Paramount Gold Nevada has submitted its plan of operation for the Grassy Mountain underground gold mine located in Oregon in the United States.
In its submission to the Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the company outlined its plans to build and operate the proposed gold mine in Malheur County.
The processing facilities and tailing storage of the project will be located on Federal Land.
The BLM are set to review the plan over the next 30 days, and will provide Paramount with comments, if required. The bureau previously reviewed 19 of the baseline data reports (BDRs) and the company says it has addressed their requests for clarifications.
Once the application is deemed complete, the BLM will register a Notice of Intent in the Federal Register, thereby initiating the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Engineering company HDR will prepare and complete the EIS process, which is expected to take one year.
Paramount Gold Nevada president and COO Glen Van Treek said: “Submitting the plan of operation kicks off the final phase in the permitting process, bringing us another step closer to having all the regulatory approvals to operate Grassy Mountain.”
The permitting of the project requires county, state and federal permits. To date, the company has received all County permits for Grassy Mountain gold mine.
Paramount initiated the State permitting process with the submission of the Consolidated Permit Application (CPA) in November last year.
The initial review of the CPA was completed by the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) and cooperating agencies.
As part of this process, they provided a list of supplemental information and recommendations to Paramount to submit a modified CPA, which is expected to take place in the second quarter of this year.
Paramount Gold Nevada CEO Rachel Goldman stated: “Everything is proceeding on time and within the process as defined by the regulations.
“We are confident that the ongoing collaboration of the regulators will enable us to address the additional State requirements in a timely fashion and maintain our momentum in permitting Grassy Mountain.”
