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Gold Hill construction Gold Canyon Construction is building the new leach pad at the new Gold Hill Mine operated by Kinross Gold Corp. in Nye County.
Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
— INSIDE — ROUND MOUNTAIN Gold Hill gold pour soon — Page 20 ROBINSON MINE Busy under new owner — Page 39
MARIGOLD MINE Plans big MacKay Pit — Page 57
ELKO — Mining industry growth in Nevada is sparking the attention of companies that do business with mines. They are hoping in turn to attract the attention of mines at the 2012 Elko Mining Expo. The Expo has more booths than ever, and the Elko Convention and Visitors Authority expects a big turnout for the June 7-8 show at the convention center. “The show continues to grow at a rapid rate and many new companies will be participating at this year’s event,” ECVA Executive Director Don Newman said. Vendors who didn’t lease booth space this year can still benefit from mingling with the crowd and visiting Expo booths to possibly drum up business, and the ECVA staff is encouraging DELLA them to come to the Expo. Good gold prices are igniting exploration and new mining projects in Nevada, although the price dropped in May to below $1,600 an ounce. Still, there were predictions this spring that gold would reach $2,000 an ounce next year. Newmont Mining Corp. President and Chief Executive Officer Richard O’Brien was among those forecasting a spike in prices, and GFMS Chairman Philip Klapwijk said as GFMS released its 2012 Gold Survey the market is expected to rise to new highs by early 2013. Nevada mining industry expert John Dobra writes about his take on gold prices in this summer Mining Quarterly edition. See page 3. Also, State Geologist and Director of the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Jonathan Price is optimistic about mining in Nevada, saying the “picture is quite positive.” More on Price is on page 18. Nevada Division of Minerals Administrator Alan Coyner said he worked with Price to come up with unofficial gold production numbers for 2011 in Nevada. The official numbers aren’t ready yet because the division is still awaiting certain figures, Coyner said. He said Nevada produced roughly 5.5
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GOLDSTRIKE MINE First paste plant in Nevada — Page 74
GOLD MOTORCYCLE Newmont plans appearances — Page 99
Employment
Elko Mining Expo booms with mining industry
Find the job you want — Pages 133-135
MINING QUARTERLY John Pfeifer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Publisher Adella Harding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editor To advertise, call 775-738-3118 Mining Quarterly is published in March,June, September and December by the Elko Daily Free Press (USPS No. 173-4320) at 3720 Idaho Street, Elko, Nevada 89801, by Lee Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Lee Enterprises. Periodical postage paid at the Elko Post Office. For change of address write 3720 Idaho St., Elko NV 89801
million ounces of gold last year, up from 5.3 million ounces in 2010. See the article on page 114. Companies in Nevada also produce silver, copper, molybdenum, lithium and more minerals. Mining projects and all the jobs they provide also continue to attract national attention at a time when unemployment rates are still high, and the mining industry points out the benefits it is bringing to the economy. According to a Nevada Mining Association blog, association President Tim Crowley told the new Mine Oversight and Accountability Commission that the mining industry plays a crucial role in economic recovery for the state. “The 12,000 individuals ARDING directly employed by mining operations throughout the state depend on the industry for their livelihood, but they aren’t the only ones. Thousands of businesses throughout Nevada, from Las Vegas to Reno and all the towns in between, depend on the support of the mining industry,” he said. The industry’s success draws the attention of lawmakers looking for revenue to help with Nevada’s tight budget, but mines received a break in April when Las Vegas businessman Monte Miller backed off his ballot initiative to raise the cap on net proceeds of minerals from 5 percent to 9 percent. The mining industry also plays a crucial role in education in Nevada, from teaching children about minerals to teaching teachers about minerals to providing scholarships to colleges and universities. A segment on education begins on page 80. This summer Mining Quarterly is the biggest yet for the Elko Daily Free Press, so keep in mind there are interesting articles from front to back of the magazine, including updates on mining and exploration projects in Nevada. ——————— Adella Harding is editor of the Mining Quarterly and mining editor for the Elko Daily Free Press. She can be reached by email at mining@elkodaily.com.
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Elko Mining Expo bigger than ever By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
ELKO — The Elko Mining Expo slated for June 7-8 is expected to bring 8,000 to 10,000 visitors to the Elko Convention Center, and there are more booth spaces than ever. “The staff at the Elko Convention Center has been working very hard to produce the 27th annual Elko Mining Expo,” said Elko Convention and Visitors Authority Executive Director Don Newman. “The show continues to grow at a rapid rate and many new companies will be participating at this year’s event,” he said. “We thought for a brief moment that with the National Mining Association’s MINExpo taking place in Las Vegas in September, we might see a slight drop in participation this year. That could not be further from the truth. The demand has been tremendous, and we continue to add vendors to our wait list for future opportunities,” Newman said. The Expo sold 445 booths last year. The Expo has 496 booths this year, with the addition of 40 more booths at the Elko Main City Park, where 48 were added last year, and Jen Knight, events coordinator for the ECVA, said the Expo was “still filling up” in mid-May. She said a shortage of motel rooms was limiting the number of exhibitors. Knight said she is telling those who call to check for rooms at the smaller
motels in Elko and check motels in Wells. All the Elko motels are listed on the exploreelko.com website. The Wells chamber site has a list of motels there. Vendors can call Knight at 738-4091 to see if there are last-minute booth spaces available. Along with the vendor booths and equipment displays, Newmont Mining Corp. plans to show off its new motorcycle designed by Paul Jr. Designs and featured on “American Chopper” on the Discovery Channel. “It just creates a little more excitement about who we are and what we do,” said Matt Murray, senior external relations representative for Newmont. Cashman Equipment plans to have more than 10 pieces of equipment on display at the Expo, according to Kate Gallagher, marketing communicator for Cashman. “There will be mainly mining but some construction equipment,” she said. Knight said there will be plenty of equipment displays and demonstrations, including one by State Fire DC Specialties on a biologically safe flame retardant, one by M.B. America on crushers and one by Geoprobe Systems of a drill. The kickoff banquet on June 6 at Stockmen’s Hotel & Casino is sold out, however, and the golf tournament on June 4-5 at Ruby View Golf Course is sold out. The Minor Miners games will be back both days from noon to 3 p.m. during the
Adella Harding/Mining Quarterly file
Bob Collyer, left, owner of Elko Tool & Fastener Inc. and Schaeffer’s Specialized Lubricants, shares a laugh with Raelene McCabe, also of Elko Tool & Fastener, at the 2011 Elko Mining Expo at the Elko Convention Center. The company will have a booth at the 2012 event. Expo, and there will be food and drink vendors. Good gold prices, although down from March prices, are a key attraction bringing vendors to the Elko Mining Expo, but Knight said it is more than gold prices. “Gold prices totally help, but the projects rolling out are a draw. They show
Elko Mining Expo schedule June 4 7:30 a.m. — Expo golf tournament, flight one, Ruby View Golf Course 8 a.m.-4 p.m. — Exhibits set up at Elko Convention Center 1 p.m. — Expo golf tournament, flight two, Ruby View
June 7 9 a.m.-5 p.m. — Expo exhibits at Elko Convention Center 9 a.m.-5 p.m. — Product Showcase, convention center 9 a.m.-5 p.m. — Minor Miners Playland, Elko Main City Park 12:30-3 p.m. — Minor Miners Dig, back lot at convention center
June 5 7:30 a.m. — Expo golf tournament, flight three, Ruby View 8 a.m.-4 p.m. — Exhibits set up at convention center 1 p.m. — Expo golf tournament, flight four, Ruby View 5:30 p.m. — Expo golf tournament awards banquet, Ruby View
June 8 9 a.m.-3 p.m. — Expo exhibits at convention center 9 a.m.-noon — Product Showcase, convention center 9 a.m.-3 p.m. — Minor Miners Playland, Elko Main City Park 12:30-3 p.m. — Minor Miners Dig, back lot at convention center
June 6 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. — Exhibits set up, convention center 6 p.m. — Opening Ceremonies Banquet, Stockmen’s Hotel 2 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2012
See vendor maps and info on pages 130-132
mining will still be a sustainable part of the community for some time. The Expo will continue to draw people looking to do business with the mines and people looking to work at the mines,” she said. Turnouts at the Expo over the years have reflected the price of gold, with the last few years seeing a huge spurt in growth as the gold price has continued to rise, running in the neighborhood of $1,600 an ounce now. The price hit $400 an ounce at the end of 2003, the first time it had been above $400 price in several years, and the Expo that year reported an upswing in vendors because of the improving price. The gold price hit a low of $252.80 an ounce in July 1999, according to the London P.M. fix price chart for that year. The 496 booths are far more than the nearly 100 exhibitors at the first official Elko Mining Expo in 1986. Knight also said the ECVA staff plans to distribute booklets to vendors this year listing restaurants and local events, along with helpful telephone numbers. The Expo is a major revenue generator for the Elko Convention and Visitors Authority, which puts on the annual event with the help of sponsors and an Expo committee.
COMMENTARY
The old gold-oil-dollar deal By JOHN L. DOBRA lower gold prices. The last piece of the dollar, gold, oil In case you missed it, gold is no longer selling for more than $1,800 per ounce. connection is a little fuzzier. Like gold, oil It’s not even more than $1,700. As I write is sold in dollars in international markets. this (May 2012), the price is below So, the same logic applies — a strong $1,600. The ads on TV keep telling us dollar means lower oil prices — other that the price is going higher. What hap- things remaining equal. However, unlike gold, oil is an industrial commodity that pened? Several things stand out. First, the run is consumed. Consequently, other facup in prices in the summer and fall of tors come into play. Industrial demand for oil has been dampened by 2011 was primarily due to finanslower economic growth in cial turmoil in Europe, primaEurope, China and the U.S., rily caused by the sovereign putting additional downward debt problems of the PIGS pressure on oil prices. (Portugal, Italy, Greece and There is also a feedback loop Spain), which we pointed out at to be considered. Although the time. There was flight from India and China are the largest sovereign debt to gold as a safe purchasers of physical gold, haven. Middle Eastern countries also Second, there was a showplay a significant role as condown in Washington over the sumers of physical gold. When national debt ceiling, reinforcing John Dobra the price of oil goes down the trend started in Europe. These events had significant technical Middle Easterners have less money to and psychological impacts on the gold buy gold. The way out of this and many market and other markets as well, but by other messes — like excessive debt — is now they have been priced into the gold stronger economic growth. And there is at least one more cloud and securities markets. Since then, gold has basically been in out there on the horizon that potentially “horizontal mode”, i.e. moving sideways. could affect gold prices. Unless Congress More recently, however, since February acts and the president will sign, at the the price has been in a gentle downward end of 2012 the tax rate on capital gains glide. Why? As noted, most of the really will rise from 15 to 20 percent. Now, if you bought gold over the past bad news has been priced into the market. What is left is the old standby, 10 years when its price has risen significantly, you have some significant capital the gold, dollar, oil connection. For the past decade gold price move- gains. Do you want to sell that gold before ments have been strongly correlated to Jan. 1, 2013, and pay a 15 percent tax or the price of oil and the value of the dollar. after and pay a 20 percent tax? Maybe When the dollar is strong, the price of you want to hang on to your gold but gold is weak because it is sold in dollars some people do not. That puts downward on international markets. This relation- pressure on the price of gold and most ship is basically mechanical and, as other financial assets. I suspect that Congress will do its Europe struggles with its debt problems, chronic economic malaise, and now, with normal eleventh hour, drama queen act France electing a socialist government in its “lame duck” session after the elecpromising to raise taxes, the dollar has tion and leave capital gains tax rates alone. But who knows? been strengthening. ——————— While the U.S. economic recovery John L. Dobra, Ph.D., is director of the seems anemic on this side of the Atlantic, we are doing a lot better than Europe Natural Resources Industry Institute and (but that is not much to brag about). an associate professor of economics at Hence, we get a stronger dollar and the University of Nevada, Reno.
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Leeville to sink third shaft By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
CARLIN — A hillside at the Leeville Mine is alive with earth-moving equipment preparing a pad where a third shaft to the underground operations will be collared. Newmont Mining Corp. plans the shaft as part of the Turf gold project to provide more ventilation as Leeville grows to the north. “As we move to the north and increase the number of headings and the distance from the current production shaft we need more ventilation,” said Clem Hartery, Turf project manager. The new shaft will provide additional ventilation and be another escapeway in case of emergency and boost production. “It’s exciting,” he said. Hartery also said the shaft sinking will be unique to Nevada. “We will freeze the ground in order to sink the shaft through the upper water table,” he said. Craig Gammill, a consulting engineer for Newmont, said the freezing controls the underground water and stabilizes ground conditions while work is under way on the shaft. Freezing involves drilling a “bunch of holes that will be filled with sealed piping, and they will circulate very cold brine through the piping system,” Hartery said. “It will be 100 percent contained.” The newest shaft also will be much bigger than the current production and ventilation shafts at Leeville. Hartery said the new shaft will be 26 feet in diameter. The ventilation shaft at Leeville now is 20 feet in diameter, and the production shaft is 22 feet in diameter. “So, when we start this up, the existing ventilation shaft will be converted to an intake, which will effectively double ventilation through the mine,” Hartery said. Although the freezing part of the shaft sinking is unique in Nevada, the shaft sinking will be conventional. AMEC is the project contractor and Thyssen Mining is sinking the shaft, he said. Thyssen writes on its website that it “introduced freezing technology in North America and has used it to sink over a dozen shafts in the Canadian potash industry.” Hartery said the shaft needs to go through 1,400 feet of water. The new shaft, which he estimated will take roughly three years to complete, will give Newmont “a jump start to drive further to the north. This shaft will allow us to do more underground exploration, which is more efficient.”
ABOVE: Dispatcher Mike Sessions works in the control room in the administration building at Newmont Mining Corp.’s Leeville Mine north of Carlin. “We call it the hub,” said his co-worker, Danny Richardson. They control the underground traffic at the mine. LEFT: Newmont Mining Corp.’s Leeville underground mine entrance is a busy intersection as trucks cross the road with loads during earthwork for a pad for the collar for a new ventilation shaft. Adella Harding/Mining Quarterly
See LEEVILLE, 6
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Adella Harding/Mining Quarterly
Ken Thompson of Elko, who works for Normet, repairs an Atlas Copco mucker in May in the underground shop at Newmont Mining Corp.’s Leeville Mine north of Carlin.
Adella Harding/Mining Quarterly
Leopold Poirier operates the chippy that carries up to six people to the underground operations at Newmont Mining Corp.’s Leeville Mine. He is part of the shaft crew.
Leeville ... Continued from page 5 The shaft will go down 2,050 feet. Beyond Turf is the Greater Leeville area to the north and East. Mining at West Leeville Currently, Newmont is mining the
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West Leeville deposit, where it has been mining since 2005, and has been producing ore since last year from Turf. Work is advancing toward the Four Corners deposit to the West, as well. See LEEVILLE, 8
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Leeville ... Continued from page 6 “We’re not there yet to drill it off,” Hartery said. Leeville’s production now is averaging 4,000 tons a day, but the new shaft will allow for increased production, he said. The new shaft and exploration in recent years are increasing the mine life of Leeville. “In 2005, when we started production up the ventilation shaft, the life of mine was 2014,” Hartery said. “The current business plan takes us to 2026, with the potential for further discovery and development.” The mine has 418 employees and a variety of contractors come and go on site. The newest project on May 10 was commissioning a new automated Caterpillar loader to mine in open slopes at Leeville. Cashman Equipment customized the loader that is the first of its kind to be used in Nevada and North America. See LEEVILLE, 10
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Jay Munguia sits in the cab of the new automated Caterpillar loader that Cashman Equipment modified for Newmont Mining Corp.’s Leeville Mine and delivered in May. Munguia is the first operator to learn how to run the loader, which can be controlled via computer in a trailer. Adella Harding Mining Quarterly
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Leeville ... Continued from page 8 “I think it is awesome. I wish we had done it a long time ago,” said Brian Emge, who works in Newmont’s information technology department and was on hand as Cashman and Newmont people worked underground on the loader project. Jay Munguia was the first operator to learn how to run the automated loader that is more than just remote-controlled but can be See related story on Page 12) operated from a trailer Newmont built. (S “I ran it yesterday. It’s beautiful, nice,” he said on May 10. Munguia said he was operating it manually but as soon as the system was up and running, the loader would be working in ore. The loader has a 9-cubic-yard bucket and is the largest at Leeville. “All of our loader operators will eventually be trained” to run the automated loader, Gus Friesen, general foreman at Leeville, said during a tour.
Adella Harding/Mining Quarterly
Mike Kennedy of Elko, left, with Atkinson Construction talks in May with Gus Friesen, general foreman for Newmont Mining Corp.’s Leeville Mine north of Carlin, at the new rock breaker project that was nearing completion. Haul trucks can dump ore in the bin from either direction. An operator in the cab at left runs the Tramac rock breaker.
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New rock breaker Also underground, a new rock breaker and bin were nearly ready on May 10. Atkinson Construction built the rock breaker that now gives Leeville three ore bins instead of two. Friesen said the latest rock breaker is part of the Turf project. “It’s a bigger rock breaker and trucks can back into the bin from two sides so it is more efficient than the others,” he said. The ore goes from the bin to a conveyor. Small Mine Development also is contract mining at Leeville, and Modern Concrete is doing underground and surface work. See LEEVILLE, 11
Leeville ... Continued from page 10 Cementation just completed rehabilitation of the ventilation shaft, which limited mining and production because of limited ventilation, according to Friesen. Ground movement had damaged the shaft so new steel and concrete work was necessary but no one was hurt. Friesen also said that a separate project is to eventually join Leeville and the Pete Bajo underground mine. Pete Bajo miners are driving to the Full House deposit area of Leeville, and Full House miners are driving toward Pete Bajo. Exploration will be done in between. The Carlin East underground access to Leeville that provides another ventilation connection will be eventually mined over, but not until Pete Bajo replaces Carlin East as an access and ventilation source. There are four hoists at Leeville between the two shafts at Leeville now. There is a double-down hoist for pro-
Hoistman Craig Hanson works in the control room. The hoistmen keep track of the operations that raise and lower people and production cages at the Newmont Mining Corp.’s Leeville underground mine, as well as keeping an eye on the dewatering system, rock breakers and conveyor belts. Adella Harding Mining Quarterly
See LEEVILLE, 16
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New mucker fully automated By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
ELKO — An operator can sit in a special chair some distance away, looking at computer monitors and send a driverless Caterpillar mucker into a deep underground stope to load up on gold ore. “It’s quite a bit different from a remote controlled loader,” said Courtney Welsh, manager of Cashman Equipment’s loader and automation project. This loader, which miners usually call a mucker, can be put into automation mode so the operator can work completely apart from the mining area for better safety. The work area is locked out from any other traffic as well. “While it still goes into remote control mode, it has additional modes. One is called co-pilot and the other is called autopilot,” Welsh said. Cashman Equipment in Elko customized the mucker that is the first to be used in North America, and Newmont Mining Corp. took delivery of the mucker and the new technology in May at the Leeville Mine north of Carlin. “None of the mines in Nevada have an R1700. The bucket is twice the size of an R1600,” said Kate Gallagher, marketing communicator for Cashman Equipment out of headquarters in Henderson, as she talked about the machine at the Elko shop. The bucket of the loader holds 9 cubic yards instead of the usually 6 cubic yards and is a foot taller and a couple feet wider. Cashman installed Caterpillar’s MineStar Command for Underground software on the customized mucker, which will run on a wireless network. Cashman trainers are working with Leeville operators so they can master the automated mucker. “We want to be partners to be sure it runs, and work with their project managers and individuals out there to make sure it is successful,” Welsh said. Basically, an operator manually drives the mucker to a new location and can then put the machine in its automated mode and work from the control station. The mucker loads ore and takes it to a muck bay or ore pass, without people nearby. The machine can operate in areas where people couldn’t safely operate. “It increased production 15 to 20 percent,” Welsh said. See CASHMAN, 14
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ABOVE: Cashman Equipment mechanics Mike Pimental, top left, and Josh Fuller talk in early May with mechanic Todd Quinn, who is leaning on a new Caterpillar automated loader in the Elko shop. The loader went to Newmont Mining Corp.’s Leeville Mine the following week. LEFT: Courtney Welsh, manager of Cashman Equipment’s loader automation project, demonstrates the control chair in early May. An operator can run an automated Caterpillar loader from this trailer. The loader and the trailer went to Newmont Mining Corp.’s Leeville underground mine the following week. A Newmont crew built the trailer. Adella Harding/Mining Quarterly
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Cashman ... Cashman Equipment mechanic Josh Fuller works in early May in the Elko shop on the new automated Caterpillar mucker that went to Newmont Mining Corp.’s Leeville underground mine north of Carlin the following week. Adella Harding Mining Quarterly
Continued from page 12 The automated mucker has a number of safety features, including a ladar system that is “kind of a laser-based radar,” Welsh said. The “mechanical fence” essentially closes off a work area, and anyone accidentally entering the area where the mucker is operating will trigger a shutdown, he demonstrated. The mucker also has an external switch as well as a switch in the cab for activating the automated mode, which Welsh said is a double safety feature. Horns also blow when the operator goes to the control station to take control. A Newmont crew built the trailer that houses a computer server, air conditioning and heat units, computer screens and an operator’s chair, and it is now underground for the automated operation of the mucker. Welsh said Newmont already has ordered a second automated loader that will be delivered in August and plans another trailer, but eventually Newmont may move mucker operations topside in See CASHMAN, 16
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Cashman ...
Leeville ...
Continued from page 14 the administration building. The mucker has strobes, cameras, ladar units and an onboard computer. Caterpillar manufactured the loader in Tasmania, Australia, shipped in one piece across the ocean and move it to Leeville on a flatbed truck so the only assembling that Cashman had to do was for the automation. Components for the automation system were shipped separately. The software also is manufactured in Australia. The only other new unit similar to Newmont’s is in Sweden, and there is one earlier version in South America and four in Australia, according to Welsh. “I think it is awesome. I wish we had done it a long time ago,” said Brian Emge, who works in Newmont’s information technology department and was on hand as Cashman and Newmont people worked on the loader project after it arrived at the mine. He said the earlier version of the Caterpillar automated loader is in use at Newmont’s Jundee Mine in Australia. Meanwhile at Cashman’s Elko facilities, plans are under way to expand again, Gallagher said. The company plans to build across from the shop. Cashman Equipment has 700 employees statewide, she said.
Continued from page 11
Adella Harding/Mining Quarterly
Newmont Mining Corp.’s Leeville Mine north of Carlin has two shafts now but is preparing to sink a third shaft to the north.
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duction that lifts 10-ton skips, a single-drum hoist that provides double-deck service, a 1937 hoist for a chippy that carries up to six people, and another double drum at the ventilation shaft. The double-decker holds 30 people on each deck, said Leopold Poirier, who is on the shaft crew. Leeville also is looking at a new backfill system for the Turf area, according to Hartery. Leeville continues to dewater at a rate of 21,000 gallons per minute to keep the mining areas dry. Newmont’s Leeville water goes through Barrick Gold Corp.’s Goldstrike Mine down the road and on to Newmont’s TS Ranch, where it may go into a reservoir or be used for irrigation. Leeville has the water treatment capacity for 25,000 gpm, Hartery said. Friesen also reported Leeville has surpassed 500 days without a losttime accident.
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State geologist optimistic for mining By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
ELKO — Nevada’s mining industry and the industry worldwide should continue booming for some time to come, according to Nevada State Geologist and Director of the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Jonathan Price. “I think the mining picture is extremely bright. We’re seeing the highest production of almost everything on a global basis,” he said. Price is retiring at the end of June after 24 years in his job at the University of Nevada, Reno, but he said he plans to be a consultant for the minerals industry. James Faults, a research professor at UNR since 1997, will be Price’s replacement. According to Price, there are two main reasons why the mining industry will continue to be busy: “There are 7 billion plus people on the planet and everyone needs minerals, and the standard of living is rising in the world, on average,” he said, pointing
especially to China and India. That world demand will mean more production demand from Nevada mines. “Nevada is incredibly endowed,” Price said. “Gold has been the shining star going back to 1981, but the state is endowed with many other resources,” he said, such as silver and copper. “Nevada continues to be a major silver producer.” The state also has lead, zinc, molybdenum and is the major barite producer in the United States, as well as being the only lithium producer in the country. The Carlin Trend has been yielding gold for many years, and Price has been tracking gold production from the trend. He said the Nevada Bureau of Mines recently released a report based on 2010 figures that showed the Carlin Trend had produced 76.3 million ounces up to the end of 2010. “It would be safe to say if we add 2011, it will be over 78 million ounces,” said
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“There are 7 billion plus people on the planet and everyone needs minerals ...” — Jonathan Price
Price, who received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. He predicts the Carlin Trend will hit 100 million ounces of gold by 2021, “if we stay at current levels of production. Whether 2021 or 2024, it’s a few years out.” The state geologist said he finds the current Nevada boom most interesting, and it is the biggest boom ever seen in Nevada, which has produced 168 million ounces of gold in the years from 1981 through 2011. He figures the boom from
1981 because that is when gold was taken off the standard and went on the free market. “We’re in a boom that is at least 30 years long so it’s pretty exciting,” Price said. Adding in the gold from the early years, including from the Comstock Lode, Nevada has produced 197.6 million ounces of gold. “We will hit 200 million ounces this year for all of Nevada,” Price said. High prices should continue because of the worldwide demand, whether it is gold, silver or copper. China and Korea are importing a lot of copper, and he said Nevada Copper’s Pumpkin Hollow project may tap into that copper demand. Price said that on the mining political front, he believes “things will be pretty stable. Environmental issues continue, but the U.S. and Nevada have done a pretty darn good job paying attention to those issues. Nevada will continue to be a positive place.” See PRICE, 19
Price ... Continued from page 18 “The changes in technology and the rise in price are two big drivers for the current boom,” he said. The technology has made it possible to mine disseminated gold through huge volumes of rocks and new applications of cyanide boost modern production. Advancing technology, such as the GPS, also has given a boost to the mapmaking abilities of the Nevada Bureau of Mines. Price said the bureau expanded its geologic map-making, and he had the opportunity to hire good people and find the money to pay for field work and the mapping so today there are many geologic maps available through the Bureau of Mines. Price also worked with colleagues across the country and lobbied Congress years ago to form the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program under the U.S. Geological Survey “to stimulate map-making.” “That’s been a nice success to see that flourish for 20 years,” he said in a telephone interview in late April.
Those maps and reports the bureau publishes in the basic sense stimulate Nevada’s economy because exploration companies come to the Nevada Bureau of Mines for information, often before they start drilling. “They usually come to us first to look at what information we have. We have a tremendous amount of information,” Price said. He said more could be done but the bureau has scanned a lot of historical information onto the Internet, as well as making its newer reports and maps available on the Internet. Exploration companies often go to old mining districts to look for a deeper deposit. Price said another project he feels good about is the new building at UNR that houses geologic samples. “It’s a great building on campus. It now houses cuttings from deep oil and gas and geothermal wells and from various mines. Oil and gas samples have to come to us, however, mines donate,” he said. The state geologist also feels strongly
that citizens of Nevada should support what the Bureau of Mines and Geology does at a time when the budget ax has already struck the department. Price said state funding went from $2.4 million to $1 million. Luckily, the bureau brings in revenue from grants and contracts, he said, “but losing 57 percent of the state resource has caused major damage. I was quite disappointed.” The Bureau of Mines and Geology doesn’t just focus on minerals, however. The bureau also studies geology of the state for earthquake potential, flood dangers and subsidence dangers. The bureau published a report last year on the Wells earthquake in 2008, for example. In addition, the bureau produces publications for tourists, outdoorsmen and rock collectors that are popular. Price has received many honors over the years. The most recent was the Western States Seismic Policy Council Lifetime Achievement Award. He also received the Distinguished Service Award from the Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering this year.
He came to UNR from Texas, where he was with the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin from January 1981 to August 1988, and he said while in Texas he sometimes said he would like to be the state geologist in Nevada. “I was delighted to come here. There are more geologists per capita in this state,” Price said. Earlier, he was a geologist with the United States Steel Corp. in Corpus Christi, Texas, from 1978 to 1981 and with the corporation in Salt Lake City a few months in 1977. He also worked for the Anaconda Co. in Nevada in 1974 and 1975, and in between was an adjunct assistant professor for Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa. Looking ahead, Price said along with consulting, he plans to do volunteer work, such as helping the Nevada Mining Association with teacher workshops. Price and his wife Beth also are involved with the USA Track and Field fast-walking program and are race judges. He is an official at track meets too.
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Gold pour at Gold Hill this summer By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
ROUND MOUNTAIN — Round Mountain Gold Corp. will begin pouring gold in August at the new process plant at Gold Hill under construction five miles north of the main Round Mountain operations in Nye County. “We’ll slowly ramp up and be in full production next spring,” said Round Mountain Operations Manager Bruce Thieking. Gold Hill is a new surface mine the company had in its sights for years and is now developing into an open pit, heap leach operation that will provide gold production for Kinross Gold Corp. and partner Barrick Gold Corp. Kinross operates the mine. Round Mountain Mine’s gold production now is from the main Round Mountain open pit and new pit areas that will become part of the main mine. “We’re having a good year,” said Round Mountain General Manager Randy Burggraff. “A major part of what we are up to is construction, the bulk of it at Gold Hill. We’re scheduled to pour the first bar of gold on Aug. 21.” At Gold Hill, leach pad construction and liner installation was under way in early May, and mining to provide fill material for the pads is hitting gold ore that is going on top of the heavy geosynthetic liner. A clay liner is under the synthetic liner. “We haven’t processed ore yet, but we will start leaching in mid-July. We’re putting the crushed ore on the liner,” Burggraff said. All the ore mined at Gold Hill will be leached on the pad and processed on site. The plant at Gold Hill will have its own refinery, as well, to pour gold on site rather than take gold-laden carbon to the main Round Mountain mill for final processing. “Three phases of mining are planned. We’re in phase one now,” Thieking said. Gold Canyon Construction is general contractor for the leach pad. American Environmental is the subcontractor that laid the geosynthetic liner. “There is over 6 million square feet of plastic,” said Ruben Attamirano of American Environmental. The carbon absorption process plant See ROUND, 22
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ABOVE: Construction is under way in May on the processing plant at Round Mountain Gold Corp.’s new Gold Hill Mine in Nye County. Phoenix Industrial is the general contractor for the plant work. LEFT: A Komatsu loader fills a 190-ton Caterpillar haul truck with clay in early May for the leach pad under construction at the new Gold Hill Mine five miles south of the Round Mountain Mine’s main operations area in Nye County. Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
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Round ... Continued from page 20 won’t have the traditional pregnant pond for gold solution but the solution will flow to the carbon columns instead, Thieking said. The plant is the containment site, as well, with a barren solution vault. A containment pond under completion is for overflow in “upset conditions,” he said. Round Mountain Pit At Round Mountain’s main area, “there are three expansions going, Fairview, a knob to the east of the main mine, and the Northeast Extension later this year and Phase JK on the west side,” Burggraff said. “It’s a couple of years to ore at JK, but the Northeast Extension is in ore right a way.” Fairview is a lower-grade area that will become part of the main pit later. Thieking said there are eight active mining areas at Round Mountain Mine, including the one at Gold Hill, while usually there are four to five active areas. Kinross reported Round Mountain produced 44,758 ounces in the first quarter at a cost of sales of $856 per ounce for the company’s 50 percent share, compared with 42,121 ounces in the 2011 quarter at a cost of $792 per ounce. Round Mountain currently employs 820 people plus 200 contractors, Burggraff said. Round Mountain also continues to study the prospect of
Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
See ROUND, 24
Tinker Evans, corporate responsibility coordinator for Round Mountain Gold Corp., looks over the Round Mountain Pit from a new view area.
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Round ... Continued from page 22 expanding to the west, which will take out current buildings, including the administration building, and require a lot of waste removal to get to the gold ore. “Studies confirm a significant amount of gold and a lot of stripping,” Burggraff said. “It will be another year before we decide if we proceed.” He said there is no question there is gold to mine but there would be the question of whether it would be economical to mine the gold because of the amount of stripping and relocation of buildings. Underground mining is also an option, but “we couldn’t get to all the gold. We’d only get a small pocket,” Burggraff said. This Western Extension project would require new permitting, although some of the work falls under the current permitting that allows expansion of the Round Mountain Pit and development of Gold Hill. The mine life under present operation plans is for mining to continue through 2016 and processing through 2021, and See ROUND, 25
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Tom Lander, left, of Intermountain Electric, and Don Cox, Intermountain Electric owner, work from a bucket in early May during a project to relocate power lines for pit expansion at the Round Mountain Mine in Nye County. Ross Andreson Mining Quarterly
Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
Raymond Davis is doing quality control in May on the leach pad construction project at Round Mountain Gold Corp.’s new Gold Hill mining project in Nye County.
Round ... Continued from page 24 that includes at Gold Hill, which is a defined deposit “pretty thoroughly” explored, Burggraff said. The Western Extension that is now called WEX for short would add to the mine life. Much of the ore at Round Mountain goes to leach pads, but the higher grades go to the mill. Thieking said roughly oneeighth of the tonnage mined goes to the mill. The mill grade is about twice the
average Round Mountain gold grade of 0.016 ounces per ton. Roughly 80,000 tons of ore are mined a day. Thieking said 12,000 of those tons go to the mill, 15,000 tons are crushed for leach and 53,000 tons are run-of-mine ore, which means they go directly to a leach pad without going through a crusher first. “It’s the largest heap leach in the U.S.,” See ROUND, 26
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Round ... Continued from page 25 Burggraff said, adding that there are 800 million tons of ore under leach now at Round Mountain. Ore is moved around and leached again after it has “time to rest,” he said. Gold Hill ore will all go to the leach pad, however. “Gold Hill will have just a primary crusher. Almost 80 percent of the ore will be crushed and 20 percent run of mine,” Thieking said. Employees will be transported from Round Mountain to the Gold Hill site each day, although haul trucks will only be driven from Gold Hill to the main shop at Round Mountain for maintenance. Haul trucks for Gold Hill will come from the current fleet but Round Mountain has purchased five new pieces of Caterpillar equipment, including a loader that was to arrive in May, two rubber-tire bulldozers to arrive in June, a track dozer and a grader. The mine has three electric shovels. Job recruitment On the job front, Burggraff said “it’s a constant struggle to fill professional positions.” There also is a shortage of mechanics, and the mine planned to try recruiting in Las Vegas. Recruiting is made harder because Round Mountain is a remote community in the Smoky Valley of Nye County. “Walmart is 200 miles away. It’s pretty isolated and not necessarily for everyone,” Burggraff said. Round Mountain is a company town. The mine operates a nine-hole golf See ROUND, 28
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Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
Bruce Thieking, left, operations manager for Round Mountain Gold Corp., and Tinker Evans, corporate responsibility coordinator, stand in front of the bucket of a shovel in the new Fairview mining area at the Round Mountain Mine in Nye County.
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Round ... Continued from page 26 course, a pro shop and a grocery store in Hadley Subdivision, as well as a new daycare center for infants to school-age children. The center had been at the mine site but is now in the town. Round Mountain Gold also owns roughly 70 homes in Hadley Subdivision for employees. The company also is considering building a bunkhouse in Hadley on 50 acres it bought for that purpose, Burggraff said. Tinker Evans, corporate responsibility coordinator for Round Mountain, said there are roughly 2,000 people living in the valley, which is considered the area from the town of Carvers to Hadley. Those who live in Hadley have Round Mountain addresses. The company relocated people to Hadley a number of years ago when it knew the mine would grow closer to the old town of Round Mountain. Evans said plans are under way to move the house her grandfather, William H. Berg, built in 1914 from the old town to the Sunnyside Historical Society Museum 15 miles away. The house, which is on the National Historic Record, has a cellar made of bottles and the walls are handmade brick. “My grandfather bought a mold and did 24 bricks a day,” said Evans, a native of the Round Mountain area. Evans also said the museum will be open this summer. On the education side at Round Mountain, the mine expects 16 interns for this season. The mine focused on returnees as first choice, employees children as second choice before reaching out to other college students, according to Burggraff. “We have two returning and 14 employee kids,” he said. The company hopes to attract interns to return to the mine once they finish school. “Ideally, we would get a handful to stay after they graduate,” Burggraff said. Round Mountain also is offering three scholarships a year to Great Basin College for technical training, and the recipients a guaranteed a summer job while in school. Burggraff also said Round Mountain has gone 819 days without a lost-time accident.
Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
Dispatcher Rusty O’Dell sits in the control tower overlooking the Round Mountain open pit gold mine in Nye County. The mine uses Modular Mining’s dispatch system to track haul trucks and other equipment, he said in early May.
Kinross earnings Kinross posted net earnings of $105.7 million, or 9 cents per share, in the first quarter, a big drop from $250.1 million, or See ROUND, 29
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American Environmental workers lay geosynthetic liner in early May on the new leach pad at Round Mountain Gold Corp.’s new Gold Hill Mine in Nye County. The company uses a remote welder to seal the seams. Ross Andreson Mining Quarterly
Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
Jackie Winters feeds babies at this round table in the Round Mountain Gold Corp.-owned daycare center relocated last year from the minesite to the Hadley Subdivision in Nye County.
Round ... Continued from page 28 22 cents per share, for the 2011 quarter because of one-time tax charges. The adjusted net earnings were up 16 percent, however, to $203.1 million, or 18 cents per share, compared with $173.3 million, or 15 cents per share, in the first quarter of last year, according to the earnings report. Analysts had expect 20 cents per share, however, according to Thomson Reuters. The company has taken a hit on share prices since taking a $2.49 billion goodwill impairment charge late last year for the Tasiast Mine in Mauritania, West Africa. The company acquired Tasiast and Chirano in Ghana in a $7.1 billion acquisition of Red Back Mining in 2010. Kinross reported mining activity has increased at Tasiast, and the company continues to work on the best processing system to use for the next expansion phase. Revenue was up 11 percent to almost $1.04 million, compared with $937 million in the 2011 quarter, mainly because of higher gold prices. The realized gold price was $1,644 per ounce in the quarter, compared with $1,327 per ounce in the 2011 quarter. The Toronto-based company produced 604,247 ounces of gold in the quarter, compared with 642,857 ounces in the 2011 quarter while cost of sales was $742 per ounce, compared with $545 per ounce last year.
“Our operations continue to generate robust revenue, cash flow and earnings,” said Tye Burt, president and chief executive officer of Kinross. He said the company still expects fullyear production of between 2.6 million and 2.8 million ounces of gold and cost of sales of between $670 and $715 per ounce. Burt also said the company is experiencing cost escalation, which is industrywide, and must manage risks because of higher costs, “constrained availability” of equipment, people and capital. For North American operations, Kinross reported production remains on target for the year. The Fort Knox Mine in Alaska produced 61,716 ounces in the 2012 quarter, down from 65,047 ounces last year, with the costs at $861 per ounce, compared with $628 per ounce in the 2011 quarter. The Kettle River-Buckhorn operation in Washington produced 42,618 ounces, down from 45,852 ounces last year while costs were at $481 per ounce, compared with $375 per ounce last year. Kinross also owns mines in South America, Russia and Africa, and the company reported the board has approved full construction funding for the Dvoinoye underground project in Russia. Ore from Dvoinoye will be shipped to the Kupol Mine’s mill for processing. The new mine is expected to produce 215,000 to 250,000 ounces a year for the first three full years of production.
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Bald Mountain plans to expand By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
ELKO — Barrick Gold Corp.’s Bald Mountain Mine in White Pine County is planning an expansion to add years to the life of the sprawling operations and provide new jobs. The Bald Mountain proposal would “carry the mine life out by 20 years to 2030,” Darek Huebner, environmental superintendent for Bald, said during a mine tour. “We will add 5 million ounces of production with the expansion.” He said Bald Mountain expects to add nearly 100 jobs. The mine currently has 381 employees, and mining is concentrated on the Top Pit. The proposed expansion will expand old mines and add new pits in separate north and south areas. The planned project will renew mining in the Alligator Ridge and Yankee areas that are closer to Ely and can be approached without traveling through the main administration area at Bald. There will be offices, a truck shop and a process plant at Alligator Ridge, which is roughly 60 miles from Ely. “It will essentially be set up as its own mine,” Huebner said. See BALD, 32
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A P&H electric shovel dumps a load into a Komatsu haul truck in May in the Top Pit at Barrick Gold Corp.’s Bald Mountain Mine in White Pine County. Adella Harding Mining Quarterly
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Adella Harding/Mining Quarterly
Bald Mountain Mine mechanic Evan Goebel works on a park brake for a Caterpillar loader in the older area of the large truck shop at the Barrick Gold Corp. mine in White Pine County.
Bald ... Continued from page 30 The expansion in the north area will involve 11 new or modified old pits, 18 waste rock dumps and four new leach pads, and the south area expansion will involve four new or modified pits, six rock dumps and three new leach pads. The south area will include expansion of the Vantage and Luxe pits and a new pit called Gator. USMX mined in this south area but ended mining in the early 1990s. Small pits at Vantage will become one with Vantage, Richard Curnow, engineering superintendent for Bald Mountain, said during the mine tour. Alligator Ridge and Yankee are three to four miles apart, and Barrick plans to improve certain roads so the public can still travel in the area. All total, there will be 24 pits at Bald Mountain when the expansion is completed, including old and new pits scattered over a large area, according to Huebner. There also are 38 active and reclaimed rock disposal areas and a dozen or more active and reclaimed heap leach pads on site. Bald Mountain Mine’s boundary is 25 miles north to south and 14 miles east to west, from Overland Pass to Buck Mountain, he said. “It’s a big mine but it hides itself well in the topography,” Huebner said.
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Vantage is 12 miles from the Mooney Basin area where current mining and processing is under way. “The North Operations Area is where we are active now,” Huebner said. Proposed north project The north project area in the expansion plan includes the Winrock and Casino areas, which are more than a mile from Top Pit. Casino and Winrock are old mines, and the White Pine Pit, also called Royale, is even older, he said. Winrock is on the east side of County Road 767, and there will be a new heap leach over the old leach pad. Old leached ore will be used as overliner for the new pad. Casino is near what is called Poker Flats. Casino Pit will be expanded, and there will be three new pits in Poker Flats. The new pits will be called Poker Flats, Duke and South Duke. Two leach pads also are planned, Huebner said. Poker Flats also will include a process plant, according to Darren Tinney, process superintendent. Huebner said there are no plans to do anything with the old, reclaimed heap leach at Royale, however. All of the ore from Royale and Casino and Poker Flats See BALD, 34
SUMMER 2012 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 33
Bald ... Continued from page 32 will go to the two new leach pads in Poker Flats. Several waste rock dumps also are planned with the expansion. The distance from the north main administration buildings and the south area is nearly a 30-minute drive. The Ely BLM District is preparing the draft environmental impact study for the proposed expansion, the second in the last few years for Bald Mountain. “The draft EIS goes to the public on April 5, 2013,” Miles Kreidler, BLM Ely District mining engineer, said in midMay. He said the April 5 date is what is scheduled at this point, and the record of decision is expected to be out to the public in October 2013. The study already is under way and most baseline data is gathered, Charles Johnson of AECOM out of Fort Collins, Colo., said at the BLM’s scoping meeting in Elko on Bald Mountain’s plans. The contractor is third-party, but Barrick See BALD, 36
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Richard Curnow, engineering superintendent for the Bald Mountain Mine, looks over the old Vantage Pit in the south area that Barrick Gold Corp. plans to expand under new plans in the permitting stage. Adella Harding Mining Quarterly
SUMMER 2012 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 35
Bald ... Continued from page 34 pays the tab for EIS work. Huebner said a number of studies done for the Bald Mountain expansion approved in 2010 are still valid, and “the impacts are almost the same, except on a larger scale.” “We’re just looking forward to working with the BLM on getting project approval on their proposed schedule,” Steve Schoen, manager of permitting for Barrick Gold of North America, said at the Elko Convention Center, where a few people attended a scoping meeting, in addition to Barrick, BLM and contractor representatives. One of those at the Elko meeting was Eureka County Commissioner Mike Page, who said he thought the mine looks like a clean project, “without any water issues or major environmental issues.” Eureka County is interested in the Bald expansion because a portion of the Bald workers live in Eureka, and Eureka County is developing a subdivision that could attract Bald miners, Page said.
Adella Harding/Mining Quarterly
See BALD, 37
Darek Huebner, environmental superintendent at Bald Mountain Mine, stands at Poker Flats where a new leach pad is planned in the mine’s latest expansion project.
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Bald ... Continued from page 36 Bald Mountain Mine is in White Pine County but workers live in Elko, Spring Creek and Ely, as well as Eureka. Bald Mountain’s offices and shop are 70 miles south of Elko and 95 miles northwest of Ely. The BLM held scoping meetings in Ely, Eureka, Elko and Reno. Only three people came to the Ely meeting other than BLM, Barrick and contractors and seven came to the Eureka meeting earlier in the week, according to the BLM. Kreidler said four came to the Reno meeting. The Bald Mountain expansion will include already disturbed areas, and there won’t be any dewatering nor acid mine drainage for environmental impacts but sage grouse and mule deer are issues. “We’re talking a lot about mitigation,” Marian Lightler, wildlife biologist for the Ely BLM District, said at the Elko meeting, pointing out on a map that there is some sage grouse habitat within the expansion project boundaries. Ely BLM District Manager Doris Metcalf said, however, that she doesn’t see “any big slowdown” on project
approval because of the sage grouse concerns. The BLM has stepped up conservation efforts for sage grouse habitat and leks in an effort to keep the sage grouse off the endangered species list. “Wildlife is not a new issue. We have a mule deer corridor,” Huebner said. Wild horses had already drawn comment in early May, he also said. Huebner also said there are 14 sage grouse leks within three miles of the exploration district boundary, but only a handful are within three miles of the mine plan boundary. The BLM said expanding the North Operations Area Project would increase total disturbance from 9,124 acres to 13,704 acres and add four leach pads. Establishing the South Operations Area Project would increase surface disturbance from 960 acres to 3,643 acres. Current operations The current operations at Top Pit use the Mooney Basin leach pads and two processing facilities, one that was just completed last year. The mine transports
Adella Harding/Mining Quarterly
Eureka County Commissioner Mike Page looks at the aerial-view graphics of Barrick Gold Corp.’s Bald Mountain Mine while at a U.S. Bureau of Land Management meeting at the Elko Convention Center on Bald’s planned expansion. gold-laden carbon to Barrick’s Goldstrike Mine north of Carlin for stripping and refining. “When we looked at life of mine we had to look at expanding the stripping and refining areas. The more attractive option was to take advantage of the capacity at Goldstrike,” Tinney said. “There also were gold security issues.” Loaded carbon essentially means the
gold is chemically attached to carbon, which is “just roasted coconut shells,” and the gold is not visual, Tinney said. There are three leach pads already permitted at Mooney Basin, and two of these are built. The third is in the engineering stage. Along with Top Pit, other pits in this area include the Galaxy, which is See BALD, 38
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Bald ... Continued from page 37 reclaimed, the Horseshoe, which is mostly backfilled and reclaimed and Bida, which will be mined again. The Top Pit is the largest at Bald Mountain, and the planned expansion calls for Red Bird to be second largest and Vantage to be the third largest pit, according to Huebner. The “numbers” pit area is already permitted, and plans are to start mining there in 2013 north of the administration offices, he said. The numbers pits include 2/3 Pit and 5 Pit, to name but two in the plan approved in 2010. Plans at the mine also call for a new leach pad at Little Bald Mountain. “This will allow us to mine the last phase of Top Pit. It’s a much shorter haul than to Mooney Basin,” Huebner said. All the ore at Bald Mountain is oxide and processed with cyanide solution on leach pads. “Although we are expanding the mine dramatically, we’re not changing the process. It will all be run-of-mine heap leach operations,” Huebner said. Curnow said the average gold grade at Bald Mountain is 0.022 ounces per ton, with “some pits slightly lower and some higher, but there is no real high grade.” The mine fleet includes 28 haul trucks, 23 of those 240-ton Komatsu trucks. There also are two 190-ton trucks and four 150-ton trucks, according to Chet Cramer, maintenance superintendent. On the safety front, Joe Kemp, superintendent of safety and security at Bald Mountain, said the mine is continuing to decrease the number of citations it receives from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, and the last lost-time accident was in December.
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Adella Harding/Mining Quarterly
Cesar Ventura of P&H MinePro works on a Komatsu haul truck in May in the truck shop at Barrick Gold Corp.’s Bald Mountain Mine in White Pine County.
Robinson eyes mining Liberty Pit By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
RUTH — Historic Robinson Mine on the outskirts of Ruth in White Pine County expects to learn more at the beginning of the third quarter about whether to go back into the old Liberty Pit while continuing to mine at the Ruth Pit. A prefeasibility study was completed late last year, and a feasibility study should be ready by the beginning of the third quarter, according to Robinson General Manager Cary Brunson. The prefeasibility study showed the Liberty expansion was worth pursuing to the feasibility stage. Being able to mine at Liberty “adds flexibility to the mine plan,” Brunson said. “We’re in the middle of permitting.” The new mining at Liberty would go deeper and to the south of the huge pit that is part of Robinson, where largescale copper mining has been under way
This new sign reflects the name of the new owner of the Robinson copper mine on the outskirts of the historic town of Ruth and near Ely. Ross Andreson Mining Quarterly
See ROBINSON, 40
SUMMER 2012 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 39
Robinson ... Continued from page 39 off and on since 1908 and there was oldtime mining in even earlier times. The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection would issue permits for going back into Liberty because the Liberty Pit and all mining operations at Robinson are on 21,000 acres of private land, including 10,000 patented claims. Federal agencies permit operations on public land. Robinson is planning for Liberty while operating under a new owner, but Brunson said the changeover has been smooth. “We’ve had a lot of communications and meetings, and there have not been a lot of questions from here. Employees know they bought us because of what we do here and want us to continue to do what we do,” he said in late April. KGHM International Robinson is now part of KGHM International, which includes all the former Quadra FNX properties and KGHM properties outside of Poland. KGHM brought a copper mine in Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
See ROBINSON, 42
Mining is under way in the Ruth East portion of the Ruth Pit at KGHM International’s Robinson Mine near Ely in late April while a blast area is readied in the foreground.
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Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
Driller Ricky Garcia can control the Bucyrus electric drill rig in the background with the joy sticks he is holding, when the drill needs to be moved at the Robinson copper mine near Ely. That’s what Garcia and the mine’s utility crew were doing in late April. The utility crew had to move the electrical cables for the drill.
Robinson ... Continued from page 40 Germany and a copper and gold development property in British Columbia to the former Quadra FNX package to make up KGHM International. All of the Poland operations are KGHM Polska Miedz S.A. properties, and KGHM in Poland is the parent company. The Polish government owns 31.79 percent of
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KGHM, which acquired Quadra FNX in March for $2.9 billion. “So basically we’ve gone from being a public trading company and answering to shareholders to working for KGHM, which is a private company in Poland,” Brunson said. See ROBINSON, 43
Robinson ... Continued from page 42 As a private company, KGHM International doesn’t release its quarterly earnings reports or production reports, but he said “our annual production will hover around 100 million pounds of copper and 35,000 ounces of gold in 2012.” The Robinson Mine currently has 617 employees and is “basically staffed,” but Brunson said a good engineer would be snapped up. Currently, all of the mining is in the Ruth Pit, including the new Ruth East area, and Brunson said Robinson “has stayed on pace. We’re still mining at a good rate and on track to meet what we thought we would do at the end of the year.” Robinson completed two major projects at Ruth last year to bring mining and production up to speed — the removal of mud at the bottom of the pit and construction of a new haul road. The Ruth East portion of the pit is the newest and is now in full production. Leatham Hendrix, mine operations superintendent, said Robinson hit ore early in development of Ruth East and “has been in steady ore in the last two benches. It was sooner than expected.” Ruth East has now joined Ruth as one pit. Ruth is an old pit, and Hendrix said equipment still hits old remnants of underground mining. Operators may notice sawdust on drill holes, which means they drilled through old timbers, he said. Transporting copper Robinson continues to ship the copper concentrate from its mill to the Port of Vancouver for overseas markets, mainly China, Japan and India. Arlo G. Lott Trucking Inc. loads the concentrate at Robinson and delivers it to Robinson’s Wendover Bulk Transit Co. rail yard at Wendover, Utah, where it is put on Union Pacific train cars that head for Vancouver, Wash. Roughly 800 tons a day of concentrate are delivered in about 20 truck trips a day, Brunson said. Copper prices have been in the $4 range per pound but were at $3.73 a pound on one late April day. The guidance for the rest of this year is $3.80 a pound, Brunson said, but the mine plan is done at $3.50 a pound of copper.
ABOVE: Jamie Barney of Ely, dispatch supervisor at KGHM International’s Robinson copper mine in White Pine County, looks at the locations of all the operating mining equipment in the Ruth Pit using Caterpillar’s MineStar system. LEFT: A Bucyrus electric shovel fills a 240-ton Komatsu haul truck in late April in the new Ruth East area of the Ruth Pit at KGHM International’s Robinson copper mine in White Pine County. Ross Andreson Mining Quarterly
See ROBINSON, 46
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Robinson ...
Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
An Arlo G. Lott truck picks up a load of copper concentrate in late April at the Robinson Mine near Ely. The trucking company hauls concentrate from Robinson to Wendover, Utah, for rail shipment.
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Continued from page 43 Along with copper and gold, Robinson also produces molybdenum when there are enough stockpiles to process molybdenum in the mill. “We’re not in much moly right now, but we did really well in moly last year,” Brunson said. The mill control room was also about to become the location for truck dispatching in late April, when Robinson relocated the computers and monitors for the Caterpillar MineStar system from another building on site. The move was planned to “coordinate materials and quantities of materials” with the mill, according to Hendrix. “It’s immediate feedback,” he said. In other words, the dispatchers will be in the same room to more easily communicate on what types of ore and the quantities of ore needed as mill feed at any given time. Robinson has been using MineStar two years, Hendrix said. The dispatchers keep track of haul trucks, shovels and loaders and they also have a slope monitor to watch for the Ruth Pit to be alert from any movement of earth. They coordinate maintenance too. Robinson’s mining fleet includes 18 240-ton Caterpillar haul trucks, five 240-ton Komatsu haul trucks, six 150-ton Caterpillar trucks, two electric shovels, two hydraulic shovels and two loaders. Robinson also continues exploration for new places to mine. See ROBINSON, 47
Robinson ... Continued from page 46 Exploration drill programs set for summer will look “just outside the pits. Our goal is to keep 10 plus years of reserves in front of us,” Brunson said. The current mine life is 2021. Future plans may include exploring off the patented land, maybe in three or four years, Brunson said. Mine dewatering Robinson currently dewaters roughly 15,000 gallons a minute to keep the Ruth Pit dry, and roughly 7,000 of those gallons go to Murry Springs for Ely drinking water. The water is clean and pumped from a well but still dewaters the mine, he said. Since April 1, a couple thousand gallons per minute now goes into Gleason Creek and makes its way north for use on the Georgetown Ranch. The remainder is used on site, Brunson said. The Robinson Mine earlier donated four water wells in Ely to the city. At Robinson, reclamation work is also part of operations, including reclamation of legacy leach pads and old waste dumps from mining years ago. “So, we continually work on reclamation,” Brunson said. Successful reclamation can result in money back from bonds. If current Robinson crews do reclamation on old sites that fall under the responsibility of Kennecott, which mined Robinson for years before pulling out and later selling the site, Robinson can receive reimbursement. Brunson also said Robinson is community friendly and “wants to be involved in the community and wants to help the community to succeed after we’re gone.” The mine is near enough to Ely to arrange for local nonprofit clubs, including from the high school, to earn money with barbecues in the parking lot at the administration building. “We donate food, and they do the cooking and then send out food to whoever ordered it,” Brunson said. They may sell 300 to 400 meals at $6 a bag, he said. KGHM International is based in Vancouver and Toronto, with Paul Blythe as the chief executive officer. Blythe was CEO of Quadra FNX. The chief operating officer is Catharine Farrow, who was with FNX and came to Quadra FNX through the earlier merger of those two companies. KGHM International’s operations beyond Robinson include the Carlota
Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
Cary Brunson, general manager at KGHM International’s Robinson copper mine in White Pine County, talks in late April about mining operations. Mine in Arizona, operations in Sudbury, Ontario, the Franke Mine in Chile and the Sierra Gorda project in Chile. Sumitomo owns 45 percent of Sierra Gorda. Quadra FNX also brought the Victoria Project in Canada and a molybdenum project in Greenland to the merger with KGHM. Quadra FNX had said before the merger it expected to produce 220 million pounds of copper this year from those operations that are now part of KGHM. Although KGHM International is private now, “in the future, we’d like to see KGHM publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange,” Brunson said. KGHM Chief Executive Herbert Wirth said in late April KGHM Polska Miedz SA is aiming to relist the international unit in 2014, according to a report on Fox Business. The operations in Poland are all underground mines. KGHM is the largest copper producer in Europe and is now the largest silver producer. According to KGHM, the company produced 1,260 metric tons of silver in 2011, which raised KGHM to first place in the Word Silver Survey for 2011. KGHM also stated it expects to become the fourth largest copper producer with the addition of Quadra FNX properties.
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Long Canyon still golden opportunity By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
OASIS — Long Canyon in the Pequop Mountains of Elko County is moving along through the permitting stage while exploration rigs still dot the mountainside looking for more gold. “Everybody is excited about Long Canyon,” said Jon Powell, Newmont Mining Corp.’s Long Canyon geology manager. “Wendover is excited. The town of Wells is really excited, but we still have the responsibility to do it right,” said Dan Anderson, regional environmental affairs manager for Newmont. Newmont’s plans for a new mine in an area never mined in the past are filed with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s Elko office, and the BLM will be holding scoping meetings soon to gather comments for preparation of an environmental study of the project. “We’re working on the federal register notice for a letter of intent,” said Lesli Ellis, public affairs specialist with the Elko BLM District. “We’re very encouraged we will meet schedules for permitting,” said Anderson, but he didn’t have an estimate yet See LONG CANYON, 50
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Boart Longyear driller Chris O’Conner, left, talks in early May with Jon Powell, Newmont Mining Corp.’s geology manager for the Long Canyon project, on a drill pad in the Pequop Mountains of Elko County. Adella Harding Mining Quarterly
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Long Canyon ... Continued from page 48 of when the draft environmental impact statement on Long Canyon would be out. Newmont has been saying it hopes to begin producing gold in 2016 and go into full production in 2017. Plans call for a large open pit and a mill and leach pads to process the gold ore that in certain areas is near the surface, although invisible to the naked eye. “It’s all oxide material,” said Powell. Oxide ore can be leached or processed at a mill but doesn’t require autoclaves or roasters to capture the gold. Carbonaceous ores require the more costly processing. “It will be a regular mill,” Anderson said. He said the mill is expected to process 3,000 to 8,000 tons of ore per day, including the pregnant solution from the leach pads. This solution contains gold leached off the pads so the industry refers to it as pregnant. Ore going to the pad will be run of mine rather than crushed. “It’s not a complex system there. The ore is very easy to leach, and with the mill option, we’re looking at better recoveries,” Anderson said. “It’s really a classic storybook mine, oxide and close to the interstate.” The Long Canyon site also won’t have the acid drainage problem of some mines because the ore isn’t sulfide, but the deposit is in limestone dolomite rock, which is a carbonate rock that neutralizes acid, Powell said. There also won’t be mercury emissions from the mill. The mill will process ore onto carbon but gold will be poured at Newmont’s Carlin operations. See LONG CANYON, 52
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Adella Harding/Mining Quarterly
Matt Murray, left, senior external relations representative for Newmont Mining Corp., talks with Dan Anderson, Newmont’s regional environmental affairs manager, on the Long Canyon exploration site in Elko County. Below them is the area where Newmont plans to build a mill to process gold.
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Long Canyon ... Continued from page 50 “We will ship the carbon to Carlin so there will be no need for mercury controls at Long Canyon,” Anderson said. The carbon will be processed at Gold Quarry to harvest the gold and pour the gold bars. This process requires mercury controls that Newmont already has at the Carlin site for processing ore from the Carlin Trend. Employment numbers Newmont expects to employ 300 to 500 workers at Long Canyon, once the project is developed. There will be 300 to 400 contractors on site during development, according to the latest estimates. The exploration drilling at the Long Canyon site, just a few miles south of Interstate 80 roughly equal distance between Wells and West Wendover, involved four Major Drilling core rigs and two Boart Longyear reverse-circulation rigs in early May. Another core rig was to be added by June 1. “This year, we’re doing a lot of infill drilling for reserve spacing. We’re also looking for new deposits in all directions,”
Powell said. Newmont acquired Long Canyon in the $2.33 billion purchase of Fronteer Gold, and Newmont remains enthusiastic about the prospects for the site and for the likelihood that Long Canyon sits on a gold trend. Newmont Chief Operating Officer Gary Goldberg said in the company’s earnings teleconference it continues to believe in its original investment thesis that the project would grow to three or four times Fronteer’s estimate, and he said new targets will be drilled this year. Fronteer’s final resource estimate in January 2011 for Long Canyon was 1.4 million ounces of measured and indicated gold ounces and 800,000 ounces of inferred resources. Newmont expects to have new numbers published next year, however, after completion of a prefeasibility study at the end of 2012. “We are working on new resource numbers now. We’ve done a lot of drilling,” Powell said, reporting Newmont drilled
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See LONG CANYON, 53
Adella Harding/Mining Quarterly
Newmont Mining Corp. is seeking permits to start mining its Long Canyon property. The planned open pit in the Pequop Mountains of Elko County would begin in the reddish area, a high-grade gold spot, according to the company.
Long Canyon ... Continued from page 52 about 250 holes last year for 220,000 feet of drilling. “We’re taking a district type of look.” As of early May, there had been about 100,000 feet of drilling this year. He said when Newmont acquired Long Canyon, it took a three-prong approach to the site. “The first was to define the current deposit,” Powell said. The second prong was to do district exploration on the land package. The third prong is regional exploration in the nearby range. Newmont has a joint venture with Agnico-Eagle for the West Pequop exploration project, for example, and the South Pequop project with Golden Dory. “One thing for sure is that this part of northeast Nevada has been underexplored. The rocks are in a different geologic setting than the Carlin Trend. The rocks are actually older,” Powell said. Busy drilling site Long Canyon operations currently involve up to 60 people at the project site,
and there also are permitting engineers and a design team numbering about 25, and “I’ve got a whole list of contractors and consultants working on the project. There’s been a lot of time and resources devoted to the project,” Anderson said. Powell said the 50-60 people at the site on a given day include Newmont people, drilling contractors and earthworks contractors. Legarza Exploration does the earthwork for all the drilling pads. The permitting for Long Canyon will include addressing the issue of sage grouse habitat. The BLM issued an interim policy last December to conserve habitat while the BLM and U.S. Forest Service work on environmental impact statements that will in turn be used to develop amended land management plans. The BLM policy is in answer to the threat that the sage grouse will be put on the endangered species list. “We recognize the sage grouse will be an important issue moving forward,” Anderson said, adding there is sage grouse See LONG CANYON, 54
Adella Harding/Mining Quarterly
Drillers Michael Minarcin of Oroville, Wash., left, and Justin Johnson of Colville, Wash., talk at their Majors Drilling core rig at Newmont Mining Corp.’s Long Canyon project in the Pequop Mountains of Elko County.
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Adella Harding/Mining Quarterly
Jon Powell, Long Canyon geology manager for Newmont Mining Corp., points in early May to an exploration map of the company’s Long Canyon gold project in the Pequop Mountains of Elko County. Newmont has trailers at the Montello exit off Interstate 80 for offices for those working on Long Canyon.
Long Canyon ... Continued from page 53 habitat south of the project area, but not in the project area. He said Newmont is working with the BLM and the Nevada Department of Wildlife to minimize any impacts to the bird’s habitat and leks, as well as to deer migration routes. The company and agencies considered the impacts as plans were drawn for where to locate the mill, leach pad, waste dumps and tailings pond. The facilities will be on the flat ground near the current Big Springs Ranch buildings. Newmont owns the ranch and the M&N Ranch, which are now part of Newmont’s Elko Land and Livestock Co. operations, that include the TS Ranch and the Horseshoe Ranch. Newmont owns 50,000 acres of private land in the vicinity of Long Canyon, much of it spread out in a checkerboard pattern mixed with BLM-managed land. The mine project boundary is roughly 10,000 acres, however. Newmont plans to use Big Springs Ranch land to mitigate impacts from mining but livestock is part of the longrange plan. Anderson said Newmont can develop wetlands, water projects and sage grouse
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habitat on the ranch. “We want to use it as an asset to the mining company, but livestock are still part of the picture,” Anderson said. “The goal is a more holistic range management approach. We have an opportunity to do things differently here. We can build reclamation and closure into the project.” For example, Newmont plans to leave a corridor open between the pit and the waste dump for deer migration and will do concurrent reclamation at the edge of the dump bordering the corridor. The waste-rock facility will curve around a riparian area on the ranch. Current plans call for the pit to be about a mile and a half long, with part of it on the flats and starting with benches on the mountain, with initial mining at a high-grade spot that is visible now as more red that the soil around it. “The gold is right on the surface,” Powell said. Social impacts Anderson said Newmont has completed the social impact studies with Wells, West Wendover and Wendover, Utah, communities that haven’t had the mining influence that Elko, Carlin, Battle See LONG CANYON, 55
Long Canyon ... Continued from page 54 Mountain and Winnemucca have had for some years now. “We can provide a positive influence for mining,” he said. Newmont doesn’t dictate where workers live, but he said that “logically, a lot of folks will live in Wells and Wendover. They are a half hour from the site. We will probably bus from Wells and Wendover.” Water also is an issue Newmont has addressed and continues to address with West Wendover and Wendover, Utah, which share water that is piped from Big Springs through the Johnson springs system. “We set up water working groups,” Anderson said. The cities draw pipe 448 gallons per minute along the 30-mile pipeline that was installed when Wendover, Utah, was home to a busy air base during World War II. Newmont also worked with State Engineer Jason King’s office and has the water rights needed to run the Long Canyon mining and milling operations. The water rights came with the Big Springs Ranch. The mine won’t require any dewatering. “The pit is above the water table,” Anderson said. He said Newmont will use roughly 1,500 gpm for operations but will recycle much of that water. Newmont already completed baseline reports as part of the permitting process, which in turn allows the company and BLM to make better judgments on the project and reduces permitting time, Anderson said. “It’s a good approach, good for the industry and good for the BLM,” he said. Newmont and, earlier, Fronteer reached out to the BLM to keep the agency up to date on plans.
BLM releases copper project study By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
ELKO — Newmont Mining Corp. could be receiving a record of decision on its Copper Leach Project at the Phoenix copper and gold mine in Lander County any day. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management Battle Mountain District released the final environmental impact statement for the project, and the comment period on the final study ended May 29. Jerry Pfarr, director of environmental permitting for Newmont, said the project will assist in Newmont’s efforts “to achieve our corporate strategic plan of 7 million attributable ounces of gold and 400 million attributable pounds of copper by 2017; profitably and responsibly.” The Phoenix project is 12 miles southwest of Battle Mountain on private and public lands in Lander County. Newmont already is working on the private portion of the planned project that will leach copper otherwise going to waste. “The Phoenix copper leach pad construction is nearly complete and ore placement has begun. Construction of the solvent extraction electrowinning plant is scheduled to begin in late 2012,” Newmont Chief Operating Officer Gary Goldberg said in Newmont’s recent first-quarter
earnings teleconference. The BLM said the project would disturb 902 acres, 708 of those acres on private land and all in a heavily mined area. According to the BLM, active mining and processing for the proposed project would last roughly 24 years and overall closure and reclamation activities are anticipated to extend 25 years beyond the operational phase. A minimum of 13 years of revegetation and reclamation monitoring would be required following mine closure. The draft EIS analyzing the potential impacts of Newmont’s proposal was issued last October, and the comment period drew 16 letters of support for the project from individuals, as well as from the Lander Economic Development Authority, the Lander County Public Lands Use Advisory Council and the Austin Chamber of Commerce. The EPA’s comments focused on concerns about the BLM’s long-term funding mechanism process and issues tied to the Willow Creek drainage that lies just west of the proposed project, according to the BLM. The BLM requires long-term trust funds for mining projects that need long-term maintenance or post potential long-term environmental risks, but the fund details are included in the record of decision, not the EIS.
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Special master to help with claims suit By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
that it maintains its possessory rights and superior title to the disputed claims at Rochester. The company also reported silver production from ELKO — A special master has been appointed in the Rochester increased 32 percent in the first quarter to court case in which Coeur d’ Alene Mines Corp. and Rye 441,000 ounces, and gold production increased 265 perPatch Gold Corp. have locked horns over mining claims. cent to 5,292 ounces due to initial production from the Retired U.S. District Court Judge David Hagen will new leach pad constructed in 2011. oversee and hear pre-trial matters and make recommendations to the district court in Lovelock, according to Rye Rochester production Patch Gold, which reported the trial is still scheduled for The mine produced 334,000 ounces of silver and 1,451 November. ounces of gold in the 2011 quarter from residual leaching Coeur supports the District Judge Michael Montero’s from earlier mining. decision to appoint a special master. Cash operating costs at Rochester were $23.35 per silver “Coeur fully supports Judge Montero’s proposal to ounce during the first quarter and are expected to decrease appoint a special master in this case. In the short term, the steadily as production increases this year, according to the special master’s appointment should expedite the dis- earnings report. covery process and consideration of the pending pre-trial “The first quarter marked Rochester's initial three motions,” Stefany Bales, spokeswoman for Idaho-based months of operation since resuming active mining in Coeur, said in mid-May. December. We expect production at Rochester to increase “David Warner Hagen brings a wealth of experience as a each quarter of 2012 as more material is added to the new retired U.S. district judge, and we are pleased with his leach pad,” Coeur President and Chief Executive Officer appointment,” she said. Mitchell Krebs said in the earnings announcement. Rye Patch Gold filed claims on federal land in the area of The company reported exploration drilling at Rochester the Rochester Mine in Pershing County after learning continued at the pace set in the second half of 2011, with Coeur failed to renew claims by deadline and maintains it 41,450 feet of reverse circulation drilling completed on the legally obtained the 402 mining claims. property. In addition, drilling of surface stockpiles started Coeur stated in its earnings presentation in early May in the quarter.
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Companywide, Coeur’s production totaled 4.9 million ounces of silver in the first quarter, up 19 percent over the first quarter of last year, and gold production totaled 43,901 ounces, compared with 53,130 ounces last year. Higher prices for gold and silver helped with the profit despite a shutdown at the Kensington Mine in Alaska. Average realized prices for silver averaged $32.61 cents per ounce, compared with $31.27 per ounce last year, and gold prices averaged $1,702 per ounce, up from $1,374. Coeur also said the company reduced cash operating costs per ounce by 25 percent companywide, with the average cash operating cost to $6.29 per ounce. The company reported net income was down in the first quarter to $4 million, or 4 cents per share, compared with $12.5 million, or 14 cents per share, in the 2011 quarter, but the company expects the second quarter to be better. “With silver and gold prices remaining resilient, we are on track for a robust second quarter and full-year 2012 performance,” Krebs said. The company also reported first-quarter adjusted net income was $41.5 million, or 46 cents per share, up 11 percent from the adjusted net earnings of $37.5 million, or 42 cents per share, in the 2011 quarter. Krebs also said in the earnings report that Coeur continues to estimate silver production this year of between 18.5 million and 20 million ounces and gold production of 210,000-230,000 ounces.
This Hitachi hydraulic shovel dumps a load of material in late April into the bed of a haul truck in the Target II Pit at the Marigold Mine operated by Goldcorp Inc. at Valmy. Ross Andreson Mining Quarterly
Marigold plans to enlarge Mackay Pit By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
VALMY — Marigold Mine plans to expand its earlier-mined Mackay Pit into one long, narrow open pit that will encompass smaller pits, and this expansion means more jobs. “The Mackay Pit will be three miles long,” said Marigold General Manager Duane Peck. “A while back we had a series of smaller pits, Target III, Mackay and Get ‘Er Done. Then, we drilled out the Red Dot resource. Now, what’s happening is all these pits and all the exploration done in the last three years are tied together to make one pit we’ll call the Mackay Pit,” he said. The new plan for the Mackay Pit is the
culmination of the three years of exploration drilling at a cost of roughly $10 million a year, driven by a higher gold price that allows for economic mining of lower ore grades. “We’ve changed from a 2017 mine life to 2024-2025. We’ve roughly doubled the mine life so I am real excited about that, and we’re continuing exploration out to the north,” Peck said. The mining plan is based on gold at $1,200 an ounce, which allows leeway. The gold price in May was in the range of $1,600, even slipping below that number, but it was in the $1,700 range earlier in the year. Peck said as more ore becomes econom-
Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
See MARIGOLD, 58
Marigold Mine General Manager Duane Peck shows on a map how mining will combine older and newer pits to create one big MacKay Pit.
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Marigold ... Continued from page 57
Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
This Hitachi haul truck is the first to be operational at the Margiold Mine at Valmy after receiving a new, lightweight body that brings it up from a 320-ton haul truck to a 335-ton truck. The body comes from Mine Rite Technologies of Buffalo, Wyo.
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ical to mine at the higher prices, those lower grades need to be countered, and “economy of scale is the answer for Marigold.” Goldcorp Inc. operates the Marigold Mine and owns two-thirds of it. Barrick Gold Corp. owns the other one-third of the mine. The plan for the Mackay Pit and for a higher mining rate will require more people and more equipment. “We’re still recruiting. We have about 310 full-time employees now and about 30 contractors. We want to get up to about 335 employees and have 20 contractors,” Peck said. “That’s because we’re expanding our mining fleet.” Adding to the current fleet means the mine needs more operators, maintenance technicians and electricians. Along with buying six new 320-ton Komatsu haul trucks that won’t arrive until 2013, Marigold also plans to purchase an electric shovel. The mine currently has hydraulic shovels and loaders See MARIGOLD, 59
Marigold ... Continued from page 58 but no electric shovel. Peck said he is awaiting corporate approval to seek bids on the shovel. The current fleet includes 12 320-ton Hitachi haul trucks that are being converted to 335-ton with installation of new, lightweight bodies, and eight Caterpillar haul trucks that Marigold plans to use at least another year. “With the dynamics of the mine plan changing rapidly, we may operate them longer than 12 months,” Peck said. Mining in late April was taking place in the Target II Pit, and crews were back into the Basalt Pit to “do a small setback to help with 2012 production,” he said. There also is mining at the Red Rock Pit, where there is a small layback. Red Rock is in the Terry Zone, an older mining area closer to the administration buildings at Marigold. Marigold production Goldcorp’s earnings report in late April shows that Marigold produced 26,500 ounces of gold for the company’s twothirds share in the first quarter, compared with 22,500 ounces in the first quarter of last year. Cash costs were $663 per ounce on a by-product basis in the 2012 quarter, down from $898 per ounce last year. The enlarged Mackay Pit will include Section 19, which is land the University of Nevada, Reno owns, so UNR will be receiving a royalty from gold production from that part of the Mackay Pit. Peck said plans call for mining again at Target III in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and the original Mackay Pit and then mining in Section 19 in roughly three to four years. “The long-term plan is to backfill Basalt, but it will just depend on the timing of the phases in the new Mackay Pit,” he said. Permitting with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for new work begins with an amendment to the plan of operations. Peck said he anticipates that part of the mine expansion plan will be approved through an environmental assessment and the follow-up permitting likely will involve an environmental impact statement. “The larger, deeper Mackay Pit will probably go through the EIS process,” Peck said. “We have to develop the property based on today’s economics and be conservative for the future. It’s just a side effect of a
ABOVE: Thomas Broadway, a maintenance technician at the Marigold Mine, is responsible for the MineCare portion of the Modular Mining Systems the mine uses to track its equipment. In the background, Ali Ouarzeddini, left, and Scott Gonzales, both of Tucson, Ariz., in late April install the MineCare software on a bulldozer in the Marigold shop. LEFT: A 320-ton Hitachi haul truck drops a load on the Trout Creek waste dump at the Marigold Mine at Valmy in late April as a bulldozer smooths out the area. Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
See MARIGOLD, 60
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Marigold ... Continued from page 59 large, lower grade deposit,” he said. Marigold has been expanding facilities because of current increased mining rates, and Big G Construction out of Winnemucca will be building a new warehouse on site this year. The new shop was completed late last year, and a new wash bay also was built last year, in addition to expansion of the processing plant. Peck said another plant expansion is under study. Diversion dam The mine also constructed a new leach pad last year called cell 16 and is adding cell 17 this year, to be completed in August. Cell 18 has been permitted for construction in 2013, as well, according to Peck. Marigold additionally is just completing the Trout Creek Diversion Dam that is allowing a shorter haul to the waste dump from the Target II Pit that is saving time and money. “It’s half the distance,” Peck said, explaining that before the dam, trucks had a long climb that was “painful to watch, especially with fuel prices at $3.40
a gallon.” The $5.7 million project was far enough completed for the trucks to begin the shorter route late last year but Gold Canyon Construction was doing the finishing work on the project in late April. The dam construction also allows for future waste rock dumps. Trout Creek water, which only flows with snow runoff, was diverted into Cottonwood Creek and away from mining areas. This was originally permitted in the EIS for the mining in the southern project area at Marigold. “It’s pretty much like any reservoir dam,” said Jerod Eastman, operations manager for Marigold. The mine also is changing programming on haul trucks with the electric component so the electronics and engineers are communicating better to save on fuel. “We’re seeing up to a 15 percent fuel savings on those trucks,” Peck said. Marigold has made changes to counter operator fatigue, as well, including running Coach America buses for employees, rather then the workers continuing to drive to the mine. This gives them nap time. The mine also changes jobs for opera-
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Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
Jerod Eastman, operations manager at the Marigold Mine operated by Goldcorp Inc. in Humboldt County, looks over the Trout Creek Diversion Dam site. Gold Canyon Mining & Construction was doing finishing work in late April on the site. tors when they may be showing fatigue. Marigold checked out the new Seeing Eye device that can tell when truck drivers are fatigued, as well. Newmont Mining Corp. is testing the device at the Phoenix Mine.
“The great thing about the mining industry is safety isn’t something we compete in. We share,” Peck said. On the safety front, Goldcorp also See MARIGOLD, 62
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Marigold ... Continued from page 60 plans a surface rescue competition for its teams later this year either in Nevada or South Dakota, where Goldcorp operates the Wharf Mine. Separate from new mining plans, Marigold also has instituted a recycling program in partnership with Atlas out of Battle Mountain, which brought out a large compactor for large boxes and such and bins for plastic and paper. “We’re raising the bar on recycling,” Peck said, “and we’re not filling our landfill with trash that can be reused.” The health and safety committee also is looking at better lighting efficiency and radiant heat for Marigold. Goldcorp earnings Companywide, Goldcorp reported its net profit for the second quarter dropped to $479 million, or 51 cents per share, from $651 million, or 81 cents per share, in the first quarter of last year mainly because of lower production at Red Lake operations in Canada. Adjusted net earnings were up 3 percent, See MARIGOLD, 64
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Mining is under way at the Red Rock Pit at the north end of what will become the larger Mackay Pit at the Marigold Mine in Humboldt County. A Caterpillar loader fills a Cat haul truck in late April in the first bench. Ross Andreson Mining Quarterly
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Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
This drill rig was working on a blast area in late April at Goldcorp Inc.’s Marigold Mine in Humboldt County. A haul truck stops briefly for a dash of lime on its way to a leach pad at the Marigold Mine at Valmy. Lime maintains proper pH in the cyanide solution on the pad. Ross Andreson Mining Quarterly
Marigold ... Continued from page 62 however, to $404 million, or 50 cents per share, compared with $392 million, or 49 cents per share, in the 2011 quarter. Goldcorp President and Chief Executive Officer Chuck Jeannes said in a teleconference the company had a strong financial start in 2012, but “Red Lake was the exception,” posting lower production due mostly to lower grades. He said Goldcorp will be making a determination of how much the company can make up during the rest of the year. “The rest of the operations continued solid production,” Jeannes said. Goldcorp’s guidance for the year is for
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production totaling 2.6 million ounces of gold at a cash cost on a by-product basis of $250 to $275 an ounce, and he said the planned review will assess whether that guidance still holds. “We will work hard to make it up during the course of the year,” Jeannes said. Total production in the first quarter was 524,700 ounces, produced at a total cash cost of $251 per ounce on a byproduct basis, compared with 637,600 ounces of gold in the first quarter of 2011, produced at a total by-product cash cost of $188 an ounce. Co-product costs were $648 per ounce in the 2012 quarter and $504 per ounce in the 2011 quarter.
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Newmont works on environmental sustainability By ANDREA GLOVER Mining Quarterly
pit mine. The mine operates under heavy state and federal regulations.
CARLIN — For those not involved in daily operations, the experience of driving through a mine site is akin to visiting a giant sandbox. Mountains of dirt appear to be stacked haphazardly, while trucks crawl along wide roads, without a drop of water in sight. Though the large tailings ponds and mountains of waste rock appear to be placed at random, extensive thought and planning went into dedicating each location. Often, under the watchful eye of a handful of local, state and federal agencies. “Everything we do is regulated by some agency,” said Newmont Mining Corp.’s senior external relations representative, Matt Murray. “From the height and width of leach pads to where waste rock can be dumped.” Newmont’s Gold Quarry Mine six miles north of Carlin is Newmont’s largest open
Reclamation Concurrent reclamation is practiced at Gold Quarry to lessen the amount of impacted land as the mine site expands and progresses. As earth is mined, top soil is moved to the edges of areas and saved for later. After mining is completed in the area, this leftover material will be put back into the site. The area will then be contoured to its original topography to make the area more natural, and any drainage features that existed before are restored to the best of Newmont’s ability, Murray said. Monitoring of the area then begins, particularly examining success of vegetation, and water quality. Often a growth medium is required to encourage vegetation so the area provides a better habitat for wildlife and decreases erosion. When traveling to Gold Quarry, as soon
Andrea Glover/Mining Quarterly
See NEWMONT, 67
Newmont Mining Corp.’s Matt Murray, left, senior external relations representative, talks about the Gold Quarry Mine during a May tour. At right is John Pfeifer, publisher of the Elko Daily Free Press.
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Newmont ... Continued from page 66 as Carlin city limits are left, one can see reclaimed land, Murray said. Though not initially obvious, many of the big hills are areas that used to house tailings ponds or leach pads. “The only reason you would be able to tell we were here is because of the pit, which will eventually fill back in with rain water and then it’s a lake,” said Murray. To ensure this reclamation happens, Newmont has billions of dollars in reclamation bonds, Murray said. The bonds are in place to ensure there is money to cover reclamation. These bonds and the cost estimate associated with the reclamation are generally reviewed and updated every three years. As Gold Quarry operates as a zero discharge facility, all water that accumulates on the site is collected and accounted for. “Any time we have storm water ... we have to catch it and contain it,” said Murray. “If we didn’t, there’s the possibility it could escape out into the environment.” Water pumped from Newmont mining operations is recycled through a variety
of methods. A portion goes through cooling towers before discharge into Maggie Creek and from there to the Humboldt River. Water from Newmont’s Leeville underground mine goes from Barrick Gold Corp.’s Goldstrike Mine north of Carlin and near Leeville to Newmont’s TS Ranch to irrigate alfalfa fields in the growing season or to the TS Reservoir. Though the TS Ranch also operates as a cattle ranch, much of a seed crop grown on site is used by Newmont for biodiesel fuel used in equipment operating in the Chukar underground mine, which is in a wall of the Gold Quarry Pit. “We crush it, press it, extract the oil and then burn it in our machines underground,” Murray said, as he explained the machines burn a 50-50 biodiesel fuel mix. Gold production Gold Quarry is back in full swing after a huge pit failure in late 2010 had to be remediated, and Newmont’s Nevada gold production totaled 435,000 ounces in the first quarter, similar to the 2011 quarter.
The gold was produced at a cost applicable to sales of $617 per ounce in Nevada. Higher grades were mined in the quarter because Gold Quarry is in full production, but that production was offset by lower-grade underground ore mined at Leeville and at Midas in northwestern Elko County, according to Newmont. Companywide, Newmont’s gold production slipped 2 percent from 1.33 million to 1.3 million ounces in the second quarter, while copper production dropped 35 percent to 35 million pounds, according to the earnings report. Newmont President and Chief Executive Officer Richard O’Brien said in reporting on first-quarter earnings that the company is maintaining its 2012 outlook for production of 5 million to 5.2 million ounces of gold and 150 million to 170 million pounds of copper. He also predicted the company will add 90 million ounces of gold to its reserves by 2020. The forecast for 2012 gold production costs is between $625 and $675 per ounce on a co-product basis, and copper pro-
duction costs will be between $1.80 and $2.20 per pound. Nevada projects Newmont Chief Operating Officer Gary Goldberg said in late April Newmont has three projects nearing completion in Nevada. “At Emigrant, which is part of our Nevada expansions, we currently expect commissioning in July. Development of the Vista 7 at Twin Creeks is also on track, and we expect it to make a small contribution beginning in the second quarter,” he said in a teleconference on first-quarter earnings. “Emigrant is expected to produce between 80,000 and 90,000 ounces of gold once it is in full production in 2013.” Emigrant is south of Carlin and will be a surface mine, with ore going to leach pads. Vista 7 is an expansion of the old Vista Pit at the Twin Creeks Mine north of Golconda in Humboldt County. The Vista Vein underground project also is under way in a wall of the Vista Pit. See NEWMONT, 68
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Newmont ... Continued from page 67 “The Phoenix Copper leach pad construction is nearly complete and ore placement has begun. Construction of the solvent extraction electro-winning plant is scheduled to begin in late 2012,” Goldberg said. Phoenix is south of Battle Mountain. Newmont plans to produce copper with the leach project that otherwise was going to waste dumps. Newmont earnings Colorado-based Newmont also reported a 9 percent increase in net income from continuing operations in the first quarter to $561 million, or $1.13 share, compared with $514 million, or $1.04 per share in the 2011 quarter, with firstquarter gold prices helping with the bottom line. The average realized gold price in the quarter was $1,684 per ounce, compared with $1,382 per ounce in the 2011 quarter. Newmont’s net income without onetime items was down in the quarter, however, at $490 million, or 99 cents per share, compared with $514 million, or
$1.04 per share, in the first quarter of last year. Adjusted net income with was $578 million, or $1.17 per share, compared with $513 million, or $1.04 per share, in the 2011 quarter. Revenue was up 9 percent to $2.7 billion. Conga in Peru Newmont also provided an update in its earnings report and in the teleconference on the controversial Conga project in Peru that is on hold. “Regarding Conga in Peru, the project continues to be suspended pending further analysis of the economic and technical impacts from the recently released report from the independent panel,” O’Brien said. The review “will take a bit of time,” he said. “If Conga cannot be developed, though, in a safe, socially and environmentally responsible manner while also earning our shareholders an acceptable return, then we will reallocate that capital to other development projects in our portfolio, including opportunities in Nevada, Australia, Ghana and Indonesia,”
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Newmont Mining Corp.
Newmont Mining Corp. detailed three Nevada projects in its first-quarter earnings presentation. Emigrant is south of Carlin. Vista is at the Twin Creeks Mine in Humboldt County and the copper leach project is at the Phoenix Mine south of Battle Mountain. O’Brien said. He also said Newmont could return capital to shareholders if Conga is shelved. A review ordered by the government of the original environmental assessment was finished in April and upholds the earlier approval while also making recommendations. “The report also goes on to recommend, among other considerations, that we
assess the technical and economic feasibility of relocating the Perol waste dump in order to try to preserve the Azul and Chica lakes,” O’Brien said. “We are currently in the process of evaluating the recommendations contained in the independent report and additional recommendations from the government to assess the future impacts on the project’s economics,” he said.
Twin Creeks develops underground project By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
GOLCONDA — Newmont Mining Corp.’s first underground exploration project at the Twin Creeks Mine north of Golconda could begin test mining late this year. “We should bring 130,000 ounces into reserves this year. That’s what the goal is, and really late this year we should bring in the first test stope,” Sid Tolbert, mine superintendent over the Vista underground project, said. Newmont’s second portal into a wall of the Vista Pit was under way in May, 500 feet from the main portal. The first portal was started early last year. Tolbert said SMD has about 3,500 feet to drift to connect the portals, and the two should be connected by the end of July. “Right now, they are doing 36 feet a day, 1,000 feet in 30 days,” he said. Small Mine Development is doing the
Newmont Mining Corp. is putting in a second portal to the Vista Vein underground exploration project at the Twin Creeks Mine. Both portals are in the Vista Pit. The newest one is above and to the right of the first. Ross Andreson Mining Quarterly
See TWIN CREEKS, 70
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Twin Creeks ... Continued from page 69 drifting and development work, which includes connecting to the second access. RAM Enterprises was doing the precast cement portal sets for the portal, and SMD had completed about 200 feet of the decline in mid-May from this second, or south, portal. The second portal is needed to provide a secondary escapeway, as well as ventilation. The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration requires a second escapeway before mining can begin. “Basically, we’re building the economics on a per stage basis. When we hit stage four, we will go for funding to make it a mine. That will be our intent,” Walt Holland, mine operations manager at Twin Creeks, said. “We could get to stage four by the end of the year,” Tolbert said. Newmont is in the process of applying for permitting for a cement plant on site for shotcrete for the underground project, he also said. SMD has 25 people working on the Vista Vein underground project, according to Rick Cruea, SMD’s project superintendent. Timberline Drilling has one rig and 11 people on site. “We’re doing drifting and development,” he said. “We’re enjoying being here and working with Newmont.” Cruea said SMD has 18 pieces of equipment on site and new pieces coming, including at Atlas Copco two-boom jumbo drill. See TWIN CREEKS, 72
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Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
Driller helper Sam Weber holds core at the Timberline diamond drilling operation underground at Newmont Mining Corp.’s Vista Vein project at the Twin Creeks Mine in Humboldt County. At right is Sid Tolbert, mine superintendent for the Vista underground project.
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Twin Creeks ... Continued from page 70 Tolbert said plans call for 90,000 feet of core drilling and 10,000 feet of drifting at Vista Vein. He said about 19,000 feet of drilling had been so far this year in the second phase of drilling, and SMD had drifted 3,000 feet. Drifting is what SMD does when it blasts through a wall of ground, moves material out and sprays shotcrete on the walls of the ramp to strengthen them. “They drift for a week and then catch up with shotcrete once a week,” Tolbert said. Newmont has installed one 16-man rescue chamber from DEA out of Elko in the underground project to serve as an alternative if miners can’t leave the project. Although Twin Creeks hasn’t had an underground project in the past, the mine has been in operation 27 years and has continually added years to its mine life through exploration and the higher gold price that makes lower grades of ore economical to mine. Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
See TWIN CREEKS, 73
Blast-hole drills are working in Phase I of the Vista 7 expansion area of the Vista Pit at Newmont Mining Corp.’s Twin Creeks Mine in Humboldt County.
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Twin Creeks ... Continued from page 72 The mine life is now through 2028, and the process life extends to 2036, according to Holland. The mine employs roughly 550 people. Goldfields started the Chimney Creek Mine in 1984 and Santa Fe Pacific Gold started Rabbit Creek in 1987. Santa Fe Pacific later acquired Chimney Creek, and pits were combined and the name changed to Twin Creeks. Newmont purchases Santa Fe Pacific Gold in 1997. Now, Newmont continues mining at the Mega Pit, which had been the sole mining site until the company started the Vista 7 project to go back into the Vista Pit. The mining at Mega Pit is in Cut 24. This cut is a sulfide area of the pit so the ore is processed in the autoclaves at the Sage Mill at Twin Creeks. Oxide ores go to the Juniper Mill or run-of-mine to leach pads. Newmont backfills waste rock into the Mega Pit into Cut 38. Vista 7 is an expansion of the Vista Pit that hadn’t been mined since the midRoss Andreson/Mining Quarterly
See TWIN CREEKS, 126
A.J. Balderrama from Idaho is on Small Mine Development’s shotcrete crew in the underground Vista Vein project at Newmont Mining Corp.’s Twin Creeks Mine. The shotcrete is sprayed on walls of the ramp for added ground support.
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Goldstrike extra active in 25th year By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
CARLIN — The Goldstrike Mine on the Carlin Trend is a busy place, busier than usual with several projects ongoing as Barrick Gold Corp. marks its 25th anniversary as the owner of what became Barrick’s flagship mine. “We’re marathon runners,” Barrick General Manager Andy Cole said as he talked about a new ventilation raise for the underground operations, a new paste backfill plant and a project to add new life to the autoclave processing plant. He said Barrick recently hit a production mark of 100 million ounces from all its Andy Cole properties combined and 40 million of those ounces came from Goldstrike. Barrick acquired the Goldstrike property on Jan. 1, 1987, and the company plans a 25th birthday party June 23-24 at the Horse Palace in Spring Creek for employees and their families. One of those who has been at Goldstrike a long time, Tom Bassier, director of health and safety, said the anniversary motto is “impossible without you,” meaning Barrick owes much to its employees and to the community. Now, Goldstrike has 1,750 employees, and there are 400 contractors on site, Cole said. “That’s about an historical high with full-time employees,” he said. “We will probably bump up some more with the autoclave expansion.” When Barrick acquired Goldstrike, it was a small, heap-leach operation, but gold discoveries spurred Goldstrike to become a major producer from the Betze-Post Pit and then go underground with the Meikle Mine in 1995, later adding the Rodeo shaft for a longer underground reach. Goldstrike operations also include the Storm underground mine at the Dee property nearby. Barrick is 60 percent owner and Goldcorp Inc. owns the other 40 percent of Storm, which contractor J.S. Redpath operates. Cole said 60 percent of Goldstrike See GOLDSTRIKE, 75
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ABOVE: Mike Eiselein, manager of the process division at Barrick Gold Corp.’s Goldstrike Mine north of Carlin, talks about changes at the autoclave facility, including tearing down the tanks in the background to be replaced with stainless steel tanks. LEFT: A paste plant is under construction at Barrick Gold Corp.’s Goldstrike Mine north of Carlin, the first such plant in Nevada. From left are: Tony Carroll, project superintendent; Ken Kins, project manager for the paste plant; and Jose Barron, manager of capital projects for Goldstrike. Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
Ken Kins, project manager for the paste plant project at the Goldstrike Mine north of Carlin, stands in mid-May in what will be the hopper at the plant. The pipes go underground to the Rodeo end of the Meikle operations.
Goldstrike ... Continued from page 74 production is from the open pit and 40 percent is from underground. Project excitement “There is a lot of excitement now,� Cole said, pointing to the construction projects. The new vent raise for the Meikle
underground mine will be providing fresh air that will allow Meikle to continue to the north at the Banshee deposit. Hoops said most of the current mining at Meikle is to the north and south ends, and there are 625 employees at Meikle, out of the 1,750 total Goldstrike employees. See GOLDSTRIKE, 76
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Goldstrike ... Continued from page 75 The vent raise will cost $19.6 million, and the project includes two 700 horsepower fans on the surface, Hoops said. Blattner is doing the vent raise, a 1,200-foot shaft that is 25 percent complete. He said part of the raise will be in use by midto-late July and the remainder will be in operation by late in the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter. Along with fresh air, the raise will serve as a secondary escapeway. A second piece of the ventilation raise project is extension of power to the site, including surface and underground substations. Pole Line Contractors is the general contractor, with Barrick and Codale Electric working on the design and Codale providing the equipment. Also for the underground, the new paste plant is the first one in Nevada. “We’re excited about that,” Cole said. The Rodeo Paste Backfill Plant “will be handed over at the end of January 2013,” said Jose Barron, manager of capital projects for Goldstrike, after a three-month commissioning period. The general contractor is Bodell out of Salt Lake City, and the engineering firm is Golder. The conSee GOLDSTRIKE, 77
Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
The Goldstrike Mine was a small mining operation when Barrick Gold Corp. acquired it 25 years ago. Today, the open pit is huge and backfilled in many areas while two active underground portals are in pit benches.
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Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
Giant haul trucks look small from the top of the open pit at Barrick Gold Corp.’s Goldstrike Mine north of Carlin. Barrick acquired Goldstrike 25 years ago and is marking the anniversary with an employee event in June.
Goldstrike ... Continued from page 76 struction manager is Fluor. Cole said the cost is roughly $38 million. Sure Steel is erecting the three-story building that is 178 feet long, 75 feet wide and 78 feet high. Barron said construction started last December but “planning took a few years.” The paste plant is on the surface, where a mixture of tailings from Goldstrike, fly ash and cement will be mixed and then pumped or sent by gravity feed underground. “As we mine out areas, we will fill them with paste instead of backfill,” Hoops said. Cole said the paste plant also will eliminate the need for dump trucks and jammers underground, but there won’t be any layoffs. Barron said another benefit of the plant is that it uses the tailings from processing on site. “The paste will come down bore holes in the plant, which is over Rodeo,” Hoops said. Barron said two bore holes were completed so the plant could be built over them, and another bore hole to the underground mine will be added. Ken Kins, project manager for the paste plant, said tails will come from the roaster, piped under the haul road, go to
the cyclone and then the thickener containment area and then to the disc filter before going to the paste mixer where water, cement and fly ash will be added. Although this will be the first paste plant in Nevada, they are fairly common in the industry, according to Cole. He said Barrick worked with the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection and stakeholders to permit the plant. Underground mining Meanwhile, Storm will continue operating next year, although earlier plans were to end mining this year. “We do have plans to expand the life of Storm 12 months,” Hoops said. Barrick and Goldcorp are planning the Arturo mining project that would expand the Dee Pit and mine through the portals for Storm. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is permitting Arturo. Hoops said there are roughly 75 contractors at Storm. Goldstrike also plans another venture underground next year with a small, two-year mine. The portal will be in an existing bench of the open pit, and it will be called the Southwest Portal, according to Roger Hoops, who came to Goldstrike after most recently working in Mexico See GOLDSTRIKE, 78
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Goldstrike ... Continued from page 77 and earlier spending 18 years in trona mines in Wyoming. “It will be a smaller, two-year mine,” he said. Autoclave project On the surface, the expansion project at the autoclaves is called the TCM Expansion, with TCM standing for total carbonaceous matter, according to Mike Eiselein, manager of Goldstrike’s process division. The project is introducing “an alternative way of processing double refractory ore that doesn’t lend itself to straight forward cyanide leach,” and the project is “essentially breathing new life into the autoclaves,” he said. Cole said the new leaching process that replaces cyanide uses calcium thiosulfate, called CaTs. “It’s actually extremely safe,” he said. The $308 million project will replace old tanks with stainless steel tanks, completely rebuilding the back end of the leaching process, while the front end of the plant remains the same with the
crushing and grinding of ore and the autoclave heat treatment for the ore, Eiselein said. Cole said that instead of gold being loaded onto carbon that is later stripped for refining, the gold will be loaded onto resin, so there will be a new strip and resin recovery cycle — a new refinery. Eiselein said the resin is “like plastic pellets” and will be recycled. “At the end of the day, this allows us to process ore that would normally go through the roaster,” Cole said, adding that when Barrick cut back operations at the autoclaves in 2009, the company then developed the new process. Goldstrike cut back to operating two of the six autoclaves in 2009 as ore needing the autoclave process fell. Cole said five autoclaves are running now. The expansion allows 200 to 250 people to keep their jobs at the autoclaves. Plans call for the TCM project to be completed in October 2013. Ausenco out of Vancouver is the general contractor. Schmeiser Construction is removing the old tanks and High Mark Construction is doing earthwork.
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Yet another project at Goldstrike is the expansion of the tailings facility, and Ames Construction is doing the earthwork. Gold production According to Barrick’s first-quarter earnings, Goldstrike produced 240,000 ounces of gold in the 2012 quarter at a total cash cost of $546 per ounce, compared with 286,000 ounces at a cost of $461 per ounce last year. The production was lower in the first quarter because of increased maintenance activities and construction at the autoclaves, according to the report. Second-quarter production is expected to be similar, mainly because of the roaster shutdown in the second quarter for annual maintenance. Toronto-based Barrick reported, however, production was expected to be higher in the second half of 2012, due to Meikle accessing higher grade ore. North American operations produced 890,000 ounces at total cash costs of $485 per ounce in the first quarter, with the Cortez Mine providing 420,000 of
those ounces at total cash costs of $304 per ounce. Barrick reported Cortez’s production exceeded expectations on higher than budgeted grades from the Cortez Hills underground. The mine produced 275,000 ounces in the first quarter of 2011. The company also said advancement continues on the exploration decline at the Cortez Hills Lower Zone expansion project, and a prefeasibility study is expected to be completed by the end of this year. The Round Mountain Mine in Nye County produced 43,000 ounces in the first quarter for Barrick’s 50 percent ownership at a total cash cost of $615 per ounce, compared with 39,000 ounces at $787 per ounce in the 2011 quarter. Kinross Gold Corp. operates the mine and owns the other half. The Marigold Mine at Valmy produced 13,000 ounces for Barrick’s one-third ownership at a total cash cost of $648 per ounce, compared with 11,000 ounces at a $756 per ounce last year, according to the earnings report.
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CTE program offers more than meets the eye By DYLAN WOOLF HARRIS Mining Quarterly
Great Basin College electrical technology student Kayla York makes an adjustment on an electrical simulator in the Electrical/ Industrial Technology Building at GBC. York is studying for an electrical system technician certificate. Ross Andreson Mining Quarterly
ELKO — When it comes to skilled workers, Great Basin College has been churning out technically trained individuals for decades. The college’s career and technical education programs include four areas where students can earn certified degrees or associate degrees: diesel technology, electrical system technology, industrial millwright and welding technology. Students with a certificate or degree in electrical systems technology can also continue on and get a certificate or bachelor’s degree in instrumentation. The success of the CTE program is a pride of the college, GBC Dean of Applied Science Bret Murphy said. “We’re happy to be able to serve the industries that are here and provide employees that are greatly qualified with the skills that are needed,” Murphy said. “We believe they are worthwhile programs.” Students seem to agree, and the programs continue to grow. The college had 120 students enrolled at the beginning of the 2011-2012 See COLLEGE, 82
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Dylan Woolf Harris/Mining Quarterly
Lambert Jones, left, and Ryan Pulsipher, students in Great Basin College’s welding certificate program, watch as their instructor, Jon Licht, demonstrates how to use a cutting table for a class project.
College ... Continued from page 80 school year, and the CTE program is adding two new diesel programs and one electrical program. “What’s interesting is that the two new diesel sections will be in the evening,” Murphy said. “So working people who want to update their skill set or change careers can take classes at night after work.” The electrical systems technician class has added an online section. GBC is also in the planning stages of adding CTE classes on its Winnemucca campus by the fall of 2013, in part made possible by a $1.2 million pledge by Barrick Gold of North America to the GBC Foundation. Though the work of a welder or electrical technician seems fairly straightforward, instructors from each of the certificate programs said much more is gained from the programs than what many people realize. “When a lot of people think of diesel technology, they think about rebuilding engines. It goes far beyond that,” Dale Bolinder said. Bolinder now does contract training at GBC, but has 11 years of experience as a diesel technician instructor. “We still do engines. The students learn how to take engines apart, do all the measurements that are required to test an engine to see if it’s serviceable … But we
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also have a major hydraulics (component). We have hydraulic training simulators that I believe are the best that are out there.” The simulators allow instructors to program the machine with faults, such as a bad pump or bad pressure release valve, which help the students recognize and fix common malfunctions. The college’s CTE instructors have to keep up on changes in the industry. “Before you can work on today’s diesel engines, you need to know electronics,” Bolinder said. “We are constantly trying to keep up with new technology. Technology out there is tough to keep up with ... Everything has computer modules now. It’s not just engines.” Similarly, the electrical program has its pulse on changes found in energy technology. “We have focused in the last few years, as a part of the different classes we have, on alternative energy. We talk about solar, wind, different areas of alternative energy,” said Steve Garcia, GBC electrical systems technology instructor. A few years ago, students in the electrical systems program completed the construction of a small solar powered car for a class project. The CTE programs require students to build a solid foundation in the subject. See COLLEGE, 83
Take a tour of Gold Quarry By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
ELKO — Newmont Mining Corp. provides monthly public tours of the company’s Gold Quarry Mine north of Carlin on the second Thursday of every month through October. “Our goal is to really educate people about what we do and be open and transparent about what we do so it’s not a big mystery,” said Lisa Becker, an external relations representative for Newmont. The second-Thursday tours begin at 9 a.m. at Northeastern Nevada Museum in Elko. Those going on the tours see a video and safety presentation before they head to the mine, where they view the Gold Quarry open pit and see a 240-ton Caterpillar haul truck up close. “We usually take them around to see the different aspects of process,” Becker said. The visitors drive by the mills but don’t go inside. She estimated roughly 200 people visit the Newmont operations each year during the April through October tours, including a number of local residents who have never before been to a mine. “People are often impressed by how large the facilities are and how big the equipment is and intrigued about how we
work 24 hours a day to get small amounts of gold out of large amounts of rock,” Becker said. She said many also say they hadn’t realized how much technology is involved in modern-day mining. Along with the Gold Quarry tours, Newmont gives public tours of the Phoenix gold and copper mine south of Battle Mountain and the Twin Creeks Mine north of Golconda on a monthly basis from April through September. The Phoenix tours are on the third Thursday of each month, and the Twin Creeks tours are on the fourth Thursday of each month. The tours are open to everyone above the age of 6 but Becker asks that people call ahead so she knows what size of vehicle to use for the tours. Becker said those going on a tour need to wear long pants and closed-toed shoes. No shorts, sandals or tank tops are allowed for safety reasons. Those interested in touring Gold Quarry can contact Becker at 775-778-4068 or by email to Lisa.Becker@Newmont.com. Those wishing to tour Phoenix may contact Newmont external relations representative Shar Peterson at 775-6356640 or email her at Shar.Peterson@ Newmont.com. Twin’s number is 775635-4651.
College ... Continued from page 82 Before students begin welding beads, welding instructor Jon Licht has his students take courses in metallurgy, blueprint and pipe fitting. “We try to provide everything that an entry level welder should know,” he said. Many aspects of the millwright program are also unknown to the larger populace. “A lot people don’t know what millwrights are,” said Norm Whittaker, GBC millwright instructor. A millwright sometimes goes by another title depending on the industry. “In this area they call them process mechanics for the surface (mines), and fixed maintenance (at) underground (mines), but the national term for this skill set is millwright,” he said. “A millwright is a high-trained mechanic who deals with precision measurements and alignments.” What is known is that if students succeed in the programs, they have good
odds of landing a job. Together, Newmont Mining Corp. and Barrick invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships each year to CTE students at about $5,000 per student, who, as a condition of the scholarship, work part-time at a mine site. Next year, roughly 80 students will be supported by mine scholarships, up from 65 this year, Murphy said. But the scope of employment for a certified, trained worker is much broader. Instrumentation instructor Friday Kampeshi said various industry jobs require skills learned in instrumentation. Whittaker said he now has graduates working across the West in various industries. But many graduates stay here as well. “I would say about 50 percent of the electrical workforce in this area is by our (former) students. So we are pretty proud of that, that we’ve made an impact in the electrical industry,” Garcia said. “Many of our students are very successful.”
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Mining companies promote education
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By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
year. Newmont does a similar number,” said Lawson.
ELKO — Barrick Gold of North America’s $1.2 million spring pledge to Great Basin College is a high-dollar example of how mining companies are focusing on education to help communities and as a recruiting tool. “It’s critical for our future, especially with a skilled labor and professional workforce, and it is also important for the community to support our education system. By community, I mean all of Nevada,” said Dana Pray, recruiting manager for Barrick Gold of North America. The $1.2 million donation over three years is for expanding programs at GBC to teach more students the technical skills needed to work in the mining industry. “Right now, GBC’s diesel program is full and has a waiting list so the college will add to it,” said Melanie Lawson, a community relations specialist for Barrick Gold of North America. The pledge is to Great Basin College Foundation’s Vision 2020, and also will be used for student housing. “Our business in Nevada continues to grow and we must support programs that allow us to recruit, retain and develop our people,” Gary Halverson, president of Barrick Gold of North America, said in the pledge announcement. Barrick also provides scholarships to students going to GBC and to universities without strings attached requiring the students in turn work for Barrick. From January 2010 to March 2012, Barrick donated $2.5 million to education in Nevada, not including the $1.2 million pledge to GBC, Lawson said. She said the $2.5 million includes the Western Shoshone Legacy Fund that provides scholarships. Help for students at GBC includes maintenance skills development scholarships for technical skills. Barrick, Newmont Mining Corp. and other mining companies provide these scholarships. Barrick provides $2,500 a semester or $5,000 a year for the maintenance skills development students. “We did 32 for the 2011-2012 school
Newmont scholarships “Annually, we approve approximately 40 scholarships through the MTC program, which are valued at approximately $200,000,” Mary Korpi, director of external relations for Newmont, said. “In addition, Newmont provides scholarships to students that are enrolling into a variety of other curriculums. These efforts have been ongoing for several years. We have enjoyed a longterm relationship with Great Basin College that goes back to the establishment of the MTC program in the 1980s,” she said. The company also has made multiyear commitments to programs and projects, such as the dorms and most recently a $300,000 commitment to the college, Korpi said. Pray said all 32 students receiving Barrick scholarships have the opportunity to work for Barrick in the summer before classes start and on Fridays and Saturdays during the school year. Barrick also works closely with the University of Nevada, Reno, providing roughly $35,000 in scholarships last year and funds “industry-types of groups,” Pray said. The company brought around 20 of the students receiving scholarships to Barrick operations as interns last summer. “We paid good wages and a housing stipend,” she said. “Of the 64 new grads hired in 2011 and 2012 so far, about 60 percent of them had been interns for us. The odds go up if hired as an intern,” Pray said. The company sponsored the UNR team that took first place in a mining engineering competition in March at the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration meeting in Seattle. The company also helped sponsor a UNR team’s travel to England for a mining games competition. “We’re hiring more new mining engineering grads out of UNR than any other school,” she said. In addition, Barrick sponsored the See EDUCATION, 85
Education ... Continued from page 84 awards banquet for the Mackay School of Mines in May at UNR and is in the third year of a five-year sponsorship of a chair for a metallurgy professor at UNR. Pray is on the Mackay advisory board and Andy Cole, general manager of Barrick’s Goldstrike Mine, is on UNR’s engineering advisory board.
Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
Wells fourth-grader Morgan Neff holds a mineral found in Nevada during Gold Fever in April at Northeastern Nevada Museum. At right is Ember Yeary, also a Wells fourth-grader. Newmont Mining Corp., Barrick Gold of North America and the museum sponsored the event for Elko County schoolchildren to teach them about mining and minerals.
Younger students Lawson said Barrick sponsors a girls math and technology camp for middle school girls from northern Nevada held each year at UNR. Pray said Barrick also helped sponsor a geology symposium in April at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, which doesn’t have mining programs but has a geology program. Mining companies also focus are teaching younger people about the industry and about minerals. Barrick and Newmont sponsor the Mining Rocks programs at GBC to attract high school students to the mining industry, as well. Barrick does a fall tour and Newmont a spring tour to show students a mining operation and what programs at GBC they can take to obtain jobs at the mines. Barrick also funds the Kids College during summers at GBC, Lawson said. Newmont and Barrick additionally sponsor the annual Gold Fever event, along with Northeastern Nevada Museum, to teach See EDUCATION, 86
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Education ... Continued from page 85 vada Mining Association and Nevada fourth-graders about mining and min- Division of Minerals host two workerals. shops each year to education teachers Children saw a movie and then volun- about mining and minerals. teers from the two companies taught “We teach teachers about earth scithem about rocks, and they collected ence education and the mining industry samples during the April Gold Fever and give them activities they can take event. back to their classrooms and share with “It’s a lot more fun than I thought it students,” Lawson said. would be,” said Katie Stramel, a fourthThirty teachers at the southern grader at Mountain View Elementary Nevada workshop in early April toured School in Elko. the Pabco gypsum mine and sheet rock Newmont also did a separate Gold plant 10 miles east of Nellis Air Force Fever program in West Wendover for Base in Clark County to see mining, a schoolchildren, according to Lisa Becker, blast and a manufacturing plant. an external relations representative for The Northern Nevada Teachers WorkNewmont. Newmont’s Long Canyon shop is planned for July 24-26 at Bishop Project in Elko County is between Wells Manogue Catholic High School in Reno, and West Wendover. according to the Nevada Mining AssoNewmont also provides an annual ciation website. donation to the Northeastern Nevada school districts, Korpi said. “The school districts have established an application process with an internal review committee that determines how this money is spent. This process ensures that the disbursement of the funds is based on the priority needs within the school district,” she said. Goldcorp Inc. is involved in the Mining Industry Foundation at Lowry High School that develops curriculum for mining trades, such as welding and diesel mechanics, so the students can complete their training in a shorter time at college, according to Marigold General Manager Duane Peck. Goldcorp operates the Marigold Mine. Peck said Barrick, Newmont, Allied Nevada Gold Corp. and Coeur d’Alene Mines Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly Corp. participate with Wells fourth-grader Luis Villasenor picks up a magnet as Newmont Goldcorp in the Lowry Mine Corp. human resources employee Kinzie Compston watches program. during Gold Fever in April at the Northeastern Nevada Museum. On another educa- Newmont, Barrick Gold of North America and the museum spontional level, the Ne- sored the event to teach Elko County fourth-graders about minerals.
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Children learn about mining at McCaw School By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
HENDERSON — Children visiting the McCaw School of Mines don hard hats with headlamps for a tour of the “underground” mine, where they see a mix of old-time mining and modern mining exhibits. “We have a brass-in and brass-out area,” said McCaw School of Mines Executive Director Clyde Caldwell. The schoolchildren in fourth grades bused to the mine also get to push the plunger for a blast that comes with sound effects, and he said they hear “fire in the hole.” One room has a control center with computer monitors, not real, and a mannequin is at the controls. They also get to step into a cage like underground miners do in mines with shafts. Panning for gold is the favorite for the children, however. The children may come up with gold or silver, but all of them receive a little vial of gold with the McCaw School of Mines name on it, Caldwell said. The school used to spend $20,000 a year on gold See MCCAW, 89
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A replica of an old mining town features storefronts of major donors at the McCaw School of Mines in Henderson, including Newmont Mining Corp. and Barrick Gold Corp. at left. Another building to the right is named for Kinross Gold Corp. Adella Harding Mining Quarterly
McCaw ... Clyde Caldwell, executive director of the McCaw School of Mines in Henderson, shows in midApril how fourth-graders from Clark County schools pan for gold during tours designed to teach children about mining and minerals. Adella Harding Mining Quarterly
Continued from page 88 for the panning, but he said he proposed to the board that less actual gold in the panning and giving vials instead would be more cost-effective. The board agreed. “We’re saving about $10,000 a year,” Caldwell said. Outside the replica underground mine, schoolchildren see examples of old and new mining equipment, including a blast-hole drill, rail cars, a hoist drum, a giant tire from Cashman Equipment and a facade to the visitors center that has “buildings” named for three major donors to the school, Barrick Gold Corp., Newmont Mining Corp. and Kinross Gold Corp. The visitors center features displays, including models of open pit mining and mining reclamation, a model of an old mining village and a figure of an oldtime prospector talking about mining. The Mighty Miners are tour guides, along with adult volunteers. The Mighty Miners are fourth- and fifth-graders at Gordon McCaw Elementary School who See MCCAW, 90
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McCaw ... Continued from page 89 train to help with the tours. They have their own hard hats and vests. Each busload is divided into four groups to rotate through the McCaw School of Mines during the roughly twohour tour. “We teach them about when mining began in Nevada to what’s happening today with open pit mining and everything,” Caldwell said. Board member Lisa Becker, an external relations representative with Newmont, said the directors hope to increase education about modern mining and plan other changes. “We want to increase hands-on activities for kids,” she said. Becker said plans also call for updating the women in mining exhibit in the underground mine. “We’ve been working the last three or four years to make sure it’s a tour destination teachers can comfortably bring their students,” said board member Bill Durbin, who is based in Las Vegas with the Nevada Division of Minerals. See MCCAW, 92
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Lee Hoffman of Elko, regional capital manager of Nevada operations for Newmont Mining Corp., enters a bid for an auction item during the McCaw School of Mines Dinner and Auction in mid-April at Sam’s Town Gambling Hall in Las Vegas. Adella Harding Mining Quarterly
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McCaw ... Continued from page 90 He said the board hired a master teacher to look at the McCaw School of Mines and determine what needed to be incorporated into exhibits to meeting science education standards. The McCaw School of Mines hosts 6,000 fourth-graders from Clark County schools each year at no costs to the schools because of contributions from the mining industry, vendors and Las Vegas-area businesses and the big fundraiser — the dinner, auction and golf tournament held this year in mid-April. Companies also donated exhibits. The dinner and golf tournament are main fundraisers each year to meet a roughly $100,000 budget to operate the educational exhibits. Todd Gilligan, general manager for sales and marketing for Cashman Equipment in Henderson and a frequent visitor to the Cashman facilities in Elko, said he has been coming to the dinner every year. JaNell Sanchez, mine manager for the McCaw School of Mines, said the dinner See MCCAW, 94
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An older model blasthole drill rig is on display at the McCaw School of Mines in Henderson, where fourthgraders visit to learn about mining and minerals. Adella Harding Mining Quarterly
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McCaw ... Continued from page 92 at Sam’s Town Gambling Hall, the auction and the golf tournament raised roughly $70,000 this year. “Barrick and Newmont are our biggest supporters,” she said in an email update. Caldwell said the events brought in $64,000 last year. The McCaw School of Mines also raised $1,000 by taking first place in the local Christmas parade, and the school now holds a Halloween event to raise money. Tours for private groups, such as scout groups, and tours for adult groups, also raise money. Money comes in from the gift shop at the McCaw School of Mines. Children are allowed to bring up to $5 to buy items during the tours. Caldwell said he plans a lapidary school to show children how gemstones are used to make jewelry, as well as rock polishing. Possible jewelry sales “could bring a few bucks” into the non-profit school, he said. The school also receives donations, including in-kind donations. Adella Harding/Mining Quarterly
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Danny Montano, a volunteer at the McCaw School of Mines in Henderson, gazes in mid-April at the Caterpillar replica entrance to the school.
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McCaw ... Continued from page 94 The McCaw School of Mines opened 17 years ago. One of the founders, Janet Dobry, said before the fund-raiser dinner the mine school was built without any taxpayer dollars. “It was a $2 million project,” said Dobry, who was the principal at Gordon McCaw Elementary School for 11 years and has been principal at Robert Taylor Elementary School the past 10 years. Currently, the McCaw School of Mines has 18 volunteers who give tours and help with the annual golf tournament, dinner and auction and other fund-raisers. Caldwell said there were probably 30 volunteers helping all together with the dinner and tournament. There also are four part-time paid staff members, including Caldwell, who became the executive director for the McCaw School of Mines about a year and a half ago. “I love it here, helping the school and kids,” Caldwell said. The school is at 57 Lynn Lane, Henderson 89015. Caldwell may be reached at 702-300-6903. The website is www.mc cawschoolofmines.org.
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A miner mannequin is in a drift at the “underground” mine at the McCaw School of Mines in Henderson, where fourthgraders in Clark County schools learn about mining and minerals. Adella Harding Mining Quarterly
TEACHERS LEARN ABOUT MINING
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Paul Buffington (in cap), an underground miner at Barrick Gold Corp.’s Cortez Mine, and Christopher Cavasin, a mining engineer at Cortez, assist as in-class industry experts during the Nevada Mining Association teacher workshop in early April in Las Vegas.
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Daphne “DD” LaPointe of the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology leads the Nevada Rocks! workshop at the Nevada Mining Association’s teacher workshop in early April in Las Vegas. Teachers learned about rock types and origins. The workshop also featured tours and chances to learn classroom activities featuring minerals.
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TEACHERS TOUR GYPSUM MINE
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Teachers tour the Pabco drywall plant as part of a teacher workshop sponsored by the Nevada Mining Association and Nevada Division of Minerals in mid-April in Las Vegas. The tour included a visit to Pabco’s gypsum operations. Pabco produces drywall for housing at a site roughly 10 miles east of Nellis Air Force Base. The Nevada Mining Association and Nevada Division of Minerals also hold a workshop for teachers each year in northern Nevada.
Teachers tour the Pabco gypsum mine and drywall plant near Las Vegas as part of an April workshop for teachers, sponsored by the Nevada Mining Association and the Nevada Division of Minerals. A conveyor system releases gypsum to a stockpile in the background. The three-day workshop taught teachers about mining and minerals so they can take what they learned back to their classrooms.
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Newmont Mining Corp. employee Manuel Villanueva talks about this custom motorcycle in April at Great Basin College. At left, one of the exhaust tips is a diamond core drill bit used in the mining industry. Ross Andreson Mining Quarterly
Newmont uses chopper for recruitment By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
ELKO — Newmont Mining Corp.’s golden motorcycle that was introduced on the Discovery Channel’s “American Chopper” will be appearing at the Elko Mining Expo and the Elko Motorcycle Jamboree. The chopper also is booked for job fairs and at schools where the company is promoting mining careers.
Newmont ordered the custom-made motorcycle by Paul Jr. Designs to “get people interested in the technical trades,” said Mike Woodland, manager of learning and development for Newmont’s Nevada operations. He said the company wants to entice college students to consider careers in the mining industry and wants to encourage high school students to become interested in the trades, which can lead to high paying jobs in the mining industry.
Community events will give Newmont a chance to “reach out in our region,” Woodland said in May. He said the outreach is especially important with the expectation that the company will open a new mine at Long Canyon in Elko County in a few years that will provide new jobs. The chopper’s first public appearance was in late March at the Red Lion Hotel & Casino, where Paul Teutul Jr. unveiled it to a gathering of more than 2,500 people.
The unveiling continues to be shown in repeats on “American Chopper” in episodes aired worldwide. Upcoming events featuring the motorcycle, in addition to the Elko Mining Expo on June 7-8, and the Elko Motorcycle Jamboree on June 15-16, include the National Mining Association’s MINExpo Sept. 24-26 in Las Vegas, according to Joe Quintana of Newmont’s learning and See CHOPPER, 100
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Chopper ... Continued from page 99 development department. Another event he will be taking the motorcycle and special trailer to will be the Wyo Tech Career Fair in Laramie, Wyo., on June 25-26, and it will be at the Colorado School of Mines job fair Sept. 11, the Montana Tech job fair Sept. 13 and a job fair at the University of Arizona on Sept. 20. “We’re going to be putting on some miles,” Quintana said, adding that plans also include visiting high schools throughout the region in the fall. The motorcycle was slated for career fairs in Twin Falls and Pocatello, Idaho, June 1-2. The motorcycle is painted gold and also gold-plated in spots, symbolizing Newmont’s role as a major gold producer. Gold from Newmont also is featured. Woodland said in April the handlebars feature Newmont’s logo. “In addition, the wheels are a core drill bit. Look from the side, and that’s the tip of a core drill bit. Also, on the exhaust tips are drill bits, and the motor mount cover represents a surface mine,” he said. “You can see the benches of the surface
pit, and the bottom of the pit is a PJD with gold behind it. That’s the gold we provided him,” Woodland said of Paul Teutul Jr. and Paul Jr. Designs. “On the tank, you see little drill bits,” he said, referring to rock drill button bits. The chopper also features a shovel bucket. Teutul said in an interview in Elko he designed the motorcycle with his team, and the “American Chopper” show’s two segments on the Discovery Channel would take viewers from the initial meeting with Newmont people to the fabrication of the chopper and the paint, powder coat and chrome stage to the unveiling. Matt Murray, senior external relations representative for Newmont, said the company isn’t disclosing the motorcycle’s cost. “We treat it just as any other contract,” Murray said. At the unveiling, Newmont Senior Vice President of North American Operations Tom Kerr was on stage for the outdoor event. “Wow, look at this bike. Let’s tell Paul Jr.’s team what we think of this bike,” he
Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
This side of Newmont Mining Corp.’s chopper shows a jumbo drill bit recessed into the hand-made fuel tank (upper left). At lower left, the chrome design represents benches that go into a mining pit. told the crowd. “Imagine a gold mining company with a contract with a worldrenown bike designer.” Kerr said the motorcycle “definitely exceeded our expectations.” Teutul said the trust and rapport Paul Jr. Designs develops with corporations to keep the design secret also makes for better television. Teutul said in the interview he shares Newmont’s idea that people are the greatest resource for a company, and “there is a real need out there” for skilled labor. This was his company’s first effort with a gold producer, and he said Newmont will gain publicity for years to come from the two episodes that will be shown in 200 countries and in repeats for years to come. Paul Jr. Designs specializes in designing motorcycles for corporations, and builds them at its shop in Rock Tavern, N.Y.
Details of the teeth of a mining shovel bucket are incorporated into function and design by holding the rear fender in place on this motorcycle designed by Paul Jr. Designs for Newmont Mining Corp. Ross Andreson Mining Quarterly
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“They are quite often used as marketing tools,” said Teutul. Teutul started Paul Jr. Designs in 2009, but he has been on the Discovery Channel for 10 years, earlier featured with Orange County Choppers. The “American Chopper” reality series started in 2002, and now features competition with his father Paul Teutul Sr. Teutul Jr. said he still loves designing motorcycles. “It’s exciting even after 10 years,” he said. “We use the motorcycle as our canvas, so to speak.” The 35-foot trailer Newmont will use to transport the motorcycle also will serve as a recruiting office with special displays. Newmont purchased the trailer from Gateway RV in Elko and Teton Graphics put the wraps on the trailer, Murray said in March.
Adella Harding/Mining Quarterly file
Megan Martin of the Caballo Mine rescue team from Wyoming assesses the condition of car accident “victim” Mike Shewman of Las Vegas during one of the station scenarios at the now-closed Fire Science Academy during 2011 Safety Olympiad competition. Shewman and others from the Nevada Youth Training Center portrayed accident victims.
Safety Olympiad July 12-14 at Elko Convention Center By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
ELKO — Teams from at least seven states are signed up so far for the Safety Olympiad July 12-14 at the Elko Convention Center. The organizers are expecting up to 16 teams for the competition for mine rescue teams that features realistic scenarios, according to Robert Phillips, emergency response general supervisor for Barrick Gold Corp.’s Goldstrike Mine north of Carlin. They are coming from Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, California, New Mexico, Alaska, Montana and possibly from the Dominican Republic, he said. Barrick, the Elko Convention and Visitors Authority and the Nevada Mining Association are hosting the 2012 competition that will end with an awards banquet on July 14 at the convention center. The 26th annual Safety Olympiad will begin on July 12 with a Fun Day. “It will be a mix of class room review and outside fun-type learning events to build on team work and camaraderie,”
Phillips said. That Friday is a “skills” day consisting of testing individual skills in scenario settings as well as going solo, he said. A large scenario depicting a mining accident will be held on Saturday to evaluate the teams as a whole. Phillips said all the scenarios will be simulations of incidents that could happen at any mine site. “Safety is overall priority with the four “P”s prioritized accordingly: People, Planet, Property and Production,” Phillips said. All events will be held at the Elko Convention Center, with registration opening at 9 a.m. July 12 and the initial event beginning at 10 a.m. in the auditorium. Phillips said starting times for the various events during the competition will be adjusted depending on number of teams. Teams can sign up through June 24, according to Jen Knight, events coordinator for the convention center. Teams interested in competing can contact her at 738-4091.
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Barrick may offer lodging for drilling crews By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
ELKO — Remote sleeping quarters for 300 drilling crews working on Barrick Gold Corp.’s Goldrush exploration project and elsewhere at the Cortez Mine could be in operation yet this year. “It would be a lodge complex with multiple buildings and dorms,” Kevin Creel, chief exploration geologist for Cortez Mine and the housing project coordinator, said. “It will address fatigue related to a remote working site.” He said Barrick’s plan for the camp is centered around improving the lives of the drilling crews and for safety reasons because they work 12-hour shifts on the drilling rigs, and Goldrush is two hours from Elko, an hour from Carlin or Eureka and almost an hour from Crescent Valley. Creel said the lodging complex is as close to Goldrush as possible and still be built on private land. The buildings
would be erected just north of J.D. Ranch headquarters roughly two to three miles off the Carlin-Eureka Highway. Barrick currently has 30 exploration rigs operating on the Cortez mining property, including at Goldrush and Cortez Hills, Creel said. Most of the rigs are at Goldrush, however. This major gold discovery is part of Cortez but is in Eureka County. Current producing operations at Cortez are in Lander County. The preliminary design is done, and Creel said he has bids for the project, but the project still needs approval from Barrick corporate headquarters in Toronto before work can begin. “I would like to see it in place and functional in Q3 although it looks like it could be Q4,” he said. Workers would stay at the lodging complex on work days but return home on their days off, Creel said. Barrick would be covering lodging costs so there would be no additional expenses for the
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Barrick Gold Corp. is exploring at its Goldrush discovery in Eureka County. Barrick Gold Corp.
crews, although they could receive less per diem pay from their drilling company employers. The dorm rooms would sleep two, but the two people would be on opposite shifts so they would essentially have the rooms to themselves on their off time, Creel said. There also would be lodge buildings for dining and recreation. Creel said the complex could be erected fairly quickly because the buildings will be modular. This would be the first such lodging complex in modern-mining days in Nevada, he said, so if the project is successful, it could set a new standard. There are similar camps in North America, however. Creel said as part of due diligence he visited a camp in North Dakota, where there is an oil and gas boom, and in Alberta, Canada, at the oil sands projects. Creel said companies building sleep-
ing quarters are trying to get away from calling them man camps because of what people visualize when they hear about a man camp. They call them on-site lodging. Barrick will hire a contractor to operate the lodging complex, and there will be security on site and rules to follow, he said. Barrick also is working with Eureka County on potential needs because of the lodging facility. Lou Schack, director of communications for Barrick Gold of North America, said they are talking about law enforcement, fire and emergency responses. Eureka County Commissioner Mike Page said in May the county is looking at increasing law enforcement personnel and at fire and road maintenance issues. Creel said the lodging complex also will partner with Cortez for emergency responses.
General Moly plans career open house By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
ELKO — General Moly Inc. continues reaching out to the community as it awaits permits to begin construction of the planned Mt. Hope molybdenum mine in Eureka County. The Colorado-based company that plans to employ 400 people has scheduled an employment and career open house from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on June 5 at the Eureka Opera House. “It’s an open house for people to attend and learn about the jobs that will be available at Mt. Hope, as well as how to do business with General Moly if you are a vendor,” Zach Spencer, manager of external communications for General Moly, said on May 18. General Moly’s plans call for Mt. Hope to be a long-life, surface mine with a mill 21 miles north of the town of Eureka. General Moly earlier held events in mid-May in Crescent Valley and Eureka to update the community on the Mt. Hope project and to thank people for their support. Spencer said there were roughly 150 people at each event. Richard Baker, who writes the Eureka Miner’s Market Report, said in his review of the Eureka event that “with all the challenges of bringing this mine to Eureka County, differences were set aside ... and I didn't see a soul that wasn’t having fun.” Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
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General Moly hopes to have approval to develop its Mt. Hope project in Eureka County later this year.
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General Moly ... Continued from page 103 General Moly said in its earnings report for the first quarter the company hopes the U.S. Bureau of Land Management will issue a record of decision in the second half of this year for Mt. Hope. The BLM issued the draft environmental impact statement in December. General Moly reported its net loss for the first quarter of this year was $3.2 million, or 3 cents per share, compared with a loss of $4.2 million, or 5 cents per share, for the 2011 quarter. The cash balance at the end of the 2012 quarter was $35.1 million. Three M plan Along with awaiting BLM action, the company is finalizing the monitoring, management and mitigation plan that State Engineer Jason King ordered for water permits for Mt. Hope. General Moly developed the plan with input from Eureka County. The company stated in its earnings report it anticipates King will approve the plan in the second half of this year. General Moly also is awaiting a district court ruling on an appeal of King’s
granting of the water rights. The hearing was in April. Senior Deputy Attorney General Bryan Stockton told District Judge Dan Papez that King took all the necessary steps when granting the permits for Mt. Hope. Karen Peterson, attorney for Eureka County, disagreed in the early April hearing. She said that when there are conflicts with first-in-time water rights, “the state engineer shall reject applications.” She pointed to stockwater and spring water rights that could be impacted if the molybdenum mine goes into production. Appellants in the appeal include Eureka County, the Martin Etcheverry family trust, former Eureka County Commissioner Ken Benson, grower Lloyd Morrison and Conley Land and Livestock. Eureka County Commissioner Mike Page said in May he doesn’t object to General Moly’s proposed project, but there are issues with the BLM and the state engineer over water worries. He defended the action of county commissioners in pursuing the appeal. “We’ve assisted that mine more than
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we’ve harmed the mine,” Page said. General Moly had proposed a $12 million settlement to end litigation over water rights for its Mt. Hope molybdenum project and smooth the road ahead for project permitting, but Eureka County rejected the offer. Diamond Valley growers are concerned Mt. Hope would impact water supplies in their valley. General Moly’s operations will be in adjacent Kobeh Valley. Page said Diamond Valley water rights are over-allocated, and that is why there are such worries about Mt. Hope’s water use. King said in the ruling now under appeal the water pumped in nearby Kobeh Valley for the mine would not affect Diamond Valley because the perennial yield of Kobeh Valley exceeds Mt. Hope’s planned water use. General Moly plans to use 7,000 gallons per minute in mine operations but will be recycling water used in the mill processes. General Moly acquired water rights in Kobeh Valley in 2006 and 2007 in anticipation of developing Mt. Hope when it
bought a small ranch and a couple of farms. EPA comments The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s comments on the draft study on Mt. Hope included impacts on groundwater, according to a copy. “Impacts associated with the drawdown of groundwater table levels in Kobeh Valley are anticipated to persist for over 100 years, while those associated with the mine’s dewatering operation will persist for well over 400 years,” the EPA wrote. “Unless these impacts are mitigated for the duration that they occur, the project may result in the loss of miles of perennial waters essential for wildlife, livestock and human use.” Battle Mountain BLM District Manager Doug Furtado said in April the BLM met with the EPA after receiving the written comments, and the EPA is satisfied that the BLM will address concerns from the EPA and the public. “I fully intend on revising the draft EIS as appropriate,” Furtado said. POS-Minerals Corp. is 20 percent owner of the Mt. Hope project.
Allied Nevada hopes for BLM OK next quarter By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
ELKO — Allied Nevada Gold Corp. is expecting a record of decision from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in the quarter ending Sept. 30 for pit and leach pad expansions at the Hycroft Mine in Humboldt County. “We’re on track for that,” Tracey Thom, manager of investor relations for Allied Nevada, said. The company also is looking to the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection for permitting for a planned mill on private land to process the sulfide ores when Hycroft begins mining deeper. All the ore now is oxide and goes to leach pads. Thom said the company plans to submit a proposal to the state for the mill “immediately after the record of decision” on the EIS from the Winnemucca BLM District.
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A 320-ton Komatsu haul truck is in the shop for maintenance at Allied Nevada Gold Corp.’s Hycroft Mine in Humboldt County, where the company continues to expand operations.
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Hycroft ... Continued from page 105 Hycroft also will be back with the BLM for a supplemental EIS to mine below the water table and for a tailings dam, Thom said. She said the company has been working closely with the state and BLM and the permitting sequence makes sense, including permitting for a rail spur at Hycroft to ship supplies to the mine and ship out gold and silver concentrate from the mill once it is built. Meanwhile, Allied Nevada was negotiating in May for a new contract for carbon stripping in light of the loss of a contract with Metals Research in Idaho. The company also plans to seek permits for a carbon stripping plant on site to avoid such problems in the future. Hycroft processes and refines much of the ore on site but has been sending gold-laden carbon out for stripping. The carbon can be stored until there is a new contract or even until there is a new plant built, Thom said. She said a new carbon-stripping plant would cost roughly $3 million to $3.5 million. That buildup of inventory may affect
production figures in the near term, but “we don’t really need the cash,” Allied Nevada President and Chief Executive Officer Scott Caldwell said in the firstquarter earnings teleconference. He said Hycroft generates 20 to 30 tons of carbon a month. The earnings report stated the company has 13,000 ounces of gold on carbon and that number is expected to grow at a rate of 2,000 ounces per month. With permitting and construction, the stripping plant could take a year to put into operation. Allied Nevada also reported the majority of work in the first quarter was on completion of the 3 million-squarefoot Lewis leach pad expansion at Hycroft, where ore already is being stacked. Hycroft received permits ahead of schedule for a new crushing plant, the company also said. Allied Nevada reported net income of $12.07 million, or 13 cents per share, in the first quarter from production at Hycroft. The net income for the 2012 quarter compares with $181,000, or zero per share, in the 2011 quarter.
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Reno-based Allied Nevada said the higher income in the 2012 quarter was due to an $8.1 million decrease in exploration, development and land holding costs and a $2.6 million decrease in corporate general and administrative costs, partially offset by $3.9 million more in higher income taxes. Revenue from sales of 20,347 gold ounces and 128,306 silver ounces in the first quarter of 2012 was $39.2 million, compared with 21,341 ounces of gold and 59,566 ounces of silver sold for revenue of $31.9 million in the first quarter of 2011. Revenue increased primarily due to a higher average realized gold price of $1,715 per ounce in the first quarter of 2012, compared with $1,401 per ounce in the same period in 2011, Allied Nevada said. Production from the Hycroft Mine in the first quarter of 2012 met expectations at 32,473 ounces of gold and 166,156 ounces of silver. Caldwell said in the teleconference the current silver to gold ratio is 5 to 1, and “silver continues to exceed expectations.” Adjusted cash costs were $531 per ounce in the quarter, and the forecast is
for costs of $475-$495 for the year. Costs in the 2011 quarter averaged $521 per ounce. Production is expected to ramp up through the remainder of 2012 and is on track to meet current guidance of between 180,000 and 200,000 ounces of gold, according to Allied Nevada. The success of Hycroft in achieving production and cost guidance for 2012 is highly sensitive to a number of events taking place as scheduled, including delivery of major mining equipment, the company said. The Hitachi EX5500 shovel, which the company expected to leave the factory in Japan in late March, shipped about a month late due to logistical issues at the port stemming from damage created by the March 2011 tsunami, according to the earnings report. The 2012 mine plan assumed the shovel would be in operation in the beginning of June, but the company now expects commissioning of that shovel at least a month later than originally planned. Exploration continues but at a reduced rate.
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Inspectorate offers unique lab services By WHEELER COWPERTHWAITE Mining Quarterly
Wheeler Cowperthwaite/Mining Quarterly
ELKO — When the new kids on the block move into town, build a brand-new lab from scratch and radically rethink how work should be done, it’s usually good to take notice. Inspectorate Senior Account Manager Chuck Whipple came into Elko and decided that it was high time for something new. And that is what he did: a radical restructuring of the work flow to decrease errors, increase productivity and decrease contamination risk through extra cleanliness. Whipple did something even more radical: he designed an oven that dries at twice the rate his lab in Reno can. The Elko Inspectorate lab takes samples — of ore, of rock, of
The Inspectorate approach was to build a new laboratory in Elko with a changed focus on labor, moving back to the original idea of a assembly line. Each worker does only one job at a time.
See INSPECTORATE, 109
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Inspectorate ... Continued from page 108 minerals, of materials, and quantifies how much of a precious metal, or metals, is in a sample. When the company was looking at opening a new lab, they quickly honed in on Elko. “Elko is the place to be,” Whipple said. They could compete in Elko because the market had grown stagnant. In true capitalist fashion, they entered the stagnant market with a bang of laboratory innovations. “We’re the formidable new kids on the block,” Inspectorate Northwest Regional Manager Ron Deichman said. “We’ve got a quick turn-around.” The lab is unique to Elko, designed by Whipple with a simplicities of process and high volume drying, which results in a quick turn-around of high quality samples, he said. “There’s been no real competition,” Deichman said. One of the problems the competition has is a huge backlog. Deichman admits that a backlog is possible if business picks up too greatly. “We can balance our extra load with
Reno” and vice versa, he said. The lab also has great room to expand. It’s currently only working one shift with three sets of machines. The work area has enough room to quickly double the machines, and the company can hire a second shift, vastly increasing the labs capacity. The work flow deserves special attention because the Reno lab works in the old paradigm: one man, one product. Each worker shuffles between different tasks, waiting for one to complete, then the other. At the Elko lab, it’s different, a rethinking of the Model-T kind. Whipple made the workflow an issue of specialization of labor. Each worker only does one job at a time, for a part of the shift. Instead of moving between three operations, he’s in charge of three machines doing the same operation. That insight, that return to Ford’s assembly line innovation, is what takes so many mistakes and inefficiencies out of the process, Whipple said. The company does another good turn: it pays its employees well, he said. When Deichman was working at an-
other lab, they were not paying the employees well, turnover was high and the skill level was low. When they upped the wages, they competed for more skilled workers and suddenly found their quality go up and turnover go down. They’ve applied that same logic to Elko, paying their techs in both wages and benefits far better than the competition, Deichman said. The companies who send samples to the lab understand that the techs are paid higher and appreciate that, he said. Innovating design A normal dryer takes the wet samples and bakes them and recirculates the same heated air. The problem becomes that as the humidity in the oven rises, the less the samples can dry until finally, at 100 percent humidity, nothing can dry. The conventional ovens vent small amounts of air so as to lose as little heat as possible. Whipple went somewhere else: an oven that has constant fresh air pumped in over the samples to whisk away the humidity, resulting in drying times that are half of a conventional dryer.
Being clean is a big part of the design at the Elko lab, to both improve worker health and to make sure samples aren’t contaminated. This is done by a huge venting system that pulls dust into it through a vast ducting system. What’s innovative and nowhere else is the thumper room, where employees take the samples that need to be broken up and smash them against a grate, in a closed off room, that whisks all the dust away. In other labs, employees do this on the floor or at a table and the dust accumulates in the air, on other samples and on the ground and equipment, according to Inspectorate. The air is even refiltered and put back into the lab so that, in the middle of winter, the lab doors can stay closed, keeping the heat in. Normally the doors would have to be open to allow an influx of fresh air to offset the air being pumped out of the building by the ducting system. Inspectorate’s Elko and Reno branches are part of Inspectorate America Corp. and part of a Bureau Veritas Group Co.
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Ranger district permitting five exploration projects By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
ELKO — The U.S. Forest Service is in the process of permitting five projects in the Mountain City Ranger District of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. Two projects are in the later permitting stage — the Jim Boy placer project on Union Gulch in the Charleston Mining District and the Island Mountain exploration project 15 miles northeast of Wildhorse Reservoir, according to Manuel Silva, Forest Service geologist. “The other three are brand new,” he said. The Island Mountain project is for drilling 56 holes from 48 drill sites. ARNEVUT Resources is the operator. The Jim Boy placer project is a proposal to run a previously disturbed stockpile through a small sluice to search for gold, according to the Forest Service. The work area would be 50 by 300 feet and near existing roads and will include three trenches to be excavated with a small backhoe. The Black Jack Mineral Exploration Project, the Prunty Project and the Walker Ridge Gold Minerals Exploration Project are all north of Elko, where companies want to construct pads for drill rigs and in one case build a new road. The Black Jack proposal is La Quinta Resources Corp.’s plan to drill west of Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp.’s Jerritt Canyon Mine in the Bull Run Mountains. The company plans three pads and two drill holes on each of those pads at the Burns Mine site.
“It’s continuation of exploration,” Silva said. He said there is an existing portal and adit for underground mining at the site, where there was “a small operation back in the day.” The drilling would be near or on existing roads, and plans call for a core drill. The Prunty Project is proposed by Humboldt Mining Co., a small company that has drilled in the area before, according to Silva. The site is at Union Gulch just north of the Charleston Mining District. Plans call for four pads of two drill holes each, and there will be some crosscountry travel but no new roads are proposed. Reverse-circulation drilling is planned, and the Forest Service said the project would take roughly four months. Silva said Humboldt Mining drilled in the area in about 2008 and is now “going east of where it drilled before to get a better understanding of the resource.” The Walker Ridge proposal is for an area 60 miles north-northwest of Elko and directly north of Jerritt Canyon on Walker Creek, where there has been “quite a bit of previous exploration,” Silva said. “This has been an exploration site all along. The company purchased claims and will get a better understanding of what is going on.” He said Columbia Star Resources will be focusing on one drill hole and based on those findings could expand drilling so the permitting will be for six drill pads. Plans call for construction of 4,500 feet of new road to access the drill pads and six drill holes and the use of a rotary drill. The project is expected to last four months.
Report to focus on China’s silver market ELKO — The Silver Institute has commissioned a new report on the Chinese silver market, focusing on China’s growing importance in the global silver industry and on identifying emerging trends. “This report will describe the dramatic rise of China as a source of both supply and demand, and analyze what the trend in these variables is likely to be over the next few years,” Silver Institute Executive Director Michael DiRienzo said. The report will be produced by Thomson Reuters GFMS and released in October.
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China accounted for some 3 percent of global silver demand and 5 percent of global silver supply 20 years ago, but the “World Silver Survey 2012” reported demand had grown to 16 percent in 2011 and supply to 16 percent. This makes China the world’s second largest consumer and third biggest producer of the white metal, according to the Washington-based institute. Many knowledgeable observers of the Chinese market believe that silver demand will continue to grow significantly over the rest of this decade.
Jerritt Canyon ships 12,163 ounces in quarter ELKO — Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp. reported its Jerritt Canyon Mine north of Elko shipped 13,163 ounces of gold from stockpiles and mining operations in the first quarter, compared with 13,180 ounces shipped in the 2011 quarter. Vancouver-based Yukon-Nevada said the shipments in the 2012 quarter were comparable to last year despite a mill shutdown from Jan. 6 to Feb. 3 to complete the winterization project and refurbishing of the Jerritt Canyon mill. During the quarter, Small Mine Development LLC delivered 91,265 tons to the mill, containing an estimated 9,096 ounces, from the Smith underground mine. SMD is contractor miner for Smith. The deliveries in the quarter averaged 960 tons a day as SMD continues toward a production of 1,200 tons per day targeted for the second quarter of 2012, according to Yukon-Nevada. At the company-operated SSX-Steer underground mining complex, Jerritt Canyon continued to ramp up the production rates in the first quarter, delivering 26,305 tons containing an estimated 2,988 ounces. This was up from 1,117 ounces in the prior quarter. Yukon-Nevada reported the delivery of additional key equipment at SSXSteer included three underground trucks and two jumbo drills, and delivery is expected in the current quarter for one new jumbo drill, one new bolter and four new haul trucks equipped with boxes especially designed for hauling backfill. The company said once all this equipment is in operation, SSX will be fully equipped for full production, and ore production is expected to be at 1,200 tons per day. Yukon-Nevada also reported 11 underground diamond drill holes totaling 10,332 feet were completed in Zone 4 at the Smith Mine in the first quarter and assays are in progress. Problems with the mill improvements caused snags in the first quarter, but Yukon-Nevada said that identification and rectification of issues, the newly commissioned equipment is operational and is expected to achieve targeted average production of more than 3,600 tons per day in the second quarter. Yukon-Nevada reported a net loss of
$7.8 million for the first quarter, compared with a net income of $28.9 million in the first quarter of last year. The company said the 2011 income was mainly due to a $51 million gain from a decline in the fair value of warrant liabilities, while the 2012 quarter had only a $3.9 million comparable gain. Without the fair-value accounting, the gross loss was $800,000 in the quarter, compared with a loss of $13.9 million last year. In achieving the targeted production rate of 150,000 ounces of gold under steady state operations, the company said in its earnings report it is focusing on ramping up production from the SSX-Steer Mine and will continue to process available stockpiles and receive ore from the Smith Mine at an increasing rate. Longer term, the company is looking at profitable opportunities to acquire mineable assets in the area and process third-party ore under a toll milling arrangement, according to the earnings announcement. Yukon-Nevada stated it will also continue building the necessary infrastructure and making equipment purchases in order to open a third mine on the property, Starvation Canyon, located on the south end of Jerritt Canyon. The surface exploration program in 2011 identified a number of areas of interest and proved the viability of the East and West Mahala resources, which lie between the Smith and the SSX-Steer Complex, Yukon-Nevada said. Additional survey work in the Starvation area has identified further areas of interest that will need to be explored in the 2012 drill program as well, the company said. Yukon-Nevada announced in late April that proven and probable reserves at its Jerritt Canyon Mine north of Elko are now at slightly more than 1 million ounces at an average grade of 0.175 ounces per ton. These reserves are within a newly estimated measured and indicated resource of 2.32 million ounces of gold at a grade of 0.189 opt, while the inferred resource at Jerritt Canyon is an additional 748,400 ounces of gold at a grade of 0.182 opt, according to the company.
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Environmental study on Pan could be out in January By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
ELKO — Midway Gold Corp.’s plan to develop the Pan gold property in White Pine County into a mine would create 150 jobs, once the U.S. Bureau of Land Management approved the project. The draft environmental impact statement on Pan is scheduled to be out for public comment in January, according to Miles Kreidler, the BLM Ely District mining engineer. “The record of decision could be out in August 2013,” he said. The BLM held meetings in Ely, Eureka and Reno in May to gather comments for preparation of the EIS, and Kreidler said four representatives of Eureka County and five others from the public attended the Eureka meeting. In addition to BLM, Midway and JBR Environmental representatives, seven attended the Ely meeting and two attended the Reno meeting, he said.
“Pan looks good. The bottom of the pit is 300 feet above the water table. There will be no dewatering or infiltration problem. It’s a nice, simple project,” Eureka County Commissioner Mike Page said. He said Eureka County will be a cooperating agency on the EIS for Pan, even though Pan is in White Pine County. “It’s only about 20 miles from Eureka,” Page said. Kreidler said there were few concerns raised at the scoping meetings but the BLM had received a number of comments regarding Pan because of potential impact to wild horses. Pan is in the Pancake Herd Management Area. The Pan Mine Project, if approved, would be Midway’s first operating mine. The company’s current properties are all exploration site. The project is a greenfield site where there has been no mining in the past, according to Richard Moritz, senior vice president of operations for Denver-
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This map segment shows in blue the location of Midway Gold’s Pan gold project. Bureau of Land Management
based Midway. “This is a major step for a junior company,” he said. Plans call for the mine to produce 17,000 ore tons a day from surface mining and roughly 80,000 ounces of gold a year when up to speed, and they call for a 13year mining life. “It will be conventional open pit, crushing and heap leach operation,” Moritz said in an April interview. Although Pan would be in an area never mined before, Midway also is looking at developing its Gold Rock project eight miles southeast of Pan at past Easy Junior mining operations. Kreidler said Gold Rock also will require an EIS but it is a year or two behind Pan.
Midway expects to submit a plan of operations for Gold Rock in November, he said. According to the BLM, the proposed Pan operations would disturb roughly 3,238 acres of public land, and the plans call for two main pits and four satellite pits. The BLM identified preliminary issues for analysis, including cultural resources. The agency wrote in the Federal Register that there are potential effects to Carbonari — historical charcoal production sites — and to a 1913 alternative route of the Lincoln Highway. Issues also include potential impacts to sage grouse habitat and to recreationists and hunters because of loss of access.
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Pilot Gold drills at Kinsley Mountain By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
ELKO — Pilot Gold Inc. has two drilling rigs exploring at the Kinsley Mountain gold property in Elko County, where the company’s Nevada efforts are focused. “We have two rigs turning and are through 19 holes already, and there will be assays in early June this year,” Patrick Reid, vice president of corporate affairs, said in mid-May. The Vancouver-based company with an office in Elko announced in May it has completed its earn-in to 51 percent at Kinsley and has chosen to earn in to 65 percent within five years by spending $3 million, after spending $1.8 million for the 51 percent interest. Reid said the first phase of exploration at the property is to understand the geology of the area and then to confirm mineralization “once we get a full plan of operations for unfettered access to the rest of the property.”
He said the company is still working on a plan for extended exploration that will be filed with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The company submitted an amendment to an existing notice to increase disturbance on the reclaimed property. The Kinsley site is a former Alta Gold mine that included an open pit and leach pad in southern Elko County, and Pilot Gold said the plan is to test the stratigraphic levels around the open pits. Kinsley Mountain is south of Newmont Mining Corp.’s Long Canyon project in the Pequop Mountains and could be on the Long Canyon Trend that is developing, Pilot Gold has said in the past. Pilot Gold acquired the option on Kinsley through an arrangement with Nevada Sunrise Gold Corp., and Pilot Gold also owns 9 percent of Nevada Sunrise shares, providing good upside for the company, Reid said. Pilot Gold is focused on Kinsley in Nevada but has 14 properties “in the
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background,” he said. The company, which was spun off after Newmont Mining Corp. acquired Fronteer Gold for $2.33 billion, also has exploration projects in Turkey — TV Tower and Halilaga. “We have made several key advances already in 2012, including earning a majority interest in the Kinsley Mountain project and completing a project first resource estimate at Halilaga,” said Pilot Gold President and Chief Executive Officer Matt Lennox-King in the company’s first-quarter earnings report. “We look forward to building on our success to date with aggressive exploration and drilling programs in 2010 at Kinsley, TV Tower and Halilaga,” he said. The company’s earnings report showed a net loss of $1.46 million, or 2 cents per share, in the first quarter, compared with a loss of $414,000, or 1 cent per share, in the 2011 quarter. Pilot Gold said its cash and shortterm investments total $15.74 million.
Nevada gold production up at 5.5 million ounces ELKO — Nevada’s gold mines produced roughly 5.5 million ounces of gold in 2011, up from 5.3 million ounces in 2010, Nevada Division of Minerals Administrator Alan Coyner estimates. “It’s up 200,000 from last year, but that is an estimate, not the final number,” he said. The division was still awaiting figures in mid-May to come up with a total for the 2011 gold production. Coyner also said the total value of all minerals produced in Nevada in 2011 may be roughly $10 billion, up from $7.7 billion the prior year, but that also is an estimate. “It’s really shot up,” he said. “That’s a lot of money in anybody’s book.” The value of all minerals, including gold, silver, copper and industrial minerals, is based on prices, and gold prices led the way with a surge in prices in 2011, even reaching above $1,900 an ounce at one point. Coyner said he and Jonathan Price, state geologist and director of the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, came up with the preliminary figures. The Nevada Division of Minerals also is expanding the annual exploration survey. The theme for exploration currently is “spend, spend, spend,” he said. By Adella Harding
Royal Gold reports record profit for quarter By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
ELKO — Royal Gold Inc. announced record net income of $26 million, or 44 cents per basic share, on record royalty revenue of $69.6 million for the quarter ending March 31, compared with net income of $19.6 million, or 36 cents per basic share, on royalty revenue of $55.5 million for the 2011 quarter. Royal Gold President and Chief Executive Officer Tony Jensen said it was “another quarter of solid performance,” and the eighth consecutive quarter the company had record net income. Denver-based Royal Gold reported royalty revenue received a boost from increased production from Andacollo in Chile, Voisey’s Bay in Labrador and Mulatos in Mexico and continued ramp up at Peñasquito in Mexico, Holt in Ontario and Las Cruces in Spain. New production from Canadian Malartic in Quebec and higher average prices for gold and silver also contributed to the increase in revenue, which was partially
offset by lower production at Leeville Mine north of Carlin, according to Royal Gold. The average price of gold for the quarter ending March 31 was $1,691 per ounce, 22 percent higher than the price of $1,386 per ounce for the comparable period last year. “These results have been achieved by new and increasing production within our portfolio of 38 producing assets and by strong precious metal prices,” Jensen said in the earnings report. He said in an earnings teleconference that 15 percent of the quarter’s revenue was from royalties on mines in the United States, and 72 percent of the total revenue was from precious metals. “We expect continued production increases at several of our producing assets this calendar year, including Andacollo and Peñasquito. In addition, construction at our two key growth properties, Pascua-Lama and Mt. Milligan, remains on schedule and will enhance our long-term revenue profile,” he said. See ROYAL GOLD, 116
Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
Leatham Hendrix, mine operations superintendent at KGHM International’s Robinson Mine near Ely, talks about the new Ruth East portion of the Ruth Pit. Royal Gold has a royalty on Robinson production.
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Royal Gold ... Continued from page 115 Pascua-Lama is the large gold and silver project Barrick Gold Corp. is developing on the border of Argentina and Chile. Mt. Milligan is in British Columbia, where Thompson Creek is developing the mine. Royal Gold also reported net reserves subject to the company’s interests at the end of 2011, as reported by the operators of the properties, include 84.5 million ounces of gold and 1.2 billion ounces of silver. This compares with 83.9 million ounces of gold and 1.4 billion ounces of silver at the end of calendar 2010 on properties subject to a Royal Gold royalty. Three Nevada operations were in the top revenue-generators for Royal Gold in the quarter — Robinson near Ely, Cortez near Crescent Valley and Leeville north of Carlin. The Robinson copper and gold mine now operated by KGHM International provided $2.61 million in revenue on royalties on 5,673 ounces of gold and 23.8 million pounds of copper. This compares with $2.84 million in revenue for the 2011 quarter on 9,832 ounces of gold and 18.2 million pounds of copper, according to the earnings report.
KGHM Polska Miedz S.A. completed the acquisition of Quadra FNX Mining during the 2012 quarter, and KGHM International is now over all KGHM operations outside Poland. The Cortez Mine owned by Barrick provided $2.6 million in revenue on 23,362 ounces of gold, down from $3.07 million on 33,950 ounces of gold in the 2011 quarter. Barrick continues to prioritize production from its higher grade Cortez Hills operations not covered by Royal Gold’s royalty interest, the company reported, explaining that lower revenue will continue until Cortez returns to mining at the Pipeline Complex part of Cortez subject to Royal Gold royalties. Newmont Mining Corp.’s Leeville Mine provided $1.96 million in revenue on 64,291 ounces of gold, down from $3.46 million on 139,214 ounces of gold in the 2011 quarter. Royal Gold said a portion of the mine production at Leeville in the 2012 quarter was derived from an area outside of the company’s royalty area of interest. The Andacollo Mine in Chile operated by Teck Resources was in the top spot as a
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royalty revenue generator for the quarter, providing $16.78 million on 13,174 ounces of gold, compared with $11.94 million on 11,519 ounces of gold last year. Royal Gold has a 75 percent net smelter royalty on gold production at Andacollo. Vale’s Voisey’s Bay Mine in Labrador, Canada, was second with $10.73 million in revenue on 50.9 million pounds of nickel and 9.7 million pounds of copper. That compares with $10.12 million on 32.3 million pounds of nickel and 19 million pounds of copper in the 2011 quarter. Goldcorp Inc.’s Peñasquito Mine in Mexico provided $9.16 million in revenue to Royal Gold in the quarter on 87,517 ounces of gold, 6.6 million ounces of silver, 52.4 million pounds of lead and 75.9 million pounds of zinc. That is a jump from $5.64 million in revenue in the 2011 quarter as the mine continued to ramp up, on 51,460 ounces of gold, 4.1 million ounces of silver, 31.4 million pounds of lead and 59.5 million pounds of zinc. The Mulatos Mine operated by Alamos Gold in Mexico was the fourth-highest revenue generator, providing Royal Gold with $4.23 million on 50,493 ounces of
gold, up from $2.6 million on 36,200 ounces of gold last year. The Holt Mine in Ontario operated by St Andrew Goldfields provided $3.28 million to Royal Gold on 8,839 ounces of gold, up from $1.59 million on 6,412 ounces of gold in the 2011 quarter. Robinson and Cortez were the next highest revenue providers in the quarter, followed by Canadian Malartic in Quebec operated by Osisko. Royal Gold received $2.35 million on 90,845 ounces of gold in the quarter. Canadian Malartic wasn’t producing in the 2011 quarter. Leeville was the next highest, followed by Las Cruces in Spain, operated by Inmet. Royal Gold received $1.71 million on 29.9 million pounds of copper, up from $1.36 million on 21.3 million pounds last year. The Dolores Mine in Mexico provided $1.35 million in revenue on 14,510 ounces of gold and 900,000 ounces of silver, compared with $1.37 million on 16,991 ounces of gold and 900,000 ounces of silver in the 2011 quarter. Pan American Silver completed acquisition of Minefinders during the quarter and now operates the Dolores Mine.
MINExpo International 2012 will be held Sept. 24-26 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, attracting people from around the world. This view is of the crowd at the 2008 MINExpo. The National Mining Association holds the event every four years. National Mining Association
MINExpo 2012 adds to exhibit space in Vegas By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
ELKO — Roughly 40,000 attendees from around the world are expected at the International MINExpo Sept. 24-26 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, and the National Mining Association expects to sell out. “We are finishing up. There is a little bit of indoor space. We expect it to be filled by the end of May. We’re filling from a wait list. There also is a little bit of outdoor space,” Moya Phelleps, senior vice president of member services for the NMA, said in May. She said the event, which NMA holds every four years, will feature 850,000 square feet and 1,600 exhibitors, with exhibit space up 30 percent over the 2008 MINExpo. “We’re very excited about the additional space we have,” Phelleps said. “Exhibitors work very hard to get the exhibits ready. I am sure there will be a number of new products and services at the show.” She said the MINExpo also is an opportunity for the mining industry to highlight its role in the economy and its commitments to environmental stewardship and safety. Although high gold prices are giving the mining industry in Nevada a major boost, as well as gold pro-
ducers worldwide, Phelleps said “some mining sectors are doing better than others,” and the industry in this country still grapples with policy issues. Roughly 25 percent of those at the 2008 event came from outside the United States, and she said she expects a strong international attendance at the 2012 event. The MINExpo is open to registered visitors. “I think overall one of the things that works for the show is that it is every four years. We did very well in 2008 so I think they are looking forward to a show that has done very well,” she said. “The caliber and quality of the exhibits is a big draw,” Phelleps said. The opening ceremony is at 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 24, and the NMA has invited Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval to open the show, Phelleps said. Safety luncheon MINExpo will feature the Sentinels of Safety Luncheon from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 25, when the recipients of 2011 safety awards will be honored. The awards go each year to mining operations throughout the country that demonstrate exemplary safety records. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health, Office of Mine Safety and Health, also will present the first-ever “Technology Innovations in Mine Safety” award at the luncheon. The U.S. Department of Interior luncheon to present the Office of Surface Mining Excellence in Surface Coal Mining Reclamation Awards and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s Reclamation and Sustainable Mineral Development awards is the following day. The luncheon will be from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. Education sessions will be held from 8 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Sept. 25 and 26. Phelleps said they will cover safety, underground and surface mining, coal, new mine development, processing, bulk materials handling, maintenance, solid waste, water, air, markets, exploration and automation. Attendees can earn professional development hours. Exhibits will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 2426. Registration is $100 before Aug. 10 and $200 thereafter for attendees wishing to see the exhibits and attend education sessions. Registration is free, however, for university personnel and students. No one under the age of 17 is allowed on the show floor. Details about registration and hotels is on the MINExpo website at www.mineexo.com.
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Hollister still awaiting draft environmental study By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
ELKO — Any day now the U.S. Bureau of Land Management will be releasing the draft environmental impact statement for Great Basin Gold Ltd.’s Hollister underground project in northwestern Elko County. “The notice of availability for Hollister is awaiting publication in the Federal Register, and we anticipate that to happen in early June,” Lesli Ellis, public affairs specialist for the Elko BLM District, said in mid-May. She said the agency had hoped to have the draft study by early May but more editing was needed before publication. Earlier predictions had been that it would be out by the end of March. Great Basin Gold continues to mine for gold and silver at Hollister under a testmining permit while awaiting final BLM approval to go into full production and construct new facilities outside the old open pit where all the structures are now located. “We are continuing our bulk sampling
and trial mining efforts,” Teresa Conner, environmental manager for Great Basin Gold’s Nevada operations, said in midMay. She also said the company plans to complete several surface exploration drill holes this summer in a “continuing effort to further delineate the vein system at the Hollister property and to start to clarify what we might have at the Hatter portion of the property, which is due east of the Hollister area.” Great Basin Gold reported Hollister produced 16,240 gold equivalent ounces in the first quarter of this year, which was lower than the nearly 20,000 ounces expected, but grades and tonnage were in line with plans. The company sold 15,357 gold equivalent ounces in the quarter from Hollister, compared with 17,324 ounces in the first quarter of 2011 because of delays with third-party refiners. The impact from shipping carbon for stripping to refiners had an impact on production, but Great Basin Gold President and Chief Executive Officer Ferdi Dippenaar said in a teleconference
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in mid-May he expected all the gold to soon be poured at the Esmeralda Mill. Great Basin Gold owns the Esmeralda property and mill near Hawthorne, where ore from Hollister is transported for processing. The company completed an upgrade of the mill’s acid wash and carbon regeneration circuit in April. Dippenaar said gold sales are mainly a timing issue because of the off-site refining, and the revenue from processing ore already mined will be recognized in the current quarter. “The worst seems to be behind us,” Dippenaar said. The company stated in the earnings report there were 14,447 ounces locked up in carbon awaiting third-party processing at the end of March. Great Basin Gold also reported it is constructing a second mill tailings facility at Esmeralda. “The mill is running well. The second tails facility is now completely permitted and construction commenced the end of April,” Great Basin Gold Vice President for Nevada Operations Joe Driscoll said. “We experienced very limited winter
moisture this year at the site, so we are in a great position to complete the construction in a timely fashion and plan to begin tailings placement in the third quarter,” he said. Great Basin Gold’s Nevada operations currently employ 236 people, including at Hollister, the mill and the companyowned assay laboratory in Lovelock. “We are still having difficulties in finding and hiring experienced narrow vein miners for the project,” Driscoll said. Hollister is a high-grade, narrow-vein mine. Great Basin Gold also reported cash costs were up at Hollister in the 2012 quarter to $850 an ounce, compared with $670 per ounce in the 2011 quarter, mainly due to lower recoveries and to transportation costs to process carbon at the Rand Refinery in South Africa. Vancouver-based Great Basin Gold reported a net loss of $17.38 million for the first quarter, compared with $19.9 million last year, while revenue was up 27 percent to $32.6 million because of more ounces sold and an 18 percent hike in the realized gold price.
Pumpkin Hollow collar work begins By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
ELKO — The underground project at Nevada Copper Corp.’s Pumpkin Hollow copper, gold, silver and possibly iron property near Yerington is in the collar stage. “We’re expecting to go 99 feet with the pre-collar of the shaft and then actually start with a hoist in place,” said Tim Dyhr, vice president of environment and external relations for Nevada Copper. He said the company purchased a production-sized hoist that will be used for shaft sinking and later for production at Pumpkin Hollow. “The hoist is being refurbished and will be shipped to the site shortly,” he said on May 18. Guy F. Atkinson Construction has mobilized its core team for the shaft sinking,and Dyhr said work on site includes
setting up surface facilities and power. Genivar, an engineering design consultant, is “fast-tracking the detailed engineering design for the shaft,” he said. “When Atkinson ramps up, there will be 40 to 50 people on site, including subcontractors. We have a workforce of 15 to 20 now,” Dyhr said. The project would employ 750-800 people at the mine for a period of at least 18 years when in full production, according to Nevada Copper. The company plans both underground and surface mines at Pumpkin Hollow and is working on a feasibility study on whether it would be economical to mine the iron resource, which is 340 million tons of iron magnetite ore containing 111 million tons of iron. Iron concentrate would be shipped off site for smelting, Dyhr said. Plans already call for shipping copper concentrate out for
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A Guy F. Atkinson Construction LLC crew works on the collar for the underground project at Nevada Copper’s Pumpkin Hollow property near Yerington. processing. Exploration also continues, with three rigs drilling on site in May. Nevada Copper is continuing permitting studies, as well, for the Pumpkin Hollow project. “All of the permitting studies are in
progress, and we expect to submit permit applications to the State of Nevada in June 2012,” Dyhr said. “The primary study involved a second round of groundwater test pumping and See PUMPKIN, 120
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Klondex plans vent raise at Fire Creek
Pumpkin ... Continued from page 119 second model run. So far that continues to confirm that the groundwater at Pumpkin Hollow is totally separate from the Walker Basin aquifer in Mason Valley that supports all of the agriculture there,” he said. Nevada Copper also is keeping an eye on the progress in Congress on land conveyance bills in the House and Senate that would have a direct impact on Pumpkin Hollow. “It’s just working through the system now,” Dyhr said. The bills introduced by U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., and U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., would allow the transfer of roughly 10,000 acres of public land managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to the City of Yerington. The city would in turn sell or lease a portion of the land to Nevada Copper. “The city would not otherwise get property taxes,” Dyhr said. Yerington plans to annex the Pumpkin Hollow property into the city. The site is eight miles from the city center. The city also will have land for development, if the exchange goes through, and both Amodei and Heller have been pro-
moting the bill for its job creation, especially because of Lyon County’s high unemployment rate. “It’s the most compelling sustainable development opportunity I’ve seen,” Dyhr said. The House Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands held a hearing on the bill in April. “Amodei’s staff is working furiously on this bill,” Dyhr said. “For more than four years, the City of Yerington and Lyon County have worked on this sustainable development plan to enable all community stakeholders to benefit from an increase in adjacent private lands,” Amodei said in April. “The conveyance of Bureau of Land Management land would enable the city and county to grow while providing needed tax revenue and the potential for hundreds of long-term, high-paying jobs,” he said. While Yerington would gain property taxes with the land transfer, Nevada Copper would be able to quicken permitting for Pumpkin Hollow because the land would be private and permitting done through the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection.
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By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
ELKO — Klondex Mines Ltd. plans a ventilation raise at its Fire Creek underground project in Lander County that in turn will allow the company to begin bulk sampling gold ore. “We’re 150 feet away from the ore zone,” Klondex Chief Executive Officer Blane Wilson said. He said the company hopes to award a contract for the vent raise around June 10. The raise will provide more ventilation and a secondary escape route, which the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration requires before test mining. “It looks like we will put in the vent raise in July, and we could have bulk samples sometime in late Q3,” Wilson said. Fire Creek near the town of Crescent Valley is permitted for bulk sampling. Gold production from this test mining would provide revenue for the company, which has offices in Elko and Vancouver. The company is permitted to process up to 36,500 short tons of ore a year, up to a maximum of 120,000 short tons
over five years. Wilson said the company is working on where to process the ore off site. Small Mine Development is doing the development work at Fire Creek and had completed 2,735 feet of development as of May 18, including 2,036 feet for the ramp, Wilson said in a telephone interview. American Drilling has completed 20,019 feet and 43 holes of infill drilling underground. Wilson said the company also plans 15 holes of surface exploration yet this year for infill in the Main Zone. The main point of current and planned drilling is to prove the continuity of veins, he said. An updated technical report should be released in the third quarter. A prefeasibility study will follow on development of Fire Creek into a full-production mine. “We have a lot of work yet, but we’re quite pleased,” Wilson said. SMD has 25 people at Fire Creek, and Klondex has 10 people focused on Fire Creek, according to Wilson. “SMD has gone one year without any accident. That’s fantastic,” he added.
Renaissance: Wood Hills South exciting Revett CEO By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
ELKO — Renaissance Gold Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Bedell said the Wood Hills South exploration property may be the most exciting of its properties in Nevada. Wood Hills South, which NuLegacy Gold Corp. is exploring under option with Renaissance, is in the vicinity of the Pequop district that includes Newmont Mining Corp.’s Long Canyon exploration project. “It’s in the same trend and same type of rock. Just remove the valley in between and boom you’re into Pequoptype mineralization,” he said in a May telephone interview. “The district is too small to be a Carlin-type district, but the district will grow,” Bedell said. The company stated in an update in May that Wood Hills South’s drilling results point to several areas with the potential for hosting gold mineralization that will be targeted in the next
round of drilling. Wood Hills South is across the valley from the Pequop Mountains in Elko County. In the report, Bedell said the company has five properties with “encouraging results,” and the company put five projects into new agreements in the quarter ending March 31, as well as acquiring two more projects. “This is a result of the momentum built up in AuEx Ventures and continues through into the spinout of RenGold,” Bedell said. Renaissance Gold was spun out when AuEx Ventures sold to Fronteer Gold, which later sold to Newmont, with Long Canyon the attraction for those deals. AuEx was 40 percent owner of Long Canyon before selling to Fronteer, and Bedell predicts Long Canyon will compete globally as a low cost mine because of high-grade ore to be mined “right off the bat.” Newmont has filed a plan of operations to mine Long Canyon. Since the spin-off, Bedell said
Renaissance Gold “has so much momentum. We now have 14 projects fully funded with other people’s money.” In addition to Wood Hills South, projects in Nevada include: Reef in White Pine County, operated by Golden Dory Resource Corp.; Rose Mine, operated by Navaho Gold Pty Ltd.; Spruce Mountain in southern Elko County, operated by Sumitomo Corp.; Trinity Silver, Liberty Silver Corp.; Leonid, Pasco Canyon and Gold Star, operated by Lynx Resources (U.S.) Inc. Renaissance also owns the Wildcat project in Utah, optioned to Newmont Mining Corp., and the Baza in Spain, operated by Concordia Resource Corp. Projects in Argentina include: El Monte and Gertrudis with AgnicoEagle Mines Ltd., and Meridiano and Covadonga with Atala Resource Corp. The two projects acquired in the quarter were the Sundance eight miles southwest of Hawthorne in Mineral County and Big Gossan about 28 miles northeast of Fernley.
optimistic ELKO — Revett Minerals Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer John Shanahan said the company’s future is bright as a silver and copper producer at the Troy Mine in Montana. “Revett is now an established U.S.-based producer of silver and copper,” he said in midMay. “We’ll survive any market downturn because we can selectively reduce our operating costs. Our employees are onboard and focused.” The company’s only revenue is from Troy but it hopes to mine its Rock Creek project, also in Montana, once it is permitted. “Troy is our bridge to Rock Creek (North America’s largest undeveloped silver deposit). We have the cash flow, operating expertise, and technical knowledge to make it a reality,” Shanahan said. The company reported first-quarter revenue rose 50 percent to $19.2 million from $12.8 million in the 2011 quarter, and net income was $3.7 million, or 11 cents per share.
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Atna plans Pinson gold production this year By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
ELKO — Atna Resources Ltd. expects to be in sustained gold production by the end of this year at the Pinson underground mine in Humboldt County. The Golden, Colo.-based company reopened and is developing the mine with DMC Mining Services as the contract miner. Doug Stewart, vice president and chief operating officer, said in Atna’s earnings teleconference in May the contractor has 23 people on site now and Atna would shortly have 11 on site. “Mobilization of equipment and manpower was slower than originally planned in the first quarter, however, we’re seeing a substantial improvement and expect to be on track by the end of this quarter,” he said. Atna is working with Newmont Mining Corp. to process test oxide samples at the
Twin Creeks Mine nearby. Atna already has an agreement with Barrick Gold Corp. for processing sulfide ores at the Goldstrike Mine north of Carlin. Barrick sold its 70 percent of ownership in Pinson to Atna last September but holds a royalty. Atna had owned 30 percent of the project. Still, Stewart said Atna isn’t closing the door on other processing possibilities. The company said 1,500 tons of ore have been mined to be used for a bulk sample test. Once Pinson is in full operation, the goal is to mine 500 to 750 tons a day. “We have to finish the secondary access first,” Stewart said. The company said that as of May 11, roughly 35 percent of the secondary access had been completed. Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Rodney Gloss said Atna hopes to have Pinson in full production by the end
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Atna Resources is advancing underground at the Pinson property in Humboldt County. Submitted
of the year. The company expects 8,000 to 12,000 ounces of gold from Pinson this year, according to the teleconference. Pinson is permitted for underground mining under a small miner's permit. Gloss said a technical report on Pinson should be available in the next few weeks, and Atna is working on a feasibility study for surface mining. Pinson pits were mined under earlier owners. Atna currently is producing gold only from the Briggs Mine in California. Briggs production in the first quarter was up 40 percent to 9,400 ounces, from 6,700 ounces of gold in the 2011 quarter. The mine sold 9,367 ounces of gold in the first quarter, up 43 percent over the 2011 quarter, with the average selling price at $1,683 per ounce in the 2012 quarter, up
from $1,398 per ounce last year, according to the earnings report. Atna reported net income of $1.9 million, or 2 cents per share, for the first quarter, while income before income taxes totaled $2.9 million. Gloss said the focus is on Pinson, but the company plans to complete construction of the Reward surface mine near Beatty next year. Cash flow from Briggs goes toward development of other properties. Atna said it spent $3.5 million in the first quarter on capital developing at Pinson. Pinson has a letter of intent with Cashman Equipment for equipment for Reward because of the long lead time to delivery, Stewart said. “The objective is to be in gold production by the end of 2013,” he said regarding Reward.
Codale serves mines from new building By WHEELER COWPERTHWAITE Mining Quarterly
ELKO — Dale Holt is the kind of man who made sure when he was designing a brand new building for his Elko branch that employees would have both a gym and locker rooms. Holt is the founder and president of Codale Electric Supply Inc., which supplies mines across the western states with both electrical supplies, as the name suggests, and prefabricated, modular electrical substations. “We just delivered a substation to the Barrick Goldstrike Banshee project,” Elko Branch Manager Jeff Thompson said. Codale supplies the mines with everything from substations to heat trays, he said. “We supply just about everything electrical,” Thompson said. The substation Codale just delivered to
the Banshee project north of Carlin is the first of its kind in the northeastern part of the state, he said. The substation itself is a brilliant move of engineering because of its Ikea-like attribute: it can be disassembled in two days, moved, and reassembled just as quickly. “As a mine develops, the substation can be moved if a concrete pad is poured,” Thompson said. The stations themselves downgrade the power coming to the mine from 120,000 kilowatts to 13,800 kilowatts. The substation is preassembled in Salt Lake, tested, “tore down” and then delivered on semi-trailers to the site. The Banshee substation needed five semi-trailers to transport the entire thing. “We started talking out it last fall,” Thompson said. “Normally it takes three to four years to build one,” he said.
Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly
Dale P. Holt, president of Codale Electric Supply, talks in April during the grand opening of the new Codale building in Elko about innovative LED lighting installed in the conference room and offices. The estimated time on a modular substation, depending on how long it takes to get the supplies, is a year. Barrick commissioned the station on May 15. “It will sell itself to other mines,”
Thompson said. “Hopefully we’ll be working on more soon.” The substation started as a thought in the fall of 2011, Thompson said. “It reduces the time quite a bit,” he said.
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WMC promotes mining in Washington ELKO — The Women’s Mining Coalition will have a booth at the 2012 Elko Mining Expo, where visitors can receive details about the organization and learn more about the recent Fly-In to Washington. Fifty members of the Women’s Mining Coalition participated in the 20th annual Fly-In in May, completing 179 individual meetings with both Senate and House staff over three and a half days, WMC Coordinator Lynne Volpi of Elko said. WMC issue papers and informative materials were dropped off to an additional 48 congressional offices, bringing the total number of offices visited to 227, she said in a event summary. “This phenomenal effort was put forth by WMC members, all of whom work in the mining industry, including hardrock, coal, manufacturing, vendors and coal-fired power plants,” Volpi said. WMC issues the women focused on this year included: • CERCLA 108(b) financial assurance rule-making, which the mining industry is concerned will duplicate current bonding at the state level.
• EPA greenhouse gas new-source performance standards, and utility maximum achievable control technology. • Critical Minerals Policy Act (S.1113). • National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act (H.R. 4402). • Coal Miner Employment and Domestic Infrastructure Protection Act (H.R. 3409). Additional topics of discussion included permitting delays and sage grouse management, Volpi said. “Issues and topics were well-received and generated much valuable discussion between WMC members and members of Congress and staff,” she said. The founders of the Women's Mining Coalition — Kathy Benedetto, Debra Struhsacker and Ruth Carraher — were honored at a reception sponsored by American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy, Northwest Mining Association and ADA Environmental Services. Volpi said 2012 marks the 20th year members of WMC have traveled to Washington to advocate for a healthy domestic mining industry. Their website is www.wmc-usa.org.
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Fifty members of the Women’s Mining Coalition were in Washington in May for the annual FlyIn to talk about the mining industry. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., met with a group of the women. From left are: Ann Carpenter, Izzy Labranch, Lynne Volpi, Nicole Preuss, Teresa Lear, Cami Prenn, Reid, Sally McLeod and Ruth Carraher.
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Twin Creeks ... Continued from page 73 1990s until last year. “We’re just getting into the top of the ore body now,” Holland said, pointing to equipment operating in phase I of Vista 7. Mining is also starting on the second phase so Vista 7 can keep feeding oxide ore to the Juniper Mill, he said. “We’re moving 5.2 million tons of material a month at Vista, and there could be more on Vista phase 8,” Holland said. Phase 8 gets closer to the Juniper Mill and shop and office buildings. The Vista 7 expansion project also includes a new leach pad. Holland said when Twin Creeks stopped mining the Vista Pit in the 1990s, the area hadn’t been drilled out for additional resources and gold prices were low. “When we got drill results that meshed with today’s prices, it made it economical to mine,” he said. The Vista Vein portals are in a wall of the Vista Pit were there isn’t any surface mining planned and an earthen bridge was built for SMD’s surface facilities and equipment. The Sage Mill at Twin Creeks processes ore from the nearby Turquoise Ridge underground mine operated by Barrick Gold Corp., as well as ore from Twin Creeks and sometimes other Newmont ore. Newmont owns 25 percent of Turquoise Ridge. On other note, the Twin Creeks Mine had gone 1,092 hours without a lost-time accident as of mid-May. “As of May 28 we will be three years without a lost-time accident,” Holland said.
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Ross Anderson/Mining Quarterly
Rick Cruea, projects superintendent for Small Mine Development at the Vista Vein underground exploration project at the Twin Creeks Mine in Humboldt County, drives a tractor for a mine tour.
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2012 Elko Mining Expo Vendors 101 102 103 104 105 106-07 108 109 110 111-12 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151
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152 153-54 155-56 157-58 159 160 161 162 163 164 165-66 167-68 169 170-71 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 200 201 202 203 204 205 206-07 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222
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2012 Elko Mining Expo Vendors 416 417 418 419 421-22 423 424 425 426 427 430-35 454-56 457 458 459 460-61 462-63 464-65 466 467 469 470 471 472 473 501 502-03 504 505 506 507 508 509-14 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531
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