BONANZA — Local, state and federal officials are investigating an early morning fire near Vernal that destroyed a building at a mining company’s processing plant.
Stuart Green, American Gilsonite Co.’s chief operating officer, says crews are still monitoring hot spots at the plant in remote Bonanza, about 40 miles east of Vernal.
Green says nobody was injured in the fire reported about 1 a.m. Wednesday.
The company is working with investigators from the Bureau of Land Management and the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
Gilsonite is a glossy, black hydrocarbon mineral resin used primarily in dark-colored printing inks and paints. The unique industrial mineral is found only in eastern Utah.
The company and its predecessors have been mining Gilsonite in the area since 1888.
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