A mining company has abandoned its plans for a project that would have been located in the Mississippi riverbed.
In November 2025, the city of Cottage Grove approved an environmental review for a proposed gravel mine in the Mississippi River bottom — despite widespread public outcry. (Read more about this project and the city’s approval vote.)
Amrize (formerly known as Holcim Industries) was hoping to dig a 200-foot-deep mine pit in the riverbed to extract aggregate (sand and gravel) next to its current upland mine on Lower Grey Cloud Island. This mine expansion would have caused significant damage to a treasured Mississippi backwater…