SWCA Environmental Consultants has been appointed by Prophecy Development Corp. as their third-party National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) contractor to prepare the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Gibellini Vanadium Project located in Eureka County, Nevada and assist the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in the maintenance of the administrative record.
The Gibellini EIS will be one of the first mining EIS’s done under Secretarial Order 3355 (SO 3355), which mandates that the Final EIS cannot exceed 150 pages in length and must be completed within on year of the publication date of the Notice of Intent (NOI) for the EIS in the Federal Register. A project schedule has been developed with the BLM that targets the first quarter of 2020 for the NOI to be published and the EIS formally started.
The appointment of SWCA as the EIS contractor allows SWCA to participate in the review of the Enhanced Baseline Reports, the Mine Plan of Operations, and all relevant data and project information that will serve as the foundation for the NEPA review. This early start will ensure a streamlined EIS process once the formal NEPA process begins.
Based on this guideline, an EIS Record of Decision would be expected no later than Q1 2021. Upon receipt of a positive ROD and issuance of Nevada State permits, Prophecy plans to start mine construction in 2021, subject to project financing completion, and begin vanadium production by Q4 2022.
“Appointment of SWCA as the EIS contractor through competitive tender is a significant milestone for Prophecy’s Gibellini vanadium project,” notes Ron Espell, VP Environment and Sustainability at Prophecy. “The NOI is on target to be published in early Q1 2020, which will represent the starting point of a well-defined 12-month process under SO 3355 that shareholders will be able to mark and track on their calendars through to the EIS Record of Decision.”
Mike Doolin, Prophecy’s CEO, states: “This is an exciting time for Prophecy. We continue to work through the permitting and detail engineering, executing our goals and building confidence in our timeline. We believe Gibellini is the only project poised to begin vanadium mine production in the U.S. by 2022, just three years from now.”
Visit www.prophecydev.com to learn about the Gibellini project timeline and economics.
ABOUT PROPHECY
Prophecy is developing the Gibellini project – the only large-scale, open-pit, heap-leach vanadium project of its kind in North America. Located in Nevada, Gibellini is currently undergoing EPCM and permit development. Further information on Prophecy can be found at www.prophecydev.com.
ABOUT SWCA
SWCA Environmental Consultants is a nationwide environmental consulting firm that has served the BLM for more than 30 years as a NEPA contractor. SWCA has been the third-party consultant for some of the most complex recent mining EISs in the United States. SWCA has assembled an outstanding team of environmental professionals to complete the Gibellini EIS analysis in accordance with SO 3355, in a timely and efficient manner. SWCA has strategically engaged Itasca Denver, Inc. (IDI), and BGC Engineering, Inc. (BGC), as teaming partners. These companies bring decades of environmental, socioeconomic, and engineering experience with mining projects. All team members were selected specifically because they have the practical experience to deliver high quality work products on time and within budget. Team members were also selected to ensure that the EIS process is completed within the 12-month SO 3355 mandated time frame. Further information on SWCA can be found at https://www.swca.com/.