A BYU geology professor says that the man who recently revealed his plans to mine Rock Canyon is simply trying to squeeze money out of Provo City, since there is no valuable rock to be found there.

Richard Davis, who is applying for mining rights, says he intends to turn the canyon into a quarry, but Dr. Bart Kowallis, a professor in the Department of Geology, said the only rock to mine there is quartzite, which is extremely common in Utah.

“This particular quarry is not unique,” Kowallis said. “There are several other places that could be mined without destroying a beautiful canyon.”

Kowallis said Davis is trying to pressure the city into buying the land from him since the mine would not be profitable. In fact, Kowallis said there are other quartzite mines in Utah that have shut down because they simply weren’t selling enough.

Last week, Davis told The Daily Universe he would be willing to sell the canyon — for the right price.

“No one has been willing to come and give me anything reasonable considering what it’s worth,” Davis said. “They want me to give it to them.”

Kowallis said mining the canyon would be “terribly detrimental” to the BYU geology students who use the area as a natural laboratory of sorts.

“With big trucks rolling up and down the canyon, it’s not going to be a place that’s safe for students,” Kowallis said.

Still, Kowallis said if it comes down to it, the city should be willing to buy the land.

“I think it would be worth it for us as citizens to pay this man to preserve the canyon,” he said.

Adam McKean, a geology teaching assistant from Colorado, said he has greatly benefited from taking field trips to Rock Canyon.

“Going to Rock Canyon is kind of the ‘a-ha’ moment of the semester,” McKean said. “It’s something they remember years down the road.”

McKean said the canyon is unique because it displays several geological sites in one relatively small area.

“There are other canyons we could go to but we wouldn’t see the same stuff,” he said. “To see everything we see in Rock Canyon, we would have to go to three or four different places.”

McKean said BYU is lucky to be located near a geological site like Rock Canyon, and he hopes it is preserved.

“It’s rare for a university to be so close to such a great natural resource,” he said.

Copyright Brigham Young University 13 Apr 2009