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Draft Environmental Impact Statement available for the Gemfield Project, Esmeralda County, Nevada

Organization

The Bureau of Land Management

BLM Office:

Tonopah Field Office

Media Contact:

Tonopah, NV – The Bureau of Land Management, Tonopah Field Office (TFO), has published a Notice of Availability in the Federal Register for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) associated with Gemfield Resources, Ltd. (GRL’s) proposal to develop gold mine operations within the Gemfield Project (Project) area. The proposed Project is located approximately 30 miles south of Tonopah, Nevada, and approximately 0.5 mile north of the town of Goldfield, Nevada.

Approximately 1,935.9 acres of land occurs within the Plan boundary, including approximately 1,214.2 acres of Bureau of Land Management administered land that is managed by the TFO of the Battle Mountain District and 721.7 acres of private land. The proposed Project would result in approximately 1,337.3 acres of surface disturbance, of which 969.4 acres would occur on BLM-administered land and 367.9 acres would occur on private land. If the Project is approved, GRL estimates the mine life would be approximately 12 years.

The proposed Project includes the construction and operation of a conventional open pit mining operation to extract and recover gold. The proposed Project would include the following new components:

  • Open pit;
  • Crushing facilities, conveyors, and associated stockpiles;
  • Waste rock disposal areas (WRDAs);
  • Overburden stockpile;
  • Stormwater diversions channels, sediment basins, and berms;
  • Heap leach pad (HLP), processing facilities, and ponds;
  • Water supply and dewatering wells and delivery/storage system;
  • Haul and secondary roads;
  • Exploration activities; and
  • Ancillary facilities including: power supply; reagent, fuel, and explosives storage; buildings including administration, change house, laboratory, security, warehouse, and parking; water supply and septic systems; maintenance shop; ready line; vehicle wash; communications facilities; plant growth media stockpiles; area for temporary storage of petroleum-contaminated soils; groundwater monitoring wells; water supply pipelines and facilities, borrow areas; fencing; yards; and stormwater controls and diversion structures.

Proposed right-of-way (ROW) amendments to existing BLM authorizations (relinquishments and amendments to existing authorizations) include the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT); AT&T; Esmeralda County; Sierra Pacific Power Company doing business as NV Energy; and Nevada Hospital Association/SWITCH.

In addition to the proposed Project, two alternatives (Reduced Mine Plan Alternative and Partial Pit Backfill Alternative) and the No Action Alternative were analyzed.

A public scoping meeting was held on January 10, 2014 in Goldfield, Nevada. Seven comment submittals were received during the public scoping process and responses to the comments have been incorporated into the DEIS.

The DEIS and other relevant documents have been made available at https://go.usa.gov/xE8q6. This publication in the Federal Register starts a public comment period that will end on April 22, 2019. Comments can be submitted in the following ways:

Attn: Gemfield NOA – Project Manager

50 Bastian Road

Battle Mountain, Nevada 89820

For any questions or concerns regarding the EIS, please contact Kevin Hurrell, BLM Project Manager, at (775) 635-4000.

The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.