RENO, Nev. (AP) – Lawyers for a huge gold mining project in Nevada that’s accused of breaking U.S. environmental laws want a judge to ease a court order they say would shut down the $500 million project at the expense of hundreds of jobs.

Barrick Cortez Inc. filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Reno on Monday seeking permission to continue work at the Cortez Hills project while the U.S. Bureau of Land Management completes more court-ordered studies on the mine’s environmental impacts.

The project is located mostly on federal land in Lander County on Mount Tenabo, about 250 miles east of Reno.

Tribal leaders and conservationists who sued to block the mine say last month’s ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which cited violations in the project’s planning process, made it clear it must shut down until the new reviews are completed as required under the National Environmental Policy Act.

But Barrick’s new motion said that would mean the loss of 630 jobs and an overall economic impact of $112 million by the end of the year on the economy of the nation’s largest gold-producing state, which faces a budget deficit of up to $800 million over the next two years.

“This loss would come at a time the state needs money the most,” the motion said.

Instead, Barrick officials want U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks to allow them to continue operations at the 2,000-foot-deep open pit mine while they address deficiencies in the previous environmental impact statement with a supplemental analysis to be completed by June. Barrick says the project is 98 percent complete and already producing ore.

“The irreparable harm that could result from the deficiencies identified by the 9th Circuit is limited and can be prevented by a narrow injunction,” the motion said. “On the other hand, a blanket injunction halting the entire project would be extremely harmful to the public interest because it would result in the loss of hundreds of jobs and cause millions in damage to the economy.”

On Dec. 3, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit in San Francisco granted part of an injunction sought by the Western Shoshone tribes, the Western Shoshone Defense Project and Great Basin Resource Watch. The court ruled that BLM failed to adequately analyze the mine’s potential to pollute the air with mercury emissions and dry up scarce water resources in Nevada’s high desert.

In that same ruling, the appellate court upheld Hicks’ earlier finding that opponents of the mine failed to prove they were likely to prevail on claims the mine would cause visual harm to Mount Tenabo and create a substantial burden on the tribes’ ability to exercise their religion.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately return a telephone call Tuesday seeking comment.

John Hadder, executive director of the Great Basin Resource Watch in Reno, said earlier that the 9th Circuit rightly concluded BLM had failed in its legal responsibility to “protect the air, water and ecological values of the area as well as the religious freedom of Western Shoshone” tribe.

“None of us are opposed to mining if it is done responsibility. However, this project is as irresponsible as it gets,” he said.

Barrick Cortez is a subsidiary of Barrick Gold Corp., the largest gold-producer in the world. Company officials said in the new motion that if allowed to continue operations, they would agree not to ship any refractory ores from Cortez Hills or pump any ground water not previously permitted until the supplemental environmental impact statement is completed.

Jerry Smith, the Battle Mountain BLM district manager who approved the Cortez Hills Project, told the Elko Daily Free Press on Monday that he stands by his approval. He said the court’s demand for more study of the transportation of ore and dewatering mitigation are “small items when you look at the whole.”

“The BLM is prepared to conduct further analysis,” he said.