MINING QUARTERLY FALL 2011

PUBLISHED BY THE ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS

QQUARTERLYUARTERLYFall 2011

Adella Harding/photo

Mining goldAt Marigold

ELKO — How high will gold prices go? The gold price topped $1,800 an ounce

in August and was heading toward the$1,900 barrier — at least on the days whenthe economic news looked grim andstocks were falling.

When market investments other thanthe precious metal lose money,the gold price shines as in-vestors turn to gold as a safehaven.

This glittering range of highprices is attracting more com-panies to drill for gold in Nevadaand opening new options forgold producers.

I remember writing headlinesand stories about the excite-ment when gold topped $400 anounce, after the downturn thathit a low of $255.95 an ounce onApril 2, 2001, according to the Kitco.comcharts for the London P.M. fix price.

The climb in gold prices from that lowto current highs is catching everyone’sattention.

Gold prices have more than doubledsince the recession hit in late 2007.

The World Gold Council’s new GoldDemand Trends predicts that because ofthe impact of the European sovereign debtcrisis, the downgrading of U.S. debt,inflationary pressures and the still-fragileoutlook for economic growth in the West,high demand for gold as an investmentwill continue.

John Dobra, director of the NaturalResource Industry Institute and an asso-ciate economics professor at the Uni-versity of Nevada, Reno, writes about thegold price in his column inside thisMining Quarterly.

Higher prices for silver and copper alsoare making a difference, and articlesinside the quarterly look at silver andcopper operations.

The good gold prices caught the atten-tion of Nevada legislators earlier this yearwhen they were trying to figure out ways tobring Nevada out of the red ink, but manyof them hadn’t ever seen a gold mine.

In hopes of teaching people more aboutthe industry, the Nevada Mining Asso-ciation planned a half dozen or so minetours for big city residents, legislators andbasically anyone interested in learningmore about mining.

“Mine tours are going very well. Theyare really a positive part of outreach. Iwish we could bring all Nevadans out toshow them what mines are doing,” saidNevada Mining Association PresidentTim Crowley. “If they don’t live near amine or in mining country, they don’t

know how sophisticated we are.”High gold prices also mean gold

producers are eyeing ore thatwasn’t high enough grade to minewhen prices were in the doldrums.Mine managers talking about theiroperations say the gold price isadding life to Nevada mines.

Articles about mine expansionsand new mines are inside, such asNewmont Mining Corp.’s Emi-grant Project under construction,Newmont’s Exodus undergroundmine now in production and

Barrick Gold Corp.’s Goldstrike Mine’splans to mine Arturo.

Allied Nevada Gold Corp.’s HycroftMine west of Winnemucca is gearing upfor more gold and silver mining, andYukon-Nevada Gold Corp. is planning toreopen the SSX-Steer underground minesoon. Articles about these mines also areinside this Mining Quarterly.

Of course, all the growth means themines need more qualified people, and allof the mines are recruiting, especially formine engineers.

Updates on employment are included inarticles about mining operations, andthere is an article about how the miningcompanies hire summer interns withmining-related majors in hopes they willcome back to the mines once they havetheir degrees.

The mines also provide summer jobs forthe dependents of their employees to helpthe students earn money for college.

On the exploration front, the number ofcompanies drilling or hoping to drill inNevada continues to grow. Although Icouldn’t write about all of them, I puttogether a look at where a number of thecompanies are exploring, and that articleis in this edition of the Mining Quarterly.

———————Adella Harding is editor of the Mining

Quarterly and mining editor for the ElkoDaily Free Press. Mining news is on theelkodaily.com website. Her email addressis [email protected].

FALL 2011 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 1

— INSIDE —GOLDSTRIKE MINE

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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

AdellaHarding

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2 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada FALL 2011

Mining is under way in Phase E at theRound Mountain Mine open pit inthis Aug. 9 photo. This is one of fourphases crews are mining in the pit atthe same time this year.

Adella HardingMining Quarterly

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ROUND MOUNTAIN — Round Moun-tain Gold Corp. is taking a serious look atanother pit expansion where the admin-istrative offices are now,and the high goldprice is an incentive for such a project.

“We’ve officially started investigatingwhat we call the Deep Northwest. It’s rightwhere we are sitting,” Round MountainGeneral Manager Randy Burggraff said inan interview in his office.

He said drilling is under way on thepossible expansion, as well as hydrologywork and high wall geotechnical work forDeep Northwest. Three exploration dril-ling rigs were on site in August.

The investigation also includes lookingat the economics of the project for oper-ator Kinross Gold Corp., which owns 50percent of Round Mountain Mine.Barrick

Gold Corp. owns the other half of theoperation in Nye County.

“The challenge for the corporation isbetting on a comfortable gold price. If thecorporation believes the price will stayup, there is a tremendous amount of golddown there,” Burggraff said.

The project would entail a “tremen-dous amount of stripping off the top,”however, to reach the gold, he said.

There also may be an opportunity to gounderground for the higher grades whilethe stripping would be under way at DeepNorthwest, Burggraff said.

“At these prices it’s really a motivationto study it,” Round Mountain OperationsManager Bruce Thieking said.

The gold price is in the record range of$1,800 to $1,900 an ounce.

Burggraff said Deep Northwest could

Round Mountain eyesDeep NorDeep Nor thwthw eses tt

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See ROUND, page 3

add 10 years to the mine life that nowextends to 2019, commenting that themine has been in a “perpetual shutdownphase for 30 years.We’ve been constantlyable to extend the mine life.”

Along with relocation of the adminis-tration building, the proposed projectwould mean relocation of the truck shopand medical clinic, and water storageponds would have to be rebuilt, Burggraffsaid.

Environmental Manager Gina Myerssaid the project would require U.S.Bureauof Land Management permitting, andRound Mountain and the BLM have“really good communication that mayminimize the time it takes” for per ap-proval.

Deep Northwest isn’t that far along,however.

“We are doing internal scoping.We arejust hopeful right now,”Myers said.

Current expansionDeep Northwest would be another

relocation project for Round MountainGold Corp., which has crushers and con-veyors to make room for expansions,mostrecently for Phase H.

Deep Northwest is well into the future,if the partners decide to do it, but RoundMountain plans to begin producing gold

out of the new Gold Hill open pit to thenorth in the first quarter of 2012 whilealso expanding the Round Mountain Pit.

“Gold Hill is exciting, getting it openedup, and Deep Northwest has huge poten-tial and is very exciting,” Burggraff said inAugust.

As part of the current expansion pro-ject, crews are mining deeper into the pitand working on the Phase H layback, themine plans to start the Fairview area inSeptember and will start mining Gold Hillin October.

“We will be in all four expansion areasby the end of the year, and we will bemining all at the same time,” Burggraffsaid.

All the mining in the new areas won’tshow in added gold production in the nearterm, however.

“That will maintain production. Infact, production will drop off a little bit in2012 by 25,000 to 50,000 ounces to morelike 300,000 to 320,000 ounces,” he said.

The drop in production will be becauseof all the stripping of waste material toreach the gold zones,but “production willpick up to more normal rates in 2013 for acouple of years.”

Kinross reported in August that RoundMountain produced 47,151 ounces of gold


Round ...Continued from page 2

Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyThis conveyor system at the Round Mountain Mine in Nye County is in operation after relocationand new construction to make room for the expanding open pit.

See ROUND, page 4


in the second quarter for its 50 percentshare, up slightly from 46,927 ounces inthe 2010 quarter.

Total cost of sales was $739 per ouncein the 2011 quarter, up from $546 perounce last year.

Burggraff said the price of commodi-ties, especially diesel, has gone up, as hasthe cost of cyanide and the cost of explo-sives for blasting,but he expects the mineto be on budget by year’s end.

Round Mountain has slightly morethan 800 employees and expected 200contractors on site by the end of August,putting the total on site at more than1,000, again.

Burggraff said the number of people onsite was at more than 1,000 much of theyear but dropped back when the earth-work and road-building for Gold Hill wasfinished,but the contracts hadn’t been letfor the next phase at Gold Hill.

He anticipated 150 contractors will beat Gold Hill.The other 50 are full-time onsite, including those working for Cash-man Equipment, which has a shop at themine. Intermountain Electric also haspermanent employees on site.

Gold HillPlans call for mining Gold Hill as a sat-

ellite of Round Mountain, but Gold Hillwill have its own leach pad, process facil-ities and waste dump.

Burggraff said there will be moreexploration and drilling as mining isunder way, but he doesn’t anticipate anyadditional discoveries.

“Gold Hill is pretty much a finitedeposit,” he said.

Work is slated to begin in September onthe process plant and maintenance facili-ties, and ore will be mined beginning inOctober with the first production oncethe ore is processed.

All the ore is oxide and will go to theleach pad,with the majority to be run-of-mine, but Thieking said there will be acrusher at Gold Hill.

Run-of-mine ore is placed directlyfrom the pit to the leach pad. Crushingcosts more but provides better goldrecovery.

“As the gold price goes up, we’releaning toward more crushing,” Thiekingsaid.

Burggraff estimated Gold Hill’s devel-opment is a $50 million project.

Myers said there will be a small amount


See ROUND, page 5

A rebuilt and re-painted P&H elec-tric shovel with a26-yard bucketdrops a load ofmaterial into thebed of a 250-tonCaterpillar haultruck on Aug. 9 inthe Phase H push-back of RoundMountain Mine’sexpanding open pit.


Bruce Thieking, oper-ations manager at theRound Mountain Mine,stands above the newGold Hill site. Theroad is complete andthe earthwork donefor the waste-rockfacility, leach pad andpit. The leach pad isthe cleared area inthe center back-ground and behindthat area is where thenew pit will be devel-oped.


of dewatering at Gold Hill, but not in thebeginning, and there will pit lake whenmining ends. The water will be goodenough quality, however, so the pit lakewon’t require treatment.

Equipment for Gold Hill will comefrom the current fleet, which includes 20250-ton Caterpillar haul trucks and 20others that are 200-ton or 150-ton.While Round Mountain added two newhaul trucks early this year, Burggraff saidCashman Equipment “does a great jobfor us” keeping the older trucks in opera-tion.

With all of the projects in progress,Myers said there isn’t much new recla-mation work, but the mine does concur-rent reclamation whenever possible.

“Right now, we are in a growth phase.We really optimize and use our land effi-ciently and minimize disturbance,” shesaid.

Round Mountain townRound Mountain still is a company

town, although not in the full sense of acompany town in earlier times. RoundMountain Gold owns the grocery store,the nine-hole golf course and child-carecenter, along with roughly 75 houses.

“The company bought eight newhouses, and we plan another half dozennext year,” Burggraff said.

“Part of Deep Northwest will be look-ing at housing. We maintaining now, butit is tight,” he said.

Round Mountain’s human resourcesmanager, Denise Carver, said the mine’sremote location is a huge issue whenrecruiting for workers, but the advan-tages are the people and the outdooractivities.

“The best thing is to find the best fitbecause some people love it,” she said.

Las Vegas, Reno and Elko are eachroughly three and a half to four hoursaway.Tonopah is 50 miles to the south.

“Our biggest need now is technicalpeople,” Carver said, especially miningengineers.

Round Mountain has its own four-yearelectrician apprentice program on sitethrough Great Basin College, and themine is part of the Maintenance TrainingCooperative that sends students to GBCfor technical courses, she said.

The mine had 19 college interns inmining-related fields this summer aspart of its recruiting effort, as well.

“We hope to groom the interns,and theywill come back full-time,”Carver said.

“I like it at Round Mountain.The peopleare friendly,” said Jarrett Kemmerly, asenior at the University of Nevada, Reno,majoring in mining engineering.

Kinross productionRound Mountain is one of three gold

mines Kinross operates in North Amer-ica,and total North American productionin the second quarter was 171,115 ounces,compared with 183,660 ounces in the2010 quarter.

Fort Knox in Alaska produced 77,727ounces in the quarter, down from 86,270ounces in the 2010 quarter, and KettleRiver-Buckhorn in Washington pro-duced 46,237 ounces, down from 50,463ounces last year.

According to the Kinross earningsreport,Fort Knox’s cost of sales was $678per ounce in the quarter, up from $637last year, while Kettle River’s cost of saleswas $403 per ounce, up from $307 in the2010 quarter.

Companywide, Toronto-based Kin-ross produced a record 676,245 goldequivalent ounces, 26 percent higherthan the 538,270 ounces produced in the2010 quarter.

Production cost of sales was $576 pergold equivalent ounce, up from $494 perounce in the 2010 quarter.

Kinross stated that much of the in-

crease was due to additional productionfrom Kupol in Russia because the com-pany increased its ownership to 100 per-cent on April 27 and from West African

operations acquired Sept. 17, 2010.The company stated that it remains on

track to produce between 2.6 million and2.7 million ounces this year.



Nola Richard-son weighsblast-holesamples onAug. 9 in thelaboratory atthe RoundMountainMine, operat-ed by KinrossGold Corp. inNye County.


Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyDrillers Todd and Tony Cahill and Seth Black work on a National reverse-circulation rig on Aug. 9at the Round Mountain Mine in Nye County.


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CARLIN — “At this gold price, there isa lot going on,” said Randy Buffington,general manager of Barrick Gold Corp.’sGoldstrike Mine north of Carlin.

The gold price in the range of $1,800 to$1,900 an ounce means Goldstrike andall gold producers can look at lower-grade ore that wouldn’t be mined atlower prices.

“It doesn’t change the number ofounces but it extends the life of mines.Goldstrike is no different. Goldstrike isan incredible deposit, but there are defi-nitely more opportunities both open pitand underground, more so under-ground,” Buffington said.

For the open-pit operations, Gold-strike is looking at the planned ArturoProject at the nearby Dee site to keepBarrick employees and mine equipmentbusy well into the future, while miningalso will continue at the huge Betze Pit.

Refractory ore from Arturo that won’tbe processed on a planned leach pad willbe processed at Goldstrike, and Buf-fington said moving Goldstrike equip-ment and people to Arturo makes sense.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Manage-ment’s Elko District is completing a draftenvironmental impact statement onArturo, which is in Elko County.

The BLM expects to release the draftEIS by October, according to JaniceStadelman at the Elko office.

“We hope to start construction towardthe end of 2012,” Buffington said.

Arturo is a joint venture, with Barrickas the operator and 60 percent ownerand Goldcorp Inc. as the 40 percentowner. Goldcorp owns the reclaimed DeeMine after acquiring Glamis Gold, andBarrick already mines at Dee with theStorm underground operation.

Buffington said that for Goldstrike“Arturo will be just an extension of ourmining operations. Goldstrike really hastaken on the face of a regional facility.”

Processing oreGoldstrike is processing more and

more ore from other Barrick operationsin Nevada, he said. The Cortez Mine inLander County sends refractory ore bytruck to Goldstrike for processing, andthe Ruby Hill Mine near Eureka issending truckloads of ore to Goldstrike.The Turquoise Ridge Mine in HumboldtCounty sends ore to Goldstrike on occa-

sion, as well.Goldstrike’s ability to process ores at

its roaster or autoclave facilities from theother mines means more gold productionfor the other mines and extending pro-cessing jobs at Goldstrike, Buffingtonsaid in an Aug. 17 interview.

“Goldstrike has processed over 1 mil-lion ounces of toll ore,” he said.

That’s on top of the more than 37 mil-lion ounces of gold Goldstrike has pouredover the years from its own operations.

“Adding the toll ore, Goldstrike isabout 50,000 ounces short of 40 millionounces,” Buffington said. “It don’t thinkthere has ever been a mine like this. Westill continue to kick out world-classounces, and there are a lot of years ofmining and processing left at Goldstrike.”

According to Barrick’s second-quarterearnings report, the Goldstrike Mine

� � � # $ " � � � ) # $ � � � ) � � # ) � � � � � ) ! ! " $ % � � $ � � #

Ross Andreson/Mining QuarterlyJoe Riney, information systems administrator for the Nevada Mining Association, takes a photograph of Barrick Gold Corp.’s giant Betze Pit at theGoldstrike Mine north of Carlin on June 30 while helping host a mine tour group from Reno.

Ross Andreson/Mining QuarterlyThe Goldstrike Mine north of Carlin processes gold ore in the roaster facility from the operationson site and Barrick Gold Corp.’s Cortez and Ruby Hill mines in Nevada.See BARRICK, page 7

produced 299,000 ounces of gold in thequarter, up slightly from 297,000 ouncesin the 2010 quarter, while total cash costswere down slightly to $511 per ouncefrom $517 per ounce in the secondquarter of last year.

The toll ore all comes from Barrickmines.Buffington said the facilities don’thave the capacity now to handle ore fromother companies.

Goldstrike will be increasing capacity,however, at the autoclave mill, whereBarrick had shut down all but one auto-clave train when gold prices were lowerand there wasn’t as much ore to processin the autoclaves.

“When we shut back the autoclaveoperations, it was definitely a differentgold price, but we have really brightpeople and will invest in the autoclavesand have them fully staffed and operatingfor years,” Buffington said.

He said Goldstrike just commissionedthe first mercury controls at the auto-claves that use a new technology devel-oped at Goldstrike.

Work is under way to rebuild and

refurbish the autoclaves, and that workwill continue into next year, according toBuffington.

Barrick will need the full capacity ofthe autoclaves if the company goes

through with plans for a large pit atTurquoise Ridge,which is producing goldonly from underground operations, saidLou Schack, manager of communica-tions and community affairs for Barrick

Gold of North America.“If we do, it will be the largest open pit

in Nevada, twice the size of Goldstrike,”


The North Postportal, top left, andthe Betze Portal inBarrick GoldCorp.’s Betze Pit atGoldstrike Minenorth of Carlin,connect with theRodeo end ofBarrick GoldCorp.’s under-ground MeikleMine. Meikle andRodeo also haveshafts leadingunderground.

Ross AndresonMining Quarterly

Barrick ...Continued from page 6

See BARRICK, page 8

Barrick Gold of North America PresidentGreg Lang said during a presentation inElko in early August.

He said at that time Barrick is lookingat a rail line from Turquoise Ridge toCortez and Goldstrike.

“We move a lot of material aroundNevada,” Lang said.

Goldstrike also includes the under-ground Meikle Mine that takes in theRodeo and North Post, and Buffingtonsaid the cost profile for Meikle is “betterthan ever” because of the efficiency ofthe miners. The cost per ton of hoistedore is still roughly $100 even with higherprices for steel, concrete and fuel inrecent years.

Banshee DepositMeikle is now moving into the Banshee

Deposit to the north, he said.Buffington said a new vent raise is

under construction for Banshee and toprovide additional ventilation at thenorth end of the mine, and he expectedthe project to be completed in 120 daysfrom Aug. 17. J.S. Redpath is doing the

work at Banshee.“Redpath has really become part of the

mine,” Buffington said.Redpath also is the contract miner on

Storm, which has its portals in the Dee

Pit, and he said he expects Storm to con-tinue to the end of 2012, now that crewsadded reserves. The plan had been tomine through the end of this year.

“We’d like to keep the crews mining

there,” Buffington said.The Arturo Project that will deepen

and widen the Dee Pit will also at some


Russ Osborne,operations superin-tendent at BarrickGold Corp.’s under-ground Meikle Minenorth of Carlin,explains the meshand bolting systemused for groundstability to a tourgroup sponsored bythe Nevada MiningAssociation.



See BARRICK, page 9

point take out the Storm portals.Goldstrike also plans a couple of other

projects next year, the construction of anew tailings dam and construction of itsfirst paste backfill plant.

The paste backfill is a mixture of flyash, tailings and concrete and willreplace the cemented backfill currentlyused underground.

Buffington said the paste will bepumped underground and mean moreconvenience for the miners and fewertrucks.

Tailings are what remains after ore isprocessed and reusing the tailings into abackfill that goes underground is “proventechnology that just hasn’t been used inNevada,” Buffington said.

He said Goldstrike gave a presentationto Great Basin Mine Watch on the pastebackfill project, and the environmentalorganization “was excited about theproject. It’s good to have that confirma-tion.”

The paste plant will be at the end of thetailings line, and Buffington said therewill be a tails recovery plant for any goldstill remaining.

He said next year will be one ofGoldstrike’s bigger years when it comesto projects and the number of contractorslikely to be on site, and he estimatedBarrick will be spending $350 million to

$400 million at Goldstrike.

Adding employeesWith all the mining and processing

planned, Buffington said Goldstrike willhave more than 1,700 employees nextyear, but it is tough to find enoughpeople, especially underground.

He said there are roughly 590 peopleworking underground, and the plan is toreach 650 people by next year.

“We will be expanding at Goldstrikethrough all divisions next year, startingwith the autoclaves and open pit,”Buffington said.

Goldstrike lost some of its experiencedpeople to the Pueblo Viejo Project in theDominican Republic, where Barrickneeds them to bring that project intoproduction, Schack said.

Buffington said there are peoplewilling to move to Elko but can’t becausethey live in places where their homeshave lost so much value they can’t sellthem to relocate. A tight rental marketalso contributes to the problem.

“While we have a lot of jobs, it isharder and harder to recruit because theharder it is for people to move,” he said.

Barrick is financing the new RabbitBrush Run Apartments under construc-tion on Mountain City Highway to help


Ross Andreson/Mining QuarterlyKeith Testerman, senior mine geologist for Barrick Gold Corp.’s Betze Pit operations at theGoldstrike Mine north of Carlin, talks on June 30 about mine operations during a Nevada MiningAssociation-sponsored tour. He said the pit is growing to the north-northwest.


See BARRICK, page 10

with the housing crunch, Schack said.Along with all the mining and projects

planned, Goldstrike continues to doexploration drilling and drilling to con-vert resources into gold reserves. Buf-fington said there is usually an average offive rigs on site.

North American regionThere are nine operating mines and

two major projects that fall under theumbrella of Barrick Gold of NorthAmerica, Lang told 100 Barrick summerinterns at the Elko Convention Center inearly August.

“Barrick is far and away the largestgold producer, and Barrick North Amer-ica is about the fifth largest,” he said.

The mines include Goldstrike,Cortez,Turquoise Ridge, Ruby Hill, Bald Moun-tain in White Pine County, the RoundMountain Mine in Nye County,Marigoldin Humboldt County, Golden Sunlight inMontana and Hemlo in Canada.

Lang said Sunlight was “pretty muchon its last legs” when Barrick acquiredthe mine in the acquisition of Placer

Dome a few years ago, but a pit expan-sion has been under way the past threeyears.

“We should get our money back in thefirst year of operation,” Lang said.“There are certainly opportunities toadd to the reserves there.”

The projects are Pueblo Viejo andDonlin Gold in Alaska that Lang said is a“huge undeveloped gold deposit of 40million ounces. It could be a mine likeCortez and Goldstrike.”

Barrick expects to put Pueblo Viejointo production in mid-2012.The projectwas hit with a recent setback because offlooding in May.

“It’s a big facility in a part of theworld with not a lot of mining experi-ence,” Lang said. “We will be rotatingleast 100 people to provide the expertisethat doesn’t exist in the Dominican Re-public.”

Pueblo Viejo is a joint venture withGoldcorp. Barrick is the operator andowns 60 percent. Goldcorp is the 40percent owner of the project that isexpected to have a mine life of morethan 25 years.

The feasibility study on Donlin Gold isexpected to be completed in the fourthquarter and permitting to begin nextyear, according to Lang. He said Donlinwould be a surface operation 300 miles

from Anchorage in a 50-50 joint venturewith Nova Gold.

“It’s a few years out,” Lang said.


Ross Andreson/Mining QuarterlyRuss Osborne, operations superintendent for Barrick Gold Corp.’s underground Meikle Mine,points out a loader during a Nevada Mining Association-sponsored tour. The June 30 tour wasone of a half dozen the association arranged during the summer season at Nevada mines toacquaint people with the industry.


See BARRICK, page 11


Production figuresThe North American region’s produc-

tion was ahead of expectations, accordingto Barrick’s report, providing 902,000ounces in the second quarter.

Cortez contributed the most gold pro-duction in the second quarter, 419,000ounces, up from 294,000 ounces in thesecond quarter of last year, and total cashcosts were down to $220 per ounce from$234 per ounce in the 2010 quarter.

Round Mountain Mine provided46,000 ounces of gold in the secondquarter to Barrick for its 50 percentinterest in the mine operated by partnerKinross Gold Corp. The mine produced45,000 ounces in the 2010 quarter forBarrick. Total cash costs were $634 perounce in the 2011 quarter, compared with$611 per ounce last year.

The Bald Mountain Mine produced16,000 ounces at a total cash cost of $496per ounce, compared with 13,000 ouncesat a cost of $717 an ounce last year,according to Barrick.

Marigold produced 13,000 ounces at$722 per ounce for Barrick’s one-third

share, up from 8,000 ounces last year,when the total cash cost was $167 perounce.Goldcorp owns the remaining two-thirds of Marigold and is the operator.

The Ruby Hill Mine produced 34,000ounces at a total cash cost of $272 perounce, compared with 12,000 ounces at$715 per ounce last year, the Barrick reportshows.

The Turquoise Ridge underground mineproduced 29,000 ounces for Barrick’s 75percent share in the 2011 quarter at a totalcash cost of $618 per ounce, comparedwith 31,000 ounces at $595 per ounce lastyear. Newmont Mining Corp. owns 25percent of Turquoise Ridge.

Outside of Nevada, Barrick is growingwith the acquisition of Equinox Mineralsin July, which brings new copper produc-tion to Barrick from the Lumwana Mine inZambia and a project in Saudi Arabia.

Barrick continues to estimate gold pro-duction of 7.6 million to 8 million ouncesthis year and between 455 million and 475million pounds of copper, including fromLumwana.

Companywide, Barrick’s gold produc-tion rose to 1.98 million ounces in the

quarter, compared with 1.94 millionounces in the 2010 quarter.

Total cash costs were $445 per ounce inthis year’s quarter, compared with totalcash costs of $401 last year, according tothe second-quarter earnings report.

Barrick earningsToronto-based Barrick announced a 35

percent increase in net earnings in thesecond quarter, attributing the rise tohigher gold and copper prices.

Net earnings totaled $1.2 billion, or$1.16 per share, up from $859 million, or87 cents per share, in the 2010 quarter,while adjusted net earnings were at $1.1billion, or $1.12 per share, up 36 percentfrom the $824 million, or 84 cents pershare, profit in the 2010 quarter.

The average realized gold price in thesecond quarter was $1,513 per ounce. Theaverage realized price in the 2010 quarterwas $1,205 an ounce.

The average spot copper price was $4.14per pound in the quarter, up from $3.18last year, and the average realized pricewas $4.07 in the 2011 quarter and $2.93per pound last year, according to Barrick.

Ross Andreson/Mining QuarterlyA P&H electric shovel fills a haul truck asanother haul truck heads out in the Betze Pitat Barrick Gold Corp.’s Goldstrike Mine northof Carlin.



Barrick Gold Corp.’sRuby Hill Mine openpit in Eureka Countyhas steeper wallsthan most goldmines because ofthe quality of theground.


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EUREKA — Visitors to Barrick Gold Corp.’sRuby Hill Mine in Eureka County had to stay intheir vehicles one August day as lightningflashed nearby.

Barrick has a new lightning detection andwarning system at all its operations, and RubyHill had spotted 111 strikes within a 20-mileradius of the gold mine, including strikeswithin five miles of the mine.

At five miles, warnings sound, and mineemployees have to stay in their vehicles orinside buildings until the all-clear.

“Safety is still the No. 1 priority here. Weadded the new lightning detection system toprotect employees and contractors,” said RubyHill General Manager Andy Cole. “All Barrickmines have installed this system.”

He said no one is allowed outside during alightning warning, but the equipment opera-tors can continue working, if they keep theirwindows closed, he said.

Barrick Gold of North America President

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See RUBY HILL, 13


Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyCaterpillar haul trucks sit on the ready line at Barrick Gold Corp.’s Ruby Hill Mine near Eureka as their drivers end a 10-hour shift. The trucks arerefueled and lubricated before the second 10-hour shift begins.

Ruby Hill ...Continued from page 12

See RUBY HILL, page 14

Greg Lang said lightning struck andkilled a worker roughly four years ago atthe Pueblo Viejo Project in the Dom-inican Republic while the man was sit-ting under a tree. Barrick and 40 percentpartner Goldcorp Inc. are developingPueblo Viejo and expect to go into pro-duction by mid-year 2012.

Mining at Ruby HillAt Ruby Hill, mining is under way in

Phase 7 in the open pit, and the currentmining is yielding sulfide ore that isstockpiled and then sent to Barrick’sGoldstrike Mine north of Carlin for pro-cessing in the roaster or the autoclaves,Cole said.

“We will do this really up to the end ofthe year,” he said.

Capurro Trucking hauls the ore toGoldstrike, and Cole said roughly 30trucks a day are leaving the site with thesulfide ore that is “higher grade andbetter recovery” than the oxide ore also


Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyBarrick Gold Corp.’s Ruby Hill Mine general manager, Andy Cole, stands in front of a conveyor system at the gold mine near Eureka. The conveyortakes gold ore to the leach pad.



mined at Ruby Hill.“We’re shipping six days a week now.

Capurro is doing a fantastic job,” Colesaid.

Crews also were mining oxide in earlyAugust and work has started on Phase 8of the pit.

Cole said Phase 7 mining will be overby the end of October, and the majorstripping phase on Phase 8 will begin inOctober “so we won’t be in ore until2012. Initially, it will be oxide and in 2013we will be back to sulfide and will mineboth sulfide and oxide.”

The oxide ores are placed on the leachpad at Ruby Hill for processing, but thesulfide ores need the heat to release thegold, which requires roasting or theautoclave process.

“Ruby Hill has always been in an orephase, then a stripping phase so it’s diffi-cult to compare us from year to year,”Cole said.

The Ruby Hill Mine produced 34,000


Melanie Law-son, a commu-nity relationsrepresentativefor Barrick Goldof North Amer-ica, looks out inearly August atthe new Phase8 of Barrick’sRuby Hill Minenear the townof Eureka.




ounces of gold at a total cash cost of $272per ounce in the second quarter, com-pared with 12,000 ounces at $715 perounce in the 2010 quarter, according toBarrick Gold’s earnings report.

The mine also has filed a plan of oper-ations amendment with the U.S Bureauof Land Management’s Battle Mountainoffice to address the continued trans-portation of ore to Goldstrike after 2012and development of a small step out ofthe open pit, Cole said.

He was hopeful the BLM would kickoff the National Environmental PolicyAct process in September and that theamendment can be done with an envi-ronmental assessment.

Exploration continues at Ruby Hill,and Cole said the focus is on stepping outat the East Archimedes Pit in hopes ofexpanding gold reserves.The mine life asof last year is to mine to 2015 and processore for several years after mining ends.

The reserves totaled 750,000 ouncesof gold when Homestake Mining Co.

poured the first gold from Ruby Hill in 1997, but the mine cele-brated 1 million ounces of gold production in 2009.

“It’s well on its way to 1.25 million ounces,” Cole said in earlyAugust.

“We’re a small operation but very viable, and we have greatcosts,” he said.

Barrick acquired Homestake in 2001, stopped mining in thefall of 2002 when gold prices plummeted and later reopened themine, with the first gold pour of the second opening in February2007.

The mine near the town of Eureka has a little more than 130employees, and Ruby Hill’s 60 housing units in the town are full.

When it comes to reclamation, Ruby Hill has finished the eastwaste dump and seeded it last fall, but Cole said the mine won’tuse any goats this year on the dump.

The goats might be back next year, however, to pound in theseed, he said.

The mine leased roughly 400 goats in the fall of 2009 and2010.

Historic Ruby HillRuby Hill is a guardian of remnants of historic mining on

property Barrick owns in the vicinity of the modern mine, andCole pointed to a protected dump pile on site during a tour.

The Holly Shaft and a metal building are fenced while a


Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyThe old Holly Shaft is a reminder of how long there has been mining in the Eureka area. In the background are newwaste-rock dumps for Barrick Gold Corp.’s Ruby Hill operations. The remnants of historic mining are on privateBarrick land. “Barrick over the years has done a pretty good job of mitigating abandoned mines,” said Andy Cole,Ruby Hill’s general manager.




Adrianna Torresof Brighton, Colo.,a student at theColorado Schoolof Mines, works atan atomic absorp-tion unit in thelaboratory at Bar-rick Gold Corp.’sRuby Hill Minenear Eureka. Shewas a summerintern at themine.



modern-day waste dump is nearby. TheT.L. Shaft also is preserved in the RubyHill Mining District.

“Barrick over the years has done apretty good job of mitigating abandonedmines,”Cole said.

He also said Ruby Hill stays involvedwith the community, recently sponsoringa 5K run, sponsoring a new scoreboard forthe new football field at Eureka HighSchool and meeting with the communityadvisory board.

The mine also helped sponsor theNational Night Out event and has do-nated to the Eureka swimming pool andclimbing wall.

Ruby Hill sponsored five summer stu-dents who were headed for Great BasinCollege in the fall under Barrick scholar-ships for mining-related technologystudies. Four of the Eureka High Schoolgraduates worked at Ruby Hill and one atBarrick’s Bald Mountain Mine.

Ruby Hill also had four summerinterns from universities, two in metal-lurgy, one in mining engineering and onein industrial hygiene.


Matt Murray, left,senior externalcommunicationsrepresentative forNewmont MiningCorp., and RockyPray, Newmont’sproject managerfor the EmigrantProject, look overthe future loca-tion of a series ofEmigrant openpits. The BoartLongyear drillingrig “is right on theeastern edge ofthe pit area,” Praysaid on Aug. 10.


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CARLIN — Newmont Mining Corp. expects to bemining at the Emigrant Project in mid-2012 as con-struction continues at the site roughly 10 miles southof Carlin.

“Newmont is real excited to get the permits, bringthe operation on line and see new opportunities forour workforce, as well as creating jobs,” said RockyPray, project manager for Emigrant.

“At start-up, there will be 120 people, and we willramp up to 145 people,” he said. “We’re actuallyhiring right now to begin training.”

Workers will be a mix of seasoned workers and newhires, and Pray said there is “quite a level of interestalready” from Newmont workers interested in movingto Emigrant.

The Emigrant operation will be a series of eightsmall open pits, with each one to be backfilled as themining progresses, and all the ore will be placed on aleach pad and processed on site.

“It’s pretty straightforward,” Pray said.“The initial development pit will be to the north,

and the mine plan will be to work to the west,” hesaid.

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See EMIGRANT, page 19

Brian Hill, Newmont’s executivevice president of operations, said in ateleconference on the company’ssecond-quarter earnings report thatEmigrant is expected to produce80,000 ounces of gold a year.

Along with the mining, Newmontwill be creating a permanent streamchannel that will remain as a post-reclamation feature and was one of theU.S. Bureau of Land Management’srequirements for the project.

The mine life is expected to be eightto 10 years, and the processing of orefrom the leach pads will continueanother four to six years, the BLMdocument states.

New leach padThe leach pad is under construc-

tion, with High Mark Constructiondoing the earthwork and ComancoEnvironmental Corp. installing theliner, and the process ponds also wereunder development in August.

“The leach pad is designed for threephases of construction, and it will

hold 100 million tons of ore over itslife,” Pray said.

He said mining will move 150 mil-lion to 180 million tons of materialover the mine life with annual miningof 16 million to 18 million tons, withroughly 10 million tons of ore a yeargoing to the leach pad.

“The ore is pretty close to the sur-face so there isn’t a requirement formuch pre-stripping,” Pray said.

There were three drill rigs on site inmid-August, two of them working ondefinition of gold reserves and oneworking on a water well.

Newmont hadn’t yet let the contractin mid-August for the mechanical andelectrical work, construction of aprocess plant and construction of anew wash bay.

Pray said there were between 40 and50 contractors on site in mid-August,but he expected the project to ramp upto 80 contractors.

Newmont is developing Emigrantwith cost savings in mind.


Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyRocky Pray, manager of Newmont Mining Corp.’s Emigrant Project, points to the map showingthe location of a new leach pad and a planned series of open pits at the site south of Carlin.

Emigrant ...Continued from page 18



Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyHigh Mark Construction prepares a leach pad site for Newmont Mining Corp.’s Emigrant Project south of Carlin. In the background isthe portion of pad liner in place on Aug. 9 on the site. Comanco Environmental Corp. is installing the liner.



“This is a brownfield operation building off pre-vious mining,” Pray said.

Using Rain facilitiesThe company is reusing the facilities remaining at

the nearby shutdown Rain Mine, including the truckshop.

Pray said offices will be remodeled at the truckshop.

Emigrant workers will report in at the Rain site,now called Emigrant, while the truck ready line willbe about two miles from the offices and shop.

The process workers will report to the carbon-in-leach process plant yet to be built about three milesfrom Rain, an open-pit and underground operationin reclamation.

“Everything sits east of Rain,” Pray said.The process plant will have two trains and a

capacity of about 8,000 gallons per minute, andthere also will be a carbon-handling facility, he said.The carbon will be refined into gold bars at the GoldQuarry Mine north of Carlin.

The entire process area, including the leach pad,is fenced. Lamoille Fencing did the work.

Newmont plans to use seven Caterpillar haul




trucks from the company’s current fleetat Nevada operations.

“We will use 150-ton haul trucks.We’rerebuilding these trucks, as well as ahydraulic shovel and wheel loader,” Praysaid.

Along with the mining, Newmont willbe creating a permanent stream channelthat will remain as a post-reclamationfeature and was one of the BLM’s require-ments for the project.

The channel will go into the high wall ofthe pit area.

Emigrant may appear now to be asmall, straightforward project, but thepermitting time for the project was longerthan most.Newmont ended up doing twoenvironmental impact statements on theproject, the first starting in 2004.

The rewrite started in 2008 and theBLM released the final EIS last Decemberand project approval in late January.

The main issue was with waste rockcharacterization, according to the BLM.

Newmont projectsEmigrant will be the newest of

Newmont’s Nevada surface mines, butthe company’s new Exodus undergroundmine went into production in the secondquarter, and another underground minecalled Pete Bajo will be in productionsoon. Both are north of Carlin.

Also, Newmont expects to increasegold production with the recent resump-tion of mining at Gold Quarry aftermediation of a giant slide in the pit, andNewmont stated in its earnings reportthat copper production will increase withthe new copper leach project at thePhoenix Mine near Battle Mountain.

The BLM’s Battle Mountain District isworking on a draft supplemental envi-ronmental impact statement on thecopper project.

“The BLM and Newmont are finalizingbaseline documents used to support theenvironmental analysis. The draft SEISshould be issued within the next two tothree months,” said Dave Davis, theproject leader for the BLM on the copperproject that will involve leaching copperores that aren’t processed now.

The copper project will add 20 millionto 25 million pounds of new copper pro-duction a year starting in mid-2013, Hillsaid.

He also said in the teleconference that

Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyMatt Murray, left, senior external communications representative for Newmont Mining Corp., talks with Faran Main, Newmont’s safety managerfor the company’s Emigrant Project, at the site of the project’s new leach pad. In the background, project manager Rocky Pray, left, talks withDerek Sikes, an external communications representative. High Mark Construction is doing the earthwork and Comanco is installing the liner.

Newmont MiningCorp.’s processponds for theEmigrant Projectsouth of Carlinare shown underconstruction Aug.10, with HighMark Construc-tion doing theearthwork.


a second mill at Phoenix is an option.Newmont also is looking at the Buffalo

Valley Project near Phoenix, but the BLMhasn’t started the permitting process,according to Tessa Teems at the BattleMountain BLM.

Newmont additionally plans theGenesis Project north of Carlin thatreceived BLM approval in May.

The BLM record of decision states thatroughly 687 people will be employed atGenesis.

A Newmont fact sheet on Genesisstates that Newmont will mine 60 mil-lion tons of gold ore and 455 million tonsof waste rock over the project’s life.

The Genesis Project includes ex-panding the existing Genesis open pit,backfilling the Bluestar and Beast pitsthen partially backfilling the Genesis pitas mining progresses over a 12-year minelife and expansion of two waste dumps.

Newmont also plans to develop a newpit called Bluestar Ridge at Genesis.

Hill also said in the teleconference thatNewmont expects permits later this yearfor the Vista 7 layback at the Twin CreeksMine in Humboldt County, and this minewill produce 600,000 ounces over fouror five years.

The BLM’s Winnemucca office re-leased the environmental assessment forVista 7 in early August, and the deadlinefor comments is Sept. 6.

The Long Canyon Project in ElkoCounty also offers potential. The com-pany has completed 65,617 feet of explo-ration drilling since acquiring LongCanyon in its purchase of Fronteer Goldin April.

Hill said “our extension drilling pro-gram continues to highlight growthpotential.”

Newmont productionCompanywide, Newmont produced

1.23 million ounces of gold in the secondquarter, compared with 1.3 millionounces of gold in the 2010 quarter.Copper production of 44 million poundswas down 45 percent from the 2010quarter.

Gold costs applicable to sales were$583 per ounce and $1.34 per pound inthe quarter.

Newmont President and Chief Exec-utive Officer Richard O’Brien said thecompany’s outlook for 2011 productionremains the same at between 5.1 millionand 5.3 million ounces of gold andbetween 190 million and 220 million

pounds of copper.Nevada’s production in the second

quarter totaled 357,000 ounces of goldat a cost applicable to sales of $636 perounce, up 9 percent over last year due tolower production and higher dieselprices, partially offset by higher by-product credits.

Nevada produced 420,000 ounces ofgold at cost of $584 per ounce in the2010 quarter.

Newmont’s main projects for thefuture outside Nevada include theConga in Peru and the Tanami ShaftProject in Australia that the company’sboard recently approved.

The Conga Project is expected tobegin production in late 2014 or early2015 and produce 300,000 to 350,000ounces of gold per year and 80 million to120 million pounds of copper for New-

mont. Newmont’s partner for Conga isBuenaventura.

The shaft project is expected to gointo production in late 2014 or early2015 and add between 60,000 and90,000 ounces of gold to Tanamiproduction each year, according toNewmont.

The company expects to invest up to$2.9 billion for these two projects com-bined.

Newmont’s net income from contin-uing operations rose 37 percent in thesecond quarter to $523 million, or $1.06per share, boosted by higher gold andcopper prices.

The attributable net income for thequarter ending June 30 compares with$382 million, or 78 cents per share, inthe 2010 quarter.

Newmont reported adjusted netincome, including one-time items, rose18 percent to $445 million, or 90 centsper share, compared with $377 million,or 77 cents per share, last year.

Newmont reported the average real-ized gold price for the second quarterwas $1,501 per ounce, up 25 percentfrom the 2010 quarter, and the averagecopper price was $3.78 per pound, up 62percent from last year.



Newmont Mining Corp. produced 1.23million ounces of gold in the secondquarter, compared with 1.3 millionounces of gold in the 2010 quarter.

Copper production of 44 millionpounds was down 45 percent from

the 2010 quarter.



� ! " � � � " � � " � � � � �Back in the mid-1990s with gold

around $365 an ounce, a friend and ana-lyst for a Swiss bank wrote a researchreport for the bank titled “Gold’s 19thNervous Breakdown.” The introductioncontained numerous other lyrics fromRolling Stones’ tunes like “tum-bling dice” and “fade away.”

The reason for his bearishoutlook at the time was themassive central bank sales thatwere going on at the time,whichI have commented on before.And, as most will remember,gold lost about a third of itsvalue in the next few years.

One point to make is thatcontrary to popular belief thatgold prices respond to wars,natural disasters, and the like, this is onlytrue in the very short run. In the long run,fundamentals like the value of major cur-rencies, stocks,bonds,and other financialassets are much more important factorsinfluencing the price of gold.

I wish I had a nickel for every time I’veheard or read an analyst say something tothe effect that gold doesn’t follow thelaws of supply and demand. Call it mybias as an economist, but in the long run,everything follows the laws of supply anddemand.

As gold flirts with the $1,800 per ouncelevel, the big overriding fundamentalissue is sovereign debt.That includes notonly the PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greeceand Spain), which we have written aboutbefore, but now includes the big Kahuna— the United States. My hypothesis isthat gold has made its recent run up onthe back of the U.S. debt ceiling impasseand that, once the impasse is resolved,the price will retreat to pre-crisis levels.But right now, investors are saying“gimme shelter” and gold is the shelter.

The problems discussed above arestructural, which means they are notgoing away soon. The Europeans,Japanese, and Americans have con-structed welfare states that they cannotafford. They also have significant demo-graphic problems because of the postWWII baby booms.

The Chinese may have a great eco-nomic growth rate, but that’s not hard todo when you start off at a per capitaincome of $500 per year. The Chineseeconomy can grow at current rates forthe next century and still won’t matchU.S. per capita income (as long as the

U.S. economy doesn’t drop offthe proverbial cliff). Plus, theyhave a much worse baby boomproblem than we do, thanks totheir one child policy.

The Middle East has theopposite structural problem; ithas a huge proportion of itspopulation under 25 and theirwomen are having babies andtheir men have few jobs and arespending their spare timekilling each other and us when

they get a chance. This is a region withextreme poverty and extreme wealthfrom oil. This is a volatile mix — and notlikely to change soon.

These are huge structural problemsthat we will have to deal with for a longtime.

It seems that “wild horses” can’t seemto drag politicians in developed countriesaway from promising voters, apparently“blinded by rainbows,” more of otherpeoples’ money than they can possiblyexpect to get.Margaret Thatcher warnedthat the problem with the welfare state isthat eventually you run out of other peo-ples’ money (she actually said “social-ism,” but there is no real difference).Someone should remind the parliamentsof Europe, Japan and the U.S.Congress ofthat.

After the U.S. debt deal in Congress inearly August, markets went into theirumpteenth nervous breakdown. And, asnervous as that may make us, that is goodfor gold prices. John Maynard Keynesfamously called gold a “barbarous relic”but that is not necessarily a bad thingwhen you are producing gold and live inbarbarous times.

———————John Dobra is director of the NaturalResource Industry Institute and an

associate professor of economics at theUniversity of Nevada, Reno.

John Dobra

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CARLIN — Newmont Mining Corp.'s latest under-ground mining, development and exploration projectson the Carlin Trend with portals are painting a brightpicture for the future.

The Exodus Mine is now in production, the PeteBajo Project will be in full gold production in thefourth quarter, miners will be going back to theChukar Mine in the fourth quarter, and the Deep StarMine is still in production, according to Joe Driscoll,mine manager over the Carlin underground mines.

The Carlin underground mines he oversees are allthose that don’t have shafts.The largest of Newmont’sunderground mines on the Carlin Trend is Leeville,which is a shaft operation.

“Exodus is expected to produce about 65,000 to75,000 ounces per year for at least five years and pro-vide a platform for further underground exploration,”said Brian Hill, executive vice president of operations,in Newmont’s second-quarter earnings teleconfer-ence.

Driscoll said Exodus is “striving to be about a 1,100-ton-per-day operation.”

The mining method is long-hole stoping, and the


A haul truck headsout of the portal atNewmont MiningCorp.’s ExodusMine now in pro-duction north ofCarlin. The portalis in Newmont’sLantern Pit. Thesign marks whendevelopment workbegan, not fullgold production.


Exodus, Pete Bajo offer new opportunities

See EXODUS, page 26


The PugmillSystems Inc.pug mill thatservesNewmontMining Corp.’sExodus under-ground mine issituated inNewmont’sLantern Pit. Thepug mill mixesbackfill.


Exodus ...Continued from page 25

See EXODUS, page 27

high-grade ore is feed for Newmont’sroaster at Gold Quarry north of Carlin.

“There are still exploration opportu-nities to the north in Exodus and we’redoing exploration drilling concurrentwith mining,” Driscoll said.

The Exodus portal is in the LanternPit, where there also is surface mining.Lantern mining covered the first Exodusportal, although that portal area wasabout to be open again in mid-August.

“We’re one blast away from the firstdecline,” said Matt Haney, generalforeman for Exodus.

Lee Page, the chief engineer for theCarlin underground operations, saidonce another 40-foot bench is taken outduring the open-pit mining, “that basi-cally opens up the original decline.”

Newmont put a vent raise down intoExodus from a bench in the open pit toprovide extra ventilation, and Haneysaid the surface and underground peopleworked together to be sure the pit


Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyWilliam Greener of Spring Creek works on a Swick Mining Services diamond drill platform in August at Newmont MiningCorp.’s Pete Bajo underground operations.


See EXODUS, page 28

mining didn’t collapse the Exodus decline.Page said more than 24,000 feet of development had

been completed at Exodus by the end of July.Driscoll said Pete Bajo is smaller than Exodus, but it

could start with 500 tons per day “with hopes for expan-sion.”

That expansion could come with the connection of PeteBajo and the Fence deposit to Carlin East. Fence is a miner-alized area between Pete Bajo and Carlin East.

“We will join up with Carlin east by August 2012,” said TimSirotek, superintendent of Carlin underground operations.

He said there is a lot of potential in the connectionbecause “it’s virtually virgin ground” that hasn’t yet beenexplored.

Sirotek said a drift also can connect to the Full Housedeposit that is considered part of Leeville.

“The future looks bright for us,” he said.Pete Bajo’s average ore grade is 0.37 ounces per ton,

Sirotek said.Small Mine Development is developing Pete Bajo, which

has two portals in the Pete Pit. Mining ended in Pete lastNovember.

Sirotek said Pete Bajo will be in full production inOctober.


Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyScott Syme, left, and Dave Eklund work on 20-ton haul truck in the mobile maintenance shop for Newmont MiningCorp.’s Exodus underground mine north of Carlin. Xtreme Cubes were used in the construction.


See EXODUS, page 29

Joe Knaack, SMD’s superintendent at Pete Bajo, said SMD had44 employees on site in mid-August but planned to step up to 54people by early September.

“It’s a good little project,” he said.Driscoll said the current mine plan is through 2018 for Exodus

and 2017 for Pete Bajo, “but we’re cautiously optimistic” therewill be more gold discovered to mine beyond those years.

DEA out of Elko was installing a secondary escapeway inAugust at Pete Bajo, using raiser liners that are also known ascans. Ladders and landings for the escapeway are prefabricated.

SMD also is mining the Deep Star underground mine that hasits portal in the Genesis Pit, along in Newmont’s North Area,Driscoll said.

The Chukar Mine shut down after a pit slide at Gold QuarryMine in Newmont’s South Operations Area and during the reme-diation work that followed, but Newmont now plans to build anew access ramp and open a new portal for Chukar, Driscoll said.

“We’ll get back into production in the second quarter of 2012,”Driscoll said.

Newmont is back mining ore at Gold Quarry after the slideremediation.

Miners at Chukar went to work at Exodus during the shut-down, Driscoll said.

The Carlin underground mines under his management have218 employees, including SMD workers.


Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyTim Sirotek, superintendent of Newmont Mining Corp.’s Carlin underground operations, explains the Pete Bajo mine project toSteve Spitze, regional director of risk management for Newmont.


“We look at SMD employees as our own em-ployees,” Driscoll said.

He said the Exodus and Pete Bajo mines are thefirst to use pug mills from Pugmill Systems Inc. toproduce cemented backfill for the undergroundmines.

“This is a very innovative machine we brought tothe mining industry,” Driscoll said.

Haney said the pug mill at Exodus combinescement, fly ash from Newmont’s TS Power Plant andcrushed aggregate. The Pete Bajo pug mill is up butnot in use, yet.

The pug mill can process 300 tons per hour, and it isautomated so truck drivers can hit a button and fill up.

Newmont also took a new step with constructionof the Exodus shop out of Xtreme Cubes fromNorthern Nevada Equipment.

“The cube design is much like Lego blocks on a 10-foot by 20-foot design, bolted together,” Driscoll said.

The cubes are portable so they can be used again,said Brian Andreozzi, maintenance superintendentfor the Carlin underground operations.

The cubes were put together to provide officespace, as well as shop space, and the 55-foot by 80-foot structure has a soft cover of long-lasting canvas.

The small, four-bay mobile maintenance shopwent into operation in March.


Cody Chambers of Ryndon explains how DEA out of Elko is installing vent-raise liners in mid-August at Newmont MiningCorp.’s Pete Bajo underground operation north of Carlin. Allen Sabey of Elko, also with DEA, is in the background.

James Butts of Spring Creek operates a drill on a Swick Mining Services diamondplatform at Newmont Mining Corp.’s Pete Bajo Mine north of Carlin.

Tammy Tomten cleans the catwalk on Newmont Mining Corp.’s pugmill for the Exodus Mine. The pug mill mixes backfill for the under-ground operation north of Carlin.

Brian Andreozzi, left, maintenance superintendent for Newmont Mining Corp.’s Carlin undergroundmines, talks about the innovative Exodus shop to Matt Murray, senior external communications represen-tative for Newmont.

Photos byAdella Harding/Mining Quarterly

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VALMY — High gold prices mean moremining at the Marigold Mine.

“For us at our low grades, the goldprice makes a huge difference,” saidDuane Peck, general manager of the mineGoldcorp Inc. operates in HumboldtCounty.

When the gold price is high, Goldcorpcan afford to mine the lower grades of orethat otherwise would be left in theground, but that also means more explo-ration drilling and new mining plans.

“We designed the pits around highergrades, then the gold prices go up, so wehave to do more exploration to expandthe pits,” Peck said. “The mine life is 10-plus years in front of us.”

Two exploration rigs were drilling inearly August at the mine also one-thirdowned by Barrick Gold Corp., but therewere three operating earlier, and Pecksaid Marigold hopes to pick up anotherdrill for delineation drilling.

“We’ve had a series of pits all headedto the north, and we’re doing lots ofdrilling to try to tie things together. Thegold price is good but it means we need alot of geologic and asset information,” hesaid.

The new drilling is aimed at filling inthe gaps between existing pits, in otherwords, to add to gold resources andreserves for future mining.

Marigold is mining in the Basalt 7phase and now Target 2 and backfillingcontinues at the Antler Pit.

“We’re stripping at Target 2 and start-ing to get into ore,” Peck said. “Target 2will be a source of ore in 2012 and 2013,and Basalt should be nearly finished inthe fourth quarter of this year.”

Target 3 is “on the near-term horizon,”said Matt Zeitlow, environmental man-ager. Target 1 was mined in 2000-2001and is nearly backfilled.

Marigold productionGoldcorp reported Marigold produced

26,600 ounces of gold in the secondquarter at a total cash cost of $764 perounce, compared with production of16,900 ounces in the 2010 quarter at acost $686 per ounce in the 2010 quarter.That was for Goldcorp’s two-thirds shareof the operation.

Peck said a new leach pad should be

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ABOVE: A Hitachi hydraulic shovel loads a190-ton Caterpillar haul truck in earlyAugust in the new Target 2 mining area atthe Marigold Mine at Valmy. The photo-graph on the Mining Quarterly cover is ofanother shovel loading a 320-ton truck inPhase 7 of the Basalt Pit.

LEFT: Larry Burkhart of Battle Mountain, along-time miner who said he has been backat the Marigold Mine eight years, touchesthe screen of the new Modular Miningmonitor in a 320-ton Euclid haul truck.


See MARIGOLD, page 32


Marigold ...Continued from page 31

Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyThe new four-bay truck shop at the Marigold Mine in Humboldt County is ready for use in early August, except forthe systems for water service and fire coverage. The project cost roughly $9 million.

completed by mid-September so Marigold can start stacking ore onthe new pad that is adjacent to the existing pads to the east, and GoldCanyon Mining and Construction is doing the earthwork on theproject. AEG installed the liner and Vector is doing the quality con-trol.

Marigold places all the oxide ore directly from the pits to the leachpads without crushing.

Another project nearing completion is expansion of the processingplant with the addition of another train of carbon columns “in orderto maintain or increase production,” Peck said. The new trainincreases solution movement 25 percent to counter lower grades.

Gold Canyon also was building a new pregnant pond, the fourth,at the processing facilities in early August. Pregnant ponds holdsolution that contains gold.

Marigold additionally was just awaiting service and fire waterwork at the new shop to begin using the roughly $9 million buildingthat includes four bays for the dozen 320-ton Hitachi haul trucks.The mine also has eight smaller Caterpillar trucks in the fleet.

“The shop will be done in September,” Peck said.Marigold built a new 400,000-gallon water tank on the hill above

the shop and planned to add a potable water system with a 1,000-gallon tank, as well.

Along with the higher gold prices have come higher costs, andPeck said those costs have had a significant impact, especially thehigher prices for diesel fuel.



Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyThe Marigold Mine operated by Goldcorp Inc. at Valmy is in the process in early August of expanding its carboncolumns that process gold solution.



Prices also have gone up for tires, steel, cyanide and more, and thespring flood in Memphis, Tenn., had an impact on cyanide suppliesfrom a DuPont plant there, he said.

Marigold employeesMarigold’s employee numbers are increasing, with nearly 300

employed in August, and Peck said the hope is to hit 305 by thefourth quarter. The turnover rate, meanwhile, “has been pretty flatthe last three or four years.”

“We’re probably up 35 from the beginning of the year,” he said.“We’re still recruiting for engineers and maintenance people prima-rily.”

Peck said Marigold restructured the maintenance department,increasing the welding crew, added a field workshop crew to work onequipment on site, added a couple more trainers and more planners.

William Lawton, human resources manager at Marigold, said pro-fessional positions are still hard to fill, as are skilled trades,while payfor qualified workers has climbed “at a steep pace” in contrast to thefrozen pay in certain other industries.

“We’re not seeing that in mining,” he said.Marigold doesn’t need to advertise for haul-truck drivers because

there are plenty of applications,but finding the maintenance people,for example, is much harder, and a major recruitment problem is thehousing problem, Lawton said.

“Rentals are hard to find,” he said.


Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyJarold Eastman, operations manager at the Marigold Mine operated by Goldcorp Inc. at Valmy, watches equipmentat work in early August on a new leach pad. AEG is installing the pad liner and Gold Canyon Mining and Constructionis doing the earthwork.

Marigold is west of Battle Mountain and east of Winnemucca, andemployees live in both communities.

Lawton received a Seven Seals Award for Employer Support ofGuard and Reserves for efforts to employ veterans, and he flew fromReno to the Naval air base at Fallen in June to receive the award.

The mine added a new training simulator that is used to train haultruck drivers, new and experienced, Peck said.

Marigold also is installing a Modular Mining dispatch system on itstrucks and mining equipment.

“We will be finished with it in the fourth quarter.We’ve already gotmonitors in the trucks. We’re getting the driver used to using themonitors, and we’re collecting information,” Peck said. “We hiredfour people as dispatch supervisors.”

Jerod Eastman, operations manager, said the dispatch system issafer and more efficient.

There are 65 contractors on site, and there were interns at Marigoldduring the season, university students with an interest in mining.

The four interns for the summer were: Roseleigh Taylor, who willbe attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this fall as asenior and plans to major in mechanical engineering; Tyler Stokes, amajor in environmental geology at UNR; Jeff Neville, who ismajoring in geological engineering at UNR; and David Thompson,who is majoring in mine engineering at UNR.

Marigold also had summer students working for the company,dependents of employees.They didn’t all work at the mine, however.



Marigold provided help for the Jacob’sWell teen center in Battle Mountain, theNevada Department of Wildlife, theWinnemucca Convention Center and theSafe Haven Rescue Zoo.

“So the children of our employees aregetting good summer jobs and helpingthe community at the same time. It’s thesecond year we’ve done it,” Peck said.

Marigold placed four students in thecommunity and four at the mine thissummer but had 17 summer students lastyear.

Marigold is the only Goldcorp opera-tion in Nevada, but the company is in ajoint venture with Barrick to develop theArturo Project near the Goldstrike Minenorth of Carlin. Goldcorp is 40 percentowner of Arturo, which is awaiting U.S.Bureau of Land Management approval.

Goldcorp earningsGoldcorp announced adjusted net

earnings of $420 million, or 52 cents pershare, for the second quarter, an increaseof 111 percent over the 2010 quarter, withhigh gold prices a key factor in the earn-

ings surge.Adjusted net earnings totaled $199

million, or 27 cents per share, in thesecond quarter of last year.

Goldcorp also announced that reportednet earnings from continuing operationsexcluding one-time accounting itemstotaled $489 million, or 61 cents pershare, down from $524 million, or 71cents per share, in the 2010 quarter.

Vancouver-based Goldcorp alsoreported revenues rose 62 percent fromthe 2010 quarter to $1.3 billion on goldsales of 606,400 ounces.That compareswith revenue of $815,000 on gold sales of597,100 ounces in the 2010 quarter.

The average realized gold price was$1,516 per ounce in the 2011 quarter, upfrom $1,208 per ounce last year.

“Goldcorp remains well-positioned tobenefit from near-record high metalsprices. Effective cost containment isblunting the effect of industry cost pres-sures, and continued strong by-productmetal prices have led to improved cashcosts for 2011,” Goldcorp President andChief Executive Officer Chuck Jeannessaid in the earnings report.

He said, however, that Goldcorp wasdealing with mill and tailings problems atPeñasquito in Mexico, forest fires nearthe Musselwhite Mine in Canada and

delays at the Pueblo Viejo joint venturewith Barrick in the Dominican Republicthat will impact gold production in thesecond half of the year.


Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyThis overview shows the new truck shop in the foreground at the Marigold Mine at Valmy, thecarbon column expansion work to the right and the new leach pad in the background at right.



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ELKO — Royal Gold Inc. President andChief Executive Officer Tony Jensen saidhe sees high gold prices “supported forquite some time” as investors look to goldas an alternate asset in the current eco-nomic climate.

“These are really unprecedented timeswe’re living through. Two years ago, wewere worried about the solvency of banks.Now,we are worried about the solvency ofcountries,” he said.

Jensen said high unemployment andeconomic concerns mean interest rates willstay low and currencies will remain weak,which “sets the stage for a very attractiveenvironment for gold investment.”

“At the same time, we’re seeing infla-tion in emerging nations like China, sothey are also looking at gold,” he said.

Royal Gold has roughly 70 percent of itsroyalties in precious metals, and “we’rereally in a gold-building period with twoassets in the wings — Mt. Milligan andPascua-Lama,” Jensen said in an Aug. 16

telephone interview.He expects the Mt. Milligan Project

operated by Thompson Creek in Canadaand Barrick Gold Corp.’s Pascua-Lama onthe border of Argentina and Chile tobecome Royal Gold’s largest royalty gen-erators in the future.

Those major projects are two of many inthe company’s portfolio that includesmines, projects and proposed projects inwhat Jensen calls “investment-gradecountries” that go beyond the company’sstart in U.S. projects.

“Our total property count now stands at184, including 36 producing propertiesand 21 development properties,” Jensensaid.

Royal Gold looks well into the futurewhen acquiring royalties,he said,pointingto the recent option the company acquiredfor a royalty on Seabridge Gold’s KSMProject in Canada that is a very large,unique project with gold, silver andcopper deposits that will take years todevelop, if Seabridge decides to do so.

Royal Gold acquired an option to pur-chase a 1.25 percent net smelter return

royalty on all of the gold and silver pro-duction from the KSM (Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell) Project by buying $30.7 millionSeabridge shares.

Jensen estimated gold reserves at all theproperties subject to the company’s roy-alty interest increased 7 percent duringthe fiscal year to 83.9 million ounces andthat silver reserves increased 4 percent to1.4 billion ounces.

Jensen said the company has a team tomanage all the royalties but still has 21employees total, which he said is a “veryefficient business model” that shelters thecompany from the costs of building minesand the rising costs of mine operations.

“We provide investors with exposure togold, but without the capital costs. Wedon’t have that negative,” he said.

Royal Gold is seeing higher profit andrevenue on higher prices for preciousmetals.

Net incomeNet income rose 106 percent in the

quarter ending June 30, the fourthquarter in the company’s fiscal year, to

$21.7 million, or 39 cents per share, onrecord royalty revenue of $59.3 million,up from $10.5 million, or 21 cents pershare, a year ago on royalty revenuetotaling $40.7 million.

Net income for the fiscal year was$71.4 million, or $1.29 per share, up from$21.5 million, or 49 cents per share, in the2010 fiscal year, and revenue for the yeartotaled $216.5 million, up from $136.6million in the 2010 fiscal year.

The average gold price in the fiscal yearwas $1,369 per ounce, up from $1,089 inthe 2010 fiscal year, according to theearnings report.

Royal Gold increased its royalty inter-est in the Pascua-Lama Project in thefiscal year.

“At Pascua-Lama, Barrick has statedthey expect costs to increase to between$4.7 billion and $5 billion. A portion ofthis increase is associated with main-taining the mid-2013 productionschedule, which is beneficial to us as aroyalty holder,” Vice President of Oper-

Royal Gold CEO optimistic on market

See ROYAL GOLD, 37

ations William Zisch said in an earningsteleconference.

“Additionally, Barrick has reportedthat revised gold production estimatesfor the projects have increased from775,000 ounces to 800,000 to 850,000ounces in the first full five years of oper-ation,” he said.

Royal Gold also announced thatThompson Creek stated that the Mt.Milligan project is on schedule for com-pletion in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Looking at the quarter ending June 30,Zisch said gold prices rose 9 percent andsilver prices rose 21 percent, but othermetal prices “trended down 2 percent to10 percent.”

Nevada royaltiesThe top royalty-paying Nevada prop-

erties in the quarter ending June 30 wereBarrick’s Cortez Mine in Lander County,Quadra FNX Mining’s Robinson Minenear Ely and Newmont Mining Corp.’sLeeville Mine north of Carlin, accordingto Royal Gold’s earnings report.

Revenue from Cortez production sub-ject to the royalty totaled $4 million on

35,633 ounces of gold in the quarter,compared with $3.1 million in royaltyrevenue on 38,613 ounces of gold in the2010 quarter.

Royal Gold’s royalties at Cortez are onthe Pipeline portion of the operation anddon’t include the newer Cortez Hills sur-face and underground operations.

Royalty revenue from the RobinsonMine in the fourth fiscal quarter totaled$2.9 million on 8,213 ounces of gold and22.3 million pounds of copper, comparedwith $3.2 million on 19,797 ounces ofgold and 26.6 million pounds of copperin the 2010 quarter, according to theearnings report.

“At Robinson, Quadra continues towork on improving production as theyhad reduced the congestion in the RuthPit and continue development of the sec-ondary access ramp into the pit. Accessto higher grade material at the bottom ofthe pit and additional haulage capacityare expected to increase production inthe second half of the year,” Zisch said inthe teleconference.

Royal Gold also cited Quadra FNX’srecent announcement it reduced its 2011annual guidance for gold production to

25,000 to 30,000 ounces from 45,000 to50,000 ounces due to lower grades andrecoveries in the first half of the year.

Revenue from Leeville totaled $2 mil-lion on 75,272 ounces of gold, down from$2.3 million on 92,463 ounces of gold inthe 2010 fiscal year.

Zisch said Newmont’s month-longshutdown of Mill 6 at Gold Quarryduring the quarter affected gold produc-tion numbers from Leeville.

Revenue producersTeck’s Andacollo Mine in Chile pro-

duced the most revenue for Royal Gold inthe quarter ending June 30 — $12.2 mil-lion — on 10,833 ounces of gold,with a 75

percent net smelter royalty. That com-pared with $3.8 million on 4,145 ouncesof gold in the 2010 quarter.

Voisey’s Bay operated by Vale inLabrador, Canada, brought in $11 millionin revenue based on 39.6 million poundsof nickel and 5.3 million pounds ofcopper, compared with $3.3 million inrevenue on 15.9 million pounds of nickeland 7.3 million pounds of copper theprior year.

Goldcorp Inc.’s Penasquito Mine inMexico provided $7 million in royaltyrevenue on 64,867 ounces of gold, 4.9million ounces of silver, 41.2 millionpounds of lead and 60.3 million poundsof zinc, compared with $2.5 million inrevenue in the 2010 quarter on 41,690ounces of gold, 3.6 million ounces ofsilver, 23 million pounds of lead and 32.9million pounds of zinc.

Cortez and Robinson follow Pen-asquito on the list of top royalty pro-viders, with the Mulatos Mine operatedby Alamos in Mexico sixth on the listwith $2.8 million paid in royalty revenueto Royal Gold on 37,477 ounces of gold,compared with $2 million on 32,986ounces of gold last year.


Royal Gold ...Continued from page 36

“Our total property countnow stands at 184, including36 producing properties and21 development properties.”

— Tony JensenRoyal Gold president and CEO

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WINNEMUCCA — Jennifer Eller fliesher own plane and skydives for fun and incompetitions when she isn’t working atNewmont Mining Corp.’s Twin CreeksMine.

“I fly all over the U.S. Last week, I wasin 11 states and skydived in 10 states,” shesaid in late July at the airport in Win-nemucca, where she keeps her 1969Cessna 182 Skyplane. “I’ve put 90 hourson the plane since April.”

Eller said her goal is to skydive in all 50states.

The 11 states on that July weekend in-cluded Nevada, Idaho, South Dakota,Wyoming,Nebraska,Arizona,New Mex-ico,California and Texas.

Where she flies on days off dependsupon where there is good weather, Ellersaid.

“I am up in the air as much as I can.”On the ground, the 26-year-old met-

allurgist is operating shift foreman at theSage Mill, and she said “it’s a cool job torun the world’s two largest gold auto-claves.”

She was primarily a blending metal-lurgist at Twin Creeks before taking theforeman job,which she said is more chal-lenging.

“I like shift foreman. It’s more active,but here is more need for me in metal-lurgy,” Eller said, adding that she ex-pected to be back working as a metallur-gist during the mill downtime for main-tenance.

Eller chose the metallurgy route at theColorado School of Mines,where she wasthe only woman on the school’s wrestlingteam. That accomplishment came aftershe qualified to try out for the Olympicsafter competing in the Women’s NationalWrestling League while in high school inEnglewood,Colo.

“I won three years in a row. That gaveme qualifications for the Olympics try-outs,” she said, but she decided to go tocollege instead of join the Olympic team.“It was a tough choice.”

At the Colorado School of Mines,Eller,whose last name was Corns at that time,was the first woman in the NCAA, andshe beat out young men to make thewrestling team.

She said the problem was she onlyweighed 110 pounds and the lowest

weight category for men’s wrestling atthe college level is 125 pounds.

“I didn’t win any matches,” said Eller,who explained she learned to wrestlebecause neighbor boys were in wrestlingand taught her. “I competed for a wholeseason, then I went to music. I got a fullboard scholarship.” She played the saxo-phone.

Here’s what the Rocky Mountain Newssaid about Eller on May 1, 2003:

“Jennifer Corns can't wait to wade inthe athletic waters where few girls havedared to tread. In fact, she has no fear ofgetting in over her head.

“Corns, a senior at Englewood, wantsto wrestle on a college men’s team. She isgoing to have that opportunity thanks toColorado School of Mines wrestlingcoach Steve Kimmel.

“Corns, who also runs sprints for thePirates' track team, has been wrestling

for only the past two years. But she hastaken to the sport, and this past seasonshe was a member of the boys wrestlingteam at Englewood.”

These days, Eller doesn’t compete in

wrestling, but she said she still fights —in martial arts.

Eller said she also enjoys rock climb-


Ross Andreson/Mining QuarterlyJennifer Eller, a pilot, skydiver and metallurgist, sits in the cockpit of her Cessna 182 Skylane at the Winnemucca Airport. She works at NewmontMining Corp.’s Twin Creeks Mine.

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Metallurgist hopes to skydive in 50 states

See PROFILE, page 40


ing, scuba diving and snowboarding andcooking.

“Actually, when I retire, I would like toopen a restaurant,” she said.

Right now,however, her eyes are on thesky.

“I started skydiving about the sametime as I started flying, about three yearsago,” Eller said. “I’ve always wanted tofly. Nobody in my family flies, but I fell inlove with an airplane.”

She said she took a few flying lessonswhen she was 13, but the cost was toohigh. After going to work for Newmont,she was able to take to the air again.

“I went to work here and bought anairplane,” Eller said. “Mining makes itpossible.”

She said she took flying lessons whereshe could find instructors, includinggoing to Boise and Reno, so she couldearn her private license. Now, she alsohas her commercial rating and is workingon her instrument rating.

Eller said she has thought about get-ting into commercial flying and wouldneed 250 hours to be a co-pilot, but “Ienjoy where I work, and the economy the

way it is, gold is the place to be.”She said she started at Newmont in

2008 as a metallurgist, her second jobout of school. She also worked for NucorSteel in Alabama.

Sometimes she jumps out of her ownplane,when she has a co-pilot to take thecontrols, and she skydives with friends.Eller said she also skydives at the Win-nemucca airport when she can get a localpilot to take her up.

“I travel the world and skydive all over.I also do ground launching or speedflying, which is basically when you runoff a cliff with a canopy,” Eller said.“Skydiving is what I live for.”

That skydiving isn’t just normal sky-diving. She also does free fall, bellyflying, speed flying, artistic flying andcanopy formation flying.

“Usually those who do skydiving com-petitions have 1,000 jumps or more. Ihave a little more than 200,” Eller said.

She also reported that she has been intwo airplane crashes, but they weren’t inher plane and “not my fault.”

Even on her short days off from her 12-hour shifts, she said she usually flies toWendover, Cheyenne, Wyo., or Salt Lake

City, and she said she will ask friends ifthey want to come with her and share thecost of $60 an hour to fly the plane.

“If I fit four people in and split thecost, it’s cheaper than driving,” she said.

Eller doesn’t just spend money onflying. She bought her mother, Janice

Corns, an older Mustang convertible forMother’s Day.

She also said she owns a couple ofhouses she rents out, and she earnedmoney in college working in construc-tion, the smaller jobs to put finishingtouches on houses.


Profile ...Continued from page 38

Ross Andreson/Mining QuarterlyJennifer Eller, operating shift foremanat the Sage Mill at the Twin CreeksMine, holds ribbons she won duringwrestling competitions in high school.

SubmittedJennifer Eller gathers her parachute after a jump.


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WINNEMUCCA — Allied Nevada GoldCorp.’s Hycroft Mine keeps expandingand plans for even more growth as explo-ration drilling finds more gold and silverore.

“What’s really fun about it, is thatwhen we started in 2008, it was a three-year project with around 140 people, andwe planned to do some explorationdrilling and see what happens,” saidWarren Woods, vice president and gen-eral manager of the mine that has a longhistory but Allied Nevada brought backto life.

“Now, three years later, it’s now a 10-year project at 240 employees, on theway to 300, and the sky’s the limit wherewe are going,” he said. “When we started,we had construction signs at the gate,and they are not coming down.”

Along with the 240 employees atHycroft, there were roughly 200 con-tractors on site in late July as work wasnearing completion on a new, four-bay,25,000 square-foot shop, a new leachpad, an expansion of the Merrill Croweprocessing plant and Komatsu wasassembling two 320-haul trucks on site.

At the same time, mining continues inthe Brimstone Pit and the much smallerCut 5 Pit, while five drilling rigs werebusy with exploration and definitiondrilling.

All of the ore goes to leach pads,mainly as run-of-mine material, al-though Hycroft has purchased a crusherand is studying the economics ofcrushing more ore before placing it onthe pads.

“When we’re crushing silver, recoverygoes up dramatically,” Woods said.

Allied Nevada reported Hycroft pro-duced 22,783 ounces of gold and 93,221ounces of silver in the second quarter,and the outlook is for the mine to pro-duce between 115,000 and 125,000ounces of gold this year.

Mine expansionHycroft also is planning for an expan-

sion of its oxide-ore production once theU.S. Bureau of Land Management ap-proves the project. The BLM’s Winne-mucca office is working an environ-mental impact statement on the expan-sion that also looks at the potential foradditional expansion into mining deepersulfide ore.

“The scoping period ended on June 29,and comments were received from thepublic and other government agencies,”said Kathleen Rehberg, the BLM’sHycroft project leader.

Once the expansion is approved,Hycroft plans to add two more leachpads, two more Merrill Crowe facilities,new waste-rock dumps and expandmining in the open pits,Woods said.

Meanwhile, Allied Nevada expects tocomplete an initial feasibility study onthe potential of mining and processingsulfide ores, and Woods said the studycould be ready in September.

“If there is a positive outcome, we willstart looking at what it takes, and at thatpoint the company can apply for a changein the permit,” he said.

The company explained the potentialof the sulfide project at scoping meetingsBLM held before starting the EIS, Woodssaid.

The oxide ores to be mined can beprocessed on leach pads and through theMerrill Crowe plants, and they arelocated above the water table. The planbasically doubles disturbance to 5,200acres of public and private land and “ispretty straightforward,” he said.

Production will reach roughly 250,000ounces of gold a year with the oxideexpansion, and the company approvedspending $212 million for this expansion.

Processing sulfide ore will require amill, and Woods said one of the alterna-tives under consideration is to processthe ore into a concentrate that could beprocessed at one of the autoclave facili-ties in the state. The company also islooking at a railroad spur from the nearbytracks so concentrate could be carried bytrain. The spur also would bring infreight.

“This is a few years down the road andpart of the EIS proposal. We’re engagedright now in the design,” Woods said.

If Hycroft’s future includes the sulfideexpansion, the mine may produce600,000 ounces of gold a year and 20million ounces of silver, he said.

High gold, silver pricesHigh gold and silver prices, especially

silver prices, gave Allied the boost to lookat expansion and to take a closer look atthe silver mineralization at Hycroft,which Vista Gold mined until low goldprices led to a shutdown in 1998.

“When silver was a $5 to $6 an ounce,Vista didn’t sample or assay for it. Of

course, with the price of silver up, westarted paying attention to it and haveactually targeted some of the explorationdrilling for silver,” Woods said.

The current ratio is 4 to 1 silver to gold,and Hycroft sells silver as a byproduct,producing more than 30,000 ounces of

silver a month, he said.“At some point, we might be a half and

half mine,” Woods said. That’s half goldand half silver.

Rigs in 2010 did infill drilling for oxide

Ross Andreson/Mining QuarterlyDarrin Basaraba of Battle Mountain, who works for Komatsu out of Elko, is helping assemble a320-ton haul truck in late July at Allied Nevada Gold Corp.’s Hycroft Mine in Humboldt County.

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See HYCROFT, 42

gold deposits, infill drilling for silver and metallurgical,technical and hydrology drilling, along with true explo-ration drilling, he said.There were 10 drilling rigs on sitelast year, and five this year.

“We sent three rigs to Hasbrouck,”Woods said, refer-ring to Allied Nevada’s exploration project five milessouth of Tonopah

The drilling under way is between the Brimstone Pit,the Vortex deposit and Cut 5, and “someday they will tietogether,” Woods said. Boart Longyear, Timberline andTonaTec have drills on site.

Past drilling at Hycroft didn’t go deep enough to findthe gold and silver deposits that current drilling hasfound.

“They stopped about 100 feet from mineralization,”Woods said.

New equipmentThe capital authorized for the oxide expansion

includes the purchase of new haul trucks and newshovels, and five of the new 320-ton Komatsu trucks arein use now, while two were being erected in late July.CHECK tons, and Hycroft is slated to get nine new 320-ton haul trucks next year. The fleet also includes sixolder, 200-ton Komatsu trucks.

The new haul trucks cost $4.5 million.New equipment also includes an Atlas Copco Pit

Viper blast-hole rig that still was being assembled inlate July but nearly ready to be commissioned.

Woods said Hycroft ordered three Hitachi shovels,but the earthquake and tsunami in Japan pushed deliv-eries back.

He said the first 5500 Hitachi was at the port ready tobe shipped out of Japan when the tsunami hit in March.

“There were are on March 10 looking for machines.


Hycroft ...Continued from page 41

See HYCROFT, page 43

Ross Andreson/Mining QuarterlyA $7.5 million shop that is big enough for new 320-ton haul trucks is under construction in late July at the Hycroft Mine inHumboldt County. Agate Construction is doing the project. This view shows the truck-shop administration offices.


Ross Andreson/Mining QuarterlyAn Hitachi hydraulic shovel the Hycroft Mine bought used while awaiting delivery of new shovels in late July loads one of the new 320-ton Komatsuhaul trucks in the Brimstone Pit.



Audrey Bradshawworks on a pump inthe expandedMerrill Crowe oreprocessing plant inlate July at AlliedNevada Gold Corp.’sHycroft Mine inHumboldt County.


We found a used one at a coal mine inWashington, and bought it and refur-bished it,” Woods said.

That shovel is a 3500, with a 24-yardbucket.The 5500 has a 38-yard bucket.

Hitachi expected to ship the first one onJuly 30,and the second machine should beout of the factory in September, the third,in March of next year,Woods said.

Hycroft also has two smaller shovelsoperating on site and two loaders.

If Allied Nevada develops a mine atHasbrouck, the smaller equipment will gothere for the start-up, according toWoods, “so we really didn’t mind gettingthe 3500.”

The $7.5 million shop is due for com-pletion in September, with Agate Inc. ascontractor.Agate has offices in Elko,Renoand Arizona.The old shop will be used, aswell.

The leach pad under construction thissummer is on private ground to provideextra space for ore.

The new leach pad is on the site of thefirst pad at Hycroft in prior mining days.Woods said the pad was closed in the1980s, and the leached material will pro-vide a good base over the 3 million squarefeet of liner to be laid. He said the oldmaterial is being sampled to see if there isgold left to leach again.

Hunewill out of Winnemucca wasdoing the earthwork in late July on thepad.

The $1.7 million Merrill Crowe plantexpansion brings capacity from 3,500gallons per minute to 5,000 gallons perminute. The Merrill-Crowe process is aseparation technique for removing goldfrom a cyanide solution.

The expanded plant was commissionedon July 27, after an addition was com-pleted and a new filter press, clarifier andzinc tower added. The new press bringsthe number to four,Woods said.

Schmueser & Associates Inc., whichhas an office in Winnemucca, did therefinery work.

Woods said there is a still an oldercarbon system for processing gold that isused on site.

Before Allied Nevada acquired theHycroft Mine, the mine was on care andmaintenance and residual leaching afterVista Gold shut down the mine in 1998when gold prices fell. Reno-based Alliedworked out a deal with Vista Gold in 2007and also acquired Carl Pescio’s proper-

ties that extend the land package.The infrastructure was already in place

and permits in place for the start up thatcost roughly $70 million, according toWoods.

The mine is near the border withPershing County, and Woods said muchof the planned new construction andleach pad construction will be in Per-shing County.

“There are about 50,000 acres outhere. It’s a very good land position,”Woods said.

Exploration and earningsAllied Nevada is spending millions of

dollars on exploration at Hycroft and theHasbrouck property because of thepotential, according to President and


Ross Andreson/Mining QuarterlyA Caterpillar loader fills a Komatsu haul truck in the smaller Cut 5 open pit at Allied Nevada GoldCorp.’s Hycroft Mine in Humboldt County.

Ross Andreson/Mining QuarterlyThe Hycroft Mine in Humboldt County is constructing a new leach pad in late July at the site ofa 1980s pad. Hunewill Construction out of Winnemucca is doing the earthwork.





Chief Executive Officer Scott Caldwell.The company spent $9 million on exploration in the

second quarter, and he said he believes the exploration isimportant despite the impact to net earnings.

“I fully understand what it will do to earnings,”Caldwellsaid in a teleconference on the second-quarter earningsreport.

Allied Nevada announced net income for the quarter of$3.6 million, or 4 cents per share, down from $20.8 mil-lion, or 26 cents per share, in the 2010 quarter.

The company reported it sold 20,293 ounces of gold and85,092 ounces of silver from the Hycroft Mine in thesecond quarter to bring in revenue of $33.6 million, downfrom $37.1 million in the 2010 quarter.

That compared with gold sales of 29,560 ounces andsilver sales of 63,859 ounces last year.

The average realized gold price for the 2011 quarter was$1,504 per ounce, up from $1,216 an ounce in the 2010quarter. The average realized silver price was $36 anounce,up from $18 an ounce in the second quarter of 2010.

The adjusted cash cost was $459 per ounce for thesecond quarter, compared with $408 per ounce last year,according to the earnings report.

Allied Nevada reported it stepped up exploration atHasbrouck to access the high-grade Saddle Zone dis-covery and follow up on additional targets identified at theproperty in the first quarter.

Ross Andreson/Mining QuarterlyBlast-hole drilling and mining are under way in late July in the Brimstone Pit at Allied Nevada Gold Corp.’s Hycroft Mine 52 mileswest of Winnemucca.



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ELKO — Nevada Mining AssociationPresident Joe Crowley expects a goodturnout for the association’s conventionat Harvey’s in South Lake Tahoe Sept. 8-10 that last year drew 480 people.

“We’ll probably cross 500 partici-pants,” he said in mid-August. “We’reseeing people year over year comingagain and more people from the supplychain.As the mining industry is growing,businesses providing goods and servicesto the mining industry are growing.”

Crowley said the keynote speaker willbe Peter Hart, “a renown pollster whohas a great sense of public opinion onvarious issues and changes in publicopinion across the country. I am lookingforward to hearing him.”

The convention begins on Sept. 8 witha meeting of the board of directors atHarveys, according to the associationschedule.

The Sept. 8 schedule also includesmeetings of the Safety Committee andthe Suppliers Committee, a pool-side

reception and a Party Poker CharityEvent.

A golf tournament will take up most ofSept. 9 at the Edgewood Golf Course, andthe tournament is sold out. The alterna-tive is a tour of Lake Tahoe’s ThunderbirdLodge National Historic site, accordingto the schedule.

The day ends with a dinner and recep-tion to welcome new Nevada MiningAssociation Chairman Bruce Hansen atthe Edgewood Clubhouse.

Hansen is chief executive officer ofGeneral Moly.

The Sept. 10 events include a Reg-ulatory Roundup with Wyatt Andrews,western district manager of the U.S.MineSafety and Health Administration,and KenMeyer, director of the Nevada Departmentof Wildlife, as slated speakers.

Hart of Pollster will speak after theroundup, and a Legislative Roundtable.

The convention will end with theSafety Awards Luncheon, when awardswill be presented for 2010 safety success.

The honors will include three SpecialConsideration Awards presented to:Edward Tomany for many years of dedi-cation to the safety of Nevada miners; Vic

Peterson for his contribution to minerescue; and J.S. Redpath for five years ofunderground mining with no lost-timeaccidents.

The general manager honor goes toDave McClure, who manages BarrickGold Corp.’s Bald Mountain Mine inWhite Pine County.

The other individual awards include:Mine manager or superintendent:

Steve Yopps, Barrick Goldstrike; JodySquires, Great Basin Gold, Esmeralda;Jack Henris, Newmont Mining Corp.,Carlin operations; and Mark Ward,Newmont,Midas operations.

General superintendent or middlemanager: John Rodriguez, Barrick Gold-strike; Jerod Eastman, Goldcorp, Mari-gold Mine; Dan Skinner, Newmont, Mill6.

Supervisor: John Worthen, BarrickGoldstrike; David Groves, Newmont,Phoenix Mine; Randy Moore, Newmont,Twin Creeks Mine.

Trainer: Robert Ziegenbien, Goldcorp,Marigold, and Dan Wootton, KinrossGold Corp., Round Mountain.

Safety professional: Scott Cochrane,Barrick Gold,Cortez; Robert Crommelin,

Great Basin Gold, Hollister; Terri Yost,Newmont Mining Corp.; Jeff Herzog,Newmont,Twin Creeks.

Safety manager: Karen Bishop, New-mont’s Phoenix Mine.

Non-supervisory trainer: MonicaStandaert, Goldcorp, Marigold; MikeSwatman, Newmont’s Twin Creeks; andJesse Danner, Goldcorp,Marigold.

EMS/mine rescue: Andrew Smith,Goldcorp, Marigold; Chancy Campbell,Newmont’s Phoenix; Tim Spangler,Newmont’s Twin Creeks; and CodyAllen, Newmont’s Leeville Mine.

Non-supervisory: Bruce Krajewski,Barrick Gold, Cortez; Jesse Fox, BarrickGold, Cortez Mine; Chet Parker, GreatBasin Gold, Hollister; Dave Newman,Newmont’s Gold Quarry Mine.

The awards for safe mining operationsinclude:

Open pit-large: Newmont’s PhoenixMine, first place; Newmont’s TwinCreeks Mine, second place; and KinrossGold’s Round Mountain Mine, thirdplace.

Open pit-medium: Barrick Goldstrike

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See MINING, page 48


roaster operations, first place; New-mont’s Mill 6, second place; and JipanguInternational’s Florida Canyon Mine,third place.

Open pit-small: Newmont’s Lone TreeMine, first place; Great Basin Gold,Esmeralda, second place; and Coeurd’Alene Mines’ Rochester Mine, thirdplace.

Open pit-nonmetal: EP Minerals,Clark Mill and Mine, first place; EP Min-erals, Colado, second place; and EPMinerals, Lovelock, third place.

Underground-large: Newmont’s Lee-

ville Mine, first place, and Barrick GoldCorp.’s Turquoise Ridge Mine, secondplace.

Underground-medium: Newmont’sMidas Mine, first place, and Great BasinGold’s Hollister operation, second place.

Underground-small: Newmont’s ChukarMine.

Contractor: J.S. Redpath, Stormunderground, and Ames Construction,Nevada operations. Both are first-placeawards.

Details on the conference are on theNevada Mining Association website atwww.nevadamining.org.

Continued from page 47

Mining ...

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ELKO — With months to go before theNorthwest Mining Association Con-vention, there’s a waiting list for the tradeshow and the lineup on luncheonspeakers is being finalized.

The annual convention returns Nov.28-Dec. 2 to John Ascuaga’s NuggetCasino Resort in Sparks, after beingheld in Spokane, Wash., last year.

Laura Skaer, executive director of theNorthwest Mining Association, said sheis expecting between 2,300 and 2,500people to attend the convention.

“We’re getting excited,” she said byphone from the association’s Spokaneheadquarters. “We’re the second largestmining convention in the U.S.”

The theme of this year’s convention is“Rocks to Riches ... and meeting thechallenges between.”

Skaer said the two luncheon speakershaven’t been finalized yet, but a coupleof invitations have been sent out.

“One of the speakers will be someonewho will talk about the state of industryand its outlook,” she said.

Technical session chairmen are in theprocess of putting papers together forhalf-day sessions that usually includefive or six talks, Skaer said.

Plans are in the works for a half-dayNevada prospectors forum, which shesaid is usually one of the most popularsessions.

“It will focus on projects and proper-ties that exploration folks are working onthat may not be advanced to the stagethat everyone’s talking about them,”

Skaer said.Another session with focus on mining

in British Columbia.Half-day growth company sessions

will give businesses the opportunity tomake a 20-minute presentation with aninvestor-related focus, Skaer said.

Also, many of the sessions during theconvention will focus on environmentalissues such as reclamation and chal-lenges involving water.

“Sessions will look at how the UnitedStates has become increasing depen-dent on foreign sources of strategic andcritical minerals,” Skaer said.

The sold-out trade show will feature240 vendor booths. Skaer said morethan 70 companies are on a waiting list.

“A lot of them are repeat exhibitors,from mining companies to consultants,”she said.

The trade show opens Nov. 30 andwill runs from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. thatday. A welcoming reception for the con-vention is also scheduled for 5:30 to7:30 p.m. that day.

On Dec. 1, the trade show will be openfrom 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and from 9 a.m.to 1 p.m. Dec. 2.

Skaer said the majority of exhibitorsare focused more on the explorationside of the industry, since the conven-tion is the largest gathering in thecountry of the hardrock mining explo-ration sector.

In addition to sessions and the tradeshow, “they’ll be lots of networkingbetween the major producers and thejunior mining companies,” Skaer said.

For more information or to register,visit www.nwma.org.

NWMA convention in Sparks


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ELKO — Quadra FNX Mining Ltd.expects the Robinson Mine near Ely toproduce between 105 million and 120million pounds of copper this year, andthe company reduced the estimate forgold production.

The gold ounces are now expected tobe between 25,000 to 30,000 ounces ofgold, which is roughly 20,000 ouncesbelow earlier forecasts.

The Robinson operations in WhitePine County are producing fewer goldounces now that all the mining is in theRuth Pit, Quadra FNX President andChief Executive Officer Paul Blythe said.

There was more gold recovery from theVeteran Pit, Blythe said in an earningsteleconference.

“We expect some improvement goingforward but not what we had at Veteran,”he said in an earnings teleconference.

Robinson produced 21.2 millionpounds of copper and 7,100 ounces ofgold in the 2011 second quarter, com-

pared with 22.7 million pounds of copperand 14,700 ounces of gold in the 2010quarter.

Robinson should have a better secondhalf of the year, Blythe said, now thatmud has been removed from the bottomof the Ruth Pit a month ahead ofschedule. This provides access to high-grade areas.

According to the company, Robinsonalso has more flexibility with a new rampin the Ruth Pit and a transfer of four haultrucks from Quadra FNX’s Carlota Minein Arizona, where production droppedand costs rose in the quarter.

Carlota decreased the mining rate toalign costs with the production base,according to the earnings report.

Quadra FNX’s chief operating officer,Michael Winship, said in the teleconfer-ence that Carlota laid off roughly 60people, but some of them transferred toRobinson.

Companywide, production hit 55 mil-lion pounds of copper and 27,000 ouncesof gold and other precious metals in thequarter, compared with 54.8 million

ounces and 26,870 ounces of preciousmetals last year, according to the earn-ings report.

Quadra and FNX merged in May of lastyear so the production increase for 2011includes a full quarter from the Sudburyprojects in Canada from FNX.

Vancouver-based Quadra FNX alsoannounced a 75 percent jump in earningsto $64 million, or 33 cents per share, inthe second quarterly, helped by highercopper prices.

The earnings for the 2011 quarter com-pared with $37 million, or 26 cents pershare, in the 2010 quarter.

“Our financial results were driven byan increase in production from theunderground and open pit mines and afavorable copper price environment,”said Blythe.

Copper prices averaged $4.15 perpound in the second quarter, comparedwith $.79 a pound in the 2010 quarter.

The price fell below $4 a pound inrecent market action, but Quadra FNXstated in its earnings report the companybelieves that copper market fundamen-

tals will remain strong, including supplychallenges and urbanization of emergingeconomies, such as China.

Production costs were up to $2.33 perpound in the 2011 quarter from $1.92 perpound last year,Quadra FNX reported.

Higher commodity prices, such as forfuel, and lower gold production at theRobinson were a couple of reasons costswere up, Blythe said in the teleconfer-ence.

Adjusted for certain one-time items,including a $24.6 million gain on the saleof Quadra FNX’s investment in Far WestMining, net income was $42.8 million, or22 cents per share, in the second quarter,compared with $22.9 million, or 16 centsper share, in the second quarter of 2010.

Quarterly revenue rose 76 percent to$298 million from $169 million in the2010 quarter.

Quadra FNX reported it continues toexpect 2011 copper production of about240 million pounds, but gold productionis now expected to be 100,000 ounces,due to lower production from the Rob-inson.

Robinson gains access to better ore



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ELKO — Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp. plans to start miningin September at the SSX-Steer underground complex at theJerritt Canyon Mine north of Elko as one segment of agrowth plan that also may include reviving surface mining.

“I think we’re very optimistic. We plan big programs ofgrowth in the next six months and then in 12 to 18 months,”said the Vancouver-based company’s new chief operatingofficer, Randy Reichert.

He said SSX-Steer will ramp up to 800 tons of ore per dayand reach 1,200 tons per day in the second quarter of nextyear.

The first open-pit mining most likely will be in the Saval-Steer region, according to Guy Simpson, general manager atJerritt Canyon.

“We’re examining all the pits. The economics havechanged significantly,” Reichert said. “We’re doing a lot ofdrilling now.”

The company’s eye is on Saval, West Generator,California Mountain,Winter’s Creek and Marlboro Canyon,all areas where Jerritt Canyon has mined in years past, andSimpson said in mid-August there were three reverse-circu-lation drilling rigs and one core rig on the property.

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See JERRITT, 52

Corey DeltaConstructors isbuilding thefoundation forthe new oredryer for themill at Yukon-Nevada GoldCorp.’s JerrittCanyon Minenorth of Elko.The foundationwork wasunder way inmid-August.


Reichert said one goal is to findenough oxide ore at the pits to reopenthe wet mill at Jerritt Canyon that wasdecommissioned in the late 1990s butstill in place. Jerritt Canyon has been inoperation since 1981.

Gold productionMeanwhile, Small Mine Development

continues to operate the Smith under-ground mine at Jerritt Canyon and hasroughly 50 people on site, Simpson said.

“They are doing 1,200 to 1,250 tonsper day and the ore is over 0.2 ounces perton,” he said.

Jerritt Canyon also is processing oreYukon-Nevada purchases from New-mont Mining Corp. Newmont is deliv-ering roughly 1,000 tons a day, Reichertsaid, but he said Yukon-Nevada’s goal isto “getting our own ore through theplant.”

Yukon-Nevada reported gold produc-tion of 22,168 ounces in the quarter fromthe Smith underground mine, ore pur-chases and stockpiles, compared with18,441 ounces in the 2010 quarter.

The company also reported it pur-chased 67,899 tons of ore fromNewmont in the second quarter, netting16,375 ounces after processing at theJerritt Canyon mill.

SMD delivered 53,150 tons containing9,889 ounces of gold during the quarter,which was lower than in the firstquarter because Jerritt Canyon wasaligning mill operations with mininglevels, Yukon-Nevada stated in its earn-ings report.

Projects under wayJerritt Canyon is a busy place with the

mining projects, construction projectsand mill improvements.

“This property is exciting and fun andhas an opportunity to be successfulagain. I’ve spent a lot of my life up here,”said Mike Armuth, mining manager forJerritt Canyon since early May.

He said he worked 28 years at JerrittCanyon in surface and undergroundoperations.

Armuth said one of his focuses is on


Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyRandy Reichert, left, chief operating officer of Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp., goes over a drawing of thenew tailings pond and water storage facility under construction at the Jerritt Canyon Mine north ofElko with Michael Smith, engineering manager for Jerritt Canyon. In the background are the VTConstruction vehicles parked during the lunch break on a mid-August day in the water storage area.

Jerritt ...Continued from page 51

See JERRITT, page 53

hiring people for underground and sur-face operations, and he said he has “donea pretty fair job” attracting new andformer Jerritt Canyon employees.

Jerritt Canyon has roughly 200employees, and Simpson said the plan isto be up to 250 people by the first quarterof next year.

“There have been cross-the-board payraises, and we will be very competitive torecruit quality people. We fully under-stand that to compete, we have to paycompetitive salaries and benefits,”Simpson said.

The first major project mine visitorssee is the new tailings pond and waterstorage facility under construction.

VT Construction out of Las Vegas isdoing the earthwork and has roughly 70people on site.

Mike Smith, engineering manager forJerritt Canyon, said in mid-August thatthe earthwork for both the tailings pondand water storage facility should be com-pleted by November, but the waterstorage facility is the priority.

“We want to commission the water

storage reservoir this year,” he said. “Weneed to manage the water.”

Smith said the existing reservoir with asoil liner has leakage into groundwater,although the leakage is captured before ithas an impact.

The water is recycled for use in themill, and the excess water is evaporatedwith 26 evaporators on site.

The current tailings facility still hasabout 1.5 years of storage space, Reichertsaid.

The first phase of the tailings facilitywill hold 4.5 million tons and have athree-year life, and the second phase willduplicate the first phase and the facilitycan be expanded later, Smith said.

A winterization project at the millalready was under way in mid-August,with Corey Delta Constructors con-structing the foundation for a new ore-drying facility, and the major portion ofthe work was expected to begin inSeptember.

Simpson said the winterization projectthat will cost $10 million will eliminatefrozen ores in the cold weather bymoving the drying process to the begin-

ning of the mill cycle and will includecyclones and a mercury scrubber that isin addition to the mercury controls at thefinal cycle of the process.

The drying facility will be “locatedimmediately after first-stage crushing,”Simpson said.

The mill’s roasters and carbon-in-leach circuit will be shut down for firsttwo or three weeks of September forannual maintenance and automationupgrades but can resume operation while


Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyAn Aggregate Trucking truck pulls out after dumping a load of gold ore in mid-August on a stock-pile at Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp.’s Jerritt Canyon Mine. The ore came from Newmont MiningCorp. operations.



work continues on the winterization work that willinclude taking out the old system, according toSimpson.

“We will install mobile crushers on a temporarybasis,” he said.

Reichert said the work won’t end there, but there willbe additional upgrades in the mill later.

“We’re putting a lot of money into this place,”he said.Financing in place

Yukon-Nevada announced in mid-August it closedon a forward gold purchase agreement with DeutscheBank AG, London Branch to raise $120 million for JerrittCanyon. The agreement calls for Yukon-Nevada todeliver 173,880 ounces of gold to the bank over a 48-month term, beginning with 1,000 ounces of gold amonth for the first six months.

The company earlier announced raising $60 millionthrough a private placement and exercise of share war-rants.

Reichert said the company is looking at puttinganother $150 million into Jerritt Canyon within the next18 months to two years, with the bulk of that in the next12 months.

Simpson said the company started looking at theexpansion plans when gold was at $800 to $1,000 anounce, and with the price at $1,800 to $1,900 an ounce,“we’re drilling hard and exploring hard to come up with

ore bodies.”He said a key target is the Mahala Basin between the

Smith and SSX mines.“We’re spending $12 million just in exploration

drilling this year,” Simpson said.“Another thing we’re doing is grade controls at the




Scott Warenski of Elkooperates one of thenew 100-ton Komatsuhaul trucks at Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp.’sJerritt Canyon Mine50 miles north of Elko.The trucks haul orefrom stockpiles to themill.



older stockpiles with this gold price,” hesaid, explaining that there are more than800,000 tons of stockpiled ore that wasevaluated at $1,250 gold. “SSX is a high-grade gold mine for mill feed, and we willsupplement with low-grade ores.”

The mine also is developing a newmine fleet, with replacement of “veryold, tired trucks” with three 100-tonKomatsu haul trucks, a Komatsu loader,grader and bulldozer for the surfaceoperations, Simpson said.

The haul trucks are bringing ore fromstockpiles at the mine sites around theproperty to the mill.

New underground equipment also ison order or just recently arrived. Armuthsaid there are three Sandvik haul trucks,one Sandvik 6-yard loader, two AtlasCopco jumbo drills and one Atlas Copcobolter, as well as a Normet transmixertruck and shotcrete sprayer.

“We’ve done a lot of work putting theshops together.The SSX shop is ready forproduction,” Armuth said.

He also said mechanics are rebuildinga Tamrock bolter.

The revival at Jerritt Canyon fol-lows a shutdown in August 2008when Yukon-Nevada ran into finan-cial problems and the NevadaDivision of Environmental Protectionwas pushing for new mercury con-trols on the roaster, along with otherenvironmental work.

Yukon-Nevada later signed anagreement with the state, installednew mercury controls and began pro-cessing stockpiles and then con-tracted with SMD to mine Smith.

Reichert said that “2008 was a dif-ficult time, not only here but aroundthe world,” but he said Yukon-Nevada has the financing now and isconvincing the investment commu-nity about the company’s future.

Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp.reported net income for the secondquarter totaled $22.9 million, com-pared with net income of $4.5 millionin the 2010 quarter.

The income boost came from a$36.6 million gain in the fair value ofshare warrants recorded as derivative lia-bilities, according to the earnings report.

Yukon-Nevada announced in July thatgold reserves at Jerritt Canyon as of Jan. 1of this year total 717,000 ounces of goldat an average grade of 0.164 ounces per

ton.The reserves, the first update since

2007, are part of measured and indicatedresources of 2.54 million ounces.


Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyA new Komatsu bulldozer is working on the ore stockpile for the mill at Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp.’sJerritt Canyon Mine in Elko County.




Tom White,operator andtrainer ofundergroundmobileequipmentfor Sandvik,demon-strates anundergrounddrillingmachineusing a simu-lator duringthe recentgrand open-ing of theSandvik facil-ity on AltaVista Drive inElko.

Ross AndresonMiningQuarterly

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ELKO — Sandvik Mining & Construction has a far reachthat goes beyond northeastern Nevada.

The company, a global business that began in Sweden andrecently celebrated its 150th anniversary, has three fields,mining and construction,materials technology and tooling.

The mining and construction subset of Sandvik group hasbeen around for 12 years and now makes up nearly half of thewhole group’s net profits, said David Gardner, president ofSandvik’s United States and Canada region.

Sandvik is a presence in all of the underground miningoperations in northeastern Nevada, said Steve Antonini,manager of the Elko branch.

He said some of the most popular items used in this areafor mining include drills and bolters for undergroundmining, as well as loaders and trucks.

“Specifically for this area in mining, we supply anythingdealing with rock excavation so it may be drilling opera-tions, mechanical cutting operations, crushing andscreening operations and it can be loading and hauling oper-ations, so we try to cover the gamut,” said Paul Painter, thearea manager in Elko.

Safety is the company’s first priority, Gardner said.

Sandvik expands in new Elko facility

See SANDVIK, page 59

The company also is innovative inworking to provide energy efficient prac-tices in the machines used in both above-ground and underground mining opera-tions.

The company’s bolters are auto-dieselelectric, meaning they can run on thosetwo energy sources. The vehicles can bedriven around the mine on the diesel fuelto a drill site where it can then be pluggedin to the electric for the actual drilling,which Antonini said is the preferred wayto run the bolters.

Most recently diesel particulate regu-lations led the company to implementtier 3 engines into the its undergroundequipment.

“There are basically tier 1, 2, 3 and 4engines and Sandvik was on the forefrontof getting a tier 3 engine in place andunderground,” Antonini said.

In some of the machines, he said theyrun an 80-20 biodiesel blend. The 20percent is biofuel.

“That’s a science that is evolvingeveryday and it’s something that’s beenout for a few years, but it gets refinedconstantly,” Antonini said.

Sandvik recently partnered with VolvoPenta Engines, which is close to intro-ducing a tier 4 engine. Antonini said thisengine should be ready for use by themiddle of 2012.

Sandvik opened a new building on 3.5acres on Alta Vista Drive in Elko, with agrand opening celebration in early August.

Although the U.S. and Canada region

has taken a hit in the past few years whenthe recession occurred and caused com-pany layoffs and downsizing across theglobe, Gardner said the company stillmade the investment in a new building inElko.

“Sandvik as a group was affected bythe recession, but the board still ap-proved this significant investment at thetime when the lower level projectsaround were canceled, so I think that’stestament to Sandvik’s commitment toElko that we went ahead with this; espe-cially since we built this facility and we’renot leasing shows our commitment to thearea, the industry and the community,”Gardner said.

The 22,000-square-foot building istwice the size of the old building on IdahoStreet with three times the yard space. Itsnew location features a larger warehouse,customer support and parts order desk,component repair center, as well as rigrebuild capability.

Construction began in November of2010 and was completed June 30 beforeemployees started moving.

Thirty employees work out of the newbuilding.Antonini said the company plansto hire five more field service and shopservice technicians by the end of 2011.

Sandvik first came to Elko in the mid-1990s.

“Underground and surface miningbrought us here and it’s what’s keeping ushere,” said Painter.

For information on Sandvik, call 777-9178 or visit www.sandvik.com.


Ross Andreson/Mining QuarterlySandvik drilling rigs await shipping to mining locations in Nevada during the recent grand open-ing of the Sandvik facility on Alta Vista Drive in Elko.

Sandvik ...Continued from page 58

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EUREKA — General Moly is working withEureka County on a water monitoring, man-agement and mitigation plan that StateEngineer Jason King ordered while awaitingpublication of the draft study on the com-pany’s Mt. Hope Project.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management’sBattle Mountain District is preparing thedraft environmental impact statement on theproposed molybdenum mine in EurekaCounty and expects the study’s release by theend of this year.

“Issuance of the DEIS is expected in thenext two to four months,” said Angelica Rose,who is the BLM’s project leader for Mt.Hope.

General Moly hopes to begin developmentof a large mine with a 44-year mine life androughly 400 employees once the BLMapproves the project and the way is clear touse water rights for the operation.

King approved the water rights in July, andhis opinion included the requirement thatEureka County and General Moly worktogether on the monitoring,management and

mitigation plan.“The ruling speaks for itself. I felt comfort-

able with the decision we made,” King said ina July telephone interview.

Eureka County Commissioners on Aug. 5approved an appeal to district court,however,over King’s approval of the change in waterrights usage from agricultural to mining forGeneral Moly.

Commission Chairman Leonard Fiorenzisaid the commissioners approved filing anappeal by the Aug. 12 deadline but will laterconsider whether to withdraw the appeal.

“We put it on the agenda for the secondmeeting in September to decide whether towithdraw the appeal,” he said.

Fiorenzi said the county will continue towork with General Moly, the company plan-ning to develop Mt. Hope, including on whatis called the 3M plan.

He said the county’s appeal will addressseveral legal issues, but the county is con-cerned about potential impacts on waterrights beyond General Moly’s water rights.

“Our position is that the state engineer’sruling is very solid,” said Bob Pennington,vice president of engineering and construc-

tion for General Moly. “I’m optimistic theissues can be addressed before the districtcourt hearing.” He said General Moly willcontinue talking with Eureka County on thecounty’s concerns about the water rights, hesaid in an interview in Eureka.

He said he was optimistic all the issuescould be addressed before the appeal goes todistrict court.

Pennington said the water permits havebeen tied up in litigation twice, even thoughthe state engineer and the BLM have said anyimpacts from use of the company’s waterrights for mining would have minimalimpact.

“It’s been painful,” Pennington said of thewater rights litigation and the lengthy per-mitting process with the BLM. “It’s difficultfor a development company like ours.”

The wait for BLM approval also has beenhard on the company, he said.

“We’ve done everything we could to moveit forward. The completed baseline studieshave been done since March 2010,” Pen-nington said.

60 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SPRING 2011

Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyMike Iannacchione, general man-ager of General Moly’s Mt. HopeProject in Eureka County, talks at aGeneral Moly-sponsored commu-nity meeting and barbecue at theEureka Opera House about a sur-vey showing majority support forthe project.

General Moly, county work on ‘3M’ plan

See GENERAL MOLY, page 61


General Moly’s plan of operations forMt. Hope was initially approved in 2006,and the process toward permitting hascontinued since that time.

Pennington also said at an August openhouse and barbecue that General Molyhosted that the company will continue toreach out to people in the area to under-stand their concerns, look for solutionsand be good neighbors.

General Moly put on the open house torelease results of a survey of residents inthe region of Mt. Hope that showed 83percent of those responding support theproject.

Mike Iannacchione, new general man-ager for the Mt. Hope Project, presentedthe survey figures.

Roberta Dinwiddie of Eureka said atGeneral Moly’s barbecue that she sup-ports the Mt. Hope Project.

“It’s good for the economy and for jobs.Kids will come back if they have a job,” shesaid.

“I think it will diversify our economy abit,” said her husband Bob Dinwiddie.

They have lived in Eureka 25 years andearlier lived in Ely.

Earl Overholser of Eureka, manager ofthe local Al Park Petroleum branch,agreed the project would help theeconomy and create jobs.

“My kids had to move out to findwork,” he said. “As long as it doesn’t hurtanybody, I think it will be a good thing.”

General Moly has had extra costs whileawaiting BLM approval, including a feefor a delay in an equipment order andstorage of equipment already purchased.

General Moly has roughly $25 millionin mill motors stored at the company’sLiberty Mine, the company’s potentialmolybdenum operation near Tonopah,SAG mill shells stored in Houston andmain transformers stored at the manu-facturer’s, according to Pennington.

General Moly reported a $3.4 millionnon-cash write down in the secondquarter that represented roughly 50 per-cent of a long-term deposit on miningequipment with the passage of a June 30,2011, deadline for a firm purchase order.

The company had placed an order fortwo electric shovels with P&H when itexpected the Mt. Hope Project to be per-mitted in 2009, Pennington said.

General Moly paid $6.8 million in 2008

against the contract to purchase the twoshovels.

The company stated in its second-quarter earnings report that it continuesdiscussions concerning applying pre-vious payments for the shovels to futureorders, including the remaining $3.4 mil-lion tied to an order deadline of June 30,2012.

General Moly reported a net loss forthe second quarter of $5.4 million, or 6cents per share, compared with a loss of$3.2 million, or 4 cents per share, for the2010 quarter.

The Colorado-based company alsoannounced a cash balance at the end ofthe 2011 quarter of roughly $59 million,up from $54 million at the end of 2010.

General Moly stated it spent roughly $5million in the quarter, including $2.1 mil-lion in development, engineering andequipment deposit costs for Mt. Hope,roughly $2 million in general and admin-istrative costs and $900,000 in debtissuance costs tied to procurement of aHanlong-sourced Chinese bank loan.

When the bank loan is in place andrequired permits are received, the com-pany reported it intends to close on

Hanlong’s tranche 2 equity sale for $40million, bringing Hanlong’s share posi-tion in the company to 25 percent.

Also when final permits are received,POS-Minerals Corp., a 20 percent ownerof Mt.Hope, is anticipated to fund its final$56 million initial contribution, plus 20percent of all the funds the company hasspent on the Mt. Hope Project at thatpoint.

The company estimates this combinedpayment will be approximately $100 mil-lion and from that point forward GeneralMoly will fund 80 percent of the Mt.HopeProject. POS-Minerals will fund 20 per-cent of the costs.

Also, within nine months after the Mt.Hope project’s permits are received,Hanlong is obligated to procure a drawableloan from a Chinese bank of not less than$665 million, according to General Moly.

During the remainder of 2011, spendinglevels will largely be tied to progresstoward receipt of the Mt. Hope Project’spermits, not including a $9 millionadvanced royalty payment due in thefourth quarter under the company’s Mt.Hope lease, General Moly stated in theearnings report.

General Moly ...Continued from page 60


Ross Andreson/Mining QuarterlyMachinist Tony Wilson works on a 4100XPC electric shovel crawler frame on Aug. 17 at P&H MinePro’s west facility shop in Elko.

P&H MinePro’sregional man-ager, MikeEwing, left,demonstratesthe cab widthon a 4100XPCelectric shovelscale modelAug. 17 at thewest facilityoffice in Elko.At right, issales managerBrandonHendrix.


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ELKO — Diversity and the desire forgrowth are two of many elements that haveled to P&H MinePro’s continued successlocally and globally.

Growth comes in many forms for P&HMinePro. Areas include actual growth ofthe Elko property, the moving of equipmentinto various locations and continual im-provements and advancements in tech-nology and efficiency.

Regional manager Mike Ewing said thecompany is looking at expanding its opera-tions at the west facility near the 298 exitoff Interstate 80.

According to Ewing, the local facilitywants to expand within the next few years.

P&H is owned by Joy Global Inc., whichalso recently purchased Continental Con-veyor and Goodman-Hewitt.

Ewing said the Elko facilities are able toservice a variety of loaders, trucks, breakersand other equipment by a number of man-ufacturers; not just P&H.

“Diversity is what helps separate us fromothers,” Ewing said. “It’s also what helpskeep us alive when prices go down. We havea reputation in the industry that’s beenbuilt up over the years.”

Aside from work with mines, P&HMinePro’s Elko shops will also do work withthe U.S. Bureau of Land Management, con-struction companies, ranchers and roadcrews. And P&H’s local office is turning outmachinery that gets shipped to mines allover the world, including Africa and SouthAmerica.

Local welders have even been sent toChina to perform maintenance on someequipment there. P&H supports seven mine

PP && HHMineProlooks to

the future

See P&H MINEPRO, page 63


Ross Andreson/Mining QuarterlyP&H MinePro sales manager Brandon Hendrix explains the staging process the company useswhen constructing equipment. These gears were sent to Elko from the company’s Milwaukeeplant. The gears are part of an electric shovel’s cable hoist system.

operations in both Nevada and at theBingham Canyon open pit mine nearSalt Lake City.

There are about 120 employees forthe Nevada operations.

For new projects in the works andcoming up, Ewing said Salt Lake areaemployees have been busy overhaulingequipment, including putting new cabson two shovels re-skinning three.

In November, P&H MinePro will as-semble a new diesel drill at BinghamCanyon. Two electric drills are slatedfor next year there, as well as a4500XPC electric shovel that’s beingput together now. Ewing said P&Hexpects to be doing work at BarrickCortez next year.

P&H supports mine operations inNevada at Barrick Goldstrike, BarrickCortez, Barrick Bald Mountain, RoundMountain Gold, Newmont and QuadraFNX Robinson.

In 2000, P&H moved from a leasedbuilding to the custom-built facilitywest of Elko. In 2005, there was a smallexpansion to delineate the welding areafrom the machine shop. In 2007, P&Hacquired a shop on the east end of Elko

on Idaho Street for handling the bal-ance of machine shop assets and per-sonnel.

The east shop, aside from weldingand machining, also handles repairs ongear boxes, agitators and mixers, as wellas some trucks and loaders.

According to information providedby Ewing, in 2008 P&H invested morethan $6 million to acquire a mill toincrease machining capabilities alongwith an air purification system andupgrades to overhead bridge cranes.

For innovation in design and tech-nology, Ewing said P&H is looking intodesigning other sizes of shovels anddrills to fill niche gaps that other com-petitors are trying to fill. A new style ofdipper is being tested at BinghamCanyon.

“In a year or so it could be somethingwe could sell,” Ewing said. However, henoted at this time it appears that dipperworks ideally with hardrock mining.

Innovations in equipment alsoinclude improved ergonomics for elec-tric shovel operators, who may work 12-hour shifts. There is a track guard that

P&H MinePro ...Continued from page 62

See P&H MINEPRO, page 64


Ross Andreson/Mining QuarterlyMachinists Cecil Cotten, standing, and Tyson Young use laser alignment to precisely set a bore.According to shop Manager Mitch Geyer, there is only room for a one five-thousandth of an inchtolerance.

uses GPS to monitor how close a dippergets to the track on a turn. If the dipperis in danger of striking or damaging thetrack, a computer automatically takescontrol of the operation to perform acorrective measure, Ewing said.

In another development, a sensormonitors the leading edge of the dipper.If a tooth on the edge comes loose, thesensor identifies that and notifies theoperator. The operator can then locatethe tooth so it doesn’t end up going tothe mill and causing further problemsdown the line.

Safety has been a major concern forP&H MinePro. According to BrandonHendrix, sale manager at the Elkooffice, the Nevada operation has gonefive years without any lost time due tosafety mishaps. This decreases downtime for the company and possibledelays for customers.

He said adding to efficiency is a re-structuring of the company’s stagingprocesses. Knowing how an on-site jobneeds to be completed helps dictatewhat parts go to a site first so they canbe assembled with efficiency.

P&H MinePro is also known for itsfield service department. Field serviceManager Jason Ashby said his depart-ment has 11 local mechanics and fourelectricians or service engineers. Themechanics works on a number of piecesof equipment; not just P&H equip-ment.

The service engineers, however, tendto be specific to the systems utilized byP&H. The Prevail system, for instance,was developed by P&H to monitorequipment and help diagnose technicalproblems from remote locations as away to cut down on downtime and theamount of time it might take an engi-neer on-site to find the problem.

Going in with advance knowledge ofthe problem can speed the process toresolution, according to Ashby.

But P&H’s works go beyond theindustrial spectrum. Aside from pro-viding local jobs for a major industry,Ewing said P&H MinePro also invests incommunities by supporting charitableorganizations.

“We’re not going anywhere,” Ewingsaid. “We like it here. We are deeplyengaged with our Elko community.”

P&H MinePro ...Continued from page 63


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ELKO — Revett Minerals Inc. owes thesuccess of its Troy Mine in the north-western corner of Montana to the mineemployees, according to President andChief Executive Officer John Shanahan.

“It really is a turnaround story.We fin-ished up 2008 in the worse way,” he said,pointing to copper prices as low as $1.25 apound and silver at $8 an ounce.

“Faced with closure and layoffs, theworkforce came together,” Shanahan saidin a telephone interview in mid-August.

He said the mine had 185 employeesthen, 195 now, and Troy was the lastmajor employer in the area. The mine isroughly 20 miles from Troy,Mont.

Workers offered to take pay cuts, towork longer hours, and they formedgroups to save money, Shanahan said.

The workers are shareholders, and hesaid that makes a difference.

“It’s amazing to work in an operationwhere employees are shareholders. It’schanged how we do things. The em-ployees are extremely proud,” Shanahansaid.

The underground silver and coppermine produced 342,822 ounces of silverand more than 3 million pounds of copperin the second quarter, according to theearnings report.

Revett reported quarterly revenues of$18.8 million, up 102 percent from thesecond quarter of last year, and the com-pany based in Spokane Valley, Wash.,reported net income of $7.9 million, or 23cents per share.

Higher copper prices in the range of $4a pound and higher silver prices in therange of $40 an ounce helped boost rev-enue.

“If the prices drop, we will get throughit again,” Shanahan said regarding the

SubmittedA loader fills a haul truck in the cavernous underground Troy Mine operated by Revett Mineralsin Montana near the Canadian border.

Revett Minerals creditsemployees for turnaround

See REVETT, 66


Troy Mine.Shanahan said the Troy Mine is a “large,

cavernous mine” that allows even 150-tonhaul trucks to go underground,and he saidit is the “cleanest, less environmentallyimpacting mine.”

Revett uses Troy as an example of whythe company believes it can develop andmine the Rock Creek Project roughly 35miles from Troy, Shanahan said.

Troy crushes the ore and a flotationprocess turns it into concentrate that istaken by truck to Libby, Mont., to be puton railroad cars to a refinery in Mexico.

Shanahan said there are no water issuesat Troy, no acid issues and no degradationon the surface after 30 years of on and offoperations.

“This gives us the confidence to developRock Creek to some of the highest stan-dards,” Shanahan said.

Tony Jensen,president and chief execu-tive officer of Royal Gold Inc.,which holdsa royalty on the Troy Mine, said Troy is “anice, clean operation with a very smallfootprint.”

The battle to permit Rock Creek has

been ongoing for years, andmuch of the controversy stemsfrom the fact that while thesurface facilities will be outsidea wilderness area, the under-ground mine would go under awilderness area.

“Environmental groups willlook at it as a big hole in theground. We’ve gone to greatlengths to bring people toTroy” to show them what isplanned, Shanahan said.

The U.S. Forest Serviceissued a record of decisionapproving Rock Creek in 2003, but envi-ronmental organizations immediatelychallenged the decision and years of litiga-tion followed.

Shanahan said Revett is now awaiting adecision from the 9th Circuit Court ofAppeals after the Forest Service and Revettpresented oral arguments in July.

The company also has to work on newwater-discharge permits after a districtcourt ruling.

A Helena district court judge ruled inJuly that the state of Montana was wrong

to take a “permitting shortcut”while allowing Revett Mineralsto go ahead with constructionof Rock Creek beneath the Cab-inet Mountains Wilderness,according to the Missoulian, aLee Enterprise newspaper, as isthe Elko Daily Free Press.

Now, the company will haveto obtain an individual dis-charge permit under the Mon-tana Water Quality Act — whichmeans a full opportunity forpublic review and input —before construction can begin,

the Missoulian reported.“This decision is just common sense,”

said Karen Knudsen, executive director ofthe Clark Fork Coalition, which broughtthe lawsuit along with three other conser-vation groups.

“To approve a huge copper and silvermine in sensitive bull trout habitat underthe same abbreviated permit process thatapplies when you build a house next to theinterstate makes no sense at all,” Knudsentold the Missoulian. “Yet that’s what thestate tried to do here.”

Shanahan said Revett has the “perse-verance to see this through.We’re going toget there. The science clearly shows its aclean operation.”

He said with the success of Troy, Revetthas breathing room to wait out the per-mitting process.

Shanahan also said Rock Creek near thetown of Noxon would create jobs and givethe area an economic boost.The plan is toemploy 300 people.

Rock Creek is the largest undevelopedsilver and copper deposit in NorthAmerica, with an inferred resource of 229million ounces of silver and 2 billionpounds of copper.

Revett had its eye solely on Rock Creekwhen it acquired the project, but whenmetal prices started to go up a little in2004, “we said, ‘why don’t we get Troyback in production. It will employ peopleand train people up and by then we canmove everything over to Rock Creek,”Shanahan said.

The company has been operating Troyfor seven years now, although the opera-tion originally was expected to have afour-year life, he said.

Revett ...Continued from page 65

John Shanahan

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ELKO — Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp.’s Rochester Mine near Lovelock ismining again after several years in a mining shutdown and will be addingsilver and gold production later in the year.

“We have now resumed active mining and expect to generate addi-tional silver and gold ounces in the fourth quarter from a newly con-structed leach pad,” said Coeur’s new president and chief executiveofficer,Mitchell Krebs.

Ore is being crushed and stacked on a new leach pad at Rochester, andCoeur stated in its second-quarter earnings report that the increasedproduction from the new mining should increase Rochester’s productionin the fourth quarter.

During the second quarter, residual leaching activities at Rochesterproduced 333,400 silver ounces and 1,400 gold ounces, according toCoeur.This production is from earlier mining.

Cash operating costs were $4.34 per ounce of silver at Rochester,net ofgold by-product credit.

Rochester has been in an expansion mode since receiving U.S. Bureau ofLand Management approval for the project, and the predominately silvermine is still hiring.

“As of Monday Aug. 15, CRI employees were 203, and we are still inter-viewing/hiring for various positions. We have about 103 contractors onsite mostly associated with leach pad/conveyor construction activities,”


SubmittedAlfredo Paredes, left, Tate Morehead and Jacob Pritchard are part of a Coeur Rochester Mine crew that helpedthe Safe Haven Rescue Zoo. Morehead is a full-time Rochester employee and the others were summer students.

Coeur Rochester returns to mining

See ROCHESTER, page 68

Rochester General Manager Cindy Jones said.“Considerable upside potential remains at Roch-

ester as we begin to see the impact of this initial 50 mil-lion-ton leach pad.We will begin to focus our efforts onrecovering additional economic material from furtherexploration and development of the large mineralresource,” Leon Hardy, senior vice present of opera-tions, said in a teleconference on Coeur’s second-quarter earnings.

Don Birack, senior vice president of exploration,reported that drilling started in the second quarter onthe LM and NWR targets to the northwest atRochester and also at Nevada Packard.

He said these areas have good growth potential.Coeur also reported that more than 200 million

tons of additional mineral resources are located in theexisting pit walls and represent a significant growthopportunity.

Companywide,Coeur expects full-year productionof between 19.5 million and 20.5 million ounces ofsilver and 240,000 ounces of gold, with higher pro-duction anticipated in the fourth quarter fromRochester, the San Bartolome Mine in Bolivia and theMartha Mine in Argentina.

Coeur’s silver production in the second quartertotaled 4.76 million ounces, up 16 percent from 4.16million ounces last year.

The company also produced 60,656 ounces of gold,

up from 23,124 million ounces in the 2010 quarter,before the Kensington gold mine in Alaska was in pro-duction.

Coeur announced realized net income of $38.6 mil-lion, or 43 cents per share, in the second quarter,compared with a net loss of $50.7 million, of 57 centsper share, in the 2010 quarter.

Adjusted net income was $58 million, or 65 centsper share, compared with an adjusted loss of $8.9 mil-lion, or 10 cents per share, last year.

The Idaho-based company reported record netmetal sales of $231.1 million,a record for the company,and 129 percent higher than the metal sales of $101million in the 2010 quarter.

The company stated the increase in sales is mostlydue to record silver and gold production fromPalmarejo in Mexico, gold production from Ken-sington, which wasn’t in operation in the 2010quarter, and higher silver and gold prices.

The realized average silver price of $39.11 for thequarter was a 111 percent increase over the 2010quarter, and gold prices during the second quarter of$1,504 per ounce were up 28 percent over last year,Coeur stated in the second-quarter earnings report.

“Our second-quarter performance reflects recordhigh production and record low costs per ounce atPalmarejo, another consistent quarter at SanBartolomé, and steady progress at Kensington,”Krebs said in the earnings report.


UNIONVILLE — Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp.’sRochester Mine near Lovelock came to the rescue of SafeHaven Rescue Zoo, which needed a firebreak to protectthe growing facility.

Coeur Rochester’s staff and equipment recently cre-ated a 100-foot firebreak, according to Lynda Sugasa, thezoo’s executive director.

“Coeur Rochester employees Larry Dowd and WayneAnderson arrived with a Caterpillar 16M motor graderand within one day created the 100-foot firebreak. Theircontribution has now made Safe Haven ‘wildfire ready,’”she said in an email update.

In addition, Rochester also donated the use of a JohnDeere 310J to expand the water lines out to all of the newenclosures, Sugasa said.

“Tate Morehead, Alfredo Paredes and Jacob Pritchardworked an entire week on-site at Safe Haven to trench thethree feet necessary to reach below the frost line andinstall the water lines that now reach all of the new enclo-sure areas,” she said.

They installed roughly 1,000 feet of water lines, whichprovided water to Siberian tiger Lulu, African lions Kovuand Ifaw,new arrival cougar Max,as well as the bobcat andfox enclosures. The frost-free faucets were positioned toalso provide water for future enclosures, Sugasa said.

Coeur Rochester helpsSafe Haven Rescue Zoo

Rochester ...Continued from page 67



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ELKO — The draft study of Great BasinGold Ltd.’s Hollister underground mineproject could be released in the nextcouple of months, according to the U.S.Bureau of Land Management’s Elkooffice.

“We’re trying to get the draft out.Hopefully, we will get the draft out byOctober, at least that’s now the goal,”said Janice Stadelman, the BLM’s projectleader for Hollister.

Great Basin Gold has been producinggold from Hollister under permits forbulk sampling while awaiting BLMapproval to become a full producer andto construct new facilities at the minesite in northwestern Elko County.

“It’s been four and a half years sincewe submitted the amended plan of oper-ations,” Great Basin Gold President andChief Executive Officer Ferdi Dippenaarsaid in an earnings teleconference inmid-August, adding that project ap-proval could come in six months.

Hollister provided $49 million in rev-

enue for the company in the secondquarter on record sales of 34,522ounces of gold equivalent, and under-ground exploration and stope delin-eation drilling continued during thequarter, according to the earningsreport.

Great Basin Gold stated there wasrecord 45,000 feet of drilling, and thefocus has been on completing drillingon the Blanket Zone and southeastGwenivere targets that will providedata for an updated update of mineralresources at Hollister expected to bereleased in September.

Hollister is a high-grade under-ground project, and the ore fromHollister is processed at the company’sEsmeralda mill near Hawthorne,whereconstruction continued on an acid washand carbon regeneration system.

Great Basin Gold reported the milltreated 22,237 metric tons of ore duringthe second quarter at a cash productioncost of $611 per ounce of gold equiva-lent.

With the combined production fromHollister and the Burnstone under-

ground mine in South Africa, the com-pany sold 40,411 ounces of gold in thesecond quarter, compared with 36,721ounces in the 2010 quarter.

Great Basin Gold had expected moregold from Burnstone but had to cut itsforecast for the year by nearly 50 percentto between 60,000 and 70,000 ouncesbecause of unexpected faulting within

the ore body.Burnstone had been on tap to pro-

duce roughly 110,000 ounces thisyear.

Dippenaar said in the teleconfer-ence that the new mine’s ore qualityis better than thought, “but the timeis longer than anticipated to get tothe mining blocks.”

Great Basin Gold reported totalrevenue for the second quarter was$57.3 million, up from $38.3 millionin the 2010 quarter, and the com-pany posted an operating profit of$6.34 million, compared with a lossof $5.87 million in the secondquarter of last year.

Dippenaar said the company hadpositive earnings, “although not at

the levels we planned,” because of thedifficulties at Burnstone.

The company had a net loss afteradjustments, however, of $1.06 millionin the second quarter, compared with aloss of $4.95 million last year.

Great Basin Gold has offices in SouthAfrica and Vancouver, and a Nevadaoffice in Winnemucca.

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Great Basin Gold Ltd.This map and overview of the Hollister operations innorthwestern Elko County is in Great Basin Gold Ltd.’searnings presentation for the second quarter.


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ELKO — High gold, silver and copperprices are enticing exploration companieslarge and small to put drill rigs to work inNevada.

“We are seeing a lot of people coming inthe bond pool with notice-level opera-tions,” said Doug Driesner, deputy ad-ministrator of the Nevada Division ofMinerals, referring to the pool the divisionoversees for smaller companies needing toraise and post reclamation bonds.

“We’ve got $1,800 gold now so itdoesn’t take that much of it to be prof-itable,” he said.

Driesner is completing the division’sannual exploration report, this one for2010, so his figures aren’t available yet,but he said in mid-August that explo-ration spending is going to be up for 2010.

“It’s projected to be even higher in 2011,and more geologists are engaged in explo-ration,” Driesner said.

He also said mining claims are updespite the Nevada Legislature’s feeincrease that was later shot down in court.

“The higher gold price is really drivingthat,” Driesner said.

A large number of exploration compa-nies are issuing announcements aboutprojects this year from new ones to proj-ects that are near the mining stage, such asNevada Copper Corp.’s Pumpkin HollowProject near Yerington.

Nevada Copper plans underground andsurface mining, and the companyannounced in early August it had raisedmore than $65 million to help develop theunderground construction.

The money also is for continuing ex-ploration at Pumpkin Hollow,according tothe company.

Western Lithium USA Corp. reported inJuly that drilling expanded its lithiumdeposit at the Kings Valley Project inHumboldt County, and the companyplanned bulk sampling and constructionof a demonstration plant yet this year.

Then there is Comstock Mining Inc.that has brought an exploration projectinto bulk sampling status in the ComstockDistrict near Virginia City — a project thathas Virginia City residents concerns aboutnew mining in the historic district.

Examples of the many companies andprojects follows, but it is by no means acomplete listing and doesn’t include theexploration drilling under way at the pro-ducing mines.

———Victoria Gold Corp. hopes to explore

underground at its Cove Gold Projectsouth of Battle Mountain at the closedMcCoy/Cove Mine.

The U.S.Bureau of Land Management isworking toward completion of an envi-ronmental assessment on the project bythe end of September, according to TessaTeams, the Battle Mountain BLM’s projectleader for Cove Gold.

Victoria reported it has spent more than$12 million at the Cove Gold Project, com-pleting the work commitments to earn a100 percent ownership from NewmontMining Corp.

Victoria also has several other explo-ration projects in Nevada, including BigSprings and Jack Creek in Elko County,Relief Canyon near Lovelock and MillCanyon in the vicinity of the Cortez HillsMine and Santa Fe in Mineral County.

———

Midway Gold Corp. is working on a fea-sibility study for its Pan Project in WhitePine County, and is drilling at Pan and theMidway Project in Nye County.

The company also is actively drilling atGold Rock, a project at the closed EasyJunior Mine in White Pine County, ac-cording to R.J. Smith, vice president ofadministration for Denver-based Midway.

“It certainly helps to know gold pricesare at this level,”he said as gold prices rosewell above $1,800 per ounce.

Midway also owns the Spring ValleyProject in Pershing County that BarrickGold Corp. is exploring under an earn-inoption.

“There are several rigs on the SpringValley Project,” Smith said.

———Miranda Gold Corp. has several proj-

ects under option in Nevada, includingtwo with NuLegacy Gold Corp.— Red Hilland Coal Canyon — in the vicinity of USGold’s Tonkin Springs property.

The Vancouver-based company alsohas the Red Canyon Project adjacent to

Exploration companies look to Nevada

See EXPLORATION, page 72

Tonkin Springs that Montezuma MinesInc. drilling, according to Miranda.

The Paz Project also is in the area,southwest of Tonkin and Red Canyon,and this project is under an agreementwith Navaho Gold, an Australian com-pany.

“They expect to drill this year,” saidMike Jones, Nevada projects manager forMiranda, which has an office in Elko.

Miranda also has two projects itexpected to drill. Angel Wing is northeastof Montello, and the Big Blue Projectnortheast of Austin that is in a joint ven-ture with Ramelius Resources, anAustralian producer, according to Jones.

———Columbus Gold Corp. has a number of

projects in Nevada, including the StevensBasin Project in Eureka County thatNavaho Gold is exploring in a joint ven-ture.

The company’s projects with drillingunder way or planned for this year inaddition to Stevens Basin include: Wee-pah, 20 miles west-southwest of Tono-pah; Eastside, west of Tonopah; Petes

Summit, 20 miles southwest of Austin;Browns Canyon, Eureka County; andSummit 14 miles east of Wells, in a jointventure with Agnico Eagle.

Also, Guild Project, Nye County, withSniper Resources; Overland Pass, WhitePine County; Golden Mile, 43 miles north-west of Tonopah; Utah Clipper/Crest-view, near the Cortez Mine; and WhiteHorse Flats, 27 miles south of WestWendover, according to Vancouver-basedColumbus.

———West Kirkland Mining Inc. is drilling

on its TUG property on the Long CanyonTrend in Elko County.

The Vancouver-based explorationcompany is exploring TUG under anoption with Newmont Mining Corp. andalso has an option with Newmont for thenearby KB Project.

West Kirkland and Rubicon MineralsCorp. entered into an agreement in Junethat will give West Kirkland an option toearn a majority stake in mineral rightsRubicon holds on the Long CanyonTrend.

Rubicon’s mineral rights cover roughly

351 square miles in the vicinity ofNewmont’s Long Canyon Project in thePequop Mountains between Wells andWest Wendover.

The agreement also allows West Kirk-land to earn a 60 percent propertyinterest in a portion of the Rubiconpackage on the Long Canyon Trendadjoining the KB and TUG properties, thecompanies reported.

———NuLegacy Gold Corp. announced it has

completed drilling the first two holes onthe East Pediment portion of its Red HillProspect on the Battle Mountain-EurekaGold Trend as part of an on-going 20-hole drilling program.

The 45-square-mile Red Hill Prospectis 15 miles southeast of Barrick GoldCorp.’s Cortez Mine.

The company earlier reported it addeda soil gas survey to the drill program atRed Hill on the Miranda Gold Corp. por-tion.

NuLegacy Gold is a Reno-based explo-ration company focused on Red Hill,CoalCanyon on the northeast side of USGold’s Tonkin Springs property and the

35-square-mile Wood Hills South Pro-spect in Elko County.

Wood Hills South Prospect is on thenewly emerging Pequop Trend, whereNuLegacy expected to be drilling by theend of the summer.

———Rye Patch Gold has drill programs at all

of its key assets in Nevada, according tothe Vancouver-based company.

The majority of the assets are on theemerging Oreana Trend, including Wilco,Lincoln Hill and Gold Ridge in PershingCounty, and the Garden Gate Pass Projectis in Eureka County.

The exploration company now has 1.2million ounces of gold and gold equiva-lent in the measured and indicated re-source category and 2.7 million ounces ofgold and gold equivalent in the inferredcategory,according to Karen Davies,man-ager of investor relations for Rye Patch.

The company also has 9.8 millionounces of silver in measured and indicatedresources and 30.5 million ounces of silverin the inferred category, she said.


Exploration ...Continued from page 71


“The 2011 drill program focuses onadding to the existing resource base,”Davies said.

———Pilot Gold is actively exploring its port-

folio of 11 projects in Nevada.“Currently, our focus remains on

drilling our four key Nevada projects —Regent, Brik, Viper and New Boston,” saidRaena Dumas, manager of communica-tions and investor relations.

“Our Easter and Gold Springs 2 projectsare being drilled by La Quinta Resourcesand High Desert Gold, respectively,” shesaid.

Easter is subject to an earn-in joint ven-ture with La Quinta and High Desert Goldis the 60 percent joint-venture partner onthe Gold Springs 2 property.

Dumas said that for remaining projectsin Pilot Gold’s pipeline – Anchor, ColdSprings, Buckskin North, Baxter Springs,and Stateline — plans call for basic explo-ration work in preparation for futuredrilling.

———Renaissance Gold Inc. has a large explo-

ration portfolio in Nevada and in Augustannounced it entered into an earn-inagreement with Summit Mining Corp., asubsidiary of Sumitomo Corp., for theSpruce Mountain Project in Elko County.

Reno-based Renaissance reported it hasdefined three areas prospective for goldexploration, called the North Target,South Target and Sprucemont.

The company reported in early Junethat Eldorado Gold Corp. was working ondrilling permits for Renaissance’s BuffaloCanyon Project near Ione adjacent to theBerlin Mine that produced gold in the early1900s.

Also, Renaissance stated that LibertySilver planned to drill this summer at theTrinity Silver Project northwest ofLovelock, and Navaho Gold planned todrill later in the year at the Rose Mine nearEureka under an agreement with Ren-aissance.

NuLegacy Gold Corp. is exploringWood Hills South in the Pequop Moun-tains of Elko County under an agreementwith Renaissance, and Golden DoryResources Corp. is exploring the ReefProject south of Midway Gold’s Pan

Project in White Pine County.———

International Enexco Ltd. continuesexploration and added more land to itsContact Copper Project in Elko Countynear Jackpot.

The company reported acquisition of89,400 acres from Allied Nevada GoldCorp. to bring the land position to roughly15,000 acres.

Enexco also announced on Aug. 16 thatit was terminating its exploration agree-ment with Nevada Exploration Inc. on theHot Pot Gold Project in north-centralNevada to focus on Contact.

Enexco is currently preparing a feasi-bility study on Contact.

The Canadian company earlier an-nounced that former Nevada Gov. JimGibbons joined the company as a directorand senior adviser.

———Bravada Gold Corp. is drilling at its

Wind Mountain gold and silver explo-ration project 99.5 miles northwest ofReno, which the company is advancingtoward potential production.

Bravada also completed this year’s

drilling at its East Manhattan gold projectsoutheast of the Round Mountain Mine inNye County, and the company president,Joe Kizis, said there remains good explo-ration potential at East Manhattan.

The company, a member of the ManexResource Group with an explorationoffice in Reno, also planned to begin coredrilling in September at its newly ac-quired Quito Gold Project south ofAustin.

Bravada has 22 exploration propertiesin Nevada.

———Timberline Resources Corp. is ex-

ploring on its 23-square-mile SouthEureka property south of the town ofEureka, especially at the Lookout Moun-tain Project.

The Idaho-based company reported a30,000-foot drilling program at SouthEureka is primarily focused on expandingand upgrading the mineral resource atLookout Mountain.

“We remain excited about the district-scale potential at South Eureka and look





forward to reporting results from the twoactive drill rigs on the property,” Tim-berline Chairman and Chief ExecutiveOfficer Paul Dircksen said in the com-pany’s recent earnings report.

Timberline also acquired the WhiteRock Project in northeastern Elko Countythis year.

———Golden Dory Resources Corp. is

exploring the Pequop South Project onthe Long Canyon Trend in Elko County.

The Newfoundland-based companystated the first phase of exploration workincluded geological mapping, rock-chipsampling and soil sampling over areasidentified as high priority based on the2010 soil survey results.

Golden Dory reported a modifiednotice of intent was filed with the U.S.Bureau of Land Management and planscalled for drill testing to begin in the JTtarget area in August.

The Pequop South property is south-west of Newmont Mining Corp.’s LongCanyon Project in the Pequop Mountains.

Golden Dory may earn a 70 percent

interest in Pequop South from Newmontby spending $2.85 million on explorationand delivering a bankable feasibility studyby August 2016.

———ICN Resources Ltd. signed an agree-

ment with two arm’s-length parties toacquire a property called the AWA Projecteast of the closed Sleeper Mine inHumboldt County.

The company stated this acquisitionwill tie in with three other land holdingsin the Sleeper area.

Vancouver-based ICN also stated itentered into a letter of intent with PacificRim Mining Corp. for an option and jointventure of the Hog Ranch property inWashoe County.

The Vancouver-based company addi-tionally reported in August that explo-ration drilling on the Goldfield BonanzaProject identified new areas of mineral-ization.

The company optioned the property inthe Goldfield Mining District from LodeStar Gold Inc., a private company.

———Orsa Ventures Corp. is optioning the

Ashby gold property in Nevada under anagreement with Bridgeport Ventures Inc.

Under the agreement,Orsa can earn upto a 51 percent interest in Ashby north-west of Tonopah at an old mining site.

Both companies stated that Ashby pro-duced 9,000 ounces of gold between 1934and 1937 and later produced several hun-dred of ounces a year in the 1980s and1990s during small-scale mining.

“We’re interested in advancing theproject,” Orsa President and Chief Ex-ecutive Officer Linda Thorstadt said.

She said the rejuvenated company waslooking at new projects in Nevada, “andAshby jumped out.”

The Vancouver-based company alsohas the Cold Canyon property nearLovelock and has just received permits toexplore there, she said.

———Evolving Gold Corp. is exploring in

Nevada, with two rigs drilling at theHumboldt-Carlin Project on the CarlinTrend south of Interstate 80.

The Vancouver-based company re-ported it also found gold mineralization inearlier drilling at the Jake Creek Project

east of Newmont Mining Corp.’s TwinCreeks Mine in Humboldt County.

Another Evolving project in Nevada isthe Boulder Valley Project two miles westof Newmont’s Genesis Mine and BarrickGold Corp.’s Goldstrike Mine.

———ARNEVUT Resources Inc. planned to

expand exploration drilling at its IslandMountain Project in northern ElkoCounty 15 miles east-northeast of Wild-horse Reservoir near Gold Creek.

The Lakewood, Colo.-based companyplanned to drill up to 56 holes from 48drill sites in the project area, based on anenvironmental assessment for the firstdrilling on the site,which has been drilledin the past. There also is historic miningin the area.

The company also has the East CanyonProject 40 miles north of West Wendover.

———Western Exploration Inc. is planning

expanded exploration at its Wood GulchProject in northern Elko County and con-tinues exploration at the Doby George





Project, also in Elko County.The Wood Gulch Project is roughly 64

miles north-northwest of Elko in thevicinity of the long-closed Wood Gulchgold mine where Barrick Gold of NorthAmerica recently did additional reclama-tion work.

Reno-based Western Exploration isn’tworking around the leach pad, however,according to Glenn Davis, the projectcoordinator for the Forest Service that ispermitting the project.

Doby George is on private and ForestService property and is a long-timeWestern Exploration project.

———Paramount Gold and Silver Corp. is

exploring at its Sleeper Gold Project inHumboldt County, including looking atprocessing the waste dumps from formermining at Sleeper.

The company announced assay resultsfrom a drilling program on three separatewaste dumps at the Sleeper Gold Projectwere better than expected.

“The results from this sonic drillingprogram confirm the presence of poten-tially valuable gold grades within thesesizeable and easily acceptable wastedumps,” Chief Executive Officer Chris-topher Crupi said.

Crupi reported, however, that testing ofthe already-leached heaps didn’t showany resources worth reprocessing.

Paramount acquired X-Cal Resourcesthat had been exploring in the Sleeper areafor years.

———High Desert Gold Corp. reported in

mid-August that its drilling program onthe Cold Springs Project with Pilot GoldInc. in Lincoln County found gold miner-alization.

The Colorado-based company stated itcompleted its earn-in with Pilot Gold,which will retain its 40 percent interest inthe project near the Utah border.

———Coral Gold Resources Ltd. has been

exploring a number of years on its Rob-ertson property in Crescent Valley.

The Vancouver-based company lists itsprimary Nevada properties, in addition toRobertson, as Excluded, Norma Sass andRuf, which all are in the south CrescentValley region.

———Redstar Gold Corp. announced in early

August that Centerra Gold Inc. plannedadditional drilling at Redstar’s OasisProject in southwestern Nevada.

Centerra plans to complete 8,000 to10,000 feet of drilling this year, accordingto Redstar.

“This drilling will help us better under-stand the large low-grade target at Oasis,”said Redstar President Scott Weekes.

Redstar also has a number of otherproperties in Nevada, according to itswebsite.

———NV Gold Corp. reported in late July

planned a 25-30 hole exploration drillingprogram at its Afgan-Kobeh Project inEureka County that was expected to con-tinue through mid-August.

The drilling was focused on updatedresources at the site 28 miles northwest ofthe town of Eureka.

“Near-surface oxide mineralization andclose proximity to infrastructure, togetherwith the current gold price give thisproject excellent potential to host a low-cost, open pit, heap leach operation,” JohnWatson, president and CEO of NV Gold,said in an announcement on the drilling.

———Mexivada Mining Inc. has exploration

projects in Nevada and recently report ithas resumed field geologic mapping andsampling at the Gold Jackpot propertyalong the gold trend in the PequopMountains of Elko County.

The company also has agreements withSpartan Gold Ltd. for the Poker Flatsproperty in Elko County and the Zigguratproperty. Mexivada also has the Gold-storm property.

———Corvus Gold Inc. plans a second phase

of drilling at its North Bullfrog Projectnear Beatty.

The Vancouver-based company re-ported drilling results from the first phaseconfirm existence of a thick, continuous,largely oxide gold mineralization.

“We are extremely pleased with theseresults, as they clearly demonstrate thepresence of a major new gold system at theNorth Bullfrog Project, and we look for-ward to advancing our understanding ofthis exciting new Nevada discovery,” saidJeff Pontius, chief executive officer ofCorvus.

———Vancouver-based Dynasty Gold Corp.

reported in August that the U.S. Bureau ofLand Management approved a drillingpermit for the Golden Repeat Project.

The permit was conditional on bond-ing, which the company expected to postfor the property 10 miles from NewmontMining Corp.’s Midas underground mine.




Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyBarrick Gold of North America President Greg Lang talks in early August at the ElkoConvention Center to 100 summer interns from Barrick’s Nevada operations.

Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyDavid Thompson, a mine engineering major at the University of Nevada, Reno, andRoseleigh Taylor, who is attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this fall as asenior in mechanical engineering, look at a map at the Marigold Mine. The two summerinterns recorded data on the cycle time for a loaded haul truck to reach the leach pad.

Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyNewmont Mining Corp. interns dig a hole for playground equipment at the Carlin Combined School as partof a June 21 community service project. From left are: Taylor Ball, a student at the University of Kentucky;Jonathan Oravec of Butte, Mont., a student at Montana Tech; and Christian Hadley of Norway, a student atthe Colorado School of Mines.

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ELKO — Gold producers broughtinterns from colleges and universi-ties around the country to Nevadamines this summer as part of theongoing recruitment process to fillprofessional positions in the min-ing industry.

Barrick Gold of North Americaemployed 100 interns with majorsthat will fit the industry in nor-thern Nevada, “typically frommining schools,” said Dana Pray,recruiting manager for Barrick.

“Really, you are here to learn, butmany of you had some good proj-ects and made contributions to themines,” Barrick Gold of NorthAmerica President Greg Lang toldthe interns as they gathered at theElko Convention Center aftergiving presentations on those proj-ects at the end of the season.

He said in an interview before histalk that Barrick realized a few yearsago when the company knew theindustry would be growing againthat Barrick needed to begin “aconcerted effort to recruit, and ithas paid off.”

The five schools with probablyBarrick’s most interns for theseason were Montana Tech, theSouth Dakota School of Mines, theUniversity of Nevada, Reno, theUniversity of Arizona and theMissouri School of Science andTechnology, Pray said.

Newmont Mining Corp. paid 49summer interns to work at itsNevada mines in hopes that someof them will accept jobs withNewmont when they finish theireducation.

“We like to call these internshipsa summer-long interview,” saidSheri Snyder, a university strategyspecialist at Newmont’s NorthAmerican headquarters in Elko. “Alot of interns then turn into full-time employees.

She made the comment at theCarlin Combined Schools earlier inthe summer,when Newmont broughttogether interns at the Nevada opera-tions and from Colorado headquar-ters for mine tours and a commu-nity service project.

Newmont’s more than 30 internsat the Denver headquarters joined

Internships part of mine recruiting

See INTERNS, 79

the Nevada interns painting, weedingand installing playground equipment atthe Carlin school.

One of the interns, Kyle Pfitzinger ofFayetteville, Ark., said in Carlin that theinternship is a great opportunity. He wasat the Twin Creeks Mine in HumboldtCounty, coming from Missouri Uni-versity of Science and Technology.

“Newmont really treats its internswell,” said Clara Trippel, who was at thePhoenix Mine near Battle Mountain forthe summer and goes to school at GrandValley State University in Grand Rapids,Mich.

This was the second year for a com-munity service project for the interns.Last year, they worked at the Safe HavenRescue Zoo east of Lovelock, Snydersaid.

The Round Mountain Mine operatedby Kinross Gold Corp. in Nye Countyhad 19 college interns in mining-relatedfield this summer as part of its recruitingeffort.

“We hope to groom the interns, andthey will come back full-time,” saidDenise Carver, human resources man-ager at Round Mountain.

“I like it at Round Mountain. Thepeople are friendly,” said Jarrett Kem-merly, a senior at the University of

Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlySummer interns Jarrett Kemmerly and Megan Davis, both majors in mining engineering at theUniversity of Nevada, Reno, sit at their keyboards at the Round Mountain Mine in Nye County.

Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyJulie Larson of Denver paints the playgroundborder at the Carlin school as part ofNewmont Mining Corp.’s community serviceproject on June 21 for summer interns. Larsonis a student at the University of Colorado inBoulder and interned with the humanresources department at Newmont’s Denverheadquarters.

Interns ...Continued from page 78

See INTERNS, 80


Nevada, Reno, majoring in mining engi-neering.

Goldcorp Inc. employed four internsfor the summer at the Marigold Mine atValmy, according to General ManagerDuane Peck.

Summer studentsCoeur d’Alene Mines’ Rochester Mine

near Lovelock had 18 summer interns andsummer students working at the minethat is in start-up work to go into fullproduction.

“Summer interns are either gettingadvance degrees or just graduated fromhigh school and pursuing advancedegrees,” Rochester General ManagerCindy Jones said in an email.

Barrick and Newmont also put collegestudents to work over the summer doinga variety of chores for pay. These werethe children of mine employees whodidn’t work in fields related to theirmajors so weren’t interns.

Barrick hired 250 summer students towork at its Nevada mines, Pray said.

Newmont’s intern program is separatefrom the company’s summer student

program because the interns work intheir study areas on projects related totheir fields, Snyder said.

Marigold also had summer college stu-dents working for the company.

The dependents of employees didn’tall work at the mine, however. Marigoldprovided help for the Jacob’s Well teencenter in Battle Mountain, the NevadaDepartment of Wildlife, the Winne-

mucca Convention Center and the SafeHaven Rescue Zoo, according to Peck.

Marigold placed four students in thecommunity and four at the mine thissummer.


Interns ...Continued from page 79

Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyRendon Barlow, who attends Utah State University, practices at Barrick GoldCorp.’s Ruby Hill Mine for a presentation he would make the following day,Aug. 4, at the Elko Convention Center on what he did during his Barrickinternship.

Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyJimmy MacPherson of Elko, a student at the University of Nevada,Reno, answers questions at the Elko Convention Center after hispresentation on his blast monitoring work for Barrick Gold of NorthAmerica during his summer internship.


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ELKO — Organizers for the JointWestern Regional Mine Safety andHealth Conference are expecting a goodturnout for the Oct. 24-26 seventhannual event at the Green Valley RanchResort in Henderson.

“Last year, there were around 400 to425 attendees. This year, we’re hoping toget close to 500 since we will be near LasVegas, which is more accessible toArizona,” said Shane Owens, chairman ofthe conference planning committee and aNewmont Mining Corp. employee.

He said Joseph Main, assistant secre-tary of labor for mine safety and health,spoke at the 2010 conference and isscheduled to be at this year’s event as akeynote speaker at 9:45 a.m. on Oct. 25,the official opening day of the confer-ence.

“We’ll have top notch keynote speakersstarting off each day,”Owens said.

“The conference is a great opportunityfor different companies within the

mining industry toshare their best prac-tices in safety andhealth. We do qualitypresentations and keepthe price low so peoplecan afford to go,” hesaid.

The conference alsowill include a vendorexhibition, and Owenssaid last year’s event featured 35 booths.

“We’re hoping to get that again thisyear,” he said.

A full-day Art of Safety Workshopwith instructor Gary Phillips ofNorthwest Training and Development isplanned for Oct. 24, and there will bealternative events that day — a golf tour-nament at the Legacy Golf Club and toursof Cashman Equipment’s headquarters.

The day’s opening ceremonies willfeature a dedication and memorial forminers, followed by a keynote address byCorrie Pitzer, who will talking about“Safety Leadership — The Final Hurdle toZero.” Newmont Mining Corp. is spon-

soring his talk.Main’s talk follows,

and after his talk,Bruce Huber, seniordirector of safety andhealth for Barrick GoldCorp., will speak.

His talk will be fol-lowed by breakoutsessions featuring avariety of topics re-

lated to mine safety and health,according to the agenda.

“A highlight is over 30 breakout ses-sions,” said conference planner Joe Rineyof the Nevada Mining Association,whichis one of the convention underwriters.

On Oct. 26, the first speaker will beLincoln Eldridge of SAFEMap Australia,who will talk about “Australian Vs U.S.Mining Cultures.” His talk will be spon-sored by Ash Grove Cement.

The presentation of regional Sentinelsof Safety Awards will follow, and then JoeCasper of Safety Services-NSSGA willspeak on “Worker Safety in theAggregates Industry.”

The final keynote speaker of the daywill be Neal Merrifield, MSHA’s admin-istrator of the metals and non-metalsdivision. He will provide an update,according to the agenda.

The lunch that day will include a pres-entation of the Distinguished MineSafety and Health Award and the Life-saver Award.

The Western Regional Mine Safety andHealth Conference essentially covers the16 states in the Rocky Mountain andWestern districts of the U.S.Mine Safetyand Health Administration and attractssafety professions, mining industryleaders, government officials,miners andcollege students majoring in miningfields.

“It is open to anybody,” Owens said,adding that last year’s record number ofattendees include operators, techniciansand top mine managers.

“It’s grown really beyond safety pro-fessions,” he said.

Those interested in registering for theevent can go to the website www.minesafetyconference.org.

� � � � � � � � ' ! � � � " & ' � � � � � � � � � ' � " � ' � � � � �The Joint Western

Regional Mine Safetyand Health Conferencewill be Oct. 24-26 at the

Green Valley RanchResort in Henderson.


ELKO — Klondex Mines Ltd. continuesunderground exploration at its Fire CreekProject in Lander County near the townof Crescent Valley and plans bulk sam-pling by the end of this year.

The company started the explorationdecline in late April and plans a 3,650-foot decline to access Main Zone miner-alization for additional resource evalua-tion and the bulk sampling.

Small Mine Development is the minecontractor for the project.

“This is an extremely exciting time forKlondex and Fire Creek, as an unprece-dented level of exploration and develop-ment activity for the company is underway,” said Klondex’s new President andChief Executive Officer Blane Wilson in alate-July announcement.

Under permits from the NevadaDivision of Environmental Protection,Fire Creek can extract and process up to36,500 short tons of material per yearwith a maximum of 120,000 short tonsover the five-year permit life.

Klondex also is doing more surfaceexploration at Fire Creek, as well as com-pleting surface facilities that include on-

site facilities for mine management andwork crews.

Klondex has a reorganized board andWilson became CEO after the companyfaced a challenge leading up to its June 30annual meeting.

Klondex and K2 Principal Fund LPworked out a settlement agreement toend a proxy fight. K2 had proposed analternate slate of officers to bring moreexperience to the board.

The board of Vancouver-based Klon-dex is now comprised of the following:

• Andre Douchane, who has experi-ence in developing and managing minesin Nevada, including the Round Moun-tain gold mine, several projects for BattleMountain Gold and Battle MountainNorth America and Franco-Nevada’s KenSnyder (Midas) gold mine.

He is chairman of North AmericanPalladium Ltd. and a director of OsiskoMining Corp.

• Robin Goad, who is a professionalgeologist with 30 years of experience inthe mining and exploration industries inCanada and internationally.

He is president, CEO and a director of

Fortune Minerals Ltd., a director of theNorthwest Territories and NunavutChamber of Mines and a director ofAndor Mining Inc.

• Warren Moysey, who was with CIBCfor 28 years, with his last position asdirector and one of three bank presi-dents. He also held senior positions atfinancial institutions, including chair-man and CEO of CI Mutual Funds Inc.

He is an Independent Review Commit-tee member for Toronto Dominion AssetManagement Inc. and a director of aTDAM Mutual Fund.

• William Solloway, who steppeddown as CEO, but is continuing as boardchairman. He is a barrister/solicitor andactive investor overseeing family inter-ests in mining, natural resource andother public companies.

After a career in law, Solloway heldmanagement positions at CanadianBechtel, Trans Mountain Pipeline andwas a principal at Minbanco Corp.,Camino Gold Mines and The MarshallPlan asset managers affiliated withCALPERS.

• Kenneth Stowe, lead director. Stowe

has more than 35 years of miningindustry experience. He was presidentand CEO of Northgate Minerals Corp.and the recipient of the CanadianMineral Processor of the Year Award in2006.

Stowe earlier worked in corporateleadership roles at Noranda, DiamondFields Resources and Westmin Re-sources/Boliden, and is a director ofHudbay Minerals Inc.

• Chad Williams,who is a professionalmining engineer and was an institutionalequity analyst covering the gold and pre-cious metals sector. He served as a seniorgold analyst and ultimately head ofinvestment banking at BlackmontCapital Inc. He is a director and formerpresident and CEO of Victoria GoldCorp. and a director of Golden ValleyMines Ltd.

• Wilson, who has more than 25 yearsof mining, gold refining and processing,permitting, water management, recla-mation and construction experience,including at the Jerritt Canyon Minenorth of Elko. Wilson also is COO ofGolden Eagle International Inc.

Klondex advances Fire Creek Project



ELKO — Barrick Gold Corp.’s GoldstrikeMine rescue team No. 1 took the overallhonors at the 25th annual Safety Olympiad.

The Goldstrike team from north of Carlinhad the most overall points from the com-petition at the University of Nevada,RenoFire Science Academy east of Carlin on July8 and competition on July 9 at the ElkoConvention Center.

The scenario played out at the conventioncenter involved digging where there was apropane line and rescuing those in a pipelinetrench after the accident.

“One man received lacerations to thehead and broke his right femur,and the sur-face man landed on his head and was halfengulfed by loose material,” said IvanBrown,co-chairman of the event thatRound Mountain Gold hosted.

The third victim was the backhoe oper-ator,who didn’t appear to be seriously hurt.

Second place overall went to NewmontMining Corp.’s Twin Creeks Mine rescueteam from Humboldt County,and PeabodyEnergy’s North Antelope Rochelle Mine outof Wyoming team took third place.

Goldstrike No. 1,Twin Creeks andRochelle were the top teams in the A flight,which was made up of the teams with the

highest scores.The top B flight team was Newmont’s

Phoenix Mine in Lander County,andThunder Basin Coal out of Wyoming was insecond place, followed by Peabody Energy’sCaballo Mine,also from Wyoming.

The winners of the special awardsincluded:

• The Squires Award for the most overallpoints on Friday — Barrick Goldstrike No. 1.

• The John Bunch Award for outstandingrescuer of the year — Chris Rodriguez,Barrick Goldstrike No. 1.

• Skinner Award for trainer of the year —Fred Bitz,Barrick Gold’s Cortez Mine.

• OJ Laughlin Award for team sportsman-ship — Cloud Peak Energy from Wyoming.

Brown also provided the names of thewinning teams for the different categories inthe events at the fire academy that involveda variety of accident scenarios:

• Triage — Barrick Goldstrike Team No. 1,first place; North Antelope Rochelle Mine,second place; and Newmont’s Twin Creeksteam,third place.

• Fire — Barrick Goldstrike Team No.1,first place; Newmont’s Carlin rescue team,second place; and Thunder Basin Coal, third.

• Confined space (sewer) — Barrick

underground “Sheila’s rangers” team,firstplace; North Antelope Rochelle Mine,second place; and Thunder Basin Coal, thirdplace.

• Confined space (water truck) —Newmont’s Phoenix Mine team,first place;Newmont’s Twin Creeks team,secondplace; and North Antelope Rochelle Mine,

third place.• Hazmat — Barrick Goldstrike No. 1, first

place,North Antelope Rochelle Mine,second place,and Newmont’s Carlin opera-tions, third place.

• Rope — Cloud Peak, first place;Newmont’s Twin Creeks, second place; andNorth Antelope Rochelle Mine, third place.

Adella Harding/Mining QuarterlyA “victim” lies on the pavement as a mine rescue team and judges finishes an accident scenarioduring Safety Olympiad competion on July 8 at the University of Nevada, Reno Fire Science Aca-demy east of Carlin.

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QQUARTERLYUARTERLYFall 2011

Adella Harding/photo

Mining goldAt Marigold

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MINING QUARTERLY FALL 2011