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Environmental Cmisultant ~ Thu Jun 1992 S:~? pm Page 6 of 11 <br />SUMMARY OF MINING CONSULTING JOBS <br />Tecimical Evaluation of Hard-Rock Mining Sites <br />Job: Review of Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Water <br />Resources technical Report for the Barrick Goldstrike Nines' <br />Betze Project, Nevada <br />Client: Sierra Club, Toiyabe Chapter, Nevada <br />Contact: Dr. Glenn Hiller, University of Nevada-Reno and the <br />Sierra Club <br />Summary: Tl~e Betze Project is an expansion of one of Barrick's <br />gold mines in Nevada, where an open pit gold mine is proposed. <br />Tl~e pit would he the largest in the state of Nevada. I prepared <br />comments wl~ich addressed inadequacies in t}ie Draft Environmental <br />Impact Statement and the Water Resources Tec}mical Report. The <br />comments focused on water quality aspects of the project, <br />including evaluation of the use of the geochemical model WRTEQF <br />to determine redox conditions in the pit, the chemical <br />composition of pit inflow water, the use of static and kinetic <br />methods to predict acid mine drainage generation, data quality <br />issues, assumptions used for geochemical computations, <br />interpretation of arsenic geochemistry, and choices of <br />alternative disposal and reclamation methods. <br />Job: Review of Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the <br />proposed reopening of the A-J Nine, Juneau, Alaska <br />Client: Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, Juneau, Alaska <br />Contact: David Chambers, Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, Alaska <br />Summary: The A-J Hine was a productive underground gold mine that <br />operated in the early part of this century. The proposed <br />reopening included the construction of a large tailings <br />impoundment that would route tailings directly in the marine <br />environment in Gastineau Channel. Ny comments addressed <br />shortcomings of the A-J Nine Project Draft Environmental Impact <br />Statement t}~at resulted in uncertainties about or underestimation <br />of tl~e environmental impacts of reopening the A-J Nine, The <br />majority of these comments focused on water and sediment quality <br />impacts of the proposed mining and disposal methods. The general <br />issues and problem areas addressed included: lack of data and the <br />quality and interpretation of presented data; analytical methods <br />used to predict mobility of contaminants and generation of acid <br />mine drainage; assumption about mobility, treatment and <br />