Galactic output off, company predicts gain

Despite some serious difficulties which caused a large production shortfall last year, Galactic Resources has managed to continue leaching through the winter months at its Summitville gold property in Colorado.

It’s something that many people thought was impossible because of anticipated weather conditions on the property which is more than 10,000 ft above sea level. December gold production was 6,700 oz and Robert M. Friedland, chairman, contends that it proves the viability of year-round gold recovery and production at the Summitville site, in spite of the seasonal nature of the mining operations.

The leach solution is being poured on the heaps through a perforated pipe as opposed to spraying which is common to most operations. The pipe lies on top of the heap and a layer of ice has formed on surface which has not prevented the solution from circulating through the pile, says Edward Roper, president. He admits it’s not the best way of distributing the solution but notes the recovery process is being run at negligible cost to the company.

At the moment, the plant is producing about 175 oz per day and he adds about 14,300 oz was recovered in November and December.

Production for the year was 55,000 oz about half of forecast but he predicts a significant increase this year with last year’s operational difficulties behind them. There were several reasons for the shortfall, he says.

For one thing, the contractor’s mining equipment didn’t arrive on time and availability of the equipment was poor after it did arrive. Road conditions were poor because of the material used for construction and unusually heavy rainfall slowed things up as well.

The company had planned to move 5.2 million tons of material in the first four months but only managed 3.5 million so there was simply not enough material on the pads to yield the desired results. A snow slide tore the liner on the pad, allowing water to seep under it which destroyed the base. So the liner had to be replaced, another piece of bad luck. And that problem was finally resolved in October, he points out. No gold was lost in solution from the leak in the liner, he confirms.

There is no agglomerated material on the pads and about 900,000 tons of this mixed material is sitting near the crusher. The silica fraction will be separated from this material and heaped which should give better recoveries in comparison to straight agglomerated material. In effect, the clay side is being slowed down to get more silica out of it, he says. But they do expect to put agglomerated material on the pads in the next few years. This material takes more space on leach pads so there will be some savings in leach pad construction without it.

Gerald R. Wyman recently joined the company as vice-president mining. He has had extensive experience in open pit mining operations in Canada, the U.S. and Chile.