Elko District, Nevada

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[NV-010-95-1990-00]

Elko District, Nevada

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement

on a mining Plan of Operations for Newmont Gold Company in Eureka and

Elko Counties, Nevada; and notice of scoping period and public

meetings.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 102(2)(c) of the National Environmental

Policy Act of 1969 and 43 CFR Part 3809, the Bureau of Land Management

will be directing the preparation of an EIS to be prepared by a third-

party contractor on the impacts of a proposed Plan of Operations for

gold mining by Newmont Gold Company, in Eureka and Elko Counties,

Nevada. The Bureau invites comments on the scope of the analysis.

DATES: Scoping meetings will be held December 7, 1994, at the Bureau of

Land Management, Elko District Office, 3900 E. Idaho, Elko Nevada, and

on December 8, 1994, at the Holiday Inn, 1000 E. 6th St., Reno, Nevada,

to identify issues and concerns to be addressed in the EIS. Both

meetings are scheduled from 7:00-9:00 pm. Representatives of Newmont

Gold Company will be available to answer questions about the Plan of

Operations. Additional scoping meetings may be held as appropriate.

Written comments on the Plan of Operations and the scope of the EIS

will be accepted until January 3, 1995.

A Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) is expected to be

completed by the summer of 1995, and made available for public review

and comment. At that time a Notice of Availability of the DEIS will be

published in the Federal Register. The comment period on the DEIS will

be 60 days from the date the Notice of Availability is published.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Scoping comments may be sent to:

District Manager, Bureau of Land Management, P.O. Box 831, Elko, Nevada

89803. ATTN: Bootstrap EIS Coordinator. For additional information,

write to the above address or call Deb McFarlane at (702) 753-0200.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Newmont Gold Company of Carlin, Nevada, has

submitted a Plan of Operations to re-open their Bootstrap open pit mine

and initiate mining at the Tara open pit mine, located 1,500 feet south

of Bootstrap. The proposed mines and associated facilities are located

in portions of Sections 2, 3, 10, 11, 14, and 15 of Township 36 North,

Range 49 East, MDM; approximately 30 air miles northwest of Carlin,

Nevada. Newmont developed the Bootstrap open pit mine in 1974, and the

heap leach facility in 1977. Operations were conducted through 1984.

Newmont performed closure and reclamation procedures on the leach

facility during 1987 and 1988. The proposal is to re-open the Bootstrap

pit and develop the new Tara pit, create two new waste dumps, develop a

new heap leach facility, and reroute and upgrade the existing access

and haulage roads. Following public notice and comment, Newmont

acquired a permit from the Army Corp of Engineers to divert Boulder

Creek around the planned mining activities. Diversion construction has

commenced on private land and is expected to be completed in early

1995. Previous surface disturbance was to 121 acres of public land and

153 acres of private land. Part of the proposed operation would be

confined to previously disturbed areas. Additional surface disturbance

is anticipated on approximately 802 acres of public land and 288 acres

of private land.

The issues expected to be analyzed in the EIS include potential

impacts to cultural resources, wildlife, pit water quality, air

quality, soils, vegetation, hazardous materials, paleontology, and

social and economic values. Cumulative impacts will also be addressed.

In addition, the following resources will be analyzed: recreation and

wilderness, geology, range management, lands and realty, visual

resources, and land use planning. The analysis will be conducted by an

interdisciplinary team.

A range of alternatives (including but not limited to alternative

reclamation measures and the no-action alternative) will be developed

to address the issues. Mitigating measures will be considered to

minimize environmental impacts and to assure that the proposed action

does not result in undue or unnecessary degradation of public lands.

Federal, state and local agencies and other individuals or

organizations who may be interested in or affected by the Bureau's

decision on the Plan of Operations are invited to participate in the

scoping process with respect to this environmental impact analysis.

These entities and individuals are also invited to submit comments on

the DEIS.

It is important that those interested in the Plan of Operations

participate in the scoping and commenting process. Comments should be

as specific as possible.

The tentative project schedule is as follows:

Begin Public Comment Period--December 1994

Issuance of Draft Environmental Impact Statement--Summer of 1995

File Final Environmental Impact Statement--Winter of 1995/1996

Record of Decision--Winter of 1995/1996

Begin Construction of Operation--Spring of 1996

The Bureau of Land Management's scoping process for the EIS will

include: (1) Identification of issues to be addressed; (2)

Identification of viable alternatives; (3) Notification of interested

groups, individuals and agencies so that additional information

concerning these issues, or other additional issues, can be obtained.

Rodney Harris,

Elko District Manager.

[FR Doc. 94-29538 Filed 12-1-94; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310-HC-P