2018 Spring Mining by Nevada News Group/ Winnemucca Publishing

MINING SPRING 2018 EDITION

Pershing Gold bringing Relief Canyon back into production this year Spring Edition | April 2018

MINING

On the cover —

Spring 2018

a publication of Winnemucca Publishing Publisher: Peter Bernhard Special Projects Director: J. Carmen Kofoed Writers: Debra Reid Peggy Jones Shanna Cummings Ashley Maden Travis Masterson Advertising Sales: Rhonda Coleman Bobbie Sakurada Brian Rucker Sarena Fabel Ashley Buckingham Advertising Design: Joe Plummer Emily Swindle

Relief Canyon mine aiming for reopening Photo by Debra Reid, Winnemucca Publishing

More than six years after acquiring the Relief Canyon Mine, the Pershing Gold Corporation may be on the verge of reopening the gold mine sometime this year. Above, an AK Drilling crew prepares for exploratory drilling near the pits at the mine. See the story beginning on Page 6

In this issue —

Nevada mining companies committed to conservation, community partnerships Nevada Mining Association �� Page 4

Relief Canyon could be back in production this year By Debra Reid �� Page 6

Down under: Twin Creeks explores new vistas underground By Shanna Cummings �� Page 10

Rock Stars: A day in the life of a mine driller By Travis Masterson �� Page 14

Florida Canyon back in the action By Peggy Jones �� Page 20

1022 S. Grass Valley Road, Winnemucca, Nev. 89445 (775) 623-5011

Down she goes! Turquoise Ridge third shaft project By Ashley Maden �� Page 26

Industry Snapshot

Nevada mining companies committed to conservation, community partnerships Nevada Mining Association Whether it’s protecting native wildlife and habitat or finding creative ways to recruit and retain top talent, Nevada mining is invested in our communities and our state. Nevada’s operators are global leaders in responsible mining. Nevada’s 21st-century mining industry thrives through innovation, partnerships, sound environmental stewardship, and accountable business practices. It is truly exciting to see Nevada companies continue to set the standard for modern mining around the world and model good corporate citizenship for other industries in the Silver State.

Creative solutions to modern mining challenges

Identifying mine inefficiencies and developing solutions often require the expertise of software developers, engineers, data scientists, and entrepreneurs. Many of these thought leaders don’t recognize mining as a viable career choice until they are exposed to the variety of opportunities within this STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) industry. The need to find and foster these top tech talents inspired Barrick Gold Corporation’s recent Battleborn Series, which included Nevada’s first global mining hackathon, in Las Vegas. Hackathons are programming competitions that give talented individuals the opportunity to drive innovation by leveraging technology to solve a problem. In this case, participants had just 54 hours to solve real challenges from Barrick’s mining operations, brainstorm technical solutions, and pitch those solutions to venture capitalists and industry leaders. Barrick partnered with Cisco, Switch, and Unearthed to run the Battleborn Hackathon and other related events. More than 110 developers, data scientists, engineers, mathematicians, designers, and engineers participated in the challenge. A group called IntelliMine won the Battleborn Hackathon with a gamification tool to improve efficiency and productivity for shovel operators. Using game design elements, the group created predictive models to inform operators of the optimum time to begin digging to prepare for arriving haul trucks. The tool’s goal is to decrease energy and maintenance costs for mines by reducing shovel hang time and unnecessary wear and tear on motors and ropes. Congratulations to the members of IntelliMine for their impressive win!

10,000-acre deal to protect sage-grouse sets precedent for conservation

Kinross Gold U.S.A., Inc., became the first mining compa-

Nevada Mining Association launches new website

The Nevada Mining Association (NvMA), Nevada’s champions for the 21st-century mining industry, has launched a newly revamped website. The site offers easy access to essential mining information with a clean, uncluttered look and enhanced functionality. Prominent features include: • a virtual mine tour • an updated blog featuring the latest Nevada mining news • new content for students and teachers • career information for both current and aspiring miners NvMA’s goal for the new site is to establish a robust source of information for anyone interested in the mining industry. We encourage you to visit the new site, located at the same address: NevadaMining.org.

ny to purchase habitat credits to offset impacts to the greater sage-grouse and protect nearly 10,000 acres of primary sagegrouse habitat in northeast Nevada. Under the new Nevada Conservation Credit System (CCS) program, Kinross will use the credits to offset the environmental impacts of its Bald Mountain Gold Mine in White Pine County. Kinross enrolled its ranch, Tumbling JR, in the CCS. The project includes limiting new disturbance and infrastructure on the ranch, prohibiting conversion of the properties from rangeland to cropland, maintaining fencing, and implementing grazing management practices to preserve sage-grouse habitat. The numbers of greater sage-grouse in Nevada have declined primarily due to loss of habitat in recent years. The bird relies on sagebrush, which is threatened by invasive cheatgrass, fires, and human development. Although a U.S. government study determined that mining’s impact on the bird’s habitat is minimal, Nevada mining companies, such as Kinross, have taken many positive steps to enhance the sagebrush ecosystem. The CCS is a state-led mitigation program to fully offset impacts to the greater sage-grouse through long-term protection of habitat. Stakeholders are committed to keeping the sage-grouse off the endangered species list while responsibly maintaining the economic viability of industry. F

Pershing County

Relief Canyon could be back in production this year Mine managers await green light from Pershing Gold By Debra Reid Winnemucca Publishing

More than six years after acquiring the Relief Canyon Mine, the Pershing Gold Corporation may be on the verge of reopening the gold mine sometime this year. Land was cleared earlier this year to make room for new leach pads and other facilities but funding is still a work in progress. Meanwhile, the company continues its exploratory drilling program to expand known gold resources, attract more investors and increase potential financing for the project. A recent press release announced initial results from the 2018 drilling program on the “West Step Out Area” near a trio of 30-year-old pits to help map the highest concentrations of underground gold. “Overall, this program is providing a mix of infill holes to provide tighter drill density for the expressed purpose of expanding the whittle pit and converting measured and indicated resources to reserves,” the company states. “Previous drill holes from 2016 that were drilled after the 2016 resource update indicate the potential for further resource growth.”

Learn more about Pershing Gold and Relief Canyon Mine online at www. pershinggold.com Debra Reid photo

Pershing Gold Project Manager Jerod Eastman said three 30-year-old pits will eventually become one large pit during mining at Relief Canyon Mine. During a recent tour of Relief Canyon, Project Manager Jerod Eastman explained what will be built on the 200 acres of land cleared in February by contractor Ames Construction. “Waste dump, heap leach pad, haul road, a conveyor line, contractor yard,” Eastman said.

Debra Reid photo

Pipes are used to extract core samples during exploratory drilling at the Relief Canyon Mine. 6 - MINING • SPRING 2018, an April, 2018 publication of Winnemucca Publishing

The current Plan of Operations includes three new leach pads numbered five, six and seven. Four old heap leach pads will need to be reclaimed and three old pits mined back in the 1980’s will be “tied together” into one pit as those mining areas are deepened and expanded. Trucks will haul waste rock and other materials but gold ore will be carried downhill from the mining area on a conveyor belt about ¾ of a mile to the new crushing and leach pad facilities. “It will be a stationary conveyor belt. All of the ore will be put through the crusher, onto the conveyor and down to the leach pad,” Eastman said. “Pregnant” solution from the leach pad will then be channeled to the processing plant below. The plant will be upgraded with a new mercury abatement system and a new refinery. All of this still depends on financing, he said. “All the permitting is in hand. We are going through financing,” he said. “If they get all that set up then we’ll get started this year. The mining will be done by a contractor who will hire their own labor force. We’ve talked to them about starting local and then go from there with however many people they need. They’ll bring in a few of their own people from other projects but they’ll need to hire a bunch of people. F

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MINING • SPRING 2018, an April, 2018 publication of Winnemucca Publishing - 7

“For full operations, I think that will be about a hundred people or so.” As mining goes deeper, groundwater will eventually be encountered but only after another “round of permitting,” Eastman said. The current plan is for about a five year “life of mine.” “We’ll be expanding all these pits and possibly beyond that depending on the exploration (drilling) if they find anymore ore,” Eastman said. “The drill core samples are taken to Lovelock and they do the analysis. The assaying is actually done at a lab in Reno.” Geologist Eve Marie Evenson said she examines every foot of the thousands of drill cores and enters the data into a computer that maps the zones according to grade. The maps determine what is worth mining and what is waste, she said. “I log the cores and I also work with Doug (Prihar) in managing the drill program, checking the rigs, setting them up and getting daily updates from them,” Evenson said. “Doug and the others on our team make the decisions on where is best to drill. This core would be representative of that exact location but, you could step off a couple of feet and the ground could be completely different. Mother Nature likes to play tricks with us.” Evenson said there is no visible gold at Relief Canyon and that it’s “pretty disseminated.” “Some properties have visible gold, we don’t,” she said. “That’s okay. The assays tell us the gold is there and we’re good with it. After spending six years here, I’ve gotten a good feel for the rocks on the property. It’s always nice to see the changes in the ground but it’s always good to see that, yep, the gold is there. Looking at the rock is

An AK Drilling crew prepares for exploratory drilling near the pits at Relief Canyon Mine.

my favorite part of the job.” Manager of Exploration Douglas Prihar said he and his team are “coring” the “main zone” which was the old mining area previously explored and mined by Lancana and Pegasus. Exploration drilling has gone beyond that to increase gold resources and the life of the Relief Canyon Mine. “It was historically drilled by reverse circulation drilling. This is the first time we’ve put core through this area,” he said. “It’s going to help our engineers determine how they blast it to optimize the blast arrays, get the proper breakage for the different sizes

particles that will save on crushing costs and, ultimately, get it onto the belts that will tram it down to the leach pads.” After exploring the mine’s gold resources for more than five years, Prihar is looking forward to gold production and the economic benefits, including job creation, for the local community. “We’re waiting on the home office in closing some final financing,” he said. “Everybody is just waiting for the green light to move forward into high gear. Then, things will start moving very quickly out there. We’ll keep our fingers crossed.” F

Debra Reid photos

At left above, mercury abatement equipment and a gold refinery will be installed in the ore processing plant at Relief Canyon Mine said Pershing Gold’s Project Manager Jerod Eastman. At right above, Pershing Gold Geologist Eve Marie Evenson has examined hundreds of drill core samples from Relief Canyon Mine. The rocks reveal the highest grades of underground gold ore. 8 - MINING • SPRING 2018, an April, 2018 publication of Winnemucca Publishing

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MINING • SPRING 2018, an April, 2018 publication of Winnemucca Publishing - 9

Humboldt County

Down Under

Twin Creeks explores new vistas underground By Shanna Cummings Winnemucca Publishing

Newmont’s Twin Creeks Mine currently operates two pits – the Mega Pit and Vista pit. A little exploration over the past few years showed that the mine could easily and lucratively head underground. Exploration for the underground venture began with two portals in the Vista pit built from 2010-2013. The Twin Creeks Underground mine started operation in July 2017 working a defined resource containing over 244,000 ounces of gold trapped in the sulfide ore. “The timing really lined up,” said Melissa Harmon, Twin Creeks General Manager. “This mine started in 2017, the same year we reached our 30-year milestone for the site. It’s a pretty exciting change for us to expand in a different way, and we have a lot of growth opportunities with this underground to extend the life of it even further.” The site has a number of buildings, including a shop currently under construction that, once completed in June, will have three maintenance bays and a wash bay as well as an upper mezzanine for office space with storage room for tools below. A dry area is scheduled for completion in March, with separate spaces for men and women. Underground mines can be damp, drippy places, so clothes need space to properly dry out. There will also be a metal removal plant to remove extraneous metal items like bolts from the ore before being sent to the mill. A concrete batch plant provides the material for the shotcrete that prevents rocks

Shanna Cummings photo

The drill used for taking core samples. Drill teams are constantly taking samples used to define the ore body in the Twin Creeks underground mine. from falling inside and outside of the mine. Concrete is also mixed with the backfill for extra stability. The site was designed to keep traffic separate as much as possible. “You have all the way from little Kabodas to surface haul trucks. We’re trying to keep them separate so they don’t interact,” Underground Supervisor Ezekiel Easley said. The miners are contractors from Small Mine Development out of Battle Mountain or Timberline Drilling from Elko. Newmont

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covers management and technical positions.

From the bottom up

The current mine plan goes to a depth of 800 feet, stopping at the water table. In mid-February, the spiraling decline terminated a little over 400 feet down, with drifts punching into the ore body. The underground mine uses a combination of stoping and Avoca techniques, blasting and clearing out spaces and backfilling using a combination of waste rock and cement for stability. F

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Learn more about Newmont’s Twin Creeks mine online at www.newmont.com The headings advance in 8 foot increments that can take multiple shifts, depending on circumstances. 45 holes are drilled in the face and loaded with 300 to 400 pounds of explosives. After the blast, the ore is loaded onto trucks and the walls and roof are reinforced. A geologist marks out the vein of ore with spray paint and then the whole process begins again. Underground haul trucks, unlike their massive surface siblings, are low and long and reminiscent of ants rolling through the tunnels of a colony. With few exceptions, the only sources of light underground come from lamps on hats and equipment. Flagpoles on the back of trucks are covered with ropes of LED lights for better visibility. Because the mine is built for longevity, a significant amount of effort is put into stabilizing the walls. Once the space has been mucked out, the walls are covered in a steel mesh secured with inflatable bolts and then finished with a layer of shotcrete, or sprayable concrete prepared on-site. The shaft of the bolts securing the mesh to the walls and ceiling is made of a durable plastic that, when inflated using water, molds to the crevices, essentially “nailing the ground together,” as Easley explained. Usually, some of the water remains after inflation and leaks out in response to pressure changes, dripping from the roof onto whoever is standing below. “It’s like it’s raining underground,” Easley said. Meanwhile, as the decline keeps spiraling down 8 feet at a time, exploration continues to expand. A team of drillers from Timberland Drilling

Shanna Cummings photos

Above, the south portal into Twin Underground. The portals were built with openings well in front of the high wall to protect those entering and exiting the mine from falling rock. Below, construction progress on the shop as of mid-February. The shop will have three maintenance bays and one wash bay, storage room for tools and a mezzanine for office space when it is completed in June.

was filling a pallet of core samples to send out for assays. Depending on what the geologists wanted, the drilling station would stay for a couple of weeks to a month or more.

Built to grow

“A lot of the value of this deposit is in the sulfide itself, in the blend, so it allows some of the higher grade less favorable metallurgy material to be blended with it. So not only do you get the ounces from the underground, you get more ounces sooner from the stockpiles,” Underground Project Manager Norm Bisson said, adding that it extended the life of the autoclave used to process the sulfide ore.

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The current mine plan goes to the end of 2021, but Bisson said he’s optimistic that the mine will continue. Harmon said that due to the nature of underground mines, drilling for samples from the surface is expensive, so they mine what they know they have based on the current mine plan, and continue drilling samples from the underground to continue exploring. “It’s a more cost-effective way to expand the resource,” Harmon said. “So not only are we building a mine, but we’re building a platform for future exploration along strike and at depth to continue to expand the mine.” F

MINING â&#x20AC;¢ SPRING 2018, an April, 2018 publication of Winnemucca Publishing - 13

Lander County Two drill rigs lifting their mass before drilling more holes at the bottom of the mine pit.

Rock Stars A day in the life of a mine driller By Travis Masterson Winnemucca Publishing

For many in Nevada, mining holds dear to their heart with generations of families working in the extensive mining facilities. Their goal is to retrieve every ounce of valuable ore they can get out of the Nevada soil. This is a job handled by several employees with different job titles and responsibilities in a world separate from everyday life. The 24-hour Cortez mine is a large gold mining and processing facility in Lander and Eureka County. It is owned and operated by Barrick Gold. The mine comprised of two open pit mines called Pipeline and South Pipeline, while Cortez Hills is an underground and open pit mining operation. Cortez, open longer than any other gold mine in the

Travis Masterson photo

Pablo Deleon standing next to his drill rig after completing the inspection on the truck. Deleon has been in mining since he was 18.

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MINING â&#x20AC;¢ SPRING 2018, an April, 2018 publication of Winnemucca Publishing - 15

The giant electric shovel scoops the rock and ore into a haul truck.

state of Nevada, remains the state’s largest gold producer. Each position within a mine is unique to itself, and the individuals working at Cortez bring their talents to each job title. One of those unique jobs is working as a Cortez mine driller. The team of drillers who proudly punch holes in the Cortez mountains in search of gold is one of the first and most important steps to the gold mining process. To keep the mine working 24 hours, employees use shift work – with a four days working, four days off, then five days working followed by five days off schedule. Four crews take turns to drill for the company. Each time a new shift returns to the facility for work the drilling team enters a pre-shift safety meeting and take the time to discuss the plan for the day. The driller team leader hands out the maps of where they need to drill and where the previous shift left off. “This my 23rd year, I have run the dozer, blade and a little bit of shovel in my time working at mines. I have been in mining since I was 18 years old,” explained B crew team leader and driller Pablo Deleon.

Pablo Deleon and Kevin White pose for a picture on the overlook of the South Pipeline mine pit.

“My drilling crew all have near ten years experience on the drill, and I have worked with them for a long time, so we work well together. I feel I know each of their strengths and weakness on the drill.” The first step a driller does once they have received handover from the previous shift is to get their drill rig and inspect the large vehicle. The vehicle inspection starts with the walk around making sure no mud is clogging up the

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rig tacks and ensuring hoses and wires are not dangling from the drill. Then the driller needs to check the oil and make sure the drill bit is in good condition. The drillers need to be aware of their surroundings and know where they are drilling. Some of the risks they face on a daily basis include drilling on the edge of open pits that could be vulnerable to collapsing under the heavy weight of the drill rig.

Another risk is drilling near the berms where the massive haul pack loaders travel. The drillers remain in constant communication with the crews working around them ensuring the safety of the other drillers and mine crews in the area. Cortez drillers primarily conduct conventional drilling to produce blast holes that will later house explosives to blast another section of the pit. “Many of the factors that we considered in the blast hole design is in the vibration that we create at 2,600 feet. So we have to make sure the blast hole rigs have a proper design to drill, that is very accurate,” explained Cortez mine general supervisor Kevin White. “It is a precision system, to where it is within about six inches, so we know exactly where these holes are drilled. We can load those with the bulk explosives accordingly to make sure we don’t create too much vibration. To much

Pablo Deleon talking with his drillers in the morning handover and safety meeting.

MINING • SPRING 2018, an April, 2018 publication of Winnemucca Publishing - 17

vibration in the walls will actually precondition the (mine pit) walls to fail. The design is pretty critical in having drill operators managing where they place the blast holes.” The rig equipped with some of the newest technology and a computer system monitoring the drill hole depth. The computer system allows the drill operator to log whenever the drill is down, delayed or even when they completed the hole. The drill map plans are loaded into the computer system and allows the driller to drive right over the blast hole location accurately. Although, drillers still need their intuition when the drill is struggling to punch through the hard ground or if the drill bit may need replacing. The drillers typically go through one to two drill bits per shift according to Deleon. While drilling each drill operator collects drill samples with each hole. Those samples are collected by drill crew leaders then dropped off at the lab for analysis. “Those sample bags are critical because if they were to mix the bags up accidentally, that could take a hole that has an X amount of ounces of gold and move it to the wrong location. When they take that sample they need to know exactly where that sample

Martin Deleon (brother to Pablo Deleon) collects the sample bag before finishing the last few feet of the drill hole. came from, so the shovels know what they are digging into,” White said. The drill crews continue drilling the pattern laid out for them but need to make sure not to get too complacent in the routine. With safety as the top priority, each crew member goes through a checklist before moving to the next hole and continuously review the drill map. When their shift is over the drillers, check the drill bit before passing

off to the next crew, making sure the next they know if they should bring an extra bit to the rig. The drillers are just one step in several steps for the Cortez mine to find the valuable ore in the Cortez mountains, but their precision and consistency are vital to the mining operation. Drilling holes are what they do and prove how good they are at their jobs every day in the Cortez mine. F

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Pershing County

Florida Canyon back in the action Fast ramp-up gets Pershing County mine working By Peggy Jones Winnemucca Publishing

Tori Martinez and Catherine Morgan moved quickly. “We’re pretty much a two-woman show,” said Martinez, a Human Resources Manager at the Florida Canyon Mine, located halfway between Lovelock and Winnemucca. Rye Patch Gold bought the mine in July 2016. Then between August 2016, and March 2017, the HR team hired about 140 workers. “We went from 45 to 185 in less than a year,” explained Martinez. Most of the employees live in Winnemucca, Lovelock and surrounding areas including Fallon and Fernley, she said. The mine’s location off I-80 appeals to commuters. Rye Patch Gold purchased the mine from a Japanese conglomerate, Jipangu. Previous owners included Pegasus Gold and Apollo Gold. They’d mined the area since 1986. But new operations called for more than a skeleton crew. Martinez and Morgan set to work hiring equipment operators, mechanics, engineers and accountants. “We hired a lot of people back. They’d worked the mine under the previous organization,” said Morgan. “And they wanted to work for us because we’re a small, family-oriented organization.” The mining force carried the open pit, heap leach operation into commercial production in December 2017. And the hiring continues. Rye Patch’s Human Resource Department plans to reach out to Great Basin College in the next few weeks. “We’ll be going out there looking for mechanics,” said Morgan. “We want to put our mark on the map – so we’ll be saying, ‘Hey, this is who we are. Come work for us.” Ira M. Gostin believes that the mine will keep the workers occupied for a long

Peggy Jones photo

Rye Patch Gold completes a gold pour. The company purchased the mine from Jipangu in mid-2016. time. He is the Rye Patch Investor Relations Consultant. “Our hope and goal is that we can keep a number of people employed in the region

20 - MINING • SPRING 2018, an April, 2018 publication of Winnemucca Publishing

for an extended period, far exceeding what the PEA (Preliminary Economic Assessment) says,” said Gostin. The PEA anticipates that the mine F

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At left, after the crusher pulverizes the ore, it is stacked on the leach pad. Below, Tori Martinez (HR Manager) and Mike Iannacchioni (General Manager) stand by the leach pad at the Florida Canyon mine.

Learn more about Rye Patch Gold online at www.ryepatchgold.com

will produce and sell about 75,000 ounces of gold annually for an eight-year period. But in Oct. 2017, Rye Patch Gold outlined a plan to explore sulfide potential at the Florida Canyon Mine. “We believe there are significant sulfides underneath the oxides,” said Gostin. And, according to President and CEO William Howald, the sulfide ore is a higher grade than the oxide ore. Rye Patch Gold’s other properties along the Oreana Trend include Wilco and Lincoln Hill, an area of about 18,000 hectares. Lincoln Hill stands about 30 km south of Florida Canyon. Wilco is 50 km south of the canyon. “We have an opportunity to develop other properties,” said Gostin. He explained some potential benefits of the mine’s proximity to Lincoln Hill and Wilco. Fully operational mines need staff and structure, he said. “But we wouldn’t need to have a processing plant at Lincoln Hill or Wilco,” said Gostin. “We could truck the pregnant solution to Florida Canyon.” The neighbors could also share a general manager, HR managers and an accounting team. “That brings down the ounce cost of the gold,” said Gostin. “The trend then becomes a mining district at great cost savings.”

Alio Gold and Rye Patch Gold announce business combination

On March 19, 2018, Alio Gold and Rye Patch Gold announced a business combination. Alio Gold is a Canadian gold mining company that produces, develops and explores in Mexico. According to their web page, Alio Gold owns the San Francisco Mine in Sonora, Mexico. It also owns the Ana Paula Project in Guerrero, Mexico. Their portfolio includes several exploration properties, all in Mexico. F 22 - MINING • SPRING 2018, an April, 2018 publication of Winnemucca Publishing

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The tanks use carbon to recover the gold from the heap leach solution.

“When I founded Rye Patch 12 years ago, I envisioned creating a mid-tier, North American gold producer,” said CEO Howald. “This business combination with Alio Gold achieves that goal.” “The Alio Gold management team has a positive track record in Mexico and combined with Rye Patch will expect to repeat that success in Nevada,” said Howald. An executive team headquartered in Vancouver, Canada will continue to manage Alio Gold with Greg McCunn as CEO and Colette Rustad as Chief Financial Officer. Alio Gold hopes to retain Rye Patch Gold’s Doug Jones as its Chief Operating Officer. Chairman Bryan Coates will continue to lead Alio Gold’s Board of Directors. He has invited two directors from Rye Patch Gold, Tim Baker and John Mansanti, to join the combined board. Rye Patch Gold and Alio Gold will mail full details of the arrangement to their respective shareholders by April 17, 2018. They expect the transaction to close around May 25, 2018.

Nevada ranked third best mining region in world

It may take awhile for the gold dust to settle. But one fact is certain. Mining will continue as an integral part of Nevada’s history and economy. The 2017 Fraser Institute Survey of Mining Companies ranked Nevada as the third top mining jurisdiction in the world. Mining executives ranked each region’s geologic attractiveness and governmental policies. Only Finland and the Canadian Province of Saskatchewan topped Nevada. F 24 - MINING • SPRING 2018, an April, 2018 publication of Winnemucca Publishing

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Humboldt County

Down she goes! Turquoise Ridge third shaft project By Ashley Maden Winnemucca Publishing

Barrick has started construction of the 300 + million dollar third shaft project at Turquoise Ridge Joint Venture (TRJV) underground mine, located about 44 miles northeast of Winnemucca. “It’s the first big step towards Barrick’s reinvestment in capital growth,” said Joe Dase, shaft project manager with Barrick. “It’s the largest capital spend on the books right now in terms of development projects.” The mine will stay cash flow positive through construction completion, according to Barrick. “This shaft is part of the foundation for TR’s future success,” said Dase. The third shaft will serve as a F

Ashley Maden photo

Pictured left to right, Chief Engineer for the TRJV expansion project Rory Howell and Shaft Project Manager Joe Dase, with the third shaft construction site shown in the distance behind.

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second production shaft, located at the north zone of the mine. The project is expected to provide various benefits to the mine, including improved ventilation, shorter hauls underground, reduced operating costs and improved productivity as working areas move away from the current main production shaft, according to Barrick. “This shaft will decrease a 45 minute haulage trip now to a five to ten minute trip,” said Howell. “We will have two different loading pockets, we can load the material out at two different elevations depending on what’s the shorter haul road so it gives operations a bit of flexibility there,” said Dase. TRJV currently has two shafts, a 24 ft production shaft 1,830 ft deep, and a 20 ft diameter shaft . The third shaft is planned at 24 ft in diameter, 3,250 ft total depth. After third shaft production is complete, the number two shaft will remain a production shaft as well as become the secondary escape, the smaller number one shaft will become ventilation only. A third main fan will be added, increasing ventilation volume by approximately 35 percent of what it currently is, according to Rory Howell, Chief Engineer for the TRJV expansion project. Three customized hoists are being ordered to complete the project. “Joe and

Courtesy graphic

This TRJV graphic shows where the planned construction of the third shaft will be located on the mine site. I are excited, we’ve never seen new hoists, we’ve only seen used ones from somewhere else,” said Howell. The current phase of construction includes dewatering drilling, to pump the water out of the area where the shaft will be built. Dewatering only pulls the water down

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at a rate three feet per day but the shaft sinking is generally at a rate of six feet per day, according to Howell. The water will be diverted to a newly commissioned water treatment plant. “That’s the key to the project’s success right now, is these wells, because the first thing that will slow down the shaft sink is water,” said Howell. F

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The mine is currently producing an average of 2,300 tons per day of ore with potential for increases from the planned third shaft construction. Current gold reserves for Turquoise Ridge total 5.9 million ounces of gold (Barrick’s 75 percent share) and the mine life extends to 2035. Sinking of the third shaft will continue this year through 2019, equipping of the shaft is expected in 2020 - 2021 and production is expected in 2022. In January, Barrick designated Thyssen Mining as the primary contractor and shaft sinking partner for the project, following a thorough bidding process. Thyssen is headquartered in Canada but has a Nevada office located in Spring Creek. They completed a shaft sinking project for Newmont’s Leeville project in 2016, the first shaft sinking project in Nevada to employ ground freezing techniques, according to Thyssen’s website. “A very thorough contractor selection process that we went

Ashley Maden photo

Tyler Schoening, TRJV operations supervisor (left) and John McCurry, TRJV operations superintendent review the current mine map plan underground. through, what’s important to us right now is the quality of partnership we can establish in executing this project,” said TRJV General Manager Henri Gonin. This is the only known production shaft project underway currently in the United States, according to the TRJV and Thys-

sen leadership teams. Howell has been working on planning of the third shaft since the need for the new shaft was identified and planning started, about seven years ago. “Rory has been a part of this project since it was first conceived, so he’s able to see it all the way

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30 - MINING • SPRING 2018, an April, 2018 publication of Winnemucca Publishing

through construction, I’m lucky to have him,” said Dase. Along with the third shaft project, TRJV has also recently implemented other improvements to the way business is conducted to improve various aspects of mine operations. TRJV is currently in the process of selecting a provider to house an ambulance crew on site 24/7, in addition to the existing emergency response mine employees. This medical team will be on site in case of an emergency and will also be able to administer drug tests and flu shots when needed. In September 2017, TRJV started a pilot program to test mechanical mining using a roadheader machine. This machine has rotating cutter heads, which are programmed to excavate the desired shape of the drift, providing a safer method of advancing soft ground than the current drill and blast method. Turquoise Ridge also recently became the pioneer of Barrick’s digital reinvention of mining initiative by being the first site F

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to issue each and every one of its employees iPads for use both on surface and underground. The underground employees use the iPads to log their work, and look at the mine map underground. “It’s part of their fit for duty that miners have their iPads,” said TRJV Operations Superintendent John Mccurry. “We’ve got WiFi in about 80 percent of the mine now and we’re working towards 100 percent coverage.” They have also transitioned their dispatch center into an Operations Command Center where they are able to track in real-time where the miners and mine equipment are located underground throughout the mine at any given time. This allows for a short interval control process, meaning adjustments can be made throughout the shift to allow for improved efficiency and less down-time for equipment and operators. Starting approximately six months ago, TRJV started testing remote operation of one of the mine’s six-yard muckers. This allows for potentially an extra 150-200 tons of ore to be moved between shifts. “We’re still in the training and testing phase of it,” said Mccurry. TRJV employes just under 500 people, with approximately 80 people underground at a given time, according to Gonin. Barrick is the operator and 75 percent owner of the mine, with Newmont owning

Ashley Maden photo

Wes Teague operates a bolter underground at Turquoise Ridge Joint Venture. the remaining 25 percent share. TRJV uses underhand cut-and-fill mining methods and ore is transported to Newmont’s Twin Creeks mill for processing. In January, Barrick and Newmont reached a new seven-year toll milling agreement for continued ore processing at Twin Creeks, the contract allows for 850,000 tons of ore in 2018 - 2019, and increases to 1.2 million tons per year between 2020 and 2024.

Barrick has also recently designated Turquoise Ridge as a core mine “in recognition of the exceptional growth potential of the operation, which will be facilitated by the construction of a third shaft, productivity improvements, and an expansion processing capacity,” according to a a press release by Barrick on Feb 22. “This is a very high grade mine by anybody’s standard,” said Gonin F

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Newmont’s Gary Goldberg honored for contributions to mining safety, value creation and sustainability

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Barrick founder Peter Munk dies at age 90 It is with deep sadness that Barrick Gold Corporation announces the passing of the Company’s Founder and Chairman Emeritus, Peter Munk. Munk passed away peacefully in Toronto today, surrounded by his family. He was 90. Munk, an iconic Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist, was born in Budapest in

Newmont Mining Corporation announced that its President and Chief Executive Officer, Gary J. Goldberg, received the Charles F. Rand Memorial Gold Medal for his leadership and contributions to the mining industry in “transforming organizations to elite status of value, sustainability and Gary J. Goldberg safety.” The award was presented by the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) during the 2018 Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration conference. The Charles F. Rand Memorial Gold Medal was established in 1932 and is awarded for distinguished achievements in mining administration. Charles F. Rand was President of AIME in 1913 and Treasurer from 1922 to 1927. Rand developed mines and new processes in iron mining and was President of several mining companies.

About Gary J. Goldberg

Gary J. Goldberg was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer and joined the Board of Directors of Newmont Mining Corporation on 1 March 2013. He previously served as Newmont’s President and Chief Operating Officer. He is credited with turning Newmont’s performance around through a disciplined focus on value over volume. The Company now leads the gold sector in value creation as measured by cash flow generation, and has been named the top mining company in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for three years running. Prior to joining Newmont, Mr. Goldberg held leadership roles in Rio Tinto’s global coal, gold, copper and industrial minerals businesses. His career spans more than 30 years in the mining industry. In 2014, he received a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to mining safety from the Society of Metallurgical Engineers, and in 2017, he was inducted into the American Mining Hall of Fame. F

1927. When the Nazis invaded Hungary in 1944, he escaped with his family, ultimately arriving in Toronto in 1948 at the age of 20. An immigrant with neither social connections nor a command of English, Munk nevertheless felt welcomed by Canadians, and he would go on to profess a lifelong love of his adoptive country. In 2011, he remarked, “This is a country that does not ask about your origins but concerns itself with your destiny.” Munk founded Barrick in 1983 and built it

34 - MINING • SPRING 2018, an April, 2018 publication of Winnemucca Publishing

into the world’s largest gold mining company in less than twenty-five years. He did so by leading a small team of partners who trusted one another implicitly and who together balanced boldness and prudence in the pursuit of fierce entrepreneurial ambitions. His memory lives on with more than 10,000 Barrick employees on five continents, as well as the countless individuals and communities he touched through his philanthropy in Canada and around the world. F