Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for Comments

AGENCY:

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Interior.

ACTION:

Notice of a renewal of a currently approved information collection (1028-0065).

SUMMARY:

We (the U.S. Geological Survey) will ask the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve the information collection (IC) described below. This collection consists of 2 forms. As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, and as part of our continuing efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, we invite the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on this IC. This collection is scheduled to expire on October 31, 2016.

DATES:

To ensure that your comments are considered, we must receive them on or before June 20, 2016.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments on this information collection to the Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Geological Survey, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive MS 807, Reston, VA 20192 (mail); (703) 648-7197 (fax); or gs-info_collections@usgs.gov (email). Please reference `Information Collection 1028-0065, Production Estimate, in all correspondence.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Elizabeth S. Sangine, National Minerals Information Center, U.S. Geological Survey, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Mail Stop 989, Reston, VA 20192 (mail); 703-648-7720 (phone); or escottsangine@usgs.gov (email). You may also find information about this ICR at www.reginfo.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

This collection is needed to provide data on mineral production for annual reports published by commodity for use by Government agencies, Congressional offices, educational institutions, research organizations, financial institutions, consulting firms, industry, academia, and the general public. This information will be published in the “Mineral Commodity Summaries,” the first preliminary publication to furnish estimates covering the previous year's nonfuel mineral industry.

II. Data

OMB Control Number: 1028-0065.

Form Numbers: USGS Forms 9-4042-A and 9-4124-A.

Title: Production Estimate, Two Forms.

Type of Request: Renewal of existing information collection.

Affected Public: Business or Other-For-Profit Institutions: U.S. nonfuel minerals producers.

Respondent's Obligation: None. Participation is voluntary.

Frequency of Collection: Annually.

Estimated Total Number of Annual Responses: 1,761.

Estimated Time per Response: 15 minutes.

Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 440 hours.

Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping “Non-Hour Cost” Burden: There are no “non-hour cost” burdens associated with this IC.

Public Disclosure Statement: The PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.) provides that an agency may not conduct or sponsor and you are not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number and current expiration date.

III. Request for Comments

We are soliciting comments as to: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the agency to perform its duties, including whether the information is useful; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, usefulness, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) how to minimize the burden on the respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

Please note that the comments submitted in response to this notice are a matter of public record. Before including your personal mailing address, phone number, email address, or other personally identifiable information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment, including your personally identifiable information, may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personally identifiable information from public view, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.