, and it’s going to take years to put all those things together,” Bailey said.

Bailey said that he doesn’t oppose the project, though he has some concerns about PFAS contamination ending up back on the island if unused material is deposited there.

The full effects of the project might not be clear until the environmental impact statement is completed next year. “I think that will give us a lot more clarity,” O’Connor Toberman said.

Source: Star Tribune

About Aggregate Industries
Aggregate Industries is a Provider of raw building materials. The company manufactures and supplies a range of heavy building materials, primarily aggregates such as stone, asphalt and concrete, to the construction industry and other business sectors. The company seeks to expand and consolidate its presence in the construction sector through mergers, acquisitions and investments. The company was acquired by Holcim on February 1, 2005.

To stop by Aggregate Industries’ website, CLICK HERE

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