Rock Creek project permits proceed

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the State of Alaska released a public notice and draft project authorizations June 1, relating to the NovaGold Resources Rock Creek mine project located eight miles outside Nome. A 30-day public review and comment period ends June 30.

The Rock Creek project includes two locations, the Rock Creek mine and mill complex north of Nome in the Snake River watershed, and the Big Hurrah Mine east of Nome in the Solomon River watershed.

According to its public notice, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources has prepared a draft reclamation plan approval, six temporary water use permits, and a Title 41 fish habitat permit. The department is also coordinating public review of the Alaska Coastal Management Program's consistency determination.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is publishing the public notice for an application for a permit pursuant to Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has prepared a draft waste management permit for disposal of treated wastewater, tailings and other solid wastes at the Rock Creek site; and disposal of treated wastewater and other solid wastes at the Big Hurrah site. DEC also anticipates that it will issue a certification of the 404 permit to be prepared by the Corps.

At the ready

NovaGold said in March it had approved a budget of $16 million for ongoing development work, design, engineering, permitting and purchase of critical equipment and consumables, as well as a planned 10,000 meter drilling program. If permits are received and construction is able to start on-time, development budgets of $37 million are anticipated for the remainder of 2006, the company said.

No major permitting snags are anticipated, a state permitting official told Mining News in October 2005.

"We don't foresee any huge problems with acid mine drainage from this project," said Ed Fogels, large mine projects permitting manager at the state's Department of Natural Resources. "It's a much smaller operation than some of the others, a fraction of the size of Donlin Creek or Fort Knox. The company has done a lot of public outreach in Nome and there hasn't been a huge outcry. We're feeling pretty comfortable that the community is aware of the project."

Rock Creek mine life 4-5 years

The mill at the Rock Creek site will process 7,000 tonnes per day of ore from both sites. Ore from Big Hurrah will be trucked to Rock Creek for processing. The projected mine life is four to five years.

The open pit mine is expected to produce 100,000 ounces of gold annually. Estimated capital costs are $55 million to $60 million.

Rock Creek will employ approximately 135 skilled workers for mine and mill operations. The local power utility will provide the required five to seven megawatts for mine operation.

The Rock Creek Mine/Mill Complex will consist of an open pit gold mine, two non-acid generating development rock stockpiles, a gold recovery plant, and a waste tailings storage facility, according to DNR.

Ore milling rates will be 2.5 million tonnes per year while development rock stripping volumes will be in the range of 4 million tonnes to 5 million tonnes per year.

The process plant site area will include: a three stage crushing and screening plant, a crushed ore stockpile, a mill facility, a maintenance shop, an administration and mine dry building, warehouse, explosive storage and fuel storage.

Big Hurrah 550,000 tonnes per year

The Big Hurrah Mine facilities will include an open pit gold mine, a non-acid generating development rock stockpile, a temporary potentially acid generating development rock stockpile that will be backfilled into the pit at closure, a run-of mine ore stockpile, a truck maintenance shop, a small administration and mine dry building, and explosive and diesel fuel storage.

The ore mining rate will be about 550,000 tonnes per year, and the stripping rate will be about 1.8 million tonnes per year.

Ore will be stockpiled and delivered to the Rock Creek Mill at an average rate of about 365,000 tonnes per year. Mine operations will likely only occur three to six months a year, but could be extended to a year round basis.

The Rock Creek site will discharge approximately 13,618,959 cubic yards of fill into approximately 409.5 acres of wetlands, according to the Alaska Coastal Management Program consistency review.

Upland fill at Rock Creek will include 9,277,268 cubic yards on 192 acres. The footprint of wetlands and uplands at Rock Creek is 601 acres and will contain a total of 22,896,227 cubic yards of fill.

The Rock Creek open pit mine has a footprint of 50 acres.

The Big Hurrah site will discharge approximately 78,477 cubic yards of fill into approximately 5 acres of wetlands for the construction of the on-site access road/haul road. Its open pit mine has a footprint of 25 acres.