Oregon Resources Corp (ORC) mines for minerals such as chromite, garnet, zircon, titanium, magnetite, etc. within old beaches that are now hundreds of feet above sea level and one to three miles inland.  The deposits that ORC mines are called placer deposits. A placer deposit is a concentration of minerals that are resistant to breaking down by the forces of Mother Nature.

Beach Layers w/ Black Sand

Placers need four things to happen in order to become a deposit. First, there has to be a source for the minerals. In our case, the Klamath Mountains in southern Oregon and northern California include chromite, garnets, zircons, etc. The problem is, however, that they are in very hard rocks that are difficult to mine or spaced so far apart that mining just doesn’t make sense. That leads to the second task required to form a placer:  breaking down the rock and minerals. The Klamath Mountains are being broken down by rain, wind, freezing, thawing, animals burrowing, critters eating, etc. Mother Nature does the work of mining for us by breaking down and freeing up all of the minerals we are interested in.   The third requirement is transportation. Big rivers such as the Illinois, Rogue, Chetco, Coquille, and Sixes flush the broken down sand from the mountain and helps to weed out the minerals that aren’t strong, such as feldspars. These minerals dissolve and enter the rivers as elements, where they are washed to the ocean, helping to keep it salty! The minerals that don’t dissolve are placer minerals….the chromite, garnet, zircon, etc. 

The Final step that is needed involves the ocean. The rivers from the third step carry the sand to the ocean, where the Pacific slams it against the beach, rolling and shaking it up violently. This rounds, sizes, and sorts the good placer minerals from the quartz beach sand. Once a deposit of high concentration is formed, the beach is uplifted by the subduction zone that is offshore. The subduction zone is where two of earth’s crustal plates are colliding, causing great forces.  These forces are great enough to pop the land upwards. This is how the coastal range of Oregon is forming (and moving up as we speak!). The beaches where placer deposits are formed are lifted up too.  When the earth is lifted up, the ocean recedes and forms a new beach and placer. This has continued for several steps or terraces, forming what looks like a staircase, if you were to walk from the east to west.

Excavation and Reclamation, Side-by-Side

As we’ve noted in previous posts, we’ve planned for two operations underway simultaneously, side-by-side, at our south Seven Devils site—excavation and reclamation. That’s just what’s happening at the approximately three-acre parcel we have worked to this point.

So far it’s about 50-50 excavation and reclamation. At the excavation side, the dig has ranged from about 6 feet to 30 feet at the deepest. The tailings have been scooped up and trucked off to the separating plant, where the minerals are separated by gravity and magnets.

Concurrently, at the other end of the site, the reclamation is underway. While one side is scooping materials out of the ground to be trucked to the plant, the “non-economic” materials, in geology-speak, are being returned to where they came from. That means the quartz ,feldspar, and all the heavy minerals with no value other than as part of the in-fill are trucked back “home” and, with the help of bulldozers and a conveyor, are mixed in with the leftover pebbles, rocks and cobbles and the clay.

It’s not rocket science, but reclamation is a good, environmentally and ecologically sound operation that is more precise than it sounds.  The ground needs to be graded and returned to its original topography, meaning we put back in any conveyances, troughs or streams where they were originally located. We want all the water running in the same direction as it was.

RECENT RECLAMATION

To be sure we have it right a surveyor is on site, telling us it should be two feet here or eight feet there. The idea is to have all the water running in the same direction on the surface.

Any topsoil that was stored prior to mining is placed on top of the graded surface.

Then there is erosion control. You can’t just leave the site full of mud. We are using a natural form of erosion control—a grass mix that is seeded into the site.

Finally, we return what we call the “slash,” a term for all the stumps, snags, rhododendron plants and brush that was pushed off to the side of the site when it was excavated. We disperse it around the site per the landowners request because it adds nutrients for the trees, which will be replanted as the final step.

A Career and an Education

Brianna Hanson, the Marketing Manager at ORC, is an interesting and personable young woman, but also very driven. Already, she has worked as a manager for a real-estate company in Washington and Oregon, and for a Senator in Washington DC, where she met her husband. However, when Brianna moved with her husband back to Coos Bay two years ago to be close to her husband’s family, she thought she was giving up on her education and career. For her, the prospect of losing the opportunities for personal advancement was the hardest part about the move to Coos Bay.

Brianna Hanson

“When I began to hear about ORC, I wanted to find employment with them. I saw this company as a great opportunity,” she said. She began with managing the incoming shipments outside, but gradually gained responsibility. “What’s great about working for ORC is if you’re doing a good job, they’ll really take notice and reward your work,” she said. And her strong work ethic and personal drive has truly paid off. Now, she not only has a senior position within the staff as the Marketing Manager, but she is also working towards a graduate degree. “ORC is helping me to get a Masters in Science and Technology Communication,” she said with excitement. Recently, Brianna attended GIFA in Germany, one of the largest foundry conventions in the world, representing ORC and networking with international businesses.

Many of the people who work with Brianna will rave about her hardworking habits and intelligence. Yet Brianna is overwhelmingly grateful for the opportunity to work with ORC.  “I never thought I would be getting a masters education or having an exciting and challenging career,” she said. “It’s just such a blessing.”