Amca is building bigger leach pad at Arizona Bet

One small heap leach pad is fully operational and a second but larger pad (20,000-25,000 tons) is being constructed at Amca Resources’ Silver Cross property near Phoenix, Ar. Some copper-bearing ore has been segregated for acid leaching prior to cyanidation for precious metals.

President Charles Martin says that gold recoveries have been averaging 75% in “a controlled test” and he notes that conventional grinding is being contemplated for higher grade reserves. A small precipitation plant has been installed at the mine site for silver ores but it’s on a very small sca le, he notes.

The company has been mining a large unhomogeneous structure which will be drilled in more detail in the coming months. Mr Martin wants to finance the program from cash flow and says the company has a working capital of around $400,000. There are 300,000 tons of dump material from previous mining operations which terminated in 1982 because of steep pit walls which required another step back. These reserves grade from 0.02 to 0.03 oz gold per ton and he says they have a spot available to leach this material. Pad construction would cost around $200,000, he adds.

The recovery plant has a capacity of about 80 gallons per minute,there is no carbon stripping tower, and they can strip in situ even when other tanks are running, he says. There are several different ore types which often require segregation but the majority of their reserves are oxide.