BLM NEWS RELEASE
WINNEMUCCA — The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Winnemucca District (WD), Black Rock Field Office, published a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Hycroft Mine Expansion Project, Humboldt and Pershing Counties, Nev. in the Federal Register on April 1, 2011. The BLM would appreciate receiving substantive comments by June 29, 2011.
Hycroft Resources and Development, Inc. proposes to expand the existing open pit gold mine operation and associated disturbance of 1,371 acres by an additional 2,041 acres to encompass a total of 3,412 acres on public land, and increase acres of disturbance on private land controlled by Hycroft to 1,812 acres. The proposed project could extend the mine life 12 years and provide an additional 340 jobs.
Preliminary issues identified by the BLM include the potential for waste rock, heap leach or pit walls to produce acid rock drainage or heavy metals; potential visual impacts to the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon-Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area and the Black Rock Wilderness Area; and potential impacts to sage grouse habitat.
A range of alternatives will be developed to address the issues identified during public scoping. Mitigating measures will be considered to minimize environmental impacts and to assure the proposed action does not result in unnecessary or undue degradation of public lands.
Federal, state and local agencies and other individuals or organizations that may be interested in or affected by BLM’s decision on the Hycroft Mine Expansion Project are invited to participate in the scoping process with respect to this EIS.
The BLM will hold three open-house meetings on the proposal during May, 2011 in Winnemucca, Lovelock, and Gerlach, Nevada. Dates for the meetings will be announced in separate correspondence, and on our webpage at www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo/blm_information/nepa0.html. Public comments will be accepted at all meetings.
Public comments may be submitted via regular mail to: Kathleen Rehberg, Attn: Hycroft Mine Expansion EIS, BLM Black Rock Field Office, 5100 East Winnemucca Blvd., Winnemucca NV 89445-2921 or via e-mail to [email protected]. E-mail messages should include “Hycroft EIS (Rehberg)” in the subject line.
Public comments submitted for this project, including names and addresses of commentors will be available for public review at the Winnemucca District Office during regular business hours 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except federal holidays.
For further information, please contact Kathleen Rehberg, Project Lead, at 775-263-1500.
