Local News fom February 25, 2010 issue

The Crittenden Press Full Version (PDF)

Fluorspar mining returns to area
When Don Hastie started mining fluorspar in southern Illinois 45 years ago, it was a fairly lucrative business. Then, China derailed the world market by selling fluorspar cheaper than it could be produced in America.
Now, Hastie is banking on China’s higher prices to grab another piece of the pie. His company, Hastie Mining and Trucking of Cave In Rock, Ill., is investing more than $3 million in Crittenden and Livingston counties to mine and mill fluorspar.
It will be the first active fluorspar mine in the United States in 15 years, Hastie said. It will be the first fluorspar mine in western Kentucky in almost 30 years.
At 68, Hastie knows the dynamics of mining and marketing. His company sells limestone, lime, spar and other materials.
“China could drop the price if they want to. Their government sets the price,” he said. “In 1995, I could buy all of the fluorspar I wanted right here from a barge for $80 a ton. So, that’s what they can do it for.”
Today, Hastie says China is charging $350-380 per ton, including tariffs, for high-grade fluorspar. Mexico charges a little less, but it’s still much higher than it was just over a decade ago.
“China raised the price because they’re using a lot more for themselves,” Hastie said.
With prices that high, this veteran miner thinks he can restart a fluorspar industry in western Kentucky that was once its bread and butter. Fluorspar was king in Crittenden County for many years, especially during World War II. In the first half of the 20th century there were dozens of mines and thousands of men working below and above ground. In the 1950s, Mexico started cutting into the local mining industry then by 1980, China had brought it to its knees.
Hastie purchased the old Cerro Mine and Milling Plant northeast of Salem at a bankruptcy sale a few years ago. It sits in Crittenden County. Hastie has also leased the mineral rights to an additional 1,200 acres south of U.S. 60 in Livingston County between Burna and Salem. He is putting in an incline mine near what’s commonly known as the Old Klondike Mine area. The new mine will be called Klondike II.
The mining operation is itself quite unique for the spar industry. Hastie’s crews will be in essence digging a large hole into the side of a bluff. The fluorspar they’re after is 200 feet below the surface.
The company tested core samples for several years and began the permitting process to open the new mine almost two years ago. Dirt work has already begun at the mine site and Hastie thinks his crews will be at the vein of ore identified for extraction by the end of summer. The vein is 60 feet wide, 300 feet deep and more than 4,000 feet long. For more on this story, see this week's printed edition, or subscribe to the full version of The Crittenden Press Online.


Local trooper involved in Hopkins County investigation
A teenager riding in a vehicle suspected in a series of early morning robberies died after crashing in Hopkins County Saturday morning while Trooper Darron Holliman of Salem was pursuing them.
The wreck happened at the intersection of U.S. 41 and U.S. 62 near Nortonville. Holliman, a former Crittenden County deputy who often patrols in Marion, had been called along with another trooper, Derek Smith, to assist Hopkins County Sheriff’s Department with a burglary in process, according to a state police news release.
Det. Shawn Bean of the Hopkins County Sheriff’s Department said there had been three home invasion robberies in the hour leading up to the wreck. He confirmed that police believe the vehicle involved in the wreck was linked to the robberies. Shots were fired in two of the robberies, Bean said, and a woman was shot in the leg at one of the homes.
According to state police accounts, Holliman had met the suspected vehicle, which was running at a high rate of speed. When he turned around and started to follow it, the wreck occurred as the suspected vehicle failed to stop at an intersection. Holliman was close enough to see the collision, but was not right behind the vehicle, according to Stu Recke, a state police spokesperson. The wreck occurred at 4:29 a.m.
There were four individuals in the 2006 Ford Taurus, which was hit at the intersection by a Kenworth tractor-trailer driven by Earl Brown, 53, of Dawson Springs.
An unnamed juvenile in the suspected vehicle was pronounced dead at the scene by the Hopkins County coroner.
The driver of the Taurus was Christopher Adams, 19, of Madisonville. Another passenger was Phillip Windham, 20, of Madisonville. There were two unnamed juveniles in the car, a male and a female, ages 17 and 15, respectively. The male died at the scene.
All three other individuals in the car were flown to Evansville and were initially listed in critical condition.
The driver of the tractor-trailer was transported to Regional Medical Center for treatment.
Det. Bean would not say whether all of the individuals in the car were suspects. He said three people were reportedly involved in the robberies.
The automobile involved in the wreck has also been linked to a burglary in Caldwell County and auto thefts that occurred prior to the early Saturday morning robberies, according to a news release from the Hopkins County Sheriff’s Department.
“The sheriff’s office has also been able to establish a link between the victims of the robberies and burglaries to at least one of the passengers inside the crash vehicle,” the news release said.
The investigation into the series of crimes and the fatal accident is continuing by the Hopkins County Sheriff’s Department and Kentucky State Police.

Outdoor writers being wooed
Together Crittenden and Lyon counties are a finalist for the Association of Great Lakes Outdoors Writers’ Spring 2011 fishing and turkey hunting feature.
Michele Edwards, director of tourism in Marion, said she and a Lyon County representative will be in Michigan City, Ind., this weekend to make a final presentation. If selected, hosting the writers could be a major boom for tourism.
“The last time they were in western Kentucky was in 1971 for crappie fishing, and everyone says it was amazing the interest that was generated,” Edwards said.
If selected, 40 outdoor writers would converge on Crittenden for turkey hunts and Lyon for fishing trips the week of April 19, 2011. Each would have one year to publish an article in a national magazine.
The local tourism directors are going up against Niagara Falls, N.Y., this weekend, trying to woo the writers for next year. Branson, Mo., is where the writers’ association will be this spring. A final decision will be announced Monday.
Crittenden and Lyon tourism leaders would have to secure lodging, hunting, fishing, transportation and meals for the writers while they are here.