RENO, Nev. (AP) - Lawyers for an environmental group and Native American tribes trying to block another expansion at one of the biggest gold mines in North America say the U.S. government -- in concert with the largest gold company in the world -- is making an unprecedented attempt to skirt two of the nation's fundamental laws protecting federal lands.

In a case that's been bouncing back and forth between federal court in Reno and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for nearly three years, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Barrick Gold Corp. have countered that the Great Basin Resource Watch and the Western Shoshone are exaggerating the harm the mining operation will cause to the groundwater beneath Nevada's Mt. Tenabo, and to the cultural and religious beliefs of native people who regard the water as sacred.

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