SAN FRANCISCO - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ordered Jipangu International, Inc. to pay a $105,000 fine and correct reporting violations after the EPA said the facility failed to correctly report toxic chemical releases and waste management activities at its Florida Canyon Mine and Standard Gold Mine processing facility near Imlay.
After a careful analysis of the mine's records, EPA said its inspectors determined that Jipangu failed to submit timely, complete and correct Toxic Release Inventory reports in 2005, 2006 and 2007 for toxic chemicals, such as cyanide compounds, used to extract gold from the ore mined at the facility, and other toxic chemicals, such as lead and mercury compounds, produced during the extraction process.
"The chemicals used at the Florida Canyon Mine and Standard Gold Mine facility have the potential to pose a danger to employees, the surrounding community and the environment," said Jared Blumenfeld, the EPA's regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest. "The EPA has been collecting information from facilities nationwide for 25 years to arm citizens and local governments with information about toxics in their area."
Metal ore mining accounts for 97 percent of total toxic inventory releases reported to EPA in Nevada. The EPA said this action is part of an ongoing effort began in 2008 to ensure compliance among this sector and to ensure the public has accurate and complete information about facilities in their communities.
The EPA said the Jipangu International Gold Mining facility produces 1.5 to 1.7 tons of gold annually. Within the next five years, the facility plans to increase production to 15.5 tons per year, according to an EPA press release. The company is disputing that claim (see statement below).
Under the settlement, Jipangu revised its TRI reports for 2005 through 2010 and complied with the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. The EPA said there is no evidence to suggest that the mine's violations posed any immediate danger to nearby communities or workers at the facility.
The EPA requires reporting of toxic chemical releases under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act, which requires certain facilities that manufacture, process or otherwise use toxic chemicals over specified amounts to file annual reports estimating the amounts released to the environment, treated or recycled on-site or transferred off-site for waste management. These reports are submitted to the EPA and the state or tribe having local jurisdiction over the facility. The EPA compiles this information into a national database called the Toxics Release Inventory and makes it available to the public.
To find information on the Toxics Release Inventory program visit: http://www.epa.gov/tri.
The EPA's environmental databases, including the TRI data, can be accessed at: http://www.epa.gov/enviro.
Jipangu issued the following statement in response to the EPA's announcement:
Today the United States Environmental Protection Agency ("USEPA") issued a Press Release announcing that it had "ordered" Jipangu International to pay a $105,000 fine and correct alleged reporting violations related to Toxic Release Inventory ("TRI") reports filed for 2005, 2006 and 2007. To be clear, the payment and corrected reports were negotiated as part of a Consent Agreement in which Jipangu did not admit liability for the alleged violations. Jipangu timely filed TRI Reports in good faith for each of the affected years. Jipangu and USEPA had principled disagreements regarding the methods and data used to prepare the specific disclosures in the reports, and were ultimately able to reach an agreement that resolved the enforcement action and spared the parties' further expense.
The USEPA Press Release further states that: "Within the next five years, the facility plans to increase production to 15.5 tons per year." This statement is incorrect. For the foreseeable future, Jipangu expects production to remain at 1.5 to 1.7 tons per year of gold production.
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