Intent to Prepare Environmental Impact Statement

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[NV-020-1990-10]

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 Rayrock

Mines, Inc., Marigold Mining Company's (MMC) expansion project located

on public and private lands in Humboldt 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, 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 expansion of a mine in Humboldt

County, Nevada. The EIS will be prepared by contract and funded by

Rayrock Mines, Inc. 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 MMC 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,

October 5, 1998 at the Battle Mountain Field Office of the BLM, 50

Bastian Road, Battle Mountain, Nevada. The second will be Wednesday,

October 6, 1998, 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, October 23, 1998. The Draft

EIS is expected to be completed by August 16, 1999, 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: Gerald Moritz, Marigold Mine EIS Project Coordinator.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gerald Moritz, 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,

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. In addition, the

EIS will address cumulative impacts for the above listed resources.

MMC has been operating the Marigold Mine, an open-pit gold mine at

the site, since 1998. The Marigold Mine is located on public and

private lands approximately five miles south of the Valmy Exit on

Interstate Highway 80, in Humboldt County, Nevada, approximately 43

miles east of Winnemucca and approximately 12 miles west of Battle

Mountain, Nevada.

The Marigold Mine uses conventional open pit mining methods

including drilling, blasting, loading, and hauling

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ore and overburden material. The total mining rate for the existing

open pits is 1,700,000 tons per month. Processing operations include

milling of high grade ore and utilizing heap leach technology to

retrieve gold from the lower grade ore. Waste rock is delivered to

waste dumps, or backfilled into portions of the mined out pits. The

total project boundary encompasses approximately 10,480 acres of public

and private lands. Total approved disturbance under existing operations

is approximately 1,349 acres, located on public and private lands.

The proposed action would be to expand existing mining facilities

and to construct new facilities, increasing surface disturbances from

1,349 acres to 2,058 acres. Of the 710 acres of new disturbance

proposed, approximately 254 acres would be disturbed on BLM-

administered public land with 456 acres of disturbance on private

lands. Upon approval of this expansion proposal, mining would continue

through the year 2006 at approximately the current level of production

of existing operations. The proposed expansion includes the following;

1. Construct two new pits and expand existing pits.

2. Construct one new waste dump and expand existing waste dumps.

3. Develop one new heap leach facility and expand existing heap

leach facility, including new solution ponds.

4. Construct a new tailing dam facility.

5. Redirect two stream drainages by installing creek diversions.

6. Construct haul roads and miscellaneous access roads.

7. Construct associated ancillary facilities, including a utility

corridor.

8. Amend operations boundary.

In addition to the above, the mine reclamation plan would be

amended to include recontouring slopes, ripping compacted areas, where

needed and covering with suitable plant growth medium, and seeding.

Heap leach facilities would be detoxified by rinsing the pads with

fresh water. 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 issues identified thus far in the project expansion are;

sequential backfilling of pits, cumulative air quality effects, visual

impacts due to the proximity of Interstate 80, hydrology, and impacts

to bat habitat.

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: August 13, 1998.

Colin P. Christensen,

Acting Field Office Manager, Winnemucca.

[FR Doc. 98-22517 Filed 8-20-98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310-HC-M