Mine lives on

The Bureau of Land Management’s Elko office signed a “record of decision” approving Newmont Mining Corporation’s Genesis Project. The decision continues operations in the corporation’s Genesis open pit and provides for another pit called Bluestar Ridge. It extends the project’s life by perhaps 12 years and will take 60 tons of ore out of Nevada and 450 million tons of waste rock out of the ground. Newmont operates in Australia, Canada, Ghana, Indonesia, New Zealand, Peru and the United States.

A final environmental impact statement was released on April 15.

The May 25 BLM announcement read in part, “Reclamation will be concurrent to the extent possible, with all disturbed areas in the Genesis Project area reclaimed within two years of completion of mining operations. Following completion of operations, including reclamation, up to seven years of monitoring for success of vegetation reclamation will continue.”