WINNEMUCCA — The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Winnemucca District, Black Rock Field Office is seeking public comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Hycroft Mine Expansion Project proposed in Humboldt and Pershing counties, Nev. A 45-day comment period will be held, including three public meetings. The public is invited to submit comments until the comment period ends on March 12, 2012.
Additionally, the BLM will hold three public open-house meetings in Nevada on the proposal and DEIS from 6-8 p.m. in the following locations:
· Winnemucca, Tuesday, Feb. 14, at the Winnemucca Convention Center, West Hall, located at 50 West Winnemucca Blvd.
· Lovelock, Wednesday, Feb. 15, at the Lovelock Community Center located at 820 6th Street
· Gerlach, Thursday, Feb. 16, at the Gerlach Community Center located at 401 Cottonwood Street
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 2,057 acres to encompass a total of 3,428 acres on public land, and increase acres of disturbance on private land controlled by Hycroft to 1,807 acres. If approved by the BLM, the proposed project could extend the mine life approximately 12 years and provide approximately 534 jobs.
Preliminary key issues identified by the BLM and through scoping include the potential for waste rock, heap leach or pit walls to produce acid rock drainage or heavy metals; and potential visual impacts to the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon-Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area and the Black Rock Wilderness Area.
A range of alternatives was considered in developing the draft EIS, and two alternatives are analyzed; the proposed action and the no-action alternative. Mitigation 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.
A Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Hycroft Mine Expansion Project, Humboldt and Pershing Counties, Nevada, was published in the Federal Register on January 27, 2012.
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. Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware 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 your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
For further information, please contact Kathleen Rehberg, project lead, at 775-263-1500.
