Other Agencies with Actions or Authorizations:

Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management

Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service

Idaho

Description:

Liberty Gold USA Inc. proposes to construct, operate, close, and reclaim the Black Pine Gold Project—an open pit, run-of-mine heap leach gold mining operation largely situated on a previously disturbed site with several existing open pits and a reclaimed legacy heap leach facility. The Black Pine Gold Project will create approximately 2,328 acres of new disturbance, which combined with existing site disturbances will result in a total disturbed footprint of approximately 3,151 acres. Planned facilities include expansion of existing pits and development of new pits using conventional open pit methods; construction of two rock storage facilities (RSFs); four temporary ore stockpiles; an engineered heap leach facility (HLF) ; an Adsorption, Desorption, and Recovery (ADR) process plant and refinery; and associated roads and pipelines. Liberty Gold will extract oxide gold and silver ore and barren rock over a 17-year mine life using conventional surface mining methods, as the deposit’s grade does not support underground mining. Run-of-mine ore will be stacked directly on the HLF. Gold and silver will be recovered via a conventional on-site heap leach circuit, and the on-site ADR/refinery will produce doré bars.

The Project is on the eastern flank of the Black Pine Mountains of southeast Idaho, approximately six miles north of the Utah border, within Cassia and Oneida Counties. The 11,162-acre Project area comprises 7,059 acres of public lands administered by the USFS, Sawtooth National Forest, Minidoka Ranger District, 3,952 acres administered by the BLM, Pocatello Field Office, and 151 acres of privately owned land held by Liberty Gold. Liberty Gold controls access and mineral interests on public lands through federal unpatented lode and placer mining claims and owns the private land within the Project area.