South Carolina Company Wins Hardrock Mineral Environmental Award

          SPRINGFIELD, Va., Sept. 26 2005 /PRNewswire/ -- Bureau of Land
Management-Eastern States (BLM-ES) Director Mike Nedd announced the winner of
the 2005 Hardrock Mineral Environmental Award.  The award recognizes effective
environmental stewardship.
    The 2005 Hardrock Mineral Environmental Award winner is the Kennecott
Ridgeway Mine in Fairfield County, South Carolina.  Kennecott demonstrated a
track record of successfully meeting or exceeding state reclamation
requirements with minimal oversight.  The award recognizes the efforts that
have been made in implementing the principles of sustainable development, a
concept adopted by the United States and 192 other countries, to balance
environmental, economic, and social considerations in planning for mining
operations.
    "Kennecott Ridgeway Mine illustrates the BLM's concept of sustainable
development -- maintaining current standards of living while providing for
future needs," BLM-ES Director Mike Nedd said.
    Agency Director Kathleen Clarke presented the awards to the winners
September 20 in Washington, D.C., at a joint BLM and Office of Surface Mining
awards dinner hosted by the National Mining Association.
    First offered in 2003, the BLM award is similar to existing Department of
Interior awards for excellence in coal mining reclamation.  The hardrock
mining awards enable the Department of Interior to recognize the industrial
and metallic minerals industry as well as sand and gravel operators.  The
Hardrock Mineral Environmental Award highlights the component of sustainable
development that relates to environmental stewardship.  The award acknowledges
operators with exceptional track records of meeting or exceeding Federal,
State, or local reclamation requirements.  Nominations for this year's
hardrock mining awards were first screened by BLM State Office officials, who
forwarded the applications to BLM Headquarters for final judging.  A panel of
judges that included people from outside the BLM completed the judging.
    The BLM, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, manages more
land -- 261 million surface acres -- than any other Federal agency.  Most of
this public land is located in 12 Western States, including Alaska.  The
Bureau, with a budget of about $1.9 billion, also administers 700 million
acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation.
    The BLM's multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity
of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future
generations.  The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as
outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy
production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other
resources on the public lands.

    The Hardrock Mineral Environmental Award recognizes effective
environmental stewardship.  The recipient demonstrated a track record of
successfully meeting or exceeding Federal, State or local reclamation
requirements with minimal oversight.

    The Kennecott Ridgeway Mine is located in Fairfield County, South
Carolina, approximately five miles east of the town of Ridgeway and 25 north
of Columbia, the state capital.  Ridgeway was an open cut, precious metal mine
that operated from 1988 to 1999.  The entire operation is on private land.
During its 10 years of operation, the mine worked to improve relations with
local communities by actively engaging mine opponents and through information
sharing and regular site meetings with local community groups to discuss
mining plans and issues of community concern.  When operations ceased at the
Ridgeway Mine in November 1999, the Kennecott Minerals Company implemented a
successful reclamation and closure plan designed to minimize environmental
impacts on the site's land.  Since the end of mining operations, all
previously disturbed land surfaces have been subsequently reclaimed and
restored, or retained for future sustainable uses.  In October 2002, Ridgeway
signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Southeastern Natural Sciences
Academy to create the Center for Ecological Restoration on the site of the
reclaimed mine.  The Center focuses on providing environmental education and
research about sustainable programs for economic growth, balanced with
environmental protection.