Notice2025-02670
Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Spring Valley Gold Mine Project, Pershing County, NV
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
February 18, 2025
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentLand Management Bureau
Abstract
In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended (FLPMA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Solidus Resources, LLC's (Solidus) Spring Valley Gold Mine Project (Project) in Pershing County, Nevada.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 31 (Tuesday, February 18, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 31 (Tuesday, February 18, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9728-9729]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-02670]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[BLM_NV_FRN_MO4540000379]
Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact
Statement for the Proposed Spring Valley Gold Mine Project, Pershing
County, NV
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969 (NEPA), as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act
of 1976, as amended (FLPMA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
announces the availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS) for Solidus Resources, LLC's (Solidus) Spring Valley Gold Mine
Project (Project) in Pershing County, Nevada.
DATES: To afford the BLM the opportunity to consider comments in the
Final EIS, please ensure the BLM receives your comments within 45 days
following the date the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publishes
its Notice of Availability (NOA) of the Draft EIS in the Federal
Register.
ADDRESSES: The Draft EIS and associated documents are available for
review on the BLM project website at <a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2030469/510">https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2030469/510</a>.
Written comments related to the Spring Valley Mine Project may be
submitted by any of the following methods:
<bullet> Project website: <a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2030469/510">https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2030469/510</a>.
<bullet> Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#583a343507362e072f3c37072b282a31363f072e3934343d21073f37343c073531363d183a3435763f372e"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="751719182a1b032a02111a2a0605071c1b122a03141919100c2a121a19112a181c1b10351719185b121a03">[email protected]</span></a>.
<bullet> Mail: BLM Humboldt River Field Office, Attn: Spring Valley
Mine Project, 5100 East Winnemucca Blvd., Winnemucca, Nevada 89445.
Documents pertinent to this proposal may be examined at the
Humboldt River Field Office.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Sevon, Project Manager,
telephone: (775) 623-1500; address: 5100 East Winnemucca Boulevard,
Winnemucca, Nevada 89445; email:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#9af8f6f7c5f4ecc5edfef5c5e9eae8f3f4fdc5ecfbf6f6ffe3c5fdf5f6fec5f7f3f4ffdaf8f6f7b4fdf5ec"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="12707e7f4d7c644d65767d4d6162607b7c754d64737e7e776b4d757d7e764d7f7b7c7752707e7f3c757d64">[email protected]</span></a>. Individuals in the United
States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech
disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access
telecommunications relay services for contacting Mr. Robert Sevon,
Project Manager. Individuals outside the United States should use the
[[Page 9729]]
relay services offered within their country to make international calls
to the point-of-contact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action
The BLM's purpose is to respond to Solidus's proposal as described
in the Plan of Operations (Plan) and the applicable rights-of-way
(ROWs) applications and to analyze the environmental effects associated
with the Proposed Action and alternatives to the Proposed Action,
consider reasonable alternatives, and develop and consider mitigation
of environmental impacts.
The BLM's need for the action is established by the BLM's
responsibilities under the surface management regulations at 43 CFR
part 3809 and under section 302(b) of FLPMA, including title V
regarding ROWs (43 CFR part 2800), to respond to a request for a
surface use authorization under a Plan of Operations and to take any
action necessary to prevent unnecessary or undue degradation of public
lands as a result of the actions taken to prospect, explore, assess,
develop, and process mineral resources that are subject to disposal
under the mining laws on public lands.
Proposed Action and Alternative
Under the proposed Plan of Operations, Solidus is proposing to
construct, operate, close, and reclaim a new surface gold mine within
the Buena Vista Valley along the eastern part of the Humboldt Range
approximately 20 miles northeast of Lovelock, Nevada, and 70 miles
southwest of Winnemucca, Nevada.
The proposed Spring Valley Gold Mine Plan boundary would encompass
14,623 acres. The total disturbance associated with the Proposed
Action, including exploration and the new mine operation would be 6,232
acres, with 4,123 acres on land administered by the BLM and 2,109 acres
on private land. The proposed surface mining activities for the Spring
Valley Gold Mine would include:
<bullet> One open pit and associated haul roads;
<bullet> Three waste rock facilities;
<bullet> A heap leach facility including a lined pad, process
solution ponds, carbon processing and refining facilities;
<bullet> Ancillary facilities including pit dewatering facilities
with a rapid infiltration basin system, crushing circuit and an ore
stockpiles, secondary roads, stormwater controls and diversions, mine
fleet shop, explosives storage, truck shop, refueling area, mine
offices, parking areas, yards, storage areas, an aggregate plant, power
distribution, a used materials pad, freshwater distribution, potable
water system, fire water system, sewage system, communications
facilities, fuel storage and distribution facilities, monitoring wells,
water pipelines, laydown yards, wildlife and range fencing, growth
media stockpiles, and livestock water developments.
<bullet> Exploration activities of up to 50 acres would occur
anywhere within the proposed Plan boundary.
In addition to the Plan, two Plans of Development (POD) are
connected to the proposed action. One POD has been submitted by NV
Energy and the other POD was submitted by the Pershing County Road
Department (Pershing County) that are required to support the Plan. The
Pershing County POD proposes to modify the existing Spring Valley Road
with removal of a portion of the road, realignment around the proposed
mining operation, and improvement of portions of the existing road. The
NV Energy POD proposes to realign portions of two 345 kilovolt (kV)
transmission lines, and to construct a new 120-kV transmission line.
These two PODs combined would disturb an additional 164 acres, with 102
acres on land administered by the BLM and 62 acres on private land.
The project would employ a workforce of approximately 130 employees
during the initial two-year construction period and approximately 250
full-time employees for the operations period. The proposed Project
would operate 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. The total life of
the Project would be 29 years, including two years of construction, 11
years of mining, three additional years of ore processing, and 13 years
of reclamation and closure activities. Reclamation of disturbed areas
resulting from mining operations would be completed in accordance with
BLM and Nevada Division of Environmental Protection regulations.
Concurrent reclamation would take place where practicable and safe.
Under the No Action Alternative, the development of the Spring
Valley Mine Plan and associated ROWs would not be authorized and
Solidus would not construct a new surface mine.
Public Participation
Public meetings to discuss the Draft EIS will be announced,
including when and where, and will be posted on the BLM's Spring Valley
Gold Mine Project website.
The purpose of public review of the Draft EIS is to provide an
opportunity for meaningful collaborative public engagement and for the
public to provide substantive comments, such as identification of
factual errors, data gaps, relevant methods, or scientific studies. The
BLM will respond to substantive comments by making appropriate
revisions to the Draft EIS or explaining why a comment did not warrant
a change.
The BLM will continue to use and coordinate the Draft EIS review
process to help fulfill the public involvement requirements under the
National Historic Preservation Act (54 U.S.C. 306108) as provided in 36
CFR 800.2(d)(3). The information about historic and cultural resources
within the area potentially affected by the Proposed Action will assist
the BLM in identifying and evaluating impacts to such resources.
Tribal concerns, including impacts on Indian trust assets and
treaty rights and potential impacts to cultural resources, will be
given due consideration.
Before including your address, phone number, email address, or
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be
able to do so.
(Authority: 40 CFR 1501.9 and 1501.10, 40 CFR 1506.10)
Cara Lee Macdonald,
Chief of Staff, exercising the delegated authority of the Assistant
Secretary, Land and Minerals Management.
[FR Doc. 2025-02670 Filed 2-14-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4331-21-P
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