Final environmental impact statement, Betze Project

450 Pages·1991·86.5 MB·English

by  United States. Bureau of Land Management. Elko District Office

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nifed States Department
of the Interior
ireau of Land Managementa
Elko District Office
June 1991
Final
Environmental
Impact
Statement
Betze
Project
Barrick Goldstrike Mines
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BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
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ELKO
DISTRICT OFFICE
FINAL
ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPACT STATEMENT
BETZE PROJECT
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BLMEKPT910131793
Final
Environmental Impact Statement
Betze Project
Prepared by
U.S. Department of the Interior
Bureau of Land Management
Elko District Office
Elko, Nevada
June 1991
N
EVADA State Director
Date
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FINAL
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT
BETZE PROJECT
Lead Agency:
U.S. Department of the Interior
Bureau of Land Management
Elko District Office
Elko, Nevada
Project Location: Elko and Eureka Counties, Nevada
Comments on this EIS
should be directed to: Nick Rieger
Project Manager
Elko District Office
Bureau of Land Management
P.O. Box 831
Elko, NV 89801
[phone]
Date Draft EIS was made
available to the
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and the public: January 11, 1991
Date Final EIS was made
available to the EPA and the
public:
June 14, 1991
Abstract:
Barrick Goldstrike Mines Inc. (Barrick) proposes to continue and to
expand its existing gold mining and processing operations at the
Goldstrike Mine in Eureka and Elko Counties, Nevada. The existing
and proposed activities are located on lands administered by the
Elko Resource Area of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and
on privately owned lands. The proposed Betze Project involves the
expansion of an existing open—pit mine to permit recovery of ore
which contains approximately 15.1 million ounces of gold. The
project also includes the expansion of Barrick 's existing
processing facilities to process the ore mined from that deposit.
This environmental impact statement (EIS) describes the project
components, reasonable project alternatives, and the environmental
consequences of implementing the proposed Betze Project or the
alternatives. The alternatives analysis includes locations for
waste rock disposal areas, ore stockpiles, heap leach facilities
and tailings impoundments; water handling and disposal*
reclamation; and the No Action alternative. '
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PREFACE
The Final EIS for the proposed Betze Project has been prepared in
an abbreviated format under the Council on Environmental Quality
regulations (40 CFR 1503.4) for implementing the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969. Therefore, this document must be
used in conjunction with the Draft EIS that was released for public
review on January 11, 1991. The Draft EIS and the three Technical
Reports (Air Resources, Socioeconomic, and Water Resources)
prepared in support of the Draft EIS are available for review at
.
the. Elko District Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
The Final EIS is organized in the same manner as the Draft EIS,
i.e., the section and subsection numbers remain the same. The
Final EIS contains additions or revisions to the Draft EIS.
Sections indicated in Italics in the Table of Contents and the text
have been revised and are included in the Final EIS; sections which
have not changed are incorporated by reference to the Draft EIS.
The following is a summary of the principal additions or revisions
to the Draft EIS which have been included in the Final EIS.
• The proposed reclamation plan in Section 2.2.5 has been
expanded to include more detailed information in
compliance with new BLM guidance regarding cyanide use,
reclamation, and bonding, and new State of Nevada laws and
regulations
• The description of the BLM's preferred alternative for
implementation of the Betze Project is described in
Section 2.3.4 of the Final EIS, including the monitoring
and mitigation measures incorporated into the BLM's Record
of Decision.
• Section 4 0 of the EIS has been reprinted in its entirety.
.
The principal changes occur in the discussion of
mitigation measures and expanded hydrology discussions
based on data obtained since publication of the Draft EIS.
All mitigation measures which have become stipulations of
the BLM's Record of Decision have been removed from the
discussion of "potential" mitigation in Section 4.0 and
have been included in the Agency Preferred Alternative in
Section 2.3.4.
• Sections 5.4 and 5.5 of the Final EIS contain the agency
and public comments on the Draft EIS received during the
60-day public review period. Comments received by letter
and at the public meetings are included, in addition to
the responses to those comments.
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