The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) streamlines “uses” like mining that use huge amounts of water (while there is a drought in the West), yet cites the need to remove wild horses and burros to maintain a “thriving ecological balance.”  Just one mine in Nevada, Barrick Gold’s Goldstrike mine, has pumped over 383 BILLION gallons of water from an aquifer.   It seems that the BLM FAVORS “USES” THAT GENERATE MORE MONEY, which is in violation of the Federal Lands Management Planning Act (FLPMA).

To learn more, read “The Mining of our Aquifers” and “Neil Kornze, A BLM Gift to the Mining Industry”.  You can read more about the Pan Mine Project, that Kornze refers to in the article below, HERE.  –  Debbie

  Neil Kornze (photo:  Dylan Woolf Harris, Elko Daily Free Press)

BLM aims to lower mine permitting timeline

SOURCE:  Elko Daily Free Press

ELKO – From the planning stages to production, the time for a mine to be up and running can feel like a long wait – but it’s not as long as it used to be.

Bureau of Land Management Director Neil Kornze, who comes from a mining family and spent most of his childhood and teenage years in northeastern Nevada’s mining community, said the agency is actively working to cut down on the permitting process for mines on federal land.

“We’re requesting (from mining companies) more information up front, which allows us to be more timely in the processing of the application,” he said during a May stop in Elko.

Kornze cited the Pan Mine in White Pine County as a notable example. Exploration in 2011 led to an operating plan. The scoping period began in early 2012, and the record of decision was signed in December of 2013.

A few other projects were also permitted within about three years, he added.

“The prior standard used to be more like 10 years,” he said. “I think we’re pretty pleased with the big step forward on that.”

The long process has been criticized in the past by county officials.

“We’re very proud that mining continues to be a key driver of the economy here in Northern Nevada,” he said.

The plans for Midway Gold U.S. Inc.’s Pan operation called for main north and south pits. The BLM also approved three satellite pits, a heap leach pad, three rock disposal sites and a transmission line, altogether adding up to 3,301 acres of surface disturbance.

Kornze became BLM chief in December 2013.

At his confirmation hearing, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., remarked on Kornze’s link to mining country.

“Neil Kornze is somebody that is just perfect for the job, raised in rural Nevada, Elko County,” he said. “Nevada has 17 counties. But in the northeastern part of the state is a large county that is really a remarkably beautiful place. It now has more mining in it than any place in America. The State of Nevada produced about 6 million ounces of gold last year, and much of it came from Elko County.”