PRINCE EDWARD — Luck Stone is close to getting a green light for a new quarry.

Very close.

“…We do not have the receipt of the actual letter stating permit, but we have been coordinating here recently with DMM (Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy). They say our permit has been approved and we just need to do a couple (of) things that are associated with paying fees and just additional copies of things that we’ve already provided to them as well as the criteria that will be published adjoining the permit—which would be items like management plans for environmental resources and things of that nature,” Luck Stone’s Director of Land Development Ben Thompson reported last week.

Luck Stone has plans to construct the quarry just west of Dowdy’s Corner off of U.S. Route 460 on approximately 330 acres, though such things take time and require a specific process. A hearing regarding Luck Stone’s permit application for the new quarry was held in October and no adjacent or nearby property owners spoke in favor of the project.

“…Our understanding at this point is that there were no challenges to our permit, that after the initial findings come out, there’s a window where individuals may express their desire to challenge the findings and no party participated in a challenge,” Thompson said.

This year, Luck is on track to move forward with the installation of an entrance and infrastructure required to open the site. An “open for sales date,” Thompson said, would be gradual and market driven.

“A lot will be dependent on…state work,” he said. “We haven’t seen a dramatic shift one way or another in the building economy in Prince Edward and surrounding areas…which is a good thing in many respects because that’s one of the reasons we wanted to go to Prince Edward was the stability as well as a good fit for geographic expansion for Luck. So those will be the key indicators that we’ll continue to watch…housing starts…commercial activity and then public road work.”

As for getting to the rock, that’s partially market driven, when they feel like there’s a comfortable demand.

“Some of the up front things that will occur, though, would be our intention to, upon installation of entrance road, to begin with earth work, which would be the removal of overburden on top of rock, and some, or hopefully much, of that material may move into the market for sales for site work where sites will not balance and people need borrowed material,” Thompson said.