Mount Tenabo is the principal peak in the Cortez Mountains

Cortez Mountains

The Cortez Mountains are located in central Nevada in the United States. The range lies in a southwest-northeasterly direction between Crescent Valley and Pine Valley. Mount Tenabo is the principal peak of the range, at 9,162 feet above sea level....

. The Western Shoshone

Western Shoshone

Western Shoshone comprises several Shoshone tribes that are indigenous to the Great Basin and have lands identified in the Treaty of Ruby Valley 1863. They resided in Idaho, Nevada, California, and Utah. The tribes are very closely related culturally to the Paiute, Goshute, Bannock, Ute, and...

 people assert that the mountain is of cultural and religious significance.

In 2008 the Te-Moak tribe

Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone Indians of Nevada

The Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone Indians of Nevada is a federally recognized tribe of Western Shoshone Indians in northeastern Nevada.-History:The tribe organized under the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act...

, the Timbisha

Timbisha

The Timbisha are a Native American tribe federally recognized as the Death Valley Timbisha Shoshone Band of California. They are known as the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe and are located in south central California, near the Nevada border.-History:The Timbisha have lived in the Death Valley region of...

 tribe and others sought an emergency injunction that would have halted further development of Barrick Gold

Barrick Gold

Barrick Gold Corporation is the largest pure gold mining company in the world, with its headquarters in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and four regional business units located in Australia, Africa, North America and South America...

's Cortez Hills

Cortez Gold Mine

Cortez Gold Mine is a large gold mining and processing facility in Lander and Eureka County, Nevada, United States, located approximately southwest of Elko. It is owned and operated by Barrick Gold and is made up of the Pipeline and South Pipeline deposits and the Cortez Hills deposit...

 mining operation which includes facilities on the slopes of Mount Tenabo. As of July 2010, mining continues while the BLM

Bureau of Land Management

The Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately , or one-eighth of the landmass of the country. The BLM also manages of subsurface mineral estate underlying federal, state and private...

prepares a court-ordered supplemental environmental impact statement.