Public-comment session set for Comstock Mining

Comstock Mining, the Virginia City-based gold and silver mining company, has a public-comment review session set in Carson City on Monday on changes it seeks in the firm’s water-pollution control permit.

The company sought changes through the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection (NDEP) to expand leaching pad operations in the Lucerne project, which also would wind up expanding projected amounts recovered by operations. The public-comment session is set for 2-4 p.m. at the Bryan Building on Stewart Street.

The company’s request comes a few weeks after a different interaction with NDEP over air-quality matters, in which NDEP found “a few things not in compliance with the air-quality permit,” said JoAnn Kittrell of NDEP. She said that resulted in a seven-day shutdown of some operations by the mining company while changes were made to matters at the crushing area of the operations. Then she mentioned Monday’s session.

Regarding the earlier air-quality matter, the mining company’s president said he was notified Aug. 16 that emission points were technically not in compliance and the matter was rectified quickly. He said the mine caught back up in operations a few days after addressing the problem. He said he was at a loss to explain talk in some quarters that the stoppage had affected the entire mine and was longer in duration.

“We mediated it immediately,” he said. “We’re not shut down; we’re operating.”