SPARKS, MD – Active Minerals International has received top honors from the Georgia Mining Association (GMA), winning the association’s 2016 President’s Award for Land Reclamation. This is the sixth mining reclamation award Active Minerals has won in as many years from the GMA, with five of those being the top award.
As the leading producer of gellant-grade attapulgite-based additives for paints, coatings, caulks, sealants and adhesives, Active Minerals (AMI) maintains decades of attapulgite reserves based in Georgia and other locations.
“Prompt and responsible reclamation enables the company to access and engineer resources customers need, when they need them, all while leaving the earth a better place,” according to Dennis Parker, CEO of Active Minerals. “This award reflects Active Minerals’ core values toward corporate social responsibility – doing what’s right for our community and our planet, as well as our customers and company.”
“The President’s Award acknowledges Active Minerals for doing an exemplary job restoring mined land to productive use,” said Lee Lemke, Executive Vice President of the Georgia Mining Association. “AMI did everything they could to improve the quality of reclamation in 2016, returning the ACR mine to grade, establishing a stable vegetative cover, and facilitating wildlife return.”
In its submission for the award, AMI stated its commitment to stakeholders extends to all who depend on the company to be leaders in the production of performance minerals, as well as good stewards of mining properties. “Manufacturers, property owners, neighboring residents and businesses, municipalities, local utilities, and the state all deserve to know that we are not only a leader in mining production and operations,” explained Parker. “We excel in ecological responsibility – as in research, formulation and customer service – because we go the extra step.”
AMI’s awards submission further explained how its approaches to timeliness, quality and advanced problem solving are success factors.
Timeliness
AMI begins the reclamation process even before the first scoop of soil is moved from the ground. The company employs a cut-and-fill method enabling Active Minerals to continuously reclaim a mine throughout the mining process.
In early 2015, the ACR Mine was nearing the extent of the ore body and by mid-2015 the reclamation process had begun.
Quality
AMI segregates the three different lanes of overburden, enabling the company to restore the stockpiled overburden to the mined area in the order in which it was removed. This allows for nature to begin the work of bringing our stakeholder’s land back to a productive state much faster.
Advanced Problem Solving
The ACR Mine reclamation came with the additional requirement that Active Minerals returning the land to a specified drainage profile and elevation without leaving a pond.
To surmount the challenge, Active Minerals brought in approximately 750,000 cubic yards of under-burden soil from an unopened mine nearby. This required an engineering and D.O.T. solution to construct a road crossing that would be sound, strong and safe for all that traveled on and across it.
The land was then molded back to the optimum profile and elevation by using GPS-guided heavy equipment. The final profile was confirmed by both a GPS survey and a drone aerial survey.
The End Result
The land was grassed and seeded in late 2015 and prepared for owner, Coastal Timber Co., to resume its planting and production of pine timber.
“AMI is setting the example and the bar for environmental excellence among mining companies,” Parker concluded. “It’s essential to keeping the quality and availability of attapulgite-based additives strong for many decades to come, and most of all, it’s the right thing to do.”
More information about Active Minerals attapulgite-based and other products is available at activeminerals.com.
