NDEP Issues Water Pollution Control Permit for GBG's Hollister Project
January 22 2009 - 8:30AM
PR Newswire (US)
VANCOUVER, Jan. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Great Basin Gold Ltd,
("Great Basin" or the "Company"), (TSX: GBG; NYSE Alternext: GBG;
JSE: GBG) announces that the Nevada Division of Environmental
Protection/Bureau of Mining Regulation and Reclamation (NDEP)
recently issued one of the key permits needed for a full-scale
underground mining operation by its wholly owned subsidiary, Rodeo
Creek Gold Inc. (RCG), at the Hollister Development Block Project
in Elko County, Nevada. The NDEP Water Pollution Control Permit
(WPCP) authorizes a maximum production rate of up to 275,000 tons
of ore per year as well as engineered waste rock storage and ore
stockpile facility, synthetic lined water management ponds, a
reverse osmosis water treatment facility, and other ancillary
facilities. Before RCG can expand its current underground
activities to reach the production rate authorized in the Water
Pollution Control Permit, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
must approve RCG's amended Plan of Operations. BLM's permitting
process will include preparation of an Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) to evaluate potential environmental impacts
associated with the proposed expansion of the underground
activities inclusive of appropriate mitigation measures to minimize
the identified impacts. Great Basin Resource Watch (GBRW) has filed
an appeal with the Nevada State Environmental Commission
challenging NDEP's issuance of the Water Pollution Control Permit.
The appeal will be heard in February 2009. Ferdi Dippenaar
commented, "We are pleased and welcome the issuance of the permit
by the NDEP. The Hollister Project has made good progress in
infrastructure development that will ensure that the interests of
stakeholders are heard, and the environment is protected. Our
amended Plan of Operations was submitted to the BLM in April 2008
and the Completeness Review was concluded by October 2008. During
December 2008, the BLM indicated that the environmental analysis
required for the amended Plan of Operations will be an
environmental impact statement (EIS). We are currently in
discussions with the BLM to determine what levels of ongoing
exploration and trial mining would be allowed during the completion
of the study." No regulatory authority has approved or disapproved
the information contained in this news release. This release
includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking
statements". All statements in this release, other than statements
of historical facts, that address possible future commercial
production, reserve potential, exploration drilling results,
development, feasibility or exploitation activities and events or
developments that Great Basin Gold expects to occur are
forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the
expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based
on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of
future performance and actual results or developments may differ
materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in
forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and
exploration successes, continuity of mineralization, uncertainties
related to the ability to obtain necessary permits, licenses and
title and delays due to third party opposition, geopolitical
uncertainty, changes in government policies regarding mining and
natural resource exploration and exploitation, and continued
availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market
or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such
statements are not guarantees of future performance and those
actual results or developments may differ materially from those
projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information
on the Company, Investors should review the Company's annual Form
40-F filing with the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission and its home jurisdiction filings that are available at
http://www.sedar.com/. DATASOURCE: Great Basin Gold Ltd. CONTACT:
on Great Basin Gold Ltd. and its gold properties, please visit the
Company's website at http://www.grtbasin.com/ or contact Investor
Services: Tsholo Serunye in South Africa +27 (0)11 301 1800;
Michael Curlook in North America, (888) 633-9332; Barbara Cano at
Breakstone Group in the USA, (646) 452-2334
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