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WORLAND – The proposed Washakie County Wyo-Ben bentonite project one mile west of Ten Sleep has been years in the making and is up for public input before the final decision is made.

"We probably started the data collection process 4 to 4.5 years ago. We would have submitted parts of it 2 to 2.5 years ago. It's a lengthy process, the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) is very thorough. They have an obligation to be very thorough and we appreciate that. It has to go through the entire environmental review process and make sure that we are going to comply with all the laws, all the guidelines and all the reclamation requirements," Wyo-Ben Vice President of Manufacturing Rick Magstadt said.

According to a BLM news release, "Wyo-Ben, Inc. proposes to conduct new bentonite mining and concurrent reclamation on public land in the Castle Gardens area located approximately 1 mile west of Ten Sleep. The proposal consists of mining 12 to 18 acres per year for an estimated 10-20 years for a proposed disturbance of approximately 522 acres."

Wyo-Ben will be using the castback mining technique, which is better for the environment than many older techniques. "The two most important words are castback mining. Castback mining is a form of continuous reclamation. So we have a fairly narrow pit that is about 200 feet wide and the one phase is about 400-450 feet long. What we do is, we take the over burden from the hole that we have made and we cast it back in the other hole. So we are always moving our overburden into the old hole. With four phases, by the time we get our four phases set up we are actually moving our top soil live. Moving topsoil live is really important piece in reclamation. We get much better growth if we can move our topsoil when all the microbes are alive in the topsoil," Magstadt said.

Castback mining

According to the blm.gov website, "Soil handling in castback mining is also more economically and environmentally sound than in older mine techniques. Stockpiling soil for long periods of time can be detrimental to the resource. Castback mining reduces or eliminates stockpiling time. After the first phase of overburden is contoured in-place, it can be soiled with stockpiled top and subsoils obtained from the first few phases of mining. Upon backfilling and contouring of the first and subsequent phases of mining, soils can be spread 'live' as it is being removed from subsequent phases. This reduces the degradation of soil microbes, and increases vegetation establishment due to seed propagules contained in the soil."

The Washakie County bentonite project will not create more jobs in the area but will keep the job market steady. "The project won't necessarily create jobs but it will sustain them, without the bentonite we can't keep things going," Magstadt said.

The review period for the project runs through Dec. 2, 2015.

Comments may be emailed to [email protected]; please include "Wyo-Ben" in the subject line. Comments may also be mailed to Field Manager, BLM Worland Field Office, 101 S. 23rd Street, Worland, WY 82401.