[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 147 (Thursday, July 31, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 41075]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-20201]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management


Soledad Mountain Project, CA

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Bureau of Land Management 
(BLM) and the County of Kern, State of California are extending the 
comment period for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement/
Environmental Impact Report for the Soledad Mountain Project, a 
proposed gold mining operation on public and private lands in Kern 
County, California.

DATES: Comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental 
Impact Statement must be postmarked no later than August 4, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be addressed to Bureau of Land 
Management, Ridgecrest Resource Area, 300 S. Richmond Road, Ridgecrest, 
California, 93555, Attention: Ahmed Mohsen--EIS Coordinator.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Ahmed Mohsen-EIS Coordinator (760) 385-5421.

PUBLIC MEETINGS: Public meetings were held on: June 24 and June 25 at 
Rosamond and Mojave, California.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The purpose of the Draft EIR/EIS is to 
present BLM and Kern County's comparative analysis of the impacts of 
the Proposed Action and Alternatives on the physical, biological, 
social and economic resources of the area. The Proposed Action is a 
mining proposal to extract minerals from the subsurface, process the 
ore using chemical leaching methods and place the waste rock adjacent 
to the processing and mining areas. Alternatives to the Proposed Action 
include variations on the duration of operations and placement of waste 
rock. After careful consideration of the impacts of the Proposed Action 
and all the alternatives, BLM has identified a Preferred Action in 
response to regulatory requirements, issued raised, resources present, 
impact analysis results and the effectiveness of mitigation and 
reclamation measures.
    A public scoping process was initiated by the BLM and Kern County 
to identify issues and concerns relating to the proposed mining 
operation and assist the lead agencies in formulating alternatives to 
the Proposed Action. The scoping process was designed to provide an 
opportunity for receipt of verbal and written comments from the public, 
organizations and government agencies. This was achieved through two 
public meetings, newspaper publications, federal register notice and 
notice of preparation of an EIR/EIS. Project description, resource 
inventories and public meeting proceedings were made available on the 
world wide web. Site can be reached with the following address: 
http:www.ca.blm.gov/GoldenQueen.
    The project area includes approximately 1,690 acres of which 1,219 
acres are privately owned land and 471 acres are unpatented mining 
claims on public lands administered by the BLM. The proposed surface 
disturbance is 930 acres of which 735 acres are on private land and 195 
acres are on public land.
    Five alternatives to the Proposed Action are analyzed in detail: 
(1) No Action, (2) Increased Mining and Processing Rate, (3) Decreased 
Mining and Processing Rate, (4) Reduced Project Size, and (5) Partial 
Backfilling.
    Five alternatives to the Proposed Action are analyzed in detail: 
(1) No Action, (2) Increased Mining and Processing Rate, (3) Decreased 
Mining and Processing Rate, (4) Reduced Project Size, and (5) Partial 
Backfilling.
    A Federal Register notice was published on June 2, 1997 (Volume 62, 
Number 105) Page 29736 to announce the public meeting dates and comment 
period schedules.
Lee Delaney,
Resource Area Manager.
[FR Doc. 97-20201 Filed 7-30-97; 8:45 am]
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