[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 78 (Friday, April 23, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21343-21344]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-9368]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[LLNVB0200000 L51100000.GN0000 LVEMCF020000 241A; 10-08807; 
MO4500011977; TAS: 14X5017]


Notice of Availability of the Final Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Round Mountain Expansion Project, Nye County, NV

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969, as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 
1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared a 
Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Round Mountain 
Expansion Project and by this notice is announcing its availability.

DATES: The BLM will not issue a final decision on the proposal for a 
minimum of 30 days from the date that the Environmental Protection 
Agency publishes its notice in the Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the Round Mountain Expansion Project Final EIS are 
available for public inspection at the BLM Tonopah Field Office, 1553 
South Main Street, Tonopah, Nevada, during regular business hours of 
7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays. 
Interested persons may also review the Final EIS at the following Web 
site: http://www.blm.gov/nvst/en/fo//battle_mountain_field.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Chris Worthington, Planning and 
Environmental Coordinator, (775) 635-4000; BLM Battle Mountain 
District, 50 Bastian Road, Battle Mountain, Nevada 89820-1420; e-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Round Mountain Gold Corporation, which 
is a joint venture of Kinross Gold Corporation and Barrick Gold 
Corporation, proposes to expand its Round Mountain Mine, an existing 
open-pit gold mining and processing operation. The Round Mountain Mine 
is located in central Nevada approximately 55 miles north of Tonopah in 
Nye County.
    The proposed Project would expand mining operations in the Round 
Mountain area and develop new open pit mining and leaching facilities 
several miles to the north in the Gold Hill area. Mine expansion in the 
Round Mountain area would increase the existing Round Mountain mine 
plan boundary by 3,122 acres to a total of 10,385 acres; expand the 
Round Mountain pit by 209 acres to approximately 1,289 acres; expand 
the dewatering operations by 1,325 gallons per minute (gpm) to a 
maximum rate of 7,525 gpm; allow for underground mining operations 
within the Round Mountain Pit; expand the north waste rock dump by 700 
acres to approximately 1,919 acres; allow for the construction of a new 
north dedicated leach pad with a footprint of approximately 538 acres; 
increase the daily production capacity of the Round Mountain Mill from 
11,000 tons per day to 22,000 tons per day; and increase tailings 
disposal capacity from a currently authorized 677 acres to 
approximately 1,607 acres.
    Development in the Gold Hill area would include delineating a 
project boundary of approximately 4,928 acres; excavating an open pit 
with a footprint of approximately 222 acres; creating two waste rock 
dumps with combined footprints of approximately 552 acres; constructing 
and operating a heap leach facility and lined solution ponds with a 
footprint of approximately 300 acres; and constructing a 1.1 mile 
transportation and utility corridor of about 66.2 acres between the 
Round Mountain area and the Gold Hill area. The primary method of 
processing low-grade ore in the Gold Hill area would be heap leaching.
    A range of action alternatives was developed and analyzed to 
address the concerns and issues that were

[[Page 21344]]

identified. The alternatives include processing all Gold Hill ore in 
the Gold Hill area rather than trucking some ore to Round Mountain for 
processing (Gold Hill area processing alternative); constructing an 
overpass rather than a grade crossing at the intersection of the 
transportation and utility corridor and County Road 875 (County Road 
Overpass Alternative); and completing mining at Round Mountain under 
current BLM authorizations (No Action Alternative). Other alternatives 
considered, and the rationale for their elimination from detailed 
analysis, are also discussed. Mitigation measures have been identified, 
as needed, to minimize potential environmental impacts and to ensure 
that the proposed project would not result in undue or unnecessary 
degradation of public lands. In addition, the Final EIS includes an 
analysis of cumulative impacts, including a comprehensive evaluation of 
potential impacts to Native American cultural values.
    The BLM mailed information on the proposed Round Mountain Mine 
expansion to the Timbisha, Duckwater, Yomba, and Ely tribes in December 
2006. Tribal representatives and individuals attended scoping meetings 
for the project in January 2007. Several informal meetings were held at 
the Round Mountain Mine attended by tribal representatives and members 
of the newly formed Western Shoshone Descendents of Big Smoky Valley. 
Six of these informal meetings were held between June 2007 and April 
2009. Some of the meetings included field trips to inspect cultural 
sites discovered during cultural surveys of the proposed project area. 
The tribes and some Native American individuals received copies of the 
Draft EIS for the proposed mine expansion. Some tribal representatives 
and individuals attended the two BLM-hosted public meetings on the 
Draft EIS held on August 18 and 19, 2009. Written comments from Native 
Americans were received at the meetings and by mail during the public 
comment period (July 31, 2009 to September 14, 2009). The comments, and 
the responses to the comments, are incorporated into the Final EIS.
    A Notice of Intent to prepare an EIS was published in the Federal 
Register on December 26, 2006. Two public scoping meetings were held in 
2007 in Hadley and Tonopah, Nevada. The Draft EIS was released for 
public review on July 21, 2009, with a 45-day comment period. Following 
release of the Draft EIS, two public comment meetings were held in 
Hadley and Tonopah in August 2009 to solicit additional comments on the 
document. Comment responses and resultant changes in the impact 
analyses are documented in the Final EIS.

    Authority:  40 CFR 1506.6.

Thomas J. Seley,
Manager, Tonopah Field Office.
[FR Doc. 2010-9368 Filed 4-22-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-HC-P