Notice of Availability for the Emigrant Mine Project Plan of Operations Draft Environmental Impact Statement, 15346-15347 [05-5879]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• Bureau of Land Management
• Land Management Bureau

[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 57 (Friday, March 25, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15346-15347]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-5879]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[NV-910-04-1990-EX]


Notice of Availability for the Emigrant Mine Project Plan of 
Operations Draft Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969, 43 CFR part 3809, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act 
(FLPMA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Elko Field Office has 
prepared, with the assistance of a third-party contractor, a DEIS for 
the Newmont Mining Corporation's proposed Plan of Operations for the 
Emigrant Mine Project located in northeastern Nevada.

DATES: Written comments on the DEIS will be accepted for 60 days 
following the date the Environmental Protection Agency publishes the 
Notice of Availability in the Federal Register. An Open-House Public 
Meeting will be held at the Bureau of Land Management Elko Field Office 
at 3900 E. Idaho Street, Elko, Nevada. The date and time of this public 
meeting will be announced through public notices, media news releases 
and/or mailing. This meeting will be scheduled no sooner than 15 days 
following the publication of this notice.

ADDRESSES: Written comments may be sent to the Elko Field Office by any 
of the following methods: Mail: Send to

[[Page 15347]]

the Attention of the Emigrant Project Manager, BLM Elko Field Office, 
3900 East Idaho Street, Elko, NV 89801. E-mail: tschmidt@nv.blm.gov. 
Fax: (775) 753-0255.
    Comments, including names and addresses of respondents, will be 
available for public review at the above address during regular 
business hours, Monday-Friday, except holidays, and may be published as 
part of the final EIS. Individual respondents may request 
confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your name or street address 
from public review or from disclosure under the Freedom of Information 
Act, you must state this prominently at the beginning of your written 
comment. However, we will not consider anonymous comments. Such 
requests to withhold your name or street address from public review 
will be honored to the extent allowed by law. All submissions from 
organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying 
themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or 
businesses, will be available for public inspection in their entirety. 
The DEIS is available for review at the Elko Field Office during 
regular business hours, 3900 E. Idaho Street, Elko, NV, and on the Elko 
Field Office Internet site at https://www.nv.blm.gov/elko.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom Schmidt, Emigrant Project Manager 
at the Elko Field Office, 3900 E. Idaho Street, Elko, NV 89801. 
Telephone: (775) 753-0200. E-mail: tschmidt@nv.blm.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Newmont Mining Corporation has submitted 
a Plan of Operations to open the Emigrant Mine about ten miles south of 
Carlin, Nevada. The mine and associated facilities would be located in 
portions of Sections 24, 26, 34, 36 of T. 32 N., R. 53 E.; and Sections 
1, 2, 3, 11, 12, T. 31 N., R 53 E. The proposed Emigrant Mine would 
include developing and operating an open pit mine; constructing a waste 
rock disposal facility, storing oxide waste in mined out areas of the 
pit; developing an oxide heap leach pad; constructing ancillary 
facilities; rerouting intermittent stream and flows in the pit area; 
and concurrent reclamation. Proposed mining operations would last for 
approximately 9 years through the year 2014. Approximately 1172 acres 
of public land and 260 acres of private land would be disturbed.
    The issues analyzed in the DEIS include potential impacts to 
wildlife and cultural resources; the potential for waste rock, heap 
leach, and pit walls to produce acid rock drainage or heavy metals; and 
diversion of an unnamed drainage. Cumulative impacts are also 
addressed. The following resources are also analyzed in the DEIS: 
Geology and minerals, Native American religious concerns, air and water 
quality, paleontology, lands and realty, fisheries, aquatic and 
riparian resources, range management, vegetation, soils, visual 
resources, recreation, wilderness, weeds, social and economic values, 
environmental justice, and threatened, endangered, candidate, and 
sensitive species.
    A range of alternatives, (including, but not limited to, the no-
action alternative), have been developed to address issues identified 
during scoping. Mitigating measures are considered in the DEIS to 
minimize environmental impacts and undue or unnecessary 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 Emigrant Project Plan of Operations are invited to participate 
in the EIS process.

    Dated: August 25, 2004.
Helen Hankins,
Field Office Manager.

    Note: This document was received at the Office of the Federal 
Register on March 21, 2005.


[FR Doc. 05-5879 Filed 3-24-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-HC-P