Vancouver — Looking to achieve the rank of junior producer, Fury Explorations (FUR-V, FURXF-O) is acquiring the past-producing Taylor silver mine near Ely, Nev.
Fury’s agreement to buy the mine and mill complex will have it purchase private company Anglo Nevada Metals and take over its option from a local branch of the First National Bank. The option requires US$2.5 million in payments over 21 months plus US$5,000 monthly in maintenance costs.
Fury is eyeing a restart to open-pit silver mining and processing at Taylor, where operations ceased in 1991 due to weakened metal prices. Sporadic underground mining occurred from the late 1800s through to 1979, when Alta Gold launched an open-pit operation targeting a several-million-tonne, open-pit resource averaging about 110 grams silver per tonne.
In 1999, Alta Gold calculated a measured resource of 5.4 million tonnes grading 93 grams silver (about 16 million oz. silver), which predates National Instrument 43-101. The deposit averages about 15 metres thick and is near surface (average overburden of less than 10 metres). A similar-tonnage shell of lower-grade silver mineralization surrounds the deposit.
Mineralization is hosted in brecciated limestones that are capped by a shale unit with silver occurring in fractures and veins in the limestone.
The operation includes primary and secondary crushers, eight ball mills with 1,200 tonne-per-day capacity, and flotation and cyanide leach plants on about 3.6 sq. km of mining claims. In 1989, Alta expanded the mill complex to include a copper, lead and zinc flotation circuit to process ore from the nearby Ward mine.
The company recently closed a $2.3-million, non-brokered private placement.
Shares of Fury lifted on news of the acquisition on March 22, closing up 20% at 72 apiece on volume of over 660,000. The company posts an $11.4-million market capitalization based on its 15.8 million shares outstanding.
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