Suzanne Featherston/The Daily Free Press via AP
Melissa Boerst, a Lithium Nevada Corp. geologist, points to an area of future exploration from a drill site at the Thacker Pass Project in Humboldt County, Nev., Sept. 13, 2018. The Bureau of Land Management opened its comment period for North Bullfrog Mine Project in Nye County on April 11, 2024, which will continue through May 10.
Thursday, April 11, 2024 | 8:38 p.m.
AngloGold Ashanti has been proceeding through the feasibility study stage of its North Bullfrog Mine Project in Nye County and the Bureau of Land Management has now opened a public comment period on the project. The comment period goes through May 10.
Two online public scoping meetings have been scheduled for April 24 at 5 p.m. and April 25 at 2 p.m. For more information on the meetings, the project and how to submit comments, go to eplanning.blm.gov and search for "North Bullfrog Mine Project." People interested in attending one or both of the online meetings need to register at the ePlanning website to receive a hyperlink to access the meetings.
The meetings will provide an overview of the project and information about the project's Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
The BLM documents say North Bullfrog is a Corvus Gold Nevada project, but AngloGold Ashanti acquired Corvus Gold for around $370 million in January 2022, and AngloGold Ashanti is the 100% owner of the North Bullfrog Project and other projects in the same area of Nevada.
According to the BLM, Corvus Gold submitted a Plan of Operations for the North Bullfrog Mine Project in December 2022, and submitted revisions to the plan in August 2023.
The BLM says the proposed North Bullfrog Mine, which is about nine miles northwest of Beatty, Nevada, would have three open pits, a heap leach pad, four overburden storage areas, an ore crushing and conveying system, a gravity mill circuit with cyanide tank leaching, carbon-in-columns, and other mine infrastructure.
The project is expected to employ about 530 contractors during the initial one-year construction period, and about 230 full-time employees during active mining and processing, which is expected to last up to 20 years.
The proposed project area encompasses about 6,298 acres, and the total proposed disturbance would be around 3,518 acres, which includes approximately 3,138 acres of BLM-administered land and 380 acres of private land.
A history of the area in the BLM's overview of the North Bullfrog Mine Project says gold and silver were discovered in the Bullfrog Mining District in 1904, and records indicate that more than 110,000 ounces of gold and more than 800,000 ounces of silver were produced there through 1921. Modern exploration at North Bullfrog began in 1974. Redstar Gold Corporation staked claims in the area in 2005 and 2006. International Tower Hill Mines optioned the North Bullfrog land package from Redstar in 2006 and added additional property to the land package in the following years. In 2009, Corvus was formed as a spinoff of ITH and has been exploring the area since then.
The BLM says the North Bullfrog Project is located in the Walker Lane structural terrain which also hosted the historic Bullfrog Mine where Barrick Gold Corp. and predecessor companies produced approximately 2.3 million ounces of gold and three million ounces of silver from 1989 to 1999.
AngloGold Ashanti says it acquired both the North Bullfrog and Mother Lode projects with the acquisition of Corvis Gold in January 2022. The company acquired the Sterling project through the acquisition of Coeur Sterling in November 2022.
"The addition of the North Bullfrog, Mother Lode and Sterling projects into the AngloGold Ashanti North America portfolio, together with the Silicon project and other exploration targets, provides the opportunity to develop a world-class operational cluster within the Beatty district in Nevada," AngloGold Ashanti says on its website.
AngloGold Ashanti says the North Bullfrog Project is the most advanced of these exploration projects in Nevada.
Comments on the North Bullfrog Project can be submitted through the BLM's ePlanning web page; via email to the BLM project manager, Gene Gilseth, at [email protected]; or in writing by mailing or delivering a comment letter to Bureau of Land Management, Attention: North Bullfrog Mine Project, 50 Bastian Road, Battle Mountain, NV 89820.
