Roxul Inc. has decided to withdraw its application for a mineral exploration 40 kilometers up North Fork Road in Grand Forks.
The original application was put before council for comments on April 5 and outlined Roxul’s intentions to commence bulk sampling of material to test for its suitability for its plant operations.
“We’ve decided to cancel the permit,” stated Peter Regenberg, project manager of Grand Forks Roxul Inc. “We did apply for a mineral exploration, but we have decided to not proceed with the plan.”
Leslie McLaren, manager of government affairs and corporate communications for Roxul, did not respond as of press time.
Roxul had removed a small sample of talus material from the site for testing as raw material at its Grand Forks rock wool insulation plant.
According to the application, “The Friday Quarry is (a) clean coarse bolder talus deposit, developed along the base of a moderate east-southeast facing slope.”
Had the application proceeded, Roxul would have asked for permission to remove a one-time 10,000-ton bulk sample from the site for large scale testing.
An excavator would have been used to collect the bulk sample, though no drilling or blasting would have been done.
The material would be crushed on site using a portable crushing plant and then hauled to the Grand Forks site by a haul truck.
According to the application, there is existing road access to the quarry site, no timber would be disturbed and there would have been negligible impact to other land users and to the environment.
