The Coos County Planning Commission is scheduled to meet Thursday night and take public testimony on Oregon Resources Corporation's interest in mining a fine, black sand called chromite near Bandon and processing it in Bunker Hill.

The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. in the Coquille Annex, 290 N. Central Avenue.

Last October, Oregon Resources Corp., won approval from the commission to begin a one-year trial for the chromite processing plant at the site of the former Glenbrook Nickel plant.

Thursday's public hearing concerns ORC's request to site a mineral sands processing plant within the Coos Bay Estuary Management Plan zone on property owned by Teck Cominco American, Inc. in Bunker Hill and site a mineral sands mining operation, north of Bandon, within zones currently classified for forest and forest mixed use.

Coos County Planning Director Patty Evernden said she is recommending the Planning Commission approve the full plant and the mining operation. She said it is possible the commission will impose some restrictions at either location, but “I have not recommended any restrictions,” Evernden said.

Proponents of the project say the South Coast economy will be infused with 65 new jobs that could last up to 20 years, ensuring work for local haulers, and possibly longshoremen if operations expand to water transport.

However, some of the plant's neighbors are worried Oregon Resources will repeat the actions of the former mining company located there. Neighbors successfully sued Glenbrook Nickel in a class-action lawsuit due to the health issues brought about by the fine, red nickel dust that coated the neighborhood.

Meanwhile, neighbors also have expressed concerns about how mining operations will impact the environment and increased truck traffic.

For less than a year, ORC has been operating a pilot plant, and has been restricted to hauling a total of 50 cubic yards, or about 10 dump truck loads, of chromite to the plant. Oregon Resource officials said last year they believe there is enough chromite locally, from lands the company has leased between Bandon and Charleston, to keep a plant in operation for about 20 years. The company's president, Cheryl Wilson, has been working on the project since 1989. The doubling in the price of chromite over the last five years - from $61 per metric ton to $110 per metric ton - is driving the project.

The chromite would be shipped to foundries in Portland to make molds for customers such as Caterpillar, the heavy construction industry giant, and Esco, a Portland headquartered company that manufactures metal parts for industrial use.

Chromite mining was a short-lived South Coast industry during World War II on 2,000 acres of rugged forestland stretching south from Seven Devils Road near Charleston.

- World Staff Writer Carl Mickelson