Home

Charleston District

Run scraper

COMMUNITY MEETING FOR THE PROPOSED HAILE GOLD MINE PROJECT

Basic information

Fill out these two fields at minimum.

— or —

How Big?

Where?

Links to source documents

Raw text

You can copy from here when filling out the rest of the page.

COMMUNITY MEETING FOR THE PROPOSED HAILE GOLD MINE PROJECT, LANCASTER COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA

COMMUNITY MEETING FOR THE PROPOSED HAILE GOLD MINE PROJECT, LANCASTER COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT

JOINT PUBLIC NOTICE CHARLESTON DISTRICT, CORPS OF ENGINEERS 69A Hagood Avenue Charleston, South Carolina 29403-5107 and the S.C. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL Office of Environmental Quality Control Water Quality Certification and Wetlands Programs Section 2600 Bull Street Columbia, South Carolina 29201

REGULATORY DIVISION Refer to: P/N #1992-24122-4IA

19 July 2013

COMMUNITY MEETING FOR THE PROPOSED HAILE GOLD MINE PROJECT, LANCASTER COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston District and South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC), have scheduled a community meeting for Tuesday, August 20, 2013, at the Andrew Jackson Recreation Center, 6354 N. Matson Street, Kershaw, SC 29067. All interested individuals are invited to attend. The purpose of this community meeting is to receive input from and provide information to interested parties regarding the proposed Haile Gold Mine Project, Lancaster County, South Carolina as part of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Department of the Army Permit Application # SAC 1992-24122-4IA. An open house will begin at 6:00 PM EST to allow a review of project information and individual discussion with Corps of Engineers and SCDHEC staff. The community meeting will begin at 7:00 PM EST with a presentation of the proposed mine plan, a discussion of the alternatives evaluation for the project, a discussion of the proposed mitigation plan received on July 10, 2013, an update on groundwater modeling efforts currently underway, a presentation of the schedule for the public availability of the Environmental Impact Statement and other project milestones, and an open discussion moderated by the Corps of Engineers. The meeting is scheduled to end at 9:00PM EST. During the October 27, 2011, public scoping meeting held in Kershaw, there were numerous comments and requests to hold additional public meetings where the atmosphere would allow for more dialogue with the Corps of Engineers. The intent of this meeting will be to allow for open and informal dialogue and exchange between interested members of the Kershaw community, the Corps of Engineers, and the SCDHEC. The meeting agenda will include staff presentations and opportunities for discussions with agency personnel, including one-on-one and community forum participation. With the understanding that the EIS process is ongoing, the Corps of Engineers and the SCDHEC will be available to discuss any issues brought forward to the extent that they can be responded to at this time. Note that additional public meetings will occur at other project milestones, including during the review and comment period following the release of the draft EIS scheduled for March 2014.

REGULATORY DIVISION Refer to: P/N #1992-24122-4IA

19 July 2013

The applicant submitted a revised joint federal and state application on August 16, 2012, that included additional properties allowing for reconfiguration of the project components to minimize direct impacts to wetlands and other waters of the U.S. The revised project was advertised by the Corps of Engineers in a revised joint public notice issued on April 9, 2013. The proposed project, as described in the permit application, is to reactivate the existing Haile Gold Mine near Kershaw, SC, for the development of gold resources, to expand the area for open pit mining, and to construct associated facilities. The revised project encompasses approximately 4,552.7 acres. Mining would occur in phases involving eight open mining pits over a twelve-year period, with pit depths ranging from 110 to 840 feet. The proposed work includes mechanized land clearing, grubbing, temporary stockpiling, filling, and excavation that would impact 120.46 acres of jurisdictional, freshwater wetlands and 26,460.54 linear feet of streams. Revised construction drawings provided by the applicant were included in the revised joint public notice of April 9, 2013, and are available on the Haile Gold Mine EIS website at: http://www.HaileGoldMineEIS.com/. Haile Gold Mine, Inc. submitted a revised mitigation plan to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on July 10, 2013. Mitigation is being proposed in the form of a permittee-responsible mitigation plan that focuses on outstanding aquatic and cultural and historic resources. Please note that this mitigation plan replaces the original mitigation plan outlined in the Original Joint Public Notice issued on January 28, 2011. The applicant is proposing mitigation on three individual sites: Rainbow Ranch, Cooks Mountain and Goodwill Plantation. The Rainbow Ranch site totals 698.0 acres including 28.11 acres of wetlands and 19,714 linear feet of streams. The Cooks Mountain Site encompasses 1,131.80 acres including 485.10 acres of wetlands, 28,292 linear feet of streams and 10,289 linear feet of riverine systems. The Goodwill Plantation Site contains 2,559.00 acres including 1,048.10 acres of wetlands, 30,706 linear feet of streams and 29,560 linear feet of riverine systems. The mitigation plan proposes to convey land ownership to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) Heritage Trust Program. Additionally, the applicant will provide land management funding to the Heritage Trust Program (Trust). The funds contributed by Haile Gold Mine, Inc. will be used at the discretion of the Trust for improvements, long-term maintenance and management. An electronic version of the mitigation plan is available on the Haile Gold Mine EIS website at: http://www.HaileGoldMineEIS.com/pdf/Haile_Revised_Mitigation_Plan_dated_July_9_2013.pdf. Please note that a draft Alternatives Development and Evaluation Report for the Haile Gold Mine Environmental Impact Statement will be available on the Haile Gold Mine EIS website at: http://www.HaileGoldMineEIS.com on August 5, 2013. Interested parties are encouraged to review this document prior to the August 20 community meeting to better understand the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Clean Water Act Section 404 b(1) Guidelines approach to identifying and evaluating alternatives for this project. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about this project, to be included on the mailing list for future updates and meeting announcements, or to receive a copy of the draft EIS when it is issued, contact Dr. Richard Darden, Project Manager, by email Richard.Darden@usace.army.mil, by telephone: 843-329-8043 or toll free 1­866­329­8187, or by mail: 69A Hagood Avenue, Charleston, SC 29403. Requests may also be submitted via the project website (http://www.HaileGoldMineEIS.com/). For inquiries from the media, please contact the Corps, Charleston District Corporate Communications Officer (CCO), Ms. Glenn Jeffries, by telephone: (843) 329­8123. If there are any questions concerning this public notice, please contact Richard Darden at 843329-8044 or toll free at 1-866-329-8187.

Rough impact

We use the fields in this section to decide whether to conduct an in-depth review.

Permit Manager

Dates

Identity numbers

Permits, certifications, and locations related to this particular notice

History of edits

Data are available as CSV download in the following schemas