[Federal Register: March 30, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 61)]
[Notices]
[Page 15155-15156]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr30mr07-94]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[NV-040-07-5110-CF05 1990-EX-1990; N82888]
Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for
an Expansion of Mining Operations at Barrick Gold Corporation's Bald
Mountain and Money Basin Mines, NV
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Intent.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with section 102(2)(c) of the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and 43 CFR part 3809, the Bureau of
Land Management (BLM) Ely Field Office, Nevada intends to prepare an
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for a proposed consolidation and
expansion of the existing Plans of Operation for Barrick Gold
Corporation's Bald Mountain Mine and Mooney Basin Mine located in White
Pine County, Nevada. The two existing mines would be combined into one
new expanded operation which would be called the North Operations Area.
The EIS will analyze anticipated impacts of the expansion under this
new consolidated Plan of Operation, and will incorporate analysis from
a previous EIS and environmental assessments associate with the
existing disturbance.
DATES: Publication of this notice initiates the public scoping process.
Scoping meetings will be held in Ely, Elko, and Eureka, Nevada. All
public meetings will be announced through local news media, newsletters
or flyers, and will be posted on the BLM Web site, http://www.nv.blm.gov/ely/2007_releases.htm
at least 15 days prior to each
event.
The minutes and list of attendees for each meeting will be
available to the public and open for 30 days after the meeting to any
participants who wish to clarify the views they expressed. Comments and
resource information should be submitted to the BLM within 30 days of
publication of this notice in the Federal Register.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
E-mail: lynn_bjorklund@nv.glm.gov.
Fax: 775-189-1910.
Mail: Bureau of Land Management, Ely Field Office,
Attention: Lynn Bjorklund, HC33 Box 33500, Ely, Nevada, 89301.
Documents pertinent to this proposal may be examined at the Ely
Field Office.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information and/or to have
your name added to our mailing list, contact Lynn Bjorklund, Ely Field
Office, at 775 289-1893 or by e-mail to lynn_bjorklund@nv.blm.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Barrick Gold Corporation has submitted a
proposal to expand and consolidate their existing Bald Mountain and
Mooney Basin Mines, which are located approximately 65 air miles
northwest of the town of Ely, Nevada. The project (consolidating the
existing Bald Mountain Mine N-68193 and Mooney
[[Page 15156]]
Basin Mine N-46-94-010P into one unified operation called the North
Operations Area) would consist of extending existing open pits,
expanding existing rock disposal areas and heap leach facilities,
construction of a truck shop, and continuing the operation,
reclamation, and closure of the existing Bald Mountain Mine and Mooney
Basin Mine operations (to include mine offices, truck shops/warehouse,
haul roads, ore stockpiles, access roads, diversion ditches, power
transmission lines, water wells and pipelines, process solution
transmission pipelines and a landfill). This proposed expansion is
entirely on unpatented mining claims on BLM-administered public land.
Project access would continue to be via existing public roads. The
projected life of the existing mine operation would increase
approximately 10 years under this proposed project.
Under the proposed action, there would be an additional disturbance
of 3,808 acres. The BLM previously authorized Barrick Gold Corporation
to disturb 3,418 acres within the Bald Mountain Mine Plan boundary and
742 acres within the Mooney Basin Plan boundary (for a total of
approximately 4,160 acres) associated with pits, rock disposal areas,
heap leaching, roads, growth media stockpiles, exploration, and
underground mining activities. The Proposed North Operations Area would
include the 4,160 acres of previously permitted disturbance and 3,808
acres of new disturbance, for a final disturbance footprint of 7,968
acres. The North Operations Area EIS would incorporate existing
analysis that includes several environmental assessments and the 1995
Bald Mountain Mine Expansion EIS.
Combining the Mooney Basin Mine and the Bald Mountain Mine into one
project area would result in the new North Operations Area project
boundary expanding to include an additional 3,738 acres of public land.
The original boundaries of the two mines encompassed 12,737 acres of
public land. The proposed project boundary for the North Operations
Area would encompass 16,475 acres. These project boundaries define an
area of potential operations although not all of the acreage within
these boundaries would be disturbed.
The purpose of the public scoping process is to determine relevant
issues that will influence the scope of the environmental analysis and
EIS alternatives. Federal, state, and local agencies, and other
individuals or organizations that may be interested in or affected by
the BLM's decision on this Plan of Operations amendment are invited to
participate in the scoping process. To be most helpful, you should
submit formal scoping comments within 30 days after publication of this
notice in the Federal Register.
Individual respondents may request confidentiality. Before
including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal
identifying information in your comment, be advised that your entire
comment--including your personal identifying information--may be made
publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to
withhold from public review your personal identifying information, we
cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. All submissions from
organizations, businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves
as representatives or officials of organizations or businesses will be
available for public inspection in their entirety. The minutes and list
of attendees for each public meeting will be available to the public
and open for 30 days after the meeting to any participants who wish to
clarify the views they expressed. All comments will be available to the
public for review at the Ely Field Office BLM throughout the EIS
process.
Potentially significant direct, indirect, residual, and cumulative
impacts from the proposed action will be analyzed in the EIS and will
include wildlife, BLM sensitive species, socioeconomics, and cultural
resources. Additional issues to be addressed may arise during the
scoping process.
Dated: February 26, 2007.
John R. Ruhs,
Field Manager.
[FR Doc. 07-1589 Filed 3-29-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-HC-M