[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 101 (Tuesday, May 25, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29744-29745]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-11720]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[NV-910-04-1990-EX]


Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement on 
a Plan of Operations for the Newmont Mining Corporation Emigrant Mine 
Project in Elko County, NV; and Notice of Scoping Period and Public 
Meeting

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Intent.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with section 102(2)(c) of the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and 43 CFR part 3809, the Bureau of 
Land Management Elko Field Office will be directing the preparation of 
an EIS by a third-party contractor on the potential impacts of a 
proposed Plan of Operations for gold mining by Newmont Mining 
Corporation in Elko County, Nevada. The project encompasses 
approximately 1,172 acres of public land.

DATES: This Notice initiates the 30-day public scoping period. Within 
30 days of the publication of this Notice, a public scoping meeting 
will be held at the BLM Elko Field Office, 3900 East Idaho Street, 
Elko, Nevada, to familiarize interested publics with the project and to 
identify issues and concerns to be addressed in the EIS. The scoping 
meeting will be announced through the local news media, newsletters, 
and the BLM Web site at www.nv.blm.gov/Elko at least 15 days prior to 
the event. Any additional public meetings, if necessary, will be 
announced similarly. Comments on issues can also be submitted in 
writing to the address listed below and for 30 days after publication 
of this Notice in the Federal Register. In addition to the ongoing 
public participation process, formal opportunities for public 
participation will be provided upon publication of the BLM Draft EIS.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:

--E-mail: [email protected].
--Fax: (775) 753-0255.
--Mail: Send to the attention of the Emigrant Mine Project Manager, BLM 
Elko Field Office, 3900 East Idaho Street, Elko, NV 89801.

    Comments, including names and street addresses of respondents, will 
be available for public review at the above address during regular 
business hours 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except 
holidays, and may be published as part of the 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 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom Schmidt, Project Manager at the 
Elko Field Office, 3900 E. Idaho Street, Elko, NV 89801. Telephone: 
(775) 753-0200. Email: [email protected].

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

[[Page 29745]]

out areas of the pit; developing an oxide heap leach pad; constructing 
ancillary facilities; temporarily rerouting intermittent stream and 
flows in the pit area; and concurrent reclamation. Proposed mining 
operations would last for approximately 9 years through the year 2013. 
Approximately 1172 acres of public land and 260 acres of private land 
would be disturbed.
    The issues expected to be analyzed in the EIS 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 will 
also be addressed. In addition, the following resources will be 
analyzed: geology and minerals, Native American religious concerns, air 
quality, paleontology, lands and realty, fisheries and aquatic 
resources, range management, vegetation, soils, visual resources, 
recreation and wilderness, weeds, social and economic values, 
environmental justice, and threatened, endangered, candidate, and 
sensitive resources.
    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 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 BLM's decision on 
Emigrant Mine Plan of Operations are invited to participate in the 
scoping process with respect to this EIS.

    Authority: 43 CFR Part 3809.

    Dated: March 9, 2004.
Helen Hankins,
Field Office Manager.
[FR Doc. 04-11720 Filed 5-24-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-HC-P