* To verify whether or not there are Cinnabar deposits at the area of the quarry.
* To place wind barriers along the hillsides of the region and gauge particulate pollution originating from activity at the quarry.
* To preserve water resources.
"Company seeks to expand its strip mining in Solano County", 2013-08-07 by Tony Burchyns from Vallejo Times-Herald [http://www.timesheraldonline.com/news/ci_23811618/company-seeks-expand-its-strip-mining-solano-county] [https://archive.today/MHg7x]:
Syar Industries is seeking Solano County approval to nearly double its strip-mining operation near Vallejo. The project would expand the quarry pit from 113 to 211 acres and increase the permitted annual extraction rate from 2 million to 4 million tons. It would also deepen the pit by 200 feet and allow 24-hour operation during times of emergency or unusually high demand, according to its environmental impact report. Solano County planners released the environmental document on July 22. The public comment period ends Sept. 4.
The project is of interest to the city of Benicia, which has raised concerns about aesthetics, agriculture, traffic and natural habitats as well as air and water quality. The city's Sky Vallejo Open Space Committee is scheduled to review the environmental document on Aug. 21.
Located in unincorporated Solano County on the slopes of Sulphur Springs Mountain, the quarry is bordered to the north, east and south mostly by range land and open space. The Blue Rock Springs Golf Course, owned by Vallejo, is located northwest of the property.
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* "Mining Napa's eastern hills" (2013-07-13) [http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/mining-napa-s-eastern-hills/article_c6ca0fb0-ec15-11e2-bff9-001a4bcf887a.html] [https://archive.today/5vDSP]
Bay Area Concrete Aggregates: Syar - Lake Herman Quarry
[http://www.act-right.net/AggregateProject/syar-herman.shtml] [https://archive.today/HdHyw] (the webpage includes an erroneus map placing the quarry 20 miles away in another county!):
Lake Herman, Vallejo is a quarry producing 100% crushed basalt rock. This is currently mostly used for asphalt and aggregate base, since thus far it has been uneconomical to use for concrete aggregates.
Quarry total output is approximately 2 million tons per year, and supply is estimated at 50 years, although the quarry is up for re-permitting in three years.
Vallejo/Lake Herman Readymix Plant
[http://www.syarconcrete.com/concreteLakeHerman.html] [https://archive.today/gxH8t]:
Syar’s high production Vallejo/Lake Herman Readymix Plant, located in Vallejo, Solano County, primarily services Contra Costa, Napa and Solano counties as well as areas of Marin County with Caltrans specified concrete products. This plant is connected to Syar Concrete’s other locations through a centralized dispatch system which serves the needs of customers by dispatching readymix concrete products to construction projects from the plant with the quickest haul. Among other significant regional projects, this plant supplied much of the concrete poured at both Carquinez Bridges.
Syar quarry in Vallejo (2007) [https://archive.today/80XiQ]
Syar Vallejo gravel quarry 1993-2012 [https://archive.today/IHzrc]
Sulfur Mt will vanish - Syar industries at work since 1980's. (photo 2009-05)
Dark bluish-gray basaltic and the burnt-red tuffic rock line a Syar Industry Quarry in Vallejo as seen from the air on May 25, 2013 [https://archive.today/93Cjx]
Near St John's Mine, Vallejo [https://archive.today/9saaP]
* St. John's Mine (Wikipedia, retrieved 2015-02) [https://archive.today/mnxH2]: Principal ongoing impact is from mercury contamination of spring water flowing beneath the site. Furthermore, the drainage from St. John's Mine flows to receiving waters of Rindler Creek and thence to Lake Chabot. Miles of underground shafts were driven in the course of working the quicksilver deposits in the area. In 1989, Earth Metrics reviewed old 1918 maps of workings of the Hastings and St. John's Mines and found that mine shafts were not driven into the site prior to the year 1918.
More on the ecological fallout from closed mercury mines:
"Alaska seeks cleanup of mercury mine threatening villages" (2012-08-20) [https://archive.today/8Bal6]
