Mining Fall 2017

MINING FALL 2017 EDITION

SSR taking mining into the future

Fall Edition | October 2017

MINING

On the cover —

Fall 2017

a publication of Winnemucca Publishing General Manager: Matt Dierlam Special Projects Director: J. Carmen Kofoed Writers: Joyce Sheen Debra Reid Peggy Jones Travis Masterson Shanna Cummings Dana Bennett Advertising Sales: Rhonda Coleman Amy Quiring Bobbie Sakurada Ashley Buckingham Advertising Design: Joe Plummer Emily Swindle

SSR taking mining into the future Photo by Joyce Sheen, Winnemucca Publishing

Moving the huge electric rope shovel at SSR is a six-man project, along with a truck needed to pull the electric cable. SSR’s northern Nevada operations are the highest-producing sites for the Canadian company.

See the story starting on Page 6

In this issue —

Mining is important to Nevada

By Dana Bennett ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Page 4

SSR Mining finds success in northern Nevada

By Joyce Sheen ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Page 6

Florida Canyon Mine ramping up production

By Debra Reid ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ Page 12

High desert alchemy: Leaching turns ore into gold

By Shanna Cummings ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Page 16

Safety paramount at Newmont’s Phoenix Mine

By Travis Masterson ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Page 22

Coeur lab fired up about assay

By Peggy Jones ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Page 28

Rockmore’s Vector Rod system advances drilling From Our Adveriser �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Page 34

Comstock, Kinross, Newmont earn Excellence in Mine Reclamation Awards 1022 S. Grass Valley Road, Winnemucca, Nev. 89445 (775) 623-5011

Nevada Division of Minerals ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Page 36

Nevada Mining Association presents 2017 Safety Awards Nevada Mining Association ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Page 38

Industry Snapshot

Mining is important for Nevada

By Dana Bennett Nevada Mining Association

The Nevada Mining Association (NvMA) held its annual convention early this fall, September 6 – 9, at Harrah’s in South Lake Tahoe.

The NvMA convention brings mine operators, vendors, and many other interested parties from across the state and around the globe together to celebrate one of Nevada’s foundational industries, learn the latest about mining’s economic impact in the Silver State, celebrate the industry’s outstanding safety record, and better understand how NvMA members are propelling Nevada’s original STEM industry into the 21st century.

Attendees are the first to hear the latest state mining numbers from respected Nevada economic analyst Jeremy Aguero. These numbers help quantify the work this state’s miners do and ensure that Nevada’s mining industry understands where it stands in relation to other Nevada industries and other mining locations around the world. This information also helps association members communicate about the industry to the public. For example, many Nevadans are surprised to learn that, while only about 1.1% of Nevada’s workers are miners, the mining industry generates more than 4% of the State’s tax revenue.

Information like this is valuable in public outreach efforts, but the report offers even more value for those looking to do business within the mining industry. Nevada mines do business with more than 2,200 Nevada-based vendors, with more mining-related companies coming to the state every year. For those competing for a piece of the more than $11.3 billion that mining generates in the Nevada economy, these reports give NvMA members a material advantage The convention also affords Nevada miners the opportunity to hear directly from state and federal regulators.

This year we heard from Katharine MacGregor, the then-acting Assistant Secretary of

the Interior for Land and Minerals Management, who talked about the current administration’s efforts to streamline the mine permitting process.

Bradley Crowell, Nevada’s Director of Conservation and Natural Resources, presented about the Silver State’s efforts to work with mines to protect Nevada’s air, land, and water while simultaneously allowing for mineral development.

These two interesting speakers joined other regulators, safety professionals, and even a social media pro, in ensuring that the convention met its goal of making sure that companies all along Nevada’s mining supply chain are ready to do business in the New Nevada.

Of course, any good convention provides great networking events, and NvMA’s convention excels at bringing people together.

NvMA’s vendor members, who provide vital goods and services to mining operators around the world, spend four days with some of the biggest decision makers in mining in one of the most beautiful locations on the globe. The business to business opportunities are tough to beat.

These business-to-business opportunities are critical to growing Nevada’s mining industry.

Vendors rely on mine operators—and often on other vendors--for business contacts and also good information and feedback to refine their craft. Operators who build and operate mines rely on vendors to increase efficiencies and often innovate on the mine site.

Truly, for anyone looking to do business in or with the mining industry, NvMA’s annual convention provides invaluable information and unparalleled opportunity.

It’s never too early to set your calendar for 2018’s convention, scheduled for September 5-8 at Harrah’s in South Lake Tahoe. The annual convention is just one of the exceptional benefits NvMA offers to members. To learn more about the many benefits of NvMA membership, please call 775.829.2121 t or visit nevadamining.org/join. F

MINING • FALL 2017, an October, 2017 publication of Winnemucca Publishing - 5

Humboldt County

SSR Mining finds success in northern Nevada Marigold — a proven producer under any name Story and photos by Joyce Sheen Winnemucca Publishing

Marigold Mine has been owned by several different mining companies since 1988 and recently, current owner Silver Standard Resources, changed its name to SSR Mining.

But under all owners and any name, the property has continually produced gold for nearly 30 years.

With the name change to SSR Mining, the parent company tips its hat to the great reputation and history of Silver Standard Resources, while moving away from the “silver” designation to make it clear this company produces a great deal of gold.

Currently, 80 percent of SSR Mining’s revenue comes from gold.

Marigold’s intermediate-sized operation passed the 1 million ounce mark in gold production in 2001 and has steadily kept producing, quietly going forward with capital improvement projects, expansions, equipment purchases and offering stable jobs.

This enormous electric rope shovel delivers 110 tons of material to a haul truck on each pass and is from 50 to 75 percent less expensive to operate than the smaller hydraulic shovels.

The amount of gold mined thus far is over 4.5 million ounces. Marigold’s exploration budget has been in the $5 million realm for several years and its results have steadily increased reserves at the mine and added years to Marigold’s projected mine life.

“It tells you something about this property that it started in 1988 with an estimated six to eight-year mine life and today, 29 years later, it still has 8-10 years of mine life left,” said Marigold General Manager Duane Peck.

The 400 employees who depend on Marigold for their livelihood can take comfort in the mine’s steady performance and low production costs. While the heart palpitations, caused when gold prices started dropping in 2013, were felt at Marigold too, they were not as pronounced as at other properties — and exploration continued.

“We have very low cash and all-in sustaining costs,” said Peck.

Peck has been in mining his entire career, spanning over three decades. He lives in Battle Mountain and has done so for the past eight years he’s been at Marigold. He’s worked at mines from Arizona, Australia and Armenia to Canada, South Dakota and Nevada.

The commute to the mine for Peck and other employees who live in Battle Mountain is about 20 minutes each way. About 40 percent of the mine’s 400-employee workforce chooses to live in Battle Mountain.

Nearly all of the remaining 60 percent of the employees live in Winnemucca, where the commute is a little over twice as long.

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Workers pulling the 13,800-kVA electric cables wear thick protective gloves and often use a more remote hook to pull the cables.

The Coach America buses that carry mining employees to Marigold leave Battle Mountain or Winnemucca in time to arrive at Marigold at 6 a.m. for the 12-hour day shift, or 6 p.m. for the night shift of the same length. Maintenance employees have to arrive and leave the mine an hour earlier, at 5 a.m. and 5 p.m.

There are about 70 to 80 employees, office staff and others, who work a shorter day. One 10-hour crew bus handles the commute from Winnemucca. A van is large enough to carry the smaller number of

10-hour employees who commute from Battle Mountain. F

While the mine’s location means a commute for workers in either Battle Mountain or Winnemucca, it is one of the easiest to reach — just three miles off Interstate-80. As such, Marigold is a popular choice for those who want to tour a working mine site.

Tom Rice, in charge of engineering, exploration, geotechnical and working groups and operational excellence is usually the designated tour guide. Explaining how he ended up with the tour-guide job, Rice said, “I know a little bit about every part of the operation.”

“There are tours at the mine about every three to four months,” Rice estimated. “We try to accommodate as many tours as we can.”

Marigold was one of the tours for Nevada Mining Association’s 2017 teacher’s workshop, held this past July in Winnemucca. Rice said 30-35 teachers toured the mine on each of two scheduled tour days.

Members of Marigold’s leadership are active on Nevada Mining Association’s education committees, as well as tax committees and public policy committees. It’s one way they can have some influence on future legislation and build public understanding of mining’s contributions.

Those areas affect mining’s future as much as does the price of gold, which is much more difficult to control. While fluctuating gold prices are largely outside industry influence, efforts to lower the cost of production and processing give Marigold and SSR Mining more control over the future.

When Silver Standard purchased Marigold in 2014, they brought expertise in data management and experience in large open-pit mining. Their operational excellence program initiated projects to improve efficiency.

“They reduced the number of drills operating so we could focus on less maintenance for more productivity, and we do more planned maintenance now,” Peck explained. Operating hours increased at that time and the addition of the huge electric rope shovel was much more efficient and cost-effective. “There was also a focus on operational training – we took our best operators and had them work with others.”

Peck said Marigold is part of a third-party benchmarking study that seeks to continually measure and improve efficiency. “We are consistently in the upper quartile and often top of both operations and efficiency since we utilized the shovel,” Peck commented.

The enormous electric rope shovel scoops and delivers about 110 tons of ore per pass to the haul trucks that then move it to the leach pads. Being able to move that amount of material in one pass means that it takes only three passes to fill the haul trucks to their 320 to 330-ton capacity. The electric shovel is more economical to operate than the hydraulic diesel shovels that load about half that amount with each pass.

Rice said the cost of loading with the electric shovel is 50 to 75 percent less per ton than the diesel shovels. It’s that kind of savings, over time, that make the $28 million-plus purchase price of a huge electric rope shovel economically feasible. Marigold mine has just one of them.

Marigold’s electric rope shovel was ordered in 2013 and ready for use by early 2014. The simulator that helps Marigold employees practice operating the haul trucks now has a new kit that can be switched in to help employees train in operating the electric shovel.

It is daunting to even consider what it takes to get a behemoth this size onto a mine site in northern Nevada, nearly 1,800 miles from where it was manufactured in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The electric rope shovel is shipped in pieces and then assembled on-site over a two to three-month process.

The company that manufactures the shovel provides the expertise and training for its assembly at the mine site. Maintenance

This 8 x 20-foot trailer doesn’t look like much but it has a very important safety function. Two of these trailers, one on each opposing side of the mining pit, continually send out and receive returning radar signals capable of measuring even a one centimeter shift in the pit walls. people from Marigold were trained by the same experts in the ‘care and feeding’ of the very valuable monster.

“We had some employees with experience and that helped the learning curve,” said Peck.

The day that Winnemucca Publishing toured Marigold, they were moving the enormous electric rope shovel from one working area to another. That’s something that doesn’t happen very often and it wasn’t hard to determine why. To say the process is complicated is a considerable understatement. It requires a six-man crew, a truck to drag the heavy electric cable and the shovel’s driver to work together to move the electric shovel from one part of the pit to another.

The electric shovel only operates when directly connected to its power source by cables that carry 13,800 volts of electricity. Even though the electric cable is protected by a thick sheath, workers use special insulated gloves to handle it because even a pinhole leak could be deadly. They often use a long hook to move the cable rather than picking it up by hand.

“Candlesticks,” tall metal rods that resemble giant needles, are used to lift and hold the electric cable in place over the roadways it must cross so trucks can drive underneath all that voltage.

The construction of a new power substation in 2013 made it possible to bring the amount of power needed to run the huge shovel onto the mine site. Power comes into the substation at 120,000 volts or 120 kVA. Electrical power lines run across four miles of poles to reach the transformers that step the power down to the 13,800 volts needed for use in the shovel.

The electric shovel can operate up to 6,000 feet away from the transformers and the electric cable has to be strung that far, so the transformers are on skids that enable them to be moved as mining proceeds from one area to another.

The electric rope shovel is the best example of enormous equipment that allows the mine to move the amount of ore necessary to achieve the economies of scale that make mining this lower-grade ore body economical. Even the size of the stepped mining benches that ring every large open-pit mine had to be increased at Marigold once the mine started using the electric rope shovel.

Instead of the 25-foot benches used for loading material with the small hydraulic shovels, mining has to be done in 50-foot benches to keep the electric shovel working steadily. F

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MINING • FALL 2017, an October, 2017 publication of Winnemucca Publishing - 9

There are benches of both size in the two pits being actively mined at Marigold currently — Mackay Phase 2 and Mackay Phase 5.

Marigold needed more haul trucks to keep up with both the electric shovel and their existing hydraulic shovels, so they purchased some that formerly belonged to another mining operation in the state. “We were truck-dependent for our production,” Peck explained, “We had more loading capacity than hauling capacity.”

Purchasing the trucks from inside Nevada was a benefit because the mine received them very quickly.

Technology changes have supported an increase in efficiency for trucks, shovels, dozers and the mining process in general. “A few years ago we purchased the Modular Mining package,” Peck said. The dispatch technology links the equipment with pro-vision high-precision GPS. “We can give a plan to a dozer operator in his vehicle and, using the GPS, he will know how to build what we want — how high or low, wide enough etc,” Peck said. The MineCare Modular package monitors the condition of the equipment and signals a need for maintenance before the equipment breaks down. It monitors the temperatures and pressures of fluids within the equipment and evaluates overall performance using trend data that spotlights any potential problem areas.”

Equipment is monitored right down to the tires. A blow-out on a haul truck loaded with 320 tons of ore is something to be avoided at all costs, so tire wear is continually monitored, particularly when the tires reach their typical upper limit of about 6,000 hours on the job.

There is the kind of technology that supports the huge mining equipment and also different kinds of technology that come in smaller packages. One of those smaller packages is housed in a little trailer that sits at the top of both sides of the pit. A radar unit inside the trailer sends out a signal that bounces back for continual monitoring of any movement in the pit high-wall. The signals are compared from moment to moment and can show movement as small as one centimeter. The mine gets a daily report of cumulative movement and notification of any potential problem in stability so they can mitigate it by changing the pit design or putting up a berm.

An example of an even smaller piece of technology at Marigold is the drone used to survey the mine site. Drone use is common now but when a mine uses a drone, the requirements are very stringent.

“It’s not like an amateur thing,” Peck said. “We have to have an operator licensed by the FAA, and we’re required to clear the entire area prior to a drone flight.” Due to that requirement, Marigold’s drone flies during scheduled breaks or at lunchtime when employees are not out on the site.

Marigold doesn’t own the drone – it’s on a one-year lease with a company that maintains the drone and does all the data processing of the pictorial information it gathers. Rice explained,“The data is sent to a cloud; they’ll take all the pictures and stitch them together for us.

They do the contouring for a map and elevation calculations. We can take our contour information and put it together with new data that will tell us the exact amount of material moved, among other things.”

Marigold is not alone in using drone technology. Rice said most big open pit mines use drones now; they’re becoming an industry standard.

Other practical small adjustments don’t require high tech changes, like changing the tubes that spread process solution out over the leach field from traditional black tubing to clear. The black tubing gets very hot in the sun, which seems to cause the solution to form scale blockage that closes off the tubes. Rice said Marigold’s experimental replacement of black tubing with clear seems to be working.

The clear tubing is a little more expensive but so far he said they’ve been pleased with the results.

Once all possible efforts and adjustments have been made to have the best equipment, maintenance and technology in place to

In an effort to cut down on scale that forms and seals off the end of process solution drip lines, Marigold is trying out clear leach lines which keep the solution cooler than the traditional black plastic lines. improve efficiency and safety, the remaining piece of the puzzle is people. Finding really good people is a continuing challenge and Marigold puts considerable effort into developing employees.

Marigold continues to support Great Basin College’s Career and Technical Education Maintenance Training Cooperative (CTE-MTC) scholarship programs. Students who receive a CTE-MTC scholarship not only get a $5,000 scholarship to pay for a 48-week degree program, they have an opportunity for paid on-the-job work experience. Marigold supports scholarships each year in the areas of diesel technology, electrical technology, welding or instrumentation.

“It’s a great opportunity for young people and for our industry,” said Peck, adding, “they’re likely to stay.”

Marigold offers job opportunities to women too. Currently Peck estimated that women make up about 12 percent of Marigold’s workforce.

At the mine, Marigold’s job shadowing program continues, allowing an employee who works in one area of the mine to explore another job opportunity within Marigold. “They make an application and we schedule it,” said Peck. “They may come in on a day off and we’ll pay them overtime.”

Employees get the chance to see if they’d like to do something different — without leaving Marigold. “We probably get about five people a year who do job shadowing and consider shifting to another position within the mine,” Rice said. “We post jobs so they can see if there is an opportunity in another area. We do internal applications and interviews to give existing employees a chance at open positions.”

Those who choose a mining career are likely to find more job security and opportunity than ever before. “Marigold, as a core asset and the highest producing mine in SSR Mining’s ownership gets a great deal of support from the corporate office,” Peck said. “That helps you improve. It’s a great opportunity for young professionals and tradespeople to be able to work at improving the mining business.”

Marigold Mine will continue to work toward having the best equipment and technology available in every area to extend mine life, improve safety and job stability, while they contribute to area economies and offer some of the highest paying jobs available anywhere.

Whether it takes an electric rope shovel several stories high, a tiny drone, or an invisible radar signal to keep moving forward in this industry, Marigold, under SSR Mining, plans to continue to break new ground, literally and figuratively. F

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WLS

MINING • FALL 2017, an October, 2017 publication of Winnemucca Publishing - 11

Pershing County

Gold is extracted in carbon columns from the “pregnant” cyanide solution collected in a pond below the heap leach pad. Floating “bird balls” prevent migrating birds from landing on the toxic reservoir.

Florida Canyon Mine ramping up production Gold output exceeds expectations Story and photos by Debra Reid Winnemucca Publishing

Since it acquired the Florida Canyon Mine in July, 2016, the Rye Patch Gold Corporation has hit the ground running with the spring completion of new leach pad and the ongoing “ramp-up”of the mine. The gold produced since April from the South Heap Leach Pad has exceeded company expectations.

According to the leach pad ramp-up data published in August by Rye Patch Gold, 5.8 million tons of ore and waste had been mined, 2,275,903 tons of ore were crushed and 560,00 tons were stacked on the new leach pad at Florida Canyon in the six months that ended June 30. More than 7,075 ounces of gold doré and 5,603 ounces of silver doré extracted from the leached ore were sent for further refinement.

“Secondary leaching and new placement of ore is continuing on the Phase 1A portion of the pad. Since April, a total of 12,678 ounces of gold and silver doré have been poured,” according to Rye Patch Gold. “The doré is comprised of 7,075 ounces of gold and 5,603 ounces of silver.”

A rock truck is loaded with tons of gold ore at the Florida Canyon Mine. The ore was then crushed and later stacked on a heap leach pad where grains of gold and silver are extracted using a cyanide solution.

Gold from the leach pad exceeded the 5,567 ounces projected for the first three months of production.

“We continue to successfully ramp-up mine operations and the team is pleased with progress through the end of the second quarter,” William Howald, Rye Patch President and CEO said in July.

“Gold production in the second quarter exceeded the ramp-up plan by more than 1,500 ounces of gold and the mine is on track for third quarter 2017 commercial production.” F

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Expenditures for the time period totaled $18,894,685 while “incidental” gold revenue was $5,392,649 and incidental silver revenue was $52, 680. All of the Florida Canyon gold produced in a forward sales contract sold for $1,275 per ounce according to the quarterly report to federal securities regulators.

A crusher installed for the new leach pad has exceeded expectations by 20 to 40 percent by producing 1600 tons per hour of crushed ore for the new leach pad. Mined and processed ore grades are within five to 10 percent of expected tons and grades and a rebuilt kiln and acid wash plant have increased carbon plant efficiency according to Rye Patch Gold’s financial report for the second quarter of 2017.

To increase mine production, four used 120-ton capacity Caterpillar 785C trucks were purchased for $3.67 million but are still on the way from Australia after the shipment was delayed by the Texas hurricane.

The vehicles are in “excellent” shape and will increase the mine’s fleet from eleven to fifteen haul trucks. Mining has expanded to both the Jasperoid and Central pits so twelve more mine workers will be needed to drive trucks and haul ore, Florida Canyon General Manager Mike Iannacchione said.

Iannacchione said the mine now employs about 175 workers although applications are being accepted for the new truck driving jobs and to fill new vacancies due to attrition at the mine. Iannacchione was appointed as the new mine manager in July, 2017.

“During the quarter we welcomed Mike Iannacchione as the Florida Canyon mine manager who is leading the team through the final stages of ramp-up into commercial production,” Howald said.

Iannacchione is a University of Nevada

Florida Canyon Mine General Manager Mike Iannacchione shows the carbon that extracts gold from the “pregnant” cyanide solution after it was percolated through the ore stacked on a heap leach pad. mine engineering graduate with 30 years of mining experience including 25 years at the management level. Most recently, he was the Vice President General Manager for General Moly’s Mt. Hope Molybdenum Project in Eureka County.

There are two more planned phases of expansion at the Florida Canyon Mine with construction on the next leach pad expected to begin in 2019 or 2020, Iannacchione said.

New leach pads will be needed every two to three years to continue gold production at the mine, he added.

Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Rye Patch Gold Corp. is a “Nevada focused, Tier 1 precious metal mining company engaged in the mining, development and exploration of a 180 square kilo-

A network of pipes carry cyanide solution across the new heap leach pad at Florida Canyon Mine. The liquid carries gold out of the layers of ore stacked up to 300 feet high before a new leach pad is needed.

14 - MINING • FALL 2017, an October, 2017 publication of Winnemucca Publishing

meter land package along the prospective Oreana trend in west central Nevada.”

Along with the operations at Florida Canyon, the company is exploring its options and the potential resurrection of other old gold mines in the Oreana trend including those at Lincoln Hill and Wilco.

In June, the company sold 38,470,000 common shares at $0.26 each for gross proceeds of $10,002,200.

According to a Rye Patch Gold statement, proceeds of the offering will be used “for continued expansion of the Florida Canyon Mine, additional haulage equipment, resource development, exploration drilling and working capital.”

In May, 2017, Coeur Rochester, Inc. agreed to pay $5 million for Rye Patch Gold’s 3.4 percent net smelter return royalties on the sale of gold and silver from Rochester Mine. A 2013 agreement gave Coeur the first right of refusal if Rye Patch Gold decided to sell the Rochester Mine royalties.

The agreement settled a legal dispute between Rye Patch and Coeur over unpatented lode mining claims in the Rochester Mine and Packard Mine areas. It required Coeur to pay $10 million in cash to Rye Patch, transfer upon request to Rye Patch the Blue Bird patented lode mining claim adjacent to Lincoln Hill and the net smelter returns production royalty payments on gold from the Rochester Mine.

“The $5 million purchase price brings approximately one year’s worth of royalty payments forward,” Howald said in May. “With the Rochester royalty ending in 2018, it seemed prudent to have the cash now and available as we ramp up our mining operation at Florida Canyon.” F

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High desert alchemy

Cyanide leaching turns raw ore into gold Story and photos by Shanna Cummings Winnemucca Publishing

The objective of modern gold mining isn’t finding and exploiting that mythical mother lode with pick ax and pan. Today, gold mining methods have expanded to find and release the gold trapped in lower grade ores. Leaching is one method of doing so.

Leaching uses a series of chemical reactions to release gold from ore so it can be collected and formed into bars.

It’s a thoroughly scientific process that, until the very end, doesn’t look like it involves gold at all. One could almost call it alchemy.

Leaching is one of the most cost-effective methods of separating gold from ore. A ton of ore costs from $1.50 to $4 to leach, compared to using an oxide mill ($4 - $12 per ton), or a refractory mill ($20 – $40 per ton). Leaching yields approximately .10 ounce per ton.

“It’s very cheap, but you have to have the recovery, and that’s where a lot of testing occurs, to make sure we can actually get the gold with standard leaching processes,” Twin Creeks Chief Metallurgist Greg Thies explained.

Finding the right ore

“There are very few purely oxide deposits left in the world. They’re out there, but they are becoming less and less common” Thies said.

More often, gold is trapped in ore with minerals like carbon that negate the leaching process, making the leaching reagent less effective. Metallurgists have to make sure that the ore dumped on the leach pad will easily release the gold it contains through the leach solution.

Twin Creeks mine has oxide and refractory deposits. Determining where

The Mega Pit at Newmont’s Twin Creeks Mine includes oxide (lighter) and refractory (darker) ores. The type and grade of ore determines how the mine processes it.

“Gold is usually associated with the cracks,” Tony Hernandez explains. The leach reagent percolates through the cracks and pores of the ore, bonding with the gold.

to take the ore – to the leach pad, the oxide mill or the refractory mill – is a complex process.

“It all starts with ore control and drilling,” explained Peter Johnson, manager of environmental compliance at Twin Creeks.

Drill cuttings from the site go to a lab for testing. Oxide ore that doesn’t meet specs for the oxide mill but still contains a significant amount of gold will go to the leach pad.

Once metallurgists have determined that a section of ore qualifies for leaching, computer modeling based on statistics determine the size of the ore body. Blasting loosens the ore, which is taken to the leach pad.

Building the pad

Construction of the leach pad itself requires consideration of various factors, including topography and climate, to ensure optimum efficiency, as well as

16 - MINING • FALL 2017, an October, 2017 publication of Winnemucca Publishing

environmental safety. “[The leach pad] is designed and developed and built as a zero discharge facility,” Johnson said, meaning no water or solution from the leach process gets discharged into the environment.

Equipment slopes the ground to make sure the solution drains toward a certain point, then a clay layer is added. A liner of 80-mil textured high-density polyethylene (HDPE) covers the clay, then the construction crew fuses the seams and checks them with air to find and repair leaks. A protective layer and draining layer cover the HDPE membrane. Finally, the ore is placed, creating a base lift 300 x 300ft or 600 x 600ft wide and 25 ft. high.

Engineers oversee every phase of the building process.

Leaching

Once the ore has been placed and leveled on the pad, workers create a net of emitting tubes over the top to distribute the cyanide solution. Newmont predominantly uses a drip method in order to minimize evaporation. As the reagent percolates through the ore, the gold molecules in the F

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MINING • FALL 2017, an October, 2017 publication of Winnemucca Publishing - 17

ore bond with the cyanide in the solution.

The trick of using cyanide is proportion. The ore at Twin Creeks doesn’t require a high concentration of cyanide to release its gold.

And since cyanide is not only dangerous, but expensive, the solution contains only enough cyanide to reach an optimal release of gold.

Any higher concentration would waste money and create unreasonable risk for workers.

The solution takes around 60 days to filter through the ore and the drain layers. The liquid that runs off the bottom of the pad is called pregnant solution, meaning it bears gold. Pipes transport the pregnant solution to a receiving pond where it awaits the next step of the process. On its way to the pond, the solution flows through a flume where workers check cyanide and pH levels, gold content and flow rate.

Because the drain layer of the pad clarifies the solution, what flows through the flume looks crystal clear. A casual observer would never guess that it contained significant amounts of gold.

According to Johnson, “you can’t see our gold here.”

From the receiving pond, called a preg pond, the pregnant solution goes to the stair-stepped Carbon-In-Column tanks. Pregnant solution runs in an up flow pattern through the coconut shell carbon in the tank. It’s a variation on the same process used by typical water filters.

By the time the solution runs through the last tank, the carbon filters have absorbed all of the gold, and the solution, now barren, or free of gold, moves on to the barren solution pond. From there,

Leach solution emitting tubes lay across the top of the pad, dripping reagent onto the ore. it receives an injection of cyanide in the pipe to return it to desired concentration before it arrives back at the top of the leach pad to start the cycle over again. Every bit of the cyanide solution remains in the leach pad loop system.

From the Carbon-In-Column tanks, the gold and carbon are added to water again, and that solution is sent to a strip circuit to separate the gold from the carbon, a process called electrowinning.

This step involves plated cells. In the strip circuit a combination of high temperature (300 degrees) and pressure (70 psig) causes the carbon to release the gold. Then the gold is plated on to cells in the electrowinning process. In some cases, zinc is added to facilitate the process. What is left is a kind of “heavy mud” attached to the plates.

This mud is pressure washed from the plates, then put through a filter press to remove the water. The resulting cakes are run through retorts to dry them further and remove any mercury. They are then sent to a large electric crucible, where the heat separates the gold from the slag. The slag is poured off, and the gold is formed into bars. The buyer decides if the gold requires further refining elsewhere.

After about 120 days, another layer of ore is added to the leach pad, as well as piping and tubing. With the addition of each layer of ore, the cyanide solution percolates through all of the previous layers.

Drain Down and Closure

Pregnant solution runs through a flume, where leach pad technicians take samples to monitor cyanide levels, gold content, pH levels, and flow rate. The solution that runs off the pad is crystal clear because of the drain layers at the base of the pad.

Leach pads eventually run out of gold. When the level of gold derived from a pad reaches a certain low, or if a pad has reached a terminal height (depending on its base), the closing process begins.

First, some exploratory drilling. The cyanide solution doesn’t permeate the ore in a uniform manner. It creates channels of least resistance, or preferential channeling, leaving some sections of ore unexposed to the reagent. Once those areas have released their gold, the lines that previously distributed cyanide solution recirculate water until the runoff from the pad reaches a trickle. This can take five to six years. The pad is then graded and shaped to look as much like a natural landform as possible. The whole leach pad is then capped with top soil and seeded with native plants and grasses.

The ponds that used to collect the solution are converted to evaporation ponds, or evapotranspiration ponds using rocks and plants to help evaporate the water and break down the cyanide.F

18 - MINING • FALL 2017, an October, 2017 publication of Winnemucca Publishing

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“When you think about it, what is the foundation of cyanide?”

Johnson asked. “Carbon and nitrogen. So it’s really good fertilizer.

Once it’s broken down, things will grow on it.”

The concentration of cyanide used on the leach pads at Twin Creeks is fairly low. Grasses will grow on the sides of older tiers of a leach pad even as the new tiers receive the cyanide solution. The first leach pad a visitor sees at Twin Creeks is in its initial stages of closure and grasses already cover it even without the cap of topsoil.

Above, the Carbon-In-Column tanks use carbon filters to remove the gold from the pregnant solution. Below, grasses grow naturally on the side of the leach pad even before the leach pad is closed down and capped with topsoil.

Environmental safety Nevertheless, cyanide has no place in a water supply. Past hazards have shown how dangerous a badly-maintained leach process can be.

In 1993 at the Zortman-Landusky mine in Montana, a heavy storm caused acid rock drainage from a leach pad to run into the nearby town of Zortman. A subsequent investigation revealed that arsenic, lead and acids had seeped into the environment as well, contaminating the soil and the water supply. Previous attempts to rectify the problems that eventually led to the contamination hadn’t worked.

Events like those at the Zortman-Landusky mine have led to extensive precautions at Twin Creeks.

Leak detection ports all over the leach pad are checked on a daily basis. Quarterly reports on the leak detection ports are sent to the State. Monitoring wells allow techs to check the groundwater for traces of cyanide. The whole process is audited on a regular basis as well. Fences surround the ponds to keep wildlife out, and bird balls help prevent evaporation in the ponds.

“Everything that falls on the leach pad stays in the leach process,” Johnson explained, including rainwater and snow melt. Nevada’s low precipitation helps to keep the amount of excess water

on a leach site low. Still, nature is unpredictable, and the mine is responsible for the safety of the environment, even when nature acts up. According to Tony Martinez, leach process operations supervisor, the leach process at Twin Creeks is designed to handle a 24-hour power outage and 100-year storm event combined.

Hundreds of years ago, alchemists, predecessors to modern chemists, searched for the way to transmute lead into gold. While Twin Creeks doesn’t produce gold where no gold previously existed, to the untrained eye, what they do might seem like magic. F

20 - MINING • FALL 2017, an October, 2017 publication of Winnemucca Publishing

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Lander County

The Bonanza Pit and tailing storage areas of Newmont’s Phoenix Mine are visible from this overlook.

Safety paramount at Newmont’s Phoenix Mine

Greater Phoenix Project plans to double the size of the Lander County mine Story and photos by Travis Masterson Winnemucca Publishing

Newmont’s Phoenix Mine is located in Lander County, approximately 12 miles southwest of Battle Mountain. There, they pull gold, copper and silver from the earth by the ton. When dealing with such bulk, safety is paramount.

Newmont owns or controls approximately 2.6 million acres of land in Nevada. Phoenix Mine produced approximately 209,000 ounces of gold and 42 million pounds of copper ore in 2016. The site holds an open pit mine and the only copper leach project in the state of Nevada.

Safety is paramount for the workforce and the company has implemented several policies to maintain the safety of the property.

This includes requiring employees to change the habits they learned in driver’s ed and asking them to drive on the left side of the road.

Newmont employees Joe Caro and David Braun after fixing a broken pipeline off the mill. Newmont works to keep mine workers safe by making everyone accountable.

This rule is important for the site’s 846,000-pound haul trucks. The simple safety technique provides the large trucks with improved visibility.

Employees are accountable for each other’s safety at the mine, Phoenix General Manager Mark Evatz explained. “Safety is F

22 - MINING • FALL 2017, an October, 2017 publication of Winnemucca Publishing

MINING • FALL 2017, an October, 2017 publication of Winnemucca Publishing - 23

absolutely the foundation on how we run our business. Slip, trip and fall hazards are one of the things that get us, year in and year out. The misnomer is, mining is not a dangerous industry — but it is an industry with significant hazards.”

Newmont employee Mike Proctor expanded on safety at the mine, saying, “If we aren’t set up for success then we just won’t do the work.”

Each North American Newmont mine site has mine rescue teams on site, which are ready to respond to many different types of emergencies. The teams are composed of highly skilled miners, equipment operators, mechanics, electricians and others who bring significant work experience to their roles on the response teams. These teams test their preparedness, skills and speed against industry peers in mine rescue competitions across the country.

Newmont haul truck driver and equipment operator Ken Fisher stated, “Newmont is an excellent company, it’s probably the best company I have worked for.

I have been in this field for 20 years and it’s safe here.”

Expansion plans for Phoenix

The mine also plans to expand in the future with a project named the “Greater Phoenix Project.” The project is expected to double the size of the mine. Newmont is working directly with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on the expan-

Above is the Fortitude Pit at the Newmont Phoenix mine. Below Newmont employees Paul Montenegro and Kathy Rhoades monitor the flotation system in the mill at the Phoenix mine.

sion project and is looking into how to improve the environment in concurrence with mine development.

The currently permitted mine disturbance includes approximately 8,165 acres. This includes 3,150 acres of public land managed by the BLM’s Mount Lewis Field Office.

The remainder of the disturbance is on land privately owned by Newmont Mining Corporation. The Greater Phoenix Project proposes to increase the area encompassed by the Phoenix Mine Plan boundary to 18,839

24 - MINING • FALL 2017, an October, 2017 publication of Winnemucca Publishing

acres, of which, 10,132 acres would be on public land managed by the BLM. The project, should all permitting be granted, is expected to extend Phoenix’s mine life from 2040 to 2063. Additionally, Newmont expects to expand the copper heap leach and the tailings storage facilities and develop an additional alluvium borrow area.

Phoenix is home to one of the largest milling operations in North America. To recover the precious metals, haul trucks begin by dumping ore into crushers. F

MINING • FALL 2017, an October, 2017 publication of Winnemucca Publishing - 25

The primary crusher reduces the ore to less than six inches in diameter, and the secondary crusher further reduces the size to less than two inches.

From there, the ore is moved to the Semi Autogeneous Grinding (SAG) mill and then two ball mills.

The SAG and ball mills reduce the ore particle size to roughly 105 microns, which Newmont says, ‘is the optimum size for gold and copper.’ For reference, ore particles at this stage are about a tenth the size of a millimeter.

The material is then sent through a flotation system. The flotation circuit produces a final product containing 15 percent to 20 percent copper. There is also a small amount of gold and silver in the product.

Another way Phoenix recovers gold and silver is through the gravity circuit and leaching process. Currently, the mill takes in 34,000 to 42,000 tons of ore a day. The mill is available 93 percent of the time and recovers 78 percent of the gold, 42 percent of the silver, and 72 percent of the copper that makes its way through the system.

The copper leach facility at the mine is unique and currently the only such facility in Nevada. In the leaching process, the copper ore is placed on a geosynthetically-lined pad and leached with a diluted sulfuric acid solution, in order to dissolve the copper. The copper is stripped from the hydrocarbons in the ore using stronger acid solutions. The process binds the copper directly onto stainless steel cathodes, resulting in a pure copper sheet. The sheets are then stacked and zip-tied down to transport to buyers.

Construction of the copper leach facility was completed in 2013 and is one of the newest additions to the mine. Newmont’s Phoenix Mine plans to take the right steps forward with workplace safety, environmental safety and mine productivity. Each element of this progression requires accountability from each employee on the property. Evatz explained, “Accountability sustains profitability.” Newmont would like to continue the profitability they have shown in the past well into the future. F

At left abvoe, Newmont employee Benjamin Montez spraying off the excess acid from the copper sheets. At right above, Process Operator Elisha Orr stacking the copper sheets and taking the sample out of the plating.

Above, the flotation system to recover the copper, gold and silver at the Newmont Phoenix Mine. Below, the Semi Autogeneous Grinding (SAG) mill at the Newmont Phoenix Mine.

26 - MINING • FALL 2017, an October, 2017 publication of Winnemucca Publishing

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Pershing County

Coeur Rochester assay lab employees got together for a potluck lunch during a recent workday. From left to right are Annie Olsen, Liza Mitchell, Jodie Bilaski, Bea Lee, Carla Derowitsch (lab supervisor), Debbi Romo, Stephan Cholico, Rhoda Spahan and Dan Whitt.

Coeur lab fired up about assay Story and photos by Peggy Jones Winnemucca Publishing

Ever since they first plumbed the Earth for treasure, miners have gazed at their ore with wonder.

Does this rock contain precious metal?

If so, how much?

Should I explore this area further or move down the road?

Over the centuries, they found one substance that revealed the clearest answers to their questions – fire. Combined with a handful of other ingredients, it never lied to them.

To this day, the fire assay method remains the gold standard for revealing the amount of precious metal in ore.

The men and women of Coeur’s lab use fire assay to give the company an idea of what lies beneath their grounds.

Overview

Coeur Rochester, the open pit silver and gold mine 28 miles northeast of Lovelock, employs about 300 people and 30 – 40 regular contractors. About 60 percent of the workforce lives in Pershing County. Another 25 – 30 percent call Winnemucca home. The rest commute from Fallon, Fernley, and Reno. F

Travis Howard, Process Metallurgist, discussed the fire assay method. Fire assay predates recorded history and many of the systems created by Agricola during the Renaissance are fundamentally the same as today.

28 - MINING • SPRING 2017, an April, 2017 publication of Winnemucca Publishing

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Three decades after its 1986 opening, the mine bustles with activity around the clock.

Generations of families work side by side; father and son, mother and daughter.

The mine shut down from 2007 – 2010 due to falling reserves and metal prices. But it bounced back.

Dana Sue Kimbal is Coeur’s environmental manager.

“No matter what you do whether you’re a geologist, metallurgist, truck driver, or refiner, we’re all miners here,” she says. That includes the men and women of the lab.

They mine for tiny beads of precious metal, no bigger than the heads of pins.

In June 2017, Coeur poured its 150 millionth ounce of silver. They invited a group of contractors, regulators, and legislators to witness the pour. Adding to their excitement, Coeur got the go-ahead to proceed with their multimillion-dollar expansion. It will add several years to the life of the mine.

The assay lab provided answers every step of the way.

Coeur’s assayers

Travis Howard is a Process Metallurgist.

He recently discussed the art and science of fire assay.

Howard keeps a picture of his wife and baby on a bookshelf in his office. Another shelf holds a copy of “De Re Metallica (1556)” by Georgius Agricola (1494-1555), the father of mineralogy, a German.

Howard opens the book to a woodcut. It shows a man seated before a blast furnace.

Clouds of smoke billow across the page as he places a crucible over a flame – one of the final steps in a long process.

First, he crushed a sample of ore to a fine powder. He mixed it with several ingredients, including lead oxide. Next, he poured the mixture into crucibles, melting pots created for hot chemical reactions. Hopeful, he threw the works into the oven’s jaw.

Heat and chemistry combined to reduce lead oxide to lead, which grabbed onto the gold and silver. The conglomeration sank to the bottom of the crucible. A glassy green waste product rose to the top for disposal.

A further treatment, cupellation, oxidized and removed the lead from the tangle of metal. Finally, a few drops of nitric acid unlocked gold from silver, leaving a pure bead of the sought-after metal for analysis.

Finally, he’d get answers to his questions.

Fire assay predates recorded history.

Archaeologists trace its origin to Asia Minor around 2600 B.C. Moses refers to the process in the Old Testament.

After Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, assayers in France and England wrote about their occupation. Over

Above, Lab supervisor Carla Derowitsch and Dan Whitt pour lead from crucibles into pour bars.

At right, Annie Olsen pours pulp from the pulverizer into sample bags. time, the method spread to the rest of Europe.

Howard pulls another book from the shelf – A Textbook of Fire Assay (1940) by Edward E. Bugby. The lab’s chemistry complies with traditions outlined in the first half of the 20th century, he explains. And those traditions sprang from ideas documented by Agricola during the Renaissance.

“The process is essentially the same today,” he said.

Outside Howard’s office, a handful of people assay ore for Coeur Rochester. Soft rock plays on the radio. The staff wears jeans. Today they celebrate a coworker’s birthday and anticipate a potluck lunch.

They’ll say goodbye to their summer intern, Stephan Cholico. Another longtime colleague leaves on a new adventure.

“We are a small group,” said Carla Derowitsch, lab supervisor.

“We have to be able to fill in for each other. And people like variety.

That’s why I train everyone in all steps of the process.”

“First, the surveyors bring us samples from the blast,” she said.

“We take a cut so we can perform

30 - MINING • FALL 2017, an October, 2017 publication of Winnemucca Publishing

our assay. We number each sample in sequence all through the process.”

Advancements in material handling and measurement have affected the assay lab without changing its core of practices. The man in the woodcut smashed his ore into manageable chunks with a hammer. He pounded it into a fine powder.

Later, explosives did the job.

On a recent workday, Annie Olsen poured rock into the pulverizer. A machine crushed it to the desired consistency.

Olsen poured the pulp into sequentially numbered envelopes. “Now the samples are ready to go to the wet lab,” said Derowitsch. In another room, she and Debi Romo mixed the samples with a flux of powdered lead oxide, soda ash, borax, flour, and silica. F

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The flux combines with the crushed rock to reduce its melting point, Derowitsch explained.

The base metals oxidize into a slag. The precious metals remain apart.

“This is where it all begins,” said Derowitsch as she and Romo completed the step. “From here we weigh the pulp into crucibles and place the samples in a 1950 degree furnace.”

On a recent workday, Derowitsch and Dan Whitt poured. A red-hot flame burned in each oven. The pair wore safety equipment including respirators and gloves up to their elbows. They handled the crucibles with tongs.

After about 45 minutes, the slag floated to the top of each crucible. The droplets of lead collected precious metal and plummeted to the bottom.

Derowitsch and Whitt tipped each sample into a mold. They poured their product into pour bars.

“From here we pound the buttons out of the bars and cupel them at 1850 degrees for about an hour,” she continued.

The cupelation step sepa-

rates the precious metal from the lead which melts and oxidizes. The cupel absorbs lead into its pores. Fire consumes the rest.

What the miners are after is the bead sitting on the floor of the cupel.

The staff treats the object with four drops of nitric acid to dissolve out the silver from the gold. After they weigh and analyze the beads, they’ll have their answers.

In hiring lab personnel, Derowitsch says she looks for a willingness to learn.

“That’s the most important trait here,” she said. Training for the multi-step process is entirely on the job, she explains.

The assay lab is a critical link in the silver and gold chain at Coeur Rochester. Without it, the mine would have no roadmap.

A. H. Scott, Lovelock’s village assayer

The men and women at Coeur’s lab stand on the shoulders of giants. Andrew Humboldt (A.H.) Scott served as Lovelock’s “village assayer” for At top, Andrew Humboldt (A.H) Scott served as Lovelock’s “village assayer” from about 1912 until the mid-nineteen fifties, when he padlocked his assay office. At left below is the office building Scott created in the early part of the 20th century. The building was moved to the Marzen House Museum grounds and is part of their mining display. over 40 years. He built his assay office with his bare hands. It may be one of the oldest buildings in Lovelock, Nevada.

Migrants from Rochester, New York, found gold in the canyon in the early 1860s. They named the place after their hometown.

The village boomed when miners struck silver ore in 1912. But bust quickly followed.

“Scotty” built his assay office during Rochester’s early years.

When the bust came, he moved the two-room wooden building to Lovelock, behind the old bank building near the depot.

Scott and his wife, Lalla, a writer, lived nearby. Lalla Scott met Sarah Winnemucca and wrote a book about Paiute life. She started to write her husband’s biography but died before she got very far.

Except for his war service, ‘Scotty’ manned his assay office until the mid- nineteen fifties, when he padlocked the door. When Scott died in 1967, his widow found it piled to the ceiling with newspapers, magazines, telegrams and maps.

The City of Lovelock moved the building again, this time to the grounds of the Marzen House museum.

Scotty’s equipment stands ready. It looks as if he could walk in at any moment to mix chemicals and perform a fire assay. F

32 - MINING • FALL 2017, an October, 2017 publication of Winnemucca Publishing

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Regional News

Comstock, Kinross, Newmont earn Excellence in Mine Reclamation Awards CARSON CITY, Nev – The Nevada Excellence in Mine Reclamation Awards for 2017 were presented on Sept. 9 at the annual Nevada Mining Association Convention in South Lake Tahoe.

Four awards were presented this year: Comstock Mining, Inc. received an award for Abandoned Mine Lands Hazard Mitigation for their work in rebuilding of State Route 342 and reclamation of historic mine features near Gold Hill in the historic Comstock District in Storey County.

Kinross Bald Mountain Mine received an award for Concurrent Reclamation and Wildlife Habitat Restoration for their work in mine site reclamation and mule deer migration corridor in White Pine County.

Newmont Mining Corporation received an award for Leadership in Conservation Planning for their work in developing the Conservation Framework Agreement, which covers 1.5 million acres of sage grouse habitat in northern Nevada.

Newmont Exploration received an award for Concurrent Exploration Reclamation for their work at the Chevas and High Desert exploration projects in Elko County.

“These operators are to be commended for their efforts to improve practices for mine reclamation, wildlife protection and habitat enhancement, said Rich Perry, Administrator of the Nevada Division of Minerals. “By sharing their designs and successes with other mine operators, the Nevada Mining and Exploration industries continue to lead the Nation in successful reclamation and environmental protection practices.”

This is the 26th year of the Nevada Excellence in Mine Reclamation Awards. The awards committee consists of representatives from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, the Nevada Department of Wildlife, Bureau of Land Management, the United States Forest Service and the Division of Minerals. In order to receive an award, the Committee must unanimously vote that the submission or nomination is above and beyond what is mandated, and is a worthy example to share with others in the industry. For more information about submitting an entry or nominating an entity for the award, visit the Division of Minerals web site at minerals.nv.gov. F

Abandoned Mine Lands and Hazards Category: Comstock Mining won this award for their repair and reconstruction of State Route 342 and historic mining structures in Story County.

Current Reclamation and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Category: Kinross Bald Mountain Mine won this award for their Mule Deer Migration Corridor and Concurrent Reclamation project in White Pine County.

Leadership in Conservation Planning Category: Newmont Mining Corporation’s Conservation Framework Agreement which affects Elko, Eureka, Humboldt, Lander and and Pershing Counties won this award.

Concurrent Exploration Reclamation Category: Newmont Exploration won this award for their Chevas and High Desert Exploration Concurrent Reclamation project in Elko County.

36 - MINING • FALL 2017, an October, 2017 publication of Winnemucca Publishing

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MINING • FALL 2017, an October, 2017 publication of Winnemucca Publishing - 37

Nevada Mining Association presents 2017 Safety Awards Honorees represent industry-wide commitment to safe mining operations RENO, Nev. – The Nevada Mining Association (NvMA) is proud to honor the recipients of the of the 2017 Mine Safety Awards. The individual beneficiaries were honored in a ceremony at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe Saturday Sept. 9. These prestigious accolades were awarded as part of the organization’s ongoing commitment to fostering safety in mine operations throughout the state and honoring those who go above and beyond expectations to ensure workers return home safely after every shift.

“Safety continues to be the number one priority for Nevada mining companies and employees,” said Dana Bennett, NvMA president. “We received an unprecedented number of individual nominations and will also be presenting several awards to operators with zero reportable injuries in 2016. NvMA is thrilled to give thanks to and recognize the hard working men and women who continue to dedicate themselves to making mining one of the safest industries in our great state.”

The NvMA Safety Awards are given annually to both mine operators and individual mining employees in several categories. Data for the 2017 awards is based on performance in the 2016 calendar year.

This year 30 awards were given to mine operators and 42 awards were presented to individual employees. Photos from the event can be found here.

Operator awards are given to the top three mines in designated categories based on their safety rating, which is calculated by a formula that factors the number of employees on site, number of man hours for that year with penalties for lost-time accidents, number of reportable incidents, and lost-time days. Individual awards are selected based on nominations only, and those nominations are judged on both the personal safety record of the individual and that person’s involvement in advocating safety in the workplace.

The 2017 Mine Operator Safety Award went to Rye Patch Gold, Florida Canyon Mine

The full list of NVMA 2017 Safety Award winners can be found below:

Individual Safety Awards

General Manager: Keith Jones – Small Mine Development

Safety Manager: Tim Burns – Newmont Mining Corporation, Carlin

Safety Professional: Tammie Neff – Barrick Nevada, Cortez Dallas Archibald – JR Simplot Company Allison Jensen – Newmont Mining Corporation Mine Manager: Tony Carroll, Barrick Nevada, Cortez Don Wilhite, Newmont Mining Corporation, Twin Creeks Superintendent: John McCurry – Barrick Nevada, Cortez U/G Jesse Madrid – Coeur Mining, Rochester Scott Olsen – Kinross Gold Corporation, Bald Mountain General Supervisor/Middle Management: Kevin Boswell - Barrick Nevada, Cortez U/G Mike McKinnon - Newmont Mining Corporation, Twin Creeks Lee Johnson – Barrick Nevada, Goldstrike Process Henry Follman – Klondex Gold and Silver, Midas

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38 - MINING • FALL 2017, an October, 2017 publication of Winnemucca Publishing

Supervisor (Tier 1): Kellie Primeaux – Atlas Copco Marvin Cummings – Barrick Nevada, Goldstrike Process Loren Cooney – Coeur Mining, Rochester John Hobbs – Kinross Gold Corporation, Bald Mountain Chris York – Klondex Gold and Silver, Fire Creek Christopher Vedis – Newmont Mining Corp., South Area Supervisor (Tier 2): Pete Quintana – KGHM, Robinson Tammy Elkins – Kinross Gold Corporation, Round Mountain Juan Noriega – Kinross Gold Corporation, Bald Mountain Ernesto Manzo – Newmont Mining Corporation, Twin Creeks Trainer: Mark Hurlbert – KGHM, Robinson James Browning – Silver Standard Resources, Marigold Emergency Response: FeLisha Haslem – KGHM, Robinson Pete Kuhn – Silver Standard Resources, Marigold

A 2017 Safety Champion Award was presented to Annette Schumacher of Coeur Rochester Mine

Safety Champion Eric Caudill – Barrick Nevada, Goldstrike Surface Rodney Roberts – Barrick Nevada, Cortez – Process Chelsey Jackson – Barrick Nevada, Cortez U/G Jason Krotts – Barrick Nevada, Cortez U/G Annette Schumacher – Coeur Mining, Rochester Axel Lopez – EP Minerals, Lovelock Operations Lonnie Bales – Klondex Gold and Silver Mining, Midas Tristan Stengel – Klondex Gold and Silver, Fire Creek Clemente Gomez – Klondex Gold and Silver, Hollister Pamela Ward – Newmont Mining Corporation, Twin Creeks Andrew Richey – Newmont Mining Corporation, Twin Creeks Kenneth Braaten – Newmont Mining Corporation, Leeville Darren Coats – Newmont Mining Corporation, Leeville Ernesto Gomez – Silver Standard Resources, Marigold

Mine Operators Safety Awards Surface Operations:

Large – 300+ employees First: Newmont Mining Corporation, South Area Second: Newmont Mining Corporation, Phoenix Third: Kinross Gold Corporation, Round Mountain

A 2017 Safety Champion Award was presented to Ernesto Gomez of SRR - Marigold Mine Medium – 100-299 employees First: Coeur Mining, Rochester Second: Barrick Nevada, Arturo Third: Newmont Mining Corporation, Imigrant

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MINING • FALL 2017, an October, 2017 publication of Winnemucca Publishing - 39

Mining safety awards, continued — Small – 20-99 employees

First: Rye Patch Gold, Florida Canyon First: MDW Pan, Pan Mine First: Jerritt Canyon Gold, Enfield Bell Mine

Underground Operations:

Large – 300+ employees First: Barrick Nevada, Cortez Underground Second: Newmont Mining Corporation, Leeville Third: Barrick Turquoise Ridge

Medium – 100-299 employees

First: Klondex Gold and Silver Mining, Midas Second: Newmont Mining Corporation, Exodus Third: Small Mine Development, SSX

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About the Nevada Mining Association

The Nevada Mining Association is comprised of operating mining companies; exploration companies; suppliers of industry equipment, goods and services, counselors and consultants; and individuals interested in sustaining the industry. The Nevada Mining Association’s objective is to maintain a business and operating environment that fosters exploration, development and production of minerals in Nevada using safe and environmentally conscious methods. For more information, visit www.nevadamining.org.

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MINING • FALL 2017, an October, 2017 publication of Winnemucca Publishing - 41

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