[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 147 (Thursday, July 31, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41074-41075]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-20139]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management


Amended Notice

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Bureau of Land Management 
(BLM) and the County of Kem, State of California have extended the 
comment period for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement/
Environmental Impact Report for the Soledad Mountain Project, a 
proposed gold mining operation on public and private lands in Kem 
County, California.

DATES: Comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental 
Impact Statement must be postmarked no later than August 11, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be addressed to Bureau of Land 
Management, Ridgecrest Resource Area, 300 S. Richmond Road, Ridgecrest, 
California, 93555, Attention: Ahmed Mohsen, EIS Coordinator.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Ahmed Mohsen--EIS Coordinator (760) 384-5421.

PUBLIC MEETINGS: Public meetings were held on: Tues. June 24, 1997 and 
Wed. June 25, 1997.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The purpose of the Draft EIR/EIS is to 
present BLM and Kem County's comparative analysis of the impacts of the 
Proposed Action and Alternatives on the physical, biological, social 
and economic resources of the area. The Proposed Action is a mining 
proposal to extract minerals from the subsurface, process the ore using 
chemical leaching methods and place the waste rock adjacent to the 
processing and mining areas. Alternatives to the Proposed Action 
include variations on the duration of operations and placement of waste 
rock. After careful consideration

[[Page 41075]]

of the impacts of the Proposed Action and all the alternatives, BLM has 
identified a Preferred Action in response to regulatory requirements, 
issues raised, resources present, impact analysis results and the 
effectiveness of mitigation and reclamation measures.
    A public scoping process was initiated by the BLM and Kem County to 
identify issues and concerns relating to the proposed mining operation 
and assist the lead agencies in formulating alternatives to the 
Proposed Action. The scoping process was designed to provide an 
opportunity for receipt of verbal and written comments from the public, 
organizations and government agencies. This was achieved through two 
public meetings, newspaper publications, Federal Register notice and 
notice of preparation of an EIR/EIS. Project description, resource 
inventories and public meeting proceedings were made available on the 
world wide web. Site can be reached with the following address: 
htt:www.ca.blm.gov/GoldenQueen.
    The project area includes approximately 1,690 acres of which 1,219 
acres are privately owned land and 471 acres are unpatented mining 
claims on public lands administered by the BLM. The proposed surface 
disturbance is 930 acres of which 735 acres are on private land and 195 
acres are on public land
    A Federal Register notice was published on June 2, 1997 (Volume 62, 
Number 105) Page 29736 to announce the public meeting dates and comment 
period schedules.

    Dated: July 25, 1997.
Lee Delaney,
Area Manager.
[FR Doc. 97-20139 Filed 7-30-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 1990-01-M