Bayer AG subsidiary P4 Production LLC secured federal approval for three mining leases for the Caldwell Canyon phosphate project in Idaho, the Associated Press reported Aug. 17.
The report said the property was owned by Monsanto Co., which Bayer acquired for US$62.5 billion last year. The project will comprise two open pits covering about 1,200 acres. Idaho officials already approved the lease on state land.
Previous mining in the area left large amounts of byproduct selenium, which polluted nearby streams and contaminated plants that killed sheep and horses grazing in the site, the report said.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management greenlighted the project with environmental safeguards, such as the construction of roads outside sensitive habitats and use of a special type of cover on backfill to reduce groundwater impacts.
The project will save the jobs of 185 miners at the nearby Blackfoot Bridge mine, which will run out of phosphate ore, and keep 585 jobs at P4's processing plant in Soda Springs for the 40-year mine life, the report said, citing the company's final environmental impact statement released in May.
