A shuttered mine in Horry County wants to return to operations and grow within the roughly 30 acres it has to work within along a rural road off of Highway 90.

The Edge Road Mine has captured some controversy however since it was approved, then forced to stop all operations in late 2021. That was because the agency overseeing and regulating mines, SC DHEC, approved its permit with an expired coastal zone certificate allowing operations within the coastal plains of Horry County.

Now, Soilutions LLC wants to grow the mine from 4.8 acres to 24.1. (...)

Environmentalists have continued their stance that the agency should never have allowed the mine there in the first place.

"The mining act states that DHEC shall deny a mining permit when it will have undone adverse effects on wildlife, violate standards of water quality, or have a significantly adverse effect on a publicly owned park or forest. This mine checks all of those boxes," said SC Environmental Law Project Staff Attorney Emily Nellermoe.