The US Government has relaxed regulations concerning the disposal of mine waste. Companies are now to be allowed to utilise all of the 20 acre (0.08 km2) parcels that they lease from the government for the storage of waste, rather than a 5 acre portion thereof. The previous administration (of President Bill Clinton) interpreted the Mining Law of 1872 as stipulating that each 20-acre mining claim was limited to a 5-acre waste dump.

Doug Hock, Newmont Mining Corp.'s spokesman, says that the decision makes sense, restoring a "decades-old understanding of the law".