Lake Elsinore To Consider Clay Mining Operation

The Lake Elsinore Planning Commission will take up the issue of mining in Lake Elsinore once again.

During a public hearing beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, the commission will consider plans to allow clay mining on an 85.76-acre site in the city.

Maruhachi Ceramics of America (MCA), a Corona-based company that produces customized clay roofing tiles, wants to begin mining clay on the Alberhill Southwest Shale Mine site located at the 15 Freeway on the east side, between Nichols Road and Lake Street. The mining would take place in phases over a period of 15 years, according to city documents.

Because mining has been ongoing in the area for decades, MCA, which owns the site, is exempted from the Western Riverside County Multi Species Habitat Conservation Plan and has a vested right to mine, according to city documents.

But MCA is required to have a reclamation plan in place for when mining is complete on the site -- with financial assurances that it can implement the plan -- before the city allows excavation to begin, according to city documents.

Tuesday night, the planning commission will decide whether to approve the reclamation plan, whether to give approval to a mitigated negative declaration, and it will confirm that MCA has a vested right to mine the site.

City staff is recommending that the commission approve the reclamation plan, the mitigated negative declaration and the vested mining rights.

The reclamation plan’s goal is “to restore mined lands to a usable condition which is readily adaptable for alternate land uses compatible with zoning and the general plan,” according to city documents.

As for the mitigated negative declaration, staff reported the project “may have potentially significant impacts on the environment,” but “all … could be mitigated to a level of insignificance.”

Click here to read the full agenda and documentation for Tuesday’s 6 p.m. public hearing at the Cultural Center located at 183 No. Main Street.