Public Comment Invited: Draft Environmental Assessment available for Lazy Old Men Mine Project
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The Bureau of Land Management, Mount Lewis Field Office, has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) for Lazy Old Men Mining Company, L.L.C.’s (LOM) proposed Lazy Old Men Mine. The EA is now available for a 15-day public review and comment period that ends March 15.
The LOM Mine is located approximately 12 miles northeast of Austin, Nevada, and about 1 mile west of the McGinness Hills Geothermal Plant off of Grass Valley Road. The Project area consists of a 60-acre mining claim that belongs to LOM and consists entirely of BLM lands administered by the Mount Lewis Field Office.
Previous mining and exploration were conducted by other companies at the Project site prior to LOM gaining the rights to the mining claims. Previous activities, which primarily occurred in the 1960s and 70s, have resulted in a surface disturbance of approximately 0.19 acres that remain unreclaimed at the site. This unreclaimed disturbance includes roads, excavations, and waste rock dumps. The proposed mining Project would preferentially utilize portions of this existing unreclaimed disturbance, for which LOM would assume full reclamation liability.
Mining activities proposed in LOM’s Plan of Operations (Plan) are focused on identifying and recovering the turquoise and analogues of turquoise within the existing pit area. The total surface disturbance for this Project is 0.3 acres, which includes the previous disturbance of 0.19 acres. LOM expects that the duration of the mining operation will be 10 years or until the veins are exhausted, at which time, reclamation will be conducted at the site.
The EA is available for a 15-day public comment period ending on March 15, 2019. The EA and other relevant documents are available on the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) ePlanning webpage at: https://go.usa.gov/xEdA4. Select project DOI-BLM-NV-B010-2019-0009-EA to display the project webpage. A hardcopy of the document is available for review at the Mount Lewis Field Office during regular business hours, 7:30 am to 4:30 pm Monday through Friday, except federal holidays, or will be provided upon request.
For questions regarding this EA, please contact Scott Distel, Environmental Protection Specialist, at 50 Bastian Road, Battle Mountain, Nevada 89820, or at (775) 635-4093.
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.