Together with a special use permit issued by Storey County in October 2011, the receipt of the latest permit is the last permit authorization needed for the company’s proposed drilling programs.
As a condition of both permits, soil assessments will begin this week to determine the levels of the EPA-identified contaminants of concern in areas around historic mill sites and tailings.
The program will be conducted in compliance with a sampling and analysis plan recently approved by NDEP’s Bureau of Corrective Action.
The program aims to ascertain any actual levels of contamination and potentially remove these sites from the Carson River Mercury Superfund Site (CRMS) designation.
According to the company, initial testing should allow site-specific exploration operations to begin in its Lucerne Resource Area in early February.
The company will actually begin 2012 exploration activities on 23 January 2012, in its Spring Valley Target Area on areas outside of the CRMS designation.
