US Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Gold Bar

Home , Roberts Mountains, Sulphur Spring Range

BLM

U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Battle Mountain District Office

Gold Bar Exploration Project

Resource Report 3 Geology and Minerals DOI-BLM-NV-B010-2018-0038-EA

Preparing Office

Battle Mountain District Office 50 Bastian Road Battle Mountain, NV 89820

March 2019 Resource Report 3 - Geology and Minerals

Table of Contents

3.1 AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT ...... 1 3.1.1 AREA OF ANALYSIS OF DIRECT AND INDIRECT EFFECTS ...... 1 3.1.2 DATA SOURCES AND METHODOLOGY ...... 1 3.1.3 REGULATORY FRAMEWORK ...... 1 3.1.4 EXISTING CONDITIONS ...... 2 3.2 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES ...... 7 3.2.1 PROPOSED ACTION ...... 8 3.2.1.1 Environmental Consequences ...... 9 3.2.2 NO ACTION ...... 9 3.2.3 CUMULATIVE EFFECTS ...... 9 3.3 REFERENCES ...... 11

List of Figures

Figure 3.1-1 Regional Geologic Map ...... 4

List of Acronyms & Abbreviations

ARMPA Approved Resource Management Plan Amendment BLM Bureau of Land Management BMP Best Management Practices BMRR Bureau of Mining Regulation and Reclamation BP Before Present CAA Clean Air Act CEQ Council on Environmental Quality CESA Cumulative Effects Study Area CWA Clean Water Act DOI Department of the Interior EA Environmental Assessment EIS Environmental Impact Statement EPA Environmental Protection Agency EPO Exploration Plan of Operations ER Environmental Report ESA Endangered Species Act FLPMA Federal land Policy Management Act of 1976 FONSI Finding of No Significant Impact MBTA Migratory Bird Treaty Act MLFO Mount Lewis Field Office MMI McEwen Mining Inc. MMPA Mining and Mineral Policy Act of 1970 MSHA Mine Safety and Health Administration NDEP Nevada Department of Environmental Protection NDOW Nevada Department of Wildlife NEPA National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 NOI Notice of Intent NRHP National Register of Historic Places QAP Quality Assurance Plan RC Reverse Circulation RDPC Reclaimed Desired Plant Communities RFFA Reasonably Foreseeable Future Actions RMP Resource Management Plan ROD Record of Decision SHPO State Historic Preservation Officer SPP Stormwater Pollution Prevention TD Total Depth USFWS United States Fish and Wildlife Service UUD Unnecessary or undue degradation RESOURCE REPORT 3 - GEOLOGY AND MINERALS

3.1 AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT

3.1.1 Area of Analysis of Direct and Indirect Effects

The direct and indirect effects area of analysis for the Proposed Action is the EPO Area.

3.1.2 Data Sources and Methodology

The data sources used to describe the existing environment for geology and minerals for the Proposed Action include the following published reports, maps, and other information:

• Geology and Gold Mineralization of the Gold Bar Deposit, Eureka County, Nevada (Broili et al., 1988);

• Classification of Carbonate Rocks According to Depositional Texture (Dunham, 1962);

• Paleontological Characterization of the Falcon to Gonder 345kV Transmission Project, Nevada (Firby, 1999);

• Geology and Mineralization of the Gold Bar District, Southern Roberts Mountains (French et al., 1996);

• NI 43-101 Technical Report, Gold Bar Project Feasibility Study (SRK, 2015);

• Prefeasibility Geotechnical Pit Slope Evaluation, Gold Bar Project, Eureka County, Nevada (SRK, 2012a);

• NI 43-101 Technical Report on Resources and Reserves, Gold Bar Project, Eureka County, Nevada (SRK, 2012b);

• NI 43-101 Preliminary Assessment of U.S. Gold Corporation’s Gold Bar Project (Telesto Nevada, Inc., 2010); and

• Preliminary Geologic Map of the Roberts Creek Mountain Quadrangle (Murphy et al., 1978).

These data sources were reviewed and referenced to describe the existing environment, and the geologic and mineral characteristics of the analysis area.

3.1.3 Regulatory Framework

The rights to access, acquire and develop mineral resources on lands administered by the Federal Government are provided under the General Mining Law passed by Congress in 1872. This body of law has been amended numerous times, and its latitude impacted by various subsequent environmental laws, including but not limited to NHPA, Clean Water Act (CWA), CAA, and ESA. Congress additionally directed the BLM to manage minerals development with authorization through 43 CFR 3800 et seq., in particular the impacts, under 43 CFR 3809. Congress affirmed the federal policies for development of mineral resources with passage of the 1970 Mining and Materials Policy Act and the 1980 Materials and Minerals Policy Research and Development Act. Gold Bar Exploration Project 1 Resource Report 3 - Geology 3.1.4 Existing Conditions

The Proposed Action is within the Battle Mountain-Eureka Mineral Belt, a 120-mile long northwest trending high angle fault bounded structural setting, containing a number of sediment hosted disseminated gold deposits (Telesto Nevada, Inc., 2010).

The EPO Area is located between the Central Nevada Seismic Belt and the Diamond Valley Fault Zone. The nearest earthquake epicenter greater than five on the Richter scale in historic times is located approximately 35 miles southeast of the EPO Area on the east side of the Diamond Range. The EPO Area is situated in a zone of reasonably low seismicity, with a 50-year, 10 percent probability exceedance peak horizontal ground acceleration (g) of approximately 0.09 g (SRK, 2012a).

Physiographic and Topographic Setting The EPO Area is in the southern portion of the Roberts Mountains, which trend generally northeast-to- southwest as a triangular to rhomboidal shape, and are approximately 20 miles long and 14 miles wide. The Roberts Mountains are flanked by the Monitor Valley and Simpson Park Mountains to the west, the Kobeh Valley on the south, the Garden Valley and Sulphur Spring Range to the east, and the Denay Valley to the north. The Denay and Garden Valleys drain to the northeast to Pine Valley. The Monitor and Kobeh valleys drain into the Diamond Valley, a closed basin on the east side of the Sulphur Spring Range.

Regional Geologic Setting and Regional Structural Development The EPO Area is located within the Great Basin region of the Basin and Range physiographic province and is characterized by a series of generally north-trending mountain ranges separated by broad basins. The Basin and Range physiography has developed from normal faulting that began approximately 17 million years ago and continues to the present (Stewart, 1980). The extensional block faulting uplifted the mountains, which consist of Precambrian- to-Tertiary-age bedrock unit. The basins are filled with thick accumulations of unconsolidated to consolidated sediments derived from erosion of the adjacent mountain ranges. These sediments form alluvial fans that surround the Roberts Mountains and form gradual slopes down to the valley bottoms. The centers of the valleys are dominated by alluvium along the ephemeral drainages. The thickness of these deposits ranges from a thin veneer on pediment slopes to one thousand feet or more near the central portions of the basins.

The major geologic units in the Roberts Mountains include Cambrian through Devonian siliciclastic and carbonate sedimentary formations representing two depositional regimes. During the early Paleozoic era, northern Nevada was covered by seas, with deep water siliciclastic deposits towards the western part of the State and shallow water shelf and reef carbonates in the eastern part. Paleozoic sedimentary rocks form the regional basement throughout the area of analysis and have undergone a complex history of sedimentation and deformation. During the Late Devonian and Early Mississippian periods, sedimentary deposition was interrupted, and the Paleozoic sediments were uplifted, folded, and thrusted eastward during the Antler Orogeny (Roberts et al., 1967). The Roberts Mountains thrust is the term generally applied to the thrust that emplaced siliciclastic and volcanic rocks of Cambrian to Ordovician age (Western assemblage) over coeval carbonate rocks (Eastern assemblage). The Roberts Mountain thrust fault moved the Ordovician Vinini Formation of the Western Assemblage eastward over Eastern Assemblage carbonate rocks (Stewart, 1980). In areas of folding and uplift, erosion has opened windows through the Vinini Formation into the underlying Eastern Assemblage rocks. The Eastern assemblage units exposed in the windows are, from oldest to youngest, the upper Cambrian Hamburg Dolomite, Ordovician Eureka Quartzite and Hanson Creek Formation, Silurian Roberts Mountain Formation, Lone Mountain Dolomite, Devonian Nevada Formation, and Devil’s Gate Limestone. The Nevada Formation is Gold Bar Exploration Project 2 Resource Report 3 - Geology divided into upper and lower units: the upper, Telegraph Canyon Member, and the lower, McColley Canyon Member (Roberts et al., 1967).

The Antler Orogeny also created highlands from which erosion during the Devonian through Permian periods produced the Overlap Assemblage, which lies unconformably on top of the older Paleozoic rocks. The Overlap Assemblage is not present in the Roberts Mountains, and only the Mississippian through the Permian lithologies are preserved in Eureka County (Roberts et al., 1967). These lithologies are not present at the Project.

Regional igneous activities include Mesozoic plutonic and volcanic rocks in the Cortez Range, north of the Project; Eocene plutonic and volcanic rocks in the Diamond Range and at Mount Hope east and south of the Project; Oligocene volcanic rocks in the southern Crescent Valley area north of the Project; and Miocene bimodal volcanic rocks associated with the Northern Nevada Rift. The Northern Nevada Rift is a long, narrow regional tectono-volcanic trough that extends at least 300 miles from the Owyhee Plateau at the Oregon border south-southeastward through the Sheep Creek, Shoshone, and Cortez Ranges, and continues through the Project area to the south-southeast (Zoback et al., 1978; Wallace et al., 1998).

Gold Bar Exploration Project 3 Resource Report 3 - Geology Project^_ Area

Geologic Formations DenaDd y, Ha nsonCreek, SOh Dum p UpperDena Undiff, y Ddu HaO€d les, Qua ternaAlluv ry iumQa , l LateUpper Dena Ddu3 y, UpperVinini, Ovu TertiaBasalt, ry Tb MiddleUpper Dena Ddu2 y, MiddleVinini, Ovm TertiaAndesite, ry Tva EarlyUpper Dena Ddu1 y, LowerVinini, Ovl Volcanics,Undiff, Tv LowerDena Ddl y, VininiSha Ovs le, TertiaIntrusion, ry Ti McColley,Dm Vinini,Undiff, Ov Webb,Mw/Dw McColleyCoils Member, Dmc Goodwin,Og Ga rdenValley, Pg McColleyBartine Member, Dmb EurekaQua rtzite,Oe Devonia nLim estone,undiff, Dls McColleyKobeh Member, Dmk WindfaCw ll, Devil'sGa Ddg te, LoneMounta DSlm in, Ha m burg,Ch BaySta DbsDol, te R obertsMounta SDrm in,

0 0.5 1 2 Kilometers GoldBa Explora r tionPlan Area Fault Gold Bar Project Miles InferredFault 0 0.5 1 2 ( R egionaGeologic l Ma p ThrustFault ( Fig ure3.1-1 ThrustFault inferred Scale:1:60,000 / Da5/22/2018 te: DraM.S. wn by: Da tumNADUTM 1983, : Zone 11 GoldBar EPO Regiona Geology l Fig ure3.1-1 Beginning in the late Cretaceous period, the area was block-faulted by a series of normal faults that created the Basin and Range topography that characterizes the region. Broad valleys in the region, such as the Monitor and Kobeh valleys, were formed as down-dropped blocks between uplifted mountain ranges. During the late Tertiary and Quaternary time, uplift and subsequent erosion of the mountains created from the block-faulting have partially filled basins with poorly consolidated-to-unconsolidated silt, sand, gravel, and boulders deposited as a series of colluvial and alluvial fans (Roberts et al., 1967).

The gold deposits in the Gold Bar district are located near the southern flanks of the Roberts Mountains, Eureka County, Nevada. The Gold Bar district is located in the southern part of the Battle Mountain- Eureka Trend, a northwesterly oriented regional structural zone containing nearly 100 million ounces of gold primarily contained in sediment hosted lithologies within multiple mining districts (Kinetic Gold, 2014). Gold was discovered at Gold Bar by Atlas Precious Metals in 1983 (Broili et al., 1988). Atlas Precious Metals mined at Gold Bar from 1986 to 1994 and produced 500,000 ounces of gold during that time from multiple open pits (French et al., 1996). Exploration continued after Atlas Precious Metals closed its operations, with resultant discovery of additional mineable gold in the Project being developed by MMI. The present-day estimated mineable gold resource at the Project is reported as approximately 611,000 ounces of gold contained in 22.1 Mt of ore with average gold grade of 0.028 ounces per ton (SRK, 2015).

The gold deposits occur as micron-sized gold particles disseminated within Devonian-aged limestone formations of varying textures that range from mudstone to packstone. The host units are the Upper Denay Limestone and the Lower Bartine Member of the McColley Canyon Formation. These formations are within the Lower Plate of the Roberts Mountain Thrust Fault, a regional scale tectonic feature that displaced the older Ordovician age siliciclastic Vinini Formation (“Upper Plate” lithologies) on top of younger Devonian reef environment carbonate formations (“Lower Plate” lithologies). The Vinini Formation consists regionally of deep water chert and shale units, with minor limestone interbeds (Telesto Nevada Inc., 2010). Both Lower Plate and Upper Plate lithologies have regional extents of hundreds to thousands of square miles (Roberts et al., 1967; Stewart, 1980).

The Gold Bar district subsequently was affected by regional and local scale high angle faults during tectonic events in the Mesozoic and Tertiary periods. North-northwesterly high angle faults were the important conduits at the district scale for distribution of gold bearing fluids, although at the deposit scale, conjugate high angle northeasterly faults served as feeder structures (French et al., 1996). Gold bearing hydrothermal fluids diffused from the high angle faults into the favorable carbonate host lithologies, and particularly into the forereef debris flows that comprise significant portions of the McColley Canyon Formation, particularly the Bartine Member.

Site Geology Descriptions of ore bearing lithologies from youngest to oldest intersecting the EPO Area are depicted graphically on Figure 3.1-1. Stratigraphers that have worked in the Roberts Mountains have relied primarily on Dunham’s classification scheme for describing carbonate lithologies (Dunham, 1962).

The lithologies described below are most or all of those that would be intersected by the EPO Area.

Devonian Lithologies Devil’s Gate Limestone The Devil’s Gate Limestone is a medium bedded to massive gray limestone, comprised mainly of algal and stromatoporoid wackestone and boundstone, with Amphipora packstone.

Gold Bar Exploration Project 5 Resource Report 3 - Geology Upper Denay Limestone The Upper Denay Limestone has three formal Units. Unit 3 is medium bedded gray limey mudstone, wackestone and packstone. Unit 2, the host for gold mineralization outlier to the EPO Area, is a thin bedded mudstone to packstone and is not fossiliferous. Unit 1, the oldest unit of the formation, is thin bedded dark gray laminated limey mudstone.

Lower Denay Limestone The Lower Denay Limestone is thin to medium bedded, light to dark gray limey mudstone with calcarenite intercalations. The calcarenites are usually bioclastic with graded depositional features. This formation locally contains abundant brachiopods.

McColley Canyon Formation, Coils Member The Coils Member of the McColley Canyon Formation is medium gray, thick bedded fossiliferous crinoidal wackestone to packstone. The Coils Member hosts an assemblage of horn corals, dacryoconarids and pelmatatozoans.

McColley Canyon Formation, Bartine Member The Bartine Member of the McColley Canyon Formation is light to medium gray, thin to medium bedded wackestone to packstone. The lower part of the Bartine Member is more argillaceous, weathering to a diagnostic light orange color. The Bartine Member is fossiliferous, hosting brachiopods (Eurekaspirifer) and tabulate corals (Favosites).

McColley Canyon Formation, Kobeh Member The Kobeh Member of the McColley Canyon Formation is medium to light gray, evenly bedded dolomitic to silicic wackestone. The lower part of the Kobeh Member is commonly fossiliferous in the silicic, or chert bearing, zones. The upper part is well bedded silty dolomitic wackestone. The Kobeh Member contains minor amounts of gold mineralization at the Project, particularly adjacent to high angle faults that apparently served as feeder structures for mineralizing geothermal fluids (French et al., 1996).

Silurian Lithologies Lone Mountain Dolomite The Lone Mountain Dolomite is dense, massive, light gray to white dolomite. It is a grainstone with a coarse grained sucrosic texture due to abundant peloids, spheroids chemically precipitated in deep marine environs. The erosional surface of the Lone Mountain Dolomite created marine valleys on which the debris flows of the basal and mid McColley Canyon Formation were deposited. It is postulated to have acted as a basal aquitard, to the gold mineralizing fluids (SRK, 2015).

Impacted Non-host Lithologies Tertiary This unit is mapped as “undifferentiated volcanics” in publications on the Project area. A rhyolitic tuff and agglomerate unit is an outcrop outlier to the idled Gold Bar Pit seven miles southwest of the Cabin Creek North site (Broili et al.,1988). These researchers obtained a potassium-argon age date of 23.8 million years before present for these strata (i.e., on the Oligo-Miocene boundary). The Tertiary tuffaceous rhyolite at the Cabin Creek North site are presumably of similar age; the lithologies have similar descriptions as to type and alteration.

Quaternary and Holocene The exposed lithologies within the EPO Area are predominantly alluvial and colluvial sediments of Quaternary and/or Holocene age. The erosional surface detritus within the EPO Area that thinly overlie Gold Bar Exploration Project 6 Resource Report 3 - Geology the host formations are also of Quaternary to Holocene age. These are treated the same as their respective bedrock host lithologies in this analysis.

Mineralogy and Mineralization Three types of mineralization are identified at Gold Bar: an early pulse of hydrothermal fluids dissolved carbonate out of the silty limestone host rocks – the decalcification or “sanding” stage, so-called from the resultant texture; subsequent silicification, manifested as jasperoids on high-angle fractures and breccias, and veinlets to partial replacement of the sanded ores; and carbonaceous ores (Broili et al., 1988). The first two types of ores are usually oxidized and the carbonaceous ore is reduced.

Faulting and Seismicity The 2008 USGS National Seismic Hazard maps indicated that the EPO Area is in an area of relatively low seismicity, with a 50-year, 10 percent probability exceedance peak horizontal ground acceleration of 0.091g, or one event every 475 years. Faults near the project that are of concern regarding likelihood of seismic activity are those that have demonstrated movement during the Quaternary and Recent geologic times (i.e., within the last 1,800,000 years). Two fault systems have been identified near the project that fit these criteria: the West Roberts Mountains fault, the range-bounding fault along the western front of the range, and the unnamed faults on the southeast of the Roberts Mountains between the Project and the Mount Hope Project (DePolo, 2008). The latter faults are on projection with the Northern Nevada Rift and are likely related to the Northern Nevada Rift. These faults exhibit characteristics indicating that the last movement was less than 1,800,000 years ago, likely between 1,800,000 years before present (BP) and 750,000 years BP. The slip rate on these Northern Nevada Rift faults is reportedly less than 0.2 millimeters per year (mm/yr) in this area (DePolo, 2008). The West Roberts Mountains fault is the youngest faulting identified near the project and has characteristics associated with being active within the last 15,000 years BP. The slip rate on this system is reported to be less than 0.2 mm/yr. Both systems exhibit normal faulting patterns, i.e., they display dip-slip motion with down-dropped hanging wall blocks.

The fault systems that would be of most concern will be those with movement within the past 150 years (i.e., historic faults). None are mapped near the EPO Area. The nearest mapped historic faults are in the Pleasant Valley-Mount Tobin area located approximately 76 miles northwest of the EPO Area; and in the Fairview Peak area located approximately 100 miles southwest of the EPO Area (DePolo, 2008); these fault systems have no structural connection to the EPO Area.

3.2 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES

Indicators for assessing effects of the Proposed Action on geology and mineral resources will be the amount of geological material disturbed and the extremely limited mineral extraction by exploration drilling in the Proposed Action.

Effects Context for Geology and Minerals Localized: Effects would be limited to the EPO Area.

Regional: Effects would extend beyond the disturbance area into the larger region.

Duration of Effects Definitions for Geology and Minerals Short-term: Effects would last through the 10-year duration of the Proposed Action.

Gold Bar Exploration Project 7 Resource Report 3 - Geology Long-term: Effects would extend beyond the 10-year duration of the Proposed Action.

Permanent: Effect to Geology and Minerals would be permanent.

Intensity of Effects Definitions for Geology and Minerals Negligible: Effects to geologic resources would occur, but they would be so slight as to not be readily discernible.

Minor: Effects to geologic resources would occur, but they would be small and limited to resources within the EPO Area.

Moderate: Effects to geologic resources would occur, and would be readily discernible, of moderate size, and limited to the EPO Area.

Major: Effects to geologic resources would occur, and would be readily discernible, of large size, and would likely exceed the EPO Area.

3.2.1 Proposed Action

Because the Proposed Action is exploratory and not extractive, the Proposed Action would have negligible direct and indirect effects to the geology and mineral resources within the EPO Area. Surface exploration activities would include mapping, sampling and geophysical surveys to understand and evaluate the area for potential future extraction of precious metals. Surface disturbance activities associated with exploration include overland access, new road construction, geophysical analysis, trenching, construction of exploration drill pads and sumps, and reclamation. At any given time within the 17,316-acre EPO Area, a maximum of 100 acres of unreleased Proposed Action-related disturbance would exist. Release of reclaimed lands could occur as early as the third growing season as stated in the BLM and NDEP bond release policy. Overall, it is anticipated that the program would be conducted over 10 years with total unreleased disturbance not exceeding 100 acres at any point in time and with a total project reclaimed disturbance not exceeding 200 acres (based on concurrent reclamation being released for future phases of exploration activities).

New road construction would affect the surficial in-place geology and mineral resources to create the roadbed prism. Drilling sites and creation of temporary sumps would disturb surficial geology within the workspace.

The Roberts Creek Road and 3 Bars Road access routes are currently used and maintained under existing permitted activities associated with the Gold Bar Mine. While erosion control and other mitigation measures will continue to be implemented, no expansion or additional maintenance would be necessitated by the Proposed Action. Consequently, no appreciable loss of this resource would be incurred by the Proposed Action.

Faulting and Seismicity The Proposed Action is in an area of relatively low seismic activity. The closest seismic activity that could exceed design parameters is located approximately 35 miles southeast of the EPO Area in a fault system that is not structurally connected to the EPO Area. Effects to the Proposed Action due to regional seismic activity would be negligible.

Gold Bar Exploration Project 8 Resource Report 3 - Geology Ground movement due to activities of the exploration activities, e.g., reactivation of dormant faults due to drilling or ground vibrations from heavy equipment travel, would not be expected. Such movement typically would require destabilization of low angle faults, e.g., through excavation of metastable stratigraphic or structural zones, none of which has been proposed.

Subsidence Subsidence typically results following underground mining, mine dewatering, or disturbance of heavily karsted terrain. None of these activities would occur under the Proposed Action. Consequently, the Proposed Action would not be expected to generate subsidence within the EPO Area.

3.2.1.1 Environmental Consequences

Exploration activities would be exploratory and not extractive. Surface disturbances during exploration activities would consist primarily of the creation of new exploration roads, drill pads, and sumps. New disturbance would only occur when pre-existing disturbance is not available. At any given time within the 17,316-acre EPO Area, a maximum of 100 acres of unreleased Proposed Action-related disturbance would exist. Release of reclaimed lands could occur as early as the third growing season as stated in the BLM and NDEP bond release policy. Overall, it is anticipated that the program would be conducted over 10 years with total unreleased disturbance not exceeding 100 acres at any point in time and with a total project reclaimed disturbance not exceeding 200 acres (based on concurrent reclamation being released for future phases of exploration activities). Effects would be localized, short-term, and negligible.

In conclusion, no adverse effects to geologic resources from the Proposed Action would occur since the project would only extract a miniscule amount of material from drill holes and would not affect potential mineral resources. 3.2.2 No Action

The existing conditions for this alternative are the same as for the Proposed Action. As described in Resource Report 2 – Proposed Action, there are five Notices of Intent (NOI) currently authorized within general area of the Proposed Action. While most of these areas have been reclaimed and released by the BLM, there is a total of 2.3 acres of unreleased lands in the Afgan and HP NOI areas. These would be reclaimed under the existing authorization. In addition to the NOI authorized disturbance areas, the EPO Area contains approximately 332 acres of existing disturbance from the old Atlas mining operations, meaning that the area has been previously disturbed and left unreclaimed. These areas would not be reclaimed under the No Action Alternative.

3.2.3 Cumulative Effects

Proposed Action

The CESA for geology and minerals presented in Figure 4.23-3 in the Gold Bar FEIS. Table 2.4-1 in Resource Report 2 provides the cumulative effects from past, present, and RFFAs in combination with the Proposed Action.

The CESA includes the Antelope Mining District and encompasses approximately 82,865 acres. The CESA boundary was chosen because it includes the area of potential cumulative effects to geological and mineral resources.

Gold Bar Exploration Project 9 Resource Report 3 - Geology Past and present disturbance includes mineral development and exploration activities (3,497 acres), sand and gravel operations (2 acres), roads (163 acres), and wildland fires (2,292 acres) RFFAs within the geology and minerals CESA would include mineral exploration and development (119 acres). The exploration activities would lead to similar effects as stated for past and present actions.

Of the 82,865 acres within the geology and minerals CESA, approximately 6,073 acres of disturbance are associated with past, present, and RFFAs, which is a disturbance of 7.3 percent of the CESA. The Proposed Action would increase the disturbance within the CESA by up to 200 acres, which is approximately 0.2 percent of the CESA.

Gold-bearing ore has been or would likely be removed from within the CESA from past, present, and future mining actions, which is estimated to occur over approximately 3,061 acres. As part of the Proposed Action, cores of geologic materials from exploratory drilling would be removed from EPO Area for examination to identify potential reserves, which would result in a negligible but cumulative loss of mineral resources. Considering past, present, and RFFA disturbances in the geology and mineral resources CESA combined with the Proposed Action, cumulative effects on geology and mineral resources would be a negligible cumulative effect to the total potential gold reserves in the CESA.

No Action Alternative Adverse cumulative effects from past, present, and RFFAs would be similar to the Proposed Action except that effects from the Proposed Action would not occur and up to 50 acres of existing disturbance would not contribute to beneficial long-term effects to surface water quality from reclamation.

Gold Bar Exploration Project 10 Resource Report 3 - Geology 3.3 REFERENCES

Broili, C., French, G.M., Shaddrick, D.R., and , R.R. Weaver. 1988. Geology and gold mineralization of the Gold Bar Deposit, Eureka County, Nevada in Schafer, R.W., Cooper, J.J., and P.G. Vikre, eds., Bulk Mineable Precious Metal Deposits of the Western United States: Geological Society of Nevada Symposium Proceedings, Reno, NV, pp. 57-72.

DePolo, C.M. 2008. Quaternary Faults in Nevada. Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Map 167. Reno, Nevada. Interactive map on-line at https://gisweb.unr.edu/QuaternaryFaults/. Accessed on 12/14/2016.

Dunham, R.J. 1962. Classification of Carbonate Rocks According to Depositional Texture in Ham, W. E., Classification of Carbonate Rocks: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 1:108 – 121.

Firby, J.R. 1999. Paleontological Characterization of the Falcon to Gonder 345kV Transmission Project, Nevada. 56 pp.

French, G.M., Fenne, F.K., Maus, D.A., Rennebaum, T.D., and T.A. Jennings,. 1996. Geology and mineralization of the Gold Bar District, Southern Roberts Mountains in Green, Steven M., and E. Struhsacker eds., Geology and Ore Deposits of the American Cordillera: Geological Society of Nevada Field Trip Guidebook Compendium. Reno, Nevada, 1996. pp. 309-315.

Kinetic Gold. 2014. Project Summaries, South Roberts. Accessed March 2016 online at: http://www.kineticgold.com/i/pdf/factsheet.pdf.

Murphy, M.A., McKee, E.H., Winterer, E.L., Matti, J.C., and , J.B. Dunham. 1978. Preliminary Geologic Map of the Roberts Creek Mountain Quadrangle, Nevada. U. S. Geologic Survey Open-File Report 78-376, scale 1:31,250. Two sheets: map and cross-sections

Roberts, R. J., Montgomery, K. M., and R.E. Lehner. 1967. Geology and Mineral Resources of Eureka County, Nevada. Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Bulletin 64. University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada. 152 pp. and 12 plates.

SRK Consulting (U.S.) Inc. (SRK). 2012a. Prefeasibility Geotechnical Pit Slope Evaluation. Gold Bar Project. Eureka County, Nevada. March 2012.

SRK Consulting (U.S.) Inc. (SRK). 2012b. NI 43-101 Technical Report on Resources and Reserves, Gold Bar Project, Eureka County, Nevada. 312 pp.

SRK Consulting (U.S.) Inc. (SRK). 2015. NI 43-101 Technical Report, Gold Bar Project Feasibility Study, Eureka County, Nevada. 293 pp. Downloaded from www.sedar.com on February 18, 2016.

Stewart, J.H. 1980. Geology of Nevada. Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Special Publication 4. University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada. 136 pp.

Telesto Nevada, Inc. 2010. NI 43-101 Preliminary Assessment of U.S. Gold Corporation’s Gold Bar Project, including Gold Pick, Gold Ridge, Cabin Creek, and Hunter, Eureka County, Nevada. April 2010. 231 pp. Downloaded from www.sedar.com on September 15, 2015.

Wallace, A.R., and D.A. John. 1998. New Studies of Tertiary Volcanic Rocks and Mineral Deposits, Northern Nevada Rift in Contributions to the Gold Metallogeny of Northern Nevada. Richard M. Tosdal, editor. U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 98-338. pp. 264 - 278.

Zoback, M.L., and G.A. Thompson. 1978. Basin and Range rifting in northern Nevada: includes from a mid-Miocene rift and its subsequent offsets. Geology 6:111-116.

Gold Bar Exploration Project 11 Resource Report 3 - Geology