Barrick allowed to mine Cortez with restrictions (April 26, 2010)

Barrick Gold (ABX-T, ABX-N) says that a U.S. District Court has ruled that mining operations can continue at its Cortez Hills mine in Lander County, Nev., while the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) completes additional environmental assessments on the project.

Construction of the project started in 2008 after the BLM had approved Barrick’s mining plan, but soon after, a coalition of three environmental activist groups and two Western Shoshone tribes asked the court to stop the project.

Then last December, an appeals court ruled that additional environmental analysis was needed and directed the district court to issue an injunction that could either halt all work at Cortez Hills or limit certain operations at the site.

“The court has affirmed that the supplemental studies can be completed by the Bureau of Land Management without halting our operations,” said Greg Lang, president of Barrick’s North America region, in a statement.

Instead, Barrick will continue operations but won’t ship a portion of Cortez Hills’ ore off site for processing while the environmental assessments are being prepared and made available for public comment.

Mine dewatering will also be limited to rates and volumes allowed under permits granted before the 2008 approval of the Cortez Hill project.

A new air quality standard, known as PM (particulate matter) 2.5, will be used in the updated study.

Barrick expects the studies, public comment periods and final approval to happen by late 2010.

Barrick’s Cortez operations consist of the Cortez Hills and Pipeline mines, which employ about 1,000 people.

The Cortez operations are expected to produce about 1.08-1.12 million oz. gold in 2010 and will be a significant portion of Barrick’s total anticipated production of 7.6- 8 million oz. of gold.