Kirkland Mining Company

Kirkland Mining Company is a family-owned enterprise that has owned the Kirkland claims and adjacent property for many years and has spent the last five years investing in and planning to mine the High Quality Pozzolan (HQP) deposit known as the Kirkland Mine.

Our Vision

is for KMC to lead a broad movement to an environment where natural minerals, in their simplest forms, return to being the most dominant types of building and processing materials in the world. We believe the unique quality of our material, our team and our plan will allow us to lead that change.

Our Mission

Is to continually employ the best practices available in safety, environmental and operational management to unlock the maximum value of the unique Kirkland Pozzolan material while imparting the smallest and most responsible impact on our land, our people and our communities along the way.

History

In 1958, the quarry was leased to Capital Quarries to provide dimensioned stone for construction of the Arizona State Capitol Building. In 1979, the “Kitty Litter Mine” began shipping oil absorbent material. In late 1980s the mine was closed, the equipment was removed, and an estimated 45,000-ton stockpile from that operation has remained since.

In 1991 Kirkland Mining Company was developed to determine the “highest and best” use of the mineral deposit under the claims. Shortly thereafter, a 100,000 ton sales contract was executed with the BLM, including an accepted mining plan of operation and environmental assessment, for material intended to be used as oil absorbent in the cleanup one of the largest oil spills in our country’s history.

In 2012, as the shortage of fly ash (man-made pozzolan) supply for the concrete industry became increasingly evident, the studies on the effectiveness of the Kirkland HQP as a natural pozzolan began.

In 2013, Arizona State University analyzed the potential use of the Kirkland HQP as a fly ash alternative. Through advanced testing, it was determined the HQP (a chalky, off-white material) located on the KMC claims could reliably be used to complement or replace the use of fly ash in concrete. 

In 2016, KMC certified, through third party resource and geology evaluation reports, that the Kirkland deposit includes more than 39 million tons of HQP reserves on just 76 acres of the 320 acre claim block.

In 2017, BLM made the determination that the HQP found in the Capital Claim met the standard of a locatable Uncommon Variety mineral not subject to the Common Varieties Act

In 2018, BLM approved a mining and reclamation plan to mine 23 million tons of HQP from 88 acres within the mining claim block during a 40-year mine life.