Intent To Prepare Environmental Impact Statement

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Intent To Prepare Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement

(EIS) for a mining Plan of Operations (POO) amendment for the Pegasus

Gold Corporation, Florida Canyon Mine expansion project (Amendment

#10), Pershing County, 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, and title 43 of the Code of Federal

Regulations, subpart 3809, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will be

directing the preparation of an EIS for the proposed development of a

mine in Pershing County, Nevada. The EIS will be prepared by contract

and funded by the Pegasus Gold Corporation, Florida Canyon Mining

Incorporated (FCMI). Public meetings will be held to identify issues to

be addressed in the EIS, and to encourage public participation in the

review process. Representatives of the BLM and FCMI will be summarizing

the POO and accepting comments from the audience. The BLM invites

comments and suggestions on the scope of the analysis.

DATES: Two scoping meetings will be held. The first is on Tuesday,

January 7, 1997 at the Pershing County Community Center, 820 6th St.,

Lovelock, Nevada. The second will be Wednesday, January 8, 1997, at the

Winnemucca Field Office of the BLM, 5100 E. Winnemucca Blvd.,

Winnemucca, Nevada. Both meetings are scheduled to run from 7-9 p.m.

Written comments on the POO and scope of the EIS will be accepted until

the close of business, January 24, 1997. The Draft EIS is expected to

be completed by July of 1997, when the document will be made available

for public review and comment.

ADDRESSES: Scoping comments may be sent to: District Manager,

Winnemucca Field Office BLM, 5100 E. Winnemucca Blvd., Winnemucca, NV

89445, Attn: Ken Loda, Florida Canyon Project NEPA Coordinator.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ken Loda, Winnemucca Field Office BLM,

5100 E. Winnemucca Blvd., Winnemucca NV 89445, phone (702) 623-1500.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This EIS will address the issues of geology,

minerals, soils, water resources, vegetation, wildlife, grazing

management, air quality, aesthetic resources, cultural resources,

ethnographic concerns, paleontologic resources, land use, access,

recreation, social and economic values related to project development.

FCMI has been operating the Florida Canyon Mine, an open-pit gold

mine, since 1986. The Florida Canyon Mine is located on public and

private lands adjacent to Interstate Highway 80, in Pershing County,

Nevada, approximately 35 miles northeast of Lovelock and approximately

42 miles southwest of Winnemucca, Nevada.

Florida Canyon Mine uses conventional open pit mining methods

including drilling, blasting, loading, and hauling. Production is

currently at approximately 13.7 million tons of ore per year. A portion

is crushed, agglomerated and conveyed to a single heap leach pad. The

remainder is run-of-mine ore, hauled directly to the heap leach pad by

trucks. Waste rock is delivered to waste dumps, or backfilled into

portions of the mined out pit. Processing includes both a Merrill-Crowe

plant and two carbon adsorption circuits. There are approximately 3,157

acres contained within the current plan boundary. Under current

authorization, the existing operation will continue mining through

1997.

Proposed operations would require a plan boundary expansion of

2,362 acres, bringing the area within the total plan boundary to

approximately 5,519 acres. Approximately 637 acres would be disturbed

by this proposal, of which 466 acres is BLM-administered public land.

Upon approval of this expansion proposal, mining would continue through

2002 at approximately the current level of production. The proposed

dump expansion would require 304 acres to accommodate an additional 117

million tons of waste rock and up to 30 million tons of run-of-mine

stockpile.

A conveyor corridor is proposed to move crushed ore from the

existing crusher site to the new leach pad. An additional crusher would

be installed near the proposed leach pad or the existing crusher would

be relocated near that leach pad. The proposed leach pad is sized to

hold 64 million tons of ore and the total lined pad area is

approximately 203 acres. A new process plant would be located near the

proposed leach pad. A carbon adsorption circuit with associated ponds

and a solution corridor from the existing solution ponds to the new

solution ponds is proposed. Other ancillary proposed actions include

rerouting one public access road, relocating two stock water tanks, re-

directing drainages, and constructing sediment ponds.

The mine would continue to be a zero discharge facility. An annual

consumptive use of 2,000 acre feet of fresh water is anticipated. The

Florida Canyon Project area contains three major drainages: Florida

Canyon, Johnson Canyon, and Black Canyon. In addition, numerous unnamed

drainages occur throughout the area. Surface water within the project

area is limited to ephemeral streams resulting from snow-melt,

precipitation events, and variations in local geology. All ephemeral

drainages within the project area drain west toward the Humboldt River

and Rye Patch Reservoir, located approximately three miles west of the

proposed project area.

The reclamation plan includes re-contouring slopes where needed and

covering with a minimum of one foot of suitable plant growth medium,

then fertilization and seeding. Detoxification of FCMI's heap leach

facilities would be accomplished through natural degradation

(volatilization) of cyanide and trace metal recovery by conventional

Merrill-Crowe and/or carbon adsorption or other suitable technology.

Buildings, process structures, and other equipment would be removed

from the site at the end of mining. Foundations would be buried in

place prior to growth medium application and revegetation. Equipment,

electrical and instrumentation, piping, miscellaneous fencing, and

mobile trailers would also be removed from the site or returned to

local vendors.

The main issue identified thus far in the project expansion is

visual impact due to the proximity of Interstate 80.

Federal, state, and local agencies and other individuals or

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

decision on the POO are invited to participate in the scoping process.

The Authorized Officer will respond to public input and comment as part

of the final EIS. The decision regarding the proposal will be recorded

as a Record of Decision, which is subject to appeal under 43 CFR part

4.

Dated: November 26, 1996.

Ron Wenker,

District Manager, Winnemucca.

[FR Doc. 96-31635 Filed 12-12-96; 8:45 am]

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