Date: August 19, 2004

CONTACT: Jamie Thompson, Public Affairs Officer, (775) 623-1500

BLM ANALYZES MOSQUITO SPRAYING AT LONE TREE MINE

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Winnemucca Field Office has completed an Environmental Assessment (EA) analyzing environmental effects that could be expected from a proposal by Newmont Mining Corporation to use aerial spraying to kill mosquitoes at its Lone Tree Mine east of Winnemucca. Under the proposal, Newmont would spray three times each year, in May, June and July, for the next several years to keep down the burgeoning population of mosquitoes at the mine. Newmont estimates that its employees, who work 24 hours a day in three shifts, are bitten by mosquitoes an average of 3,000 times per hour.

According to Jeff Johnson, BLM environmental protection specialist, "This mosquito abatement proposal would help the Lone Tree Mine by eliminating an extremely annoying nuisance to employees and at the same time reducing the potential health threat posed by mosquito-borne West Nile Virus."

The EA is available for review at the Winnemucca Field Office at 5100 East Winnemucca Boulevard and online.  More information is available by calling Mr. Johnson at the BLM office at 775-623-1500. Public comments on the proposal are welcome and may be submitted to Johnson by the close of business Tuesday, September 7, 2004.

- BLM -