The Mineral-Rich South Oregon Coast—A Colorful History

It was a search for gold that first drew prospectors—mostly wayward ‘49ers spilling over from the California Gold Rush—to the mineral-rich south Oregon coast way back in the middle 1800’s.  Today it’s chromite, garnet, zircon, and other valuable minerals.

Excavating in earnest really began in the 1940s during World War II.  Backed by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), a pair of private contractors broke ground in the Seven Devils area, the same spot that Oregon Resources Corporation is preparing for excavation this month.  The old concrete structures and corrugated buildings left over from the World War II work can still be found in the area.

The WWII workers were also excavating for chromite, which they made into a chromite concentrate they shipped east to be used in stainless steel that the DOD needed for the war effort.  Back then, the DOD didn’t want to rely on foreign sources for chromite during the war and the southern Oregon coast was found to be the one area where it was abundant.  They called these “strategic minerals” and the mining was of great importance.

A similar situation exists today. South Africa, India, and Kazakhstan are currently the world’s major chromite producers and it’s not being produced in the United States.  Our operation will create the first domestic source of chromite since the 1940s.  And our research shows the Oregon coast generates a higher quality of chromite than can be found anywhere else in the world.

We’re going to work a little differently than the old WWII miners did, however.  In those days, no one paid much attention to reclamation of the land, not because they didn’t care, but because the consequences weren’t known or understood.  We respect the rich natural resources of the Oregon coast and are committed to leaving the land in better condition than how we found it.