| Blue Diamond Mine | |
| Place: | Clark County |
| State/Province: | Nevada |
| Country: | United States |
The Blue Diamond Mine and mill is a gypsum production facility at Blue Diamond Hill in Clark County, Nevada.[1] The mine was initially owned by a Los Angeles company known as Blue Diamond, which began mining the land in 1925. An on-site processing plant was added in 1941, followed a year later by the construction of a nearby company town, known as Blue Diamond, Nevada. The mine was eventually sold to James Hardie Gypsum, which expanded operations in 1998. BPB took over the gypsum factory a few years later, and developer Jim Rhodes purchased 2,400 acres in 2003.
In 1924, the Blue Diamond company of Los Angeles purchased a 1,000-acre site for $75,000, and began mining its large deposit of gypsum.[2] [3] The site posed various obstacles for the development of a mining operation, including cost. There were no roads leading to the area, and there was no railroad connection leading to the Union Pacific line in nearby Arden, Nevada.[3] A railroad spur line was built to connect the mine to Arden, located about 11 miles southeast.[4] [5] Quarry equipment and the construction of employee housing put the total project cost at more than $1 million.[3] The mine opened in 1925. The initial production capacity was approximately 200 tons per day, a figure that was gradually increased with equipment improvements. Open-pit and underground mining took place at the site.[3]
In 1941, Blue Diamond added a processing plant on-site for the gypsum, which had previously been processed in Los Angeles.[3] [6] [7] Gypsum was mined at the top of Blue Diamond Hill and was transported by tram to the area below, where it was processed.[3] [8] The Blue Diamond Corporation subsequently built a company town in 1942, named Blue Diamond, Nevada.[3] The mine, plant, and mill were expanded over the next decade. As of 1954, it had 325 employees.[9] Gypsum is extracted from the upper portion of the Permian Kaibab Formation. The gypsum layer is on the westward slope of Blue Diamond Hill.
See also: Blue Diamond Hill housing proposals. James Hardie Gypsum eventually purchased the mine, and expanded operations there in 1998. It had 150 employees by the end of the decade.[10] In 1999, James Hardie put 2,700 acres of its mine land up for sale, at a price of $45 million.[11] In 2002, BPB agreed to purchase James Hardie's gypsum factory, located at the bottom of Blue Diamond Hill.[12] [13] [14] Meanwhile, John Laing Homes was planning a purchase of approximately 2,000 acres atop Blue Diamond Hill, part of James Hardie's mining operation.[13] [15] John Laing planned to build a residential community on the land, but later withdrew its proposal amid opposition.
In 2003, developer Jim Rhodes purchased 2,400 acres from James Hardie. Rhodes also intended to develop a residential project on the land,[16] and he launched tours of the mining operation hoping to win public support for the project. Rhodes argued that housing would be a better use of the land, rather than the continuation of mining.[17] Rhodes' mining operation closed in 2005.[18] [19]
As of 2008, BPB operated a processing plant at Blue Diamond Hill, for gypsum that was shipped in from Arizona.[20] Rhodes' residential project received opposition, and he resumed gypsum mining on his property around 2011, while still trying to get the housing proposal approved.[18] As of 2014, he was selling approximately 1 million tons of gypsum each year through his company, Gypsum Resources.[21] In 2018, Rhodes sold 1,375 acres in mining claims to a Denver company.[22] Gypsum Resources filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2019.[23]