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TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2016 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS
Nicola Mining moving head office from Vancouver to Merritt Keith Lacey ABERDEEN PUBLISHING
Peter Espig is so confident about the future of the mill facility at the Craigmont Mine site that he’s packing up his Vancouver office and hopes to be moved in to his new office in Merritt before the mill begins operations in early May. “Especially in smaller communities like Merritt, in order to be accepted into the community, it’s my belief you have to become part of the community,” said Espig, the president and chief executive officer with Nicola Mining Inc. “We’re in the process of clearing out our head office in Vancouver and in the process of moving everything
and opening up shop in Merritt.” Espig, who has worked in mining and heavy industry in numerous countries around the world, said his company is thrilled about ramping up production at the Craigmont Mine site milling operation starting the first week in May. The plan was originally to begin production in the middle of April, but those plans were put on hold after a “huge snow dump” covered the Merritt area a few weeks ago. Things have changed significantly at the Craigmont Mine site, which decades ago was the largest open pit copper mine on the planet, said Espig. The huge mill complex, which he estimates to be a “$50 mil-
lion asset” has only been used at full production for seven months since it was built, from the fall of 2012 until 2013, and the ability to purchase this state-of-the-art facility at a reasonable price is certainly good news for his burgeoning mining company, said Espig. Nicola Mining’s 200 tonne per day mill will undergo modifications that will allow it to gravity separate fine free gold, prior to floating the remaining material in floatation tanks. It will begin in early May, and he expects it to take roughly four months before full production can be achieved, said Espig. Nicola Mining’s mill is situated on 900 acres and was constructed to allow floatation
expansion, and is fed by a primary crushing circuit that has a 500-tonne daily capacity, he said. On the Nicola Mining website, it states the company has invested $8 million in the cost of the land, $21.6 million for the cost of the mill and related infrastructure, and $1.8 million for the cost of the construction of a fully-lined tailings facility. Nicola Mining has signed deals with four high-grade gold producers in British Columbia and the goal is to mill quality product every day, he said. “There are a lot of low-grade, high-volume production facilities in this province,” he said. “We want to produce low-volume, high-grade gold that provides outstanding value to the market.”
There will be roughly 10 full-time production staff at the site when milling begins and he expects that number to double once full production targets are met within four or five months, said Espig. “I tend to be a perfectionist … and very meticulous,” he said. “I don’t want to ramp things up too quickly until we know exactly how things work and we can eliminate mistakes. There are always going to be things that go wrong when you ramp up a large facility like this, but our company will focus on getting everything right and running smoothly before we ramp up towards full production.”
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