Glamis plans bulk test at Amir’s Gulch property

A 10,000-20,000-ton bulk leach test is scheduled to start this spring on the Buffalo Gulch gold deposit, shared by partners Glamis Gold and Amir Mines. Located in central Idaho, the large property includes the Buffalo Gulch deposit hosting six million tons grading 0.03 oz gold per ton.

Immediately to the south of the property, Amir and affiliate company Normine Resources, share another large tract of land which includes the Friday deposit hosting three million tons grading 0.04 oz. Glamis has the right to earn a 51% stake in both properties by funding them to production. Upon exercising the option, Amir would be left with 49% in Buffalo Gulch and 24% in the Friday holdings. Normine will hold 25% in Friday.

In total, the two juniors have tied up a 17-mile section of favorable geology which hosts several low grade gold deposits with large tonnage potential — ideal candidates for open pit, heap leach mining operations. Under the terms of the Glamis agreement, the Friday property must be placed in production in 1988 and the Buffalo Gulch by 1989, Ian Johnson, vice-president of Amir, told a group of brokers and analysts during a meeting in Toronto.

Glamis, which is a successful heap leach mine operator in the U.S., has completed preliminary metallurgical work on the Buffalo Gulch ore which has returned above-average results. Column leach tests on uncrushed and unagglomerated material produced a 90.9% gold recovery over a 24-day period. Another column of agglomerated material produced a gold recovery of 75% over a 25-day leach period. Adding the fact that the ore is amenable to open pit mining, which does not require blasting and has a waste to ore ratio of less than 1:1, the future mining operation will be low cost.

Mr Johnson notes that there is no indication of clay problems — the bain of many low grade gold deposits throughout the southwestern U.S. But in order to confirm column test results, Glamis will conduct a large-scale bulk test this summer. The area has a rich mining history and no opposition towards the project has come from residents in the area, Mr Johnson explained.