JUNEAU, Alaska - The U.S. Forest Service will hold a public meeting to unveil changes to an operations plan for an Alaska gold mine.

Tongass National Forest officials are scheduled to provide information Tuesday on an amended operations plan for the Kensington Gold Mine, The Juneau Empire reported .

The plan by Coeur Alaska Inc. includes 10 additional years of tailings and waste rock storage at the site near Berners Bay, a Forest Service statement said.

Public comments are expected to be used to develop an environmental impact statement on waste storage and additional gold mining.

It “allows the Forest Service and the public to collaborate in defining the range of issues and possible alternatives to be addressed and is critical in making sure the forest is responsive to the needs and concerns of local communities,” the agency said.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced in August that it had reached a settlement with Chicago-based Coeur Mining, which controls the Kensington mine through Coeur Alaska.

The company faced allegations of discharge and reporting violations. The settlement terms called for Coeur Alaska to pay $534,500 and contained language saying Coeur Alaska neither confirms nor denies the claims.

Public comment on the updated operation plan is not expected to be taken at the meeting, an official said, but be accepted at an open house Oct. 9 at the public library in Haines.

Written submissions of public comment also will be accepted until Nov. 7.

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Information from: Juneau (Alaska) Empire, http://www.juneauempire.com