History
The JR Simplot Co. began mining in 1944 with a large phosphate deposit on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation north of Pocatello, Idaho. When ore reserves in the mid-1980’s started to run short at the Gay mine, a new mine was developed on federal leases near the Idaho-Wyoming border in Southeast Idaho. Today, Smoky Canyon is the sole source of ore for the Don Fertilizer Plant in Pocatello.
Construction of the Smoky Canyon Mine began in the summer of 1982. Construction of an on-site mill was started in 1983. The Smoky Canyon Mine was designed to be unique among the modern southeast Idaho phosphate mines. The phosphate ore is milled and beneficiated at the mine site. The Smoky Canyon Mine complex consists of an open-pit mine, an ore beneficiation plant, including a flotation circuit, a phosphate concentrate slurry line, a tailings thickener and tailing pipeline system, and a tailings impoundment.
At the mine design stage, the company decided to construct a slurry pipeline as an environmental friendly method to transport ore. No other Idaho phosphate mine had used this form of ore shipment before. Construction of the first section of the 8-inch inside diameter slurry pipeline was completed to the Simplot plant facility at Conda, Idaho, a distance of about 27 miles, in about 3 months, from late spring to early fall, 1983. The pipeline was unique and avoided damage to the environment caused by heavy truck transport. (need photo of main buildings area)
The Smoky Canyon Mine was brought online early in 1984 as a truck/shovel operation utilizing a P & H 2300 electric shovel, 170-ton Lectra Haul trucks, and 130-ton Caterpillar trucks for hauling both ore and waste. The pipeline went into operation in May of that year. After the ore was processed and slurried, it was sent on its way to the Simplot Conda facility. At Conda, the ore was dewatered and part of the ore was calcined. The calcined ore was then shipped by rail to a Simplot plant in California for further processing. The uncalcined ore was shipped by rail to the Simplot plant at Pocatello for manufacturing into fertilizer products. The Conda calciner was eventually shut down in 1985 and all ore was rail shipped to the Pocatello facility. In August, 1991, construction of the final phase of the slurry pipeline was completed, taking 3½ months and extending it 59 miles from Conda to the plant at Pocatello. Total distance for the pipeline is 86 miles. A booster pump facility was installed at Conda.
The J.R. Simplot Co. applied for a third fringe acreage lease on November 18, 1993. Phosphate lease I-30369 was issued to the company on October 1, 1995. The final piece of the Smoky Canyon Mine leasehold occurred on June 1, 1996 when the J.R. Simplot Co. acquired the Alumet Lease 015259.
In January, 1997, the U.S. Forest Service notified phosphate mining companies in southeast Idaho that elevated levels of selenium had been detected on and near phosphate mine sites. The Forest Service suspected the selenium of causing illness in some neighboring livestock. Phosphate industry representatives responded by joining federal and state agencies in an effort to collect pertinent data, analyze the situation, determine the extent of the problem, and to find a remedy.
A Mine & Reclamation Plan was submitted by the J.R. Simplot Co. in 2003. Simplot proposes to expand the existing Smoky Canyon Mine to recover phosphate ore from two undeveloped leases as the mine’s current reserves are depleted. These leases lie southwest of the existing operation between the Smoky Canyon Mine and Wells Canyon in the Manning and Deer Creek drainages.
In October 2006 a memorandum of agreement with state and federal agencies led to the construction of pipeline to reroute Pole Creek around the overburden disposal area in order to remediate high levels of selenium detected in water testing. The $3.2 million project is expected to be completed in 2007
See history of mining in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest from USFS video.
This 2 min. segment describes early exploration and mining in the forest.
