CLEWISTON, FL.— U.S. Sugar Corporation has signed a lease agreement with Stewart Mining Industries, Inc., of Fort Pierce to mine aggregate rock on some of the company’s land in western Palm Beach County.

The long-term lease agreement includes 4000 acres of land near 20-mile Bend and west of Palm Beach Aggregates. The initial plan calls for mining up to 100 acres a year. The excavated property will have long-term potential for water storage. To minimize the impact on local highways, the majority of the aggregate will be transported by rail.

Stewart Mining currently operates two aggregate mines—one in Ft. Pierce and one in Jasper, Florida. Aggregate rock materials are primarily used throughout Florida for road building and other residential and commercial construction projects.

Not all of the property leased will be mined initially, with market demand determining the mining schedule. As part of the agreement, U.S. Sugar reserves the right to continue farming leased land not currently involved in mining operations.

Florida Department of Environmental Protection and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials toured the property and determined that no wetlands would be affected by the mining operations.

“This mining lease is a part of U.S. Sugar’s effort to maximize its land assets during a business and global trade atmosphere that has forced us to reduce the acreage devoted to sugar cane,” said Robert Coker, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs.

“We will continue to look for opportunities to find the highest and best use of land that will not be farmed on a short or long-term basis,” Coker said.