Published: September 12, 2023 |

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Kinross Gold’s proposed Juniper Project at its Bald Mountain Mine in White Pine County has won a second endorsement from Elko County Commissioners, who voted to send a letter of support to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for the mine project that benefits Elko County.

“We are asking for your support to keep families employed in northern Nevada, along with the partners we work with,” Stephanie Hallinan, environmental superintendent for Bald Mountain, told commissioners on Sept. 6.

Elko County originally endorsed the project in 2022 before the BLM began the draft environmental impact statement, and now the agency is taking comments on the draft EIS before issuing a final EIS and record of decision.

One of the benefits to the county is that most of the Bald Mountain workers live in Elko County.

Matt Miller, community relations professional for the Bald Mountain Mine, said that out of the little more than 600 people employed at the gold mine 60 miles northeast of Elko near the Elko County line, 435 of them live in Elko County. The remainder of the workers live in Eureka or Ely.

Bald Mountain pays $88 million in yearly wages and benefits, and most of those wages go to Elko County residents, he said.

The Bald Mountain presentation to the county states that the mine has provided $632 million in total economic output, paid $38.5 million in public taxes, including $9.2 million that benefits the local area that includes White Pine and Eureka counties, and that more than 50 percent of the direct benefit footprint distribution is spent in the local area for wages, suppliers, and taxes.

The Juniper Project would add 11 years to the life of the large open pit, heap leach operation, which Kinross acquired in 2016 from Barrick Gold Corp, and Miller said that “we hope to stay around for quite some time.” Kinross also owns the Round Mountain Mine in Nye County.

Miller said Kinross-Bald Mountain is involved in the Elko community, including Elko County schools, such as mine employees recently cleaning and restoring the Spring Creek Elementary School playground and mine rescue employees teaching students.

Commissioner Delmo Andreozzi said commissioners are aware of the community projects Kinross supports and appreciate all the road work Bald Mountain performs.

Kinross also is working with the Northeastern Nevada Regional Development Authority and other mining companies on spending more locally for supplies and services, he told commissioners. That would entail recruiting more businesses, too.

Miller said the company’s priority is the health and safety of employees, and Bald Mountain is committed to managing its environmental footprint.

The expansion will be of the North Operations Area, adding roughly 3,969 acres of new surface disturbance on public and private lands. Bald Mountain has 14 mine areas in varying stages of development and/or concurrent reclamation, according to the presentation.

Hallinan said Bald Mountain has worked with the Nevada Department of Wildlife for years because of the mule deer corridors in the north area of the mine and has received reclamation awards for those efforts.

The Juniper Project is an expansion of the existing mine,” said Hallinan.

According to the draft EIS, the Bald Mountain expansion involves expansion or modification of seven authorized open pits — the Redbird, Rat, Top, Poker Flats, Bida, Saga, and Winrock South — and development of the Royale and South Duke pits, along with the development of three waste rock disposal areas.

Hallinan said by phone Sept. 7 that the Royale is a new mine area, but South Duke “is more of an extension.”

The draft EIS also states that the project could include re-establishing the Top Pit underground mine, which was never in production. The draft document states that a decline was planned within the Top Pit footprint to access high-grade ore using contract miners, but the project was delayed and later removed from the plan of operations in the 2016 final EIS.

“We do see it as a future development,” Hallinan said in the call.

There also would be modifications or development of heap leach facilities, haul roads, inter-pit areas, process areas, ancillary areas, and infrastructure, the document states, as well as planned concurrent reclamation.

Attention to the mule deer corridors will continue, according to the draft EIS, which also states that no greater sage-grouse leks would be directly disturbed by the mine expansion, although potential noises could impact leks in the area, and mine-related disturbances would result in the loss of sagebrush habitat.

Bald Mountain also has submitted an eagle-take permit with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeking to remove eagle nests because of the expansion, the draft document says. Mitigation would be required.

The draft document additionally reports that there will be no mine dewatering with the expansion.

A history of Bald Mountain shown in a presentation to county commissioners states that there were early mining activities in the area from 1869 to 1956, and Placer Dome partially acquired the mining district in 1976. Barrick took over Bald Mountain in 2006 after its acquisition of Placer Dome. Kinross acquired Bald Mountain in 2016, but Barrick kept 50 percent of the central zone for joint venture exploration.

Kinross obtained the remaining 50 percent of the joint exploration venture in 2018, consolidating its ownership of Bald Mountain, which has produced nearly 1.32 million gold equivalent ounces since Kinross took over.

The final EIS is tentatively scheduled for release this fall, followed by a record of decision in the winter of this year or early next year, according to the Federal Register Notice of Availability published Aug. 18.

Hallinan said the BLM is taking comments through Oct. 5 on the draft EIS, and there will be an in-person, public meeting on the project from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 19 at the Ely BLM office.

Comments can be emailed to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or mailed to the BLM Bristlecone Field Office, Attention: Bald Mountain Mine project, 702 North Industrial Way, Ely, NV 89301.

Source: Elko Daily Free Press

Kinross Gold is a Canadian-based global senior gold mining company with operations and projects in the United States, Brazil, Mauritania, Chile, and Canada. Their focus is on delivering value based on the core principles of responsible mining, operational excellence, disciplined growth, and balance sheet strength.

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