Reno-based environmental group to appeal OK of mine

ELKO - A conservation group is appealing federal land managers' approval of a major open-pit mine in central Nevada.

Reno-based Great Basin Resource Watch wants the Bureau of Land Management to rescind its approval of the Mount Hope Molybdenum Mine about 25 miles northwest of Eureka.

Group Executive Director John Hadder said the agency failed to adequately address the project's environmental impacts and mitigation measures to address those impacts.

He said the BLM also failed to prevent the "unnecessary or undue degradation" of public land resources as required by federal law.

BLM spokeswoman JoLynn Worley told the Elko Daily Free Press that the state director will review the petition.

According to the agency, Eureka Moly LLC's mine will disturb some 8,100 acres of public land within the project area.