Owners of a one-time silica mine in southern Illinois are donating the property to a Michigan-based group that works to help the endangered Indiana bat.
The Southern Illinoisan reports that a deal that was decades in the making came to a close last week as Unimin President and CEO Campbell Jones gave ownership of Magazine Mine to Organization for Bat Conservation Executive Director Rob Mies.
The mine will be the protected home of more than 45,000 endangered Indiana bats.
Jones says that although his company is responsible for industrial mineral mining, they also have another goal to "advance life." He says the company is more a steward of the land than an owner of the land they mine.
Mies says he is thrilled to take ownership of the site.
