BLM seeks comments on placer gold mine proposal in Baker County
By Garrett Christensen on Tuesday, January 30th, 2024 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
BAKER COUNTY – (Release from the BLM) Bureau of Land Management officials are seeking input on two proposals to conduct placer gold mining operations in southwestern Baker County. The 30-day public comment period will open Feb. 5, 2024, and continue through March 6, 2024.
The Kast Sundog and Hidden Nugget operations are located on 35 acres of public lands in Poker Gulch and 18 acres of public lands in Blue Canyon/French Gulch. Both Plans will be analyzed within the same Environmental Assessment (EA).
Both proposals include seasonal (April to November) placer mining outside of the riparian areas. Operations would use mechanized equipment in quarter acre increments, and would include concurrent reclamation over 24 years, followed by two years of post-reclamation monitoring.
Each operation has two proposed processing sites of a half-acre each. The gold processing method uses gravity separation equipment using re-circulated water from groundwater-sourced ponds or wells.
In both cases, the lands had been mined intermittently between the 1860s and 2013. The project areas are surrounded by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Elkhorn Wildlife Area to the south, west and northwest, and by private lands to the northeast and east.
Public comments help BLM identify issues or concerns for consideration in the review process mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act. People can submit comments to BLM_OR_BK_Mail@blm.gov with the subject line: Comments on Kast Gold Mine, or mailed to: Attn: Kast Expansion Project c/o Baker Field Office, 3100 H St., Baker City, OR 97814.
To view the project documents or submit comments through the project ePlanning site go to https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2021978/510.
For additional project information, please contact Larisa Bogardus at 541-523-1407 or lbogardus@blm.gov.
