[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 78 (Friday, April 23, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21343-21344]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-9368]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[LLNVB0200000 L51100000.GN0000 LVEMCF020000 241A; 10-08807;
MO4500011977; TAS: 14X5017]
Notice of Availability of the Final Environmental Impact
Statement for the Round Mountain Expansion Project, Nye County, NV
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Availability.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969, as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of
1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared a
Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Round Mountain
Expansion Project and by this notice is announcing its availability.
DATES: The BLM will not issue a final decision on the proposal for a
minimum of 30 days from the date that the Environmental Protection
Agency publishes its notice in the Federal Register.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the Round Mountain Expansion Project Final EIS are
available for public inspection at the BLM Tonopah Field Office, 1553
South Main Street, Tonopah, Nevada, during regular business hours of
7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays.
Interested persons may also review the Final EIS at the following Web
site: http://www.blm.gov/nvst/en/fo//battle_mountain_field.html.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Chris Worthington, Planning and
Environmental Coordinator, (775) 635-4000; BLM Battle Mountain
District, 50 Bastian Road, Battle Mountain, Nevada 89820-1420; e-mail:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Round Mountain Gold Corporation, which
is a joint venture of Kinross Gold Corporation and Barrick Gold
Corporation, proposes to expand its Round Mountain Mine, an existing
open-pit gold mining and processing operation. The Round Mountain Mine
is located in central Nevada approximately 55 miles north of Tonopah in
Nye County.
The proposed Project would expand mining operations in the Round
Mountain area and develop new open pit mining and leaching facilities
several miles to the north in the Gold Hill area. Mine expansion in the
Round Mountain area would increase the existing Round Mountain mine
plan boundary by 3,122 acres to a total of 10,385 acres; expand the
Round Mountain pit by 209 acres to approximately 1,289 acres; expand
the dewatering operations by 1,325 gallons per minute (gpm) to a
maximum rate of 7,525 gpm; allow for underground mining operations
within the Round Mountain Pit; expand the north waste rock dump by 700
acres to approximately 1,919 acres; allow for the construction of a new
north dedicated leach pad with a footprint of approximately 538 acres;
increase the daily production capacity of the Round Mountain Mill from
11,000 tons per day to 22,000 tons per day; and increase tailings
disposal capacity from a currently authorized 677 acres to
approximately 1,607 acres.
Development in the Gold Hill area would include delineating a
project boundary of approximately 4,928 acres; excavating an open pit
with a footprint of approximately 222 acres; creating two waste rock
dumps with combined footprints of approximately 552 acres; constructing
and operating a heap leach facility and lined solution ponds with a
footprint of approximately 300 acres; and constructing a 1.1 mile
transportation and utility corridor of about 66.2 acres between the
Round Mountain area and the Gold Hill area. The primary method of
processing low-grade ore in the Gold Hill area would be heap leaching.
A range of action alternatives was developed and analyzed to
address the concerns and issues that were
[[Page 21344]]
identified. The alternatives include processing all Gold Hill ore in
the Gold Hill area rather than trucking some ore to Round Mountain for
processing (Gold Hill area processing alternative); constructing an
overpass rather than a grade crossing at the intersection of the
transportation and utility corridor and County Road 875 (County Road
Overpass Alternative); and completing mining at Round Mountain under
current BLM authorizations (No Action Alternative). Other alternatives
considered, and the rationale for their elimination from detailed
analysis, are also discussed. Mitigation measures have been identified,
as needed, to minimize potential environmental impacts and to ensure
that the proposed project would not result in undue or unnecessary
degradation of public lands. In addition, the Final EIS includes an
analysis of cumulative impacts, including a comprehensive evaluation of
potential impacts to Native American cultural values.
The BLM mailed information on the proposed Round Mountain Mine
expansion to the Timbisha, Duckwater, Yomba, and Ely tribes in December
2006. Tribal representatives and individuals attended scoping meetings
for the project in January 2007. Several informal meetings were held at
the Round Mountain Mine attended by tribal representatives and members
of the newly formed Western Shoshone Descendents of Big Smoky Valley.
Six of these informal meetings were held between June 2007 and April
2009. Some of the meetings included field trips to inspect cultural
sites discovered during cultural surveys of the proposed project area.
The tribes and some Native American individuals received copies of the
Draft EIS for the proposed mine expansion. Some tribal representatives
and individuals attended the two BLM-hosted public meetings on the
Draft EIS held on August 18 and 19, 2009. Written comments from Native
Americans were received at the meetings and by mail during the public
comment period (July 31, 2009 to September 14, 2009). The comments, and
the responses to the comments, are incorporated into the Final EIS.
A Notice of Intent to prepare an EIS was published in the Federal
Register on December 26, 2006. Two public scoping meetings were held in
2007 in Hadley and Tonopah, Nevada. The Draft EIS was released for
public review on July 21, 2009, with a 45-day comment period. Following
release of the Draft EIS, two public comment meetings were held in
Hadley and Tonopah in August 2009 to solicit additional comments on the
document. Comment responses and resultant changes in the impact
analyses are documented in the Final EIS.
Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6.
Thomas J. Seley,
Manager, Tonopah Field Office.
[FR Doc. 2010-9368 Filed 4-22-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-HC-P