Following summer construction at the Nixon Forks gold mine in Alaska, the mill circuit is up and running, flotation concentrates are being generated and the gravity circuit is producing its first gold.
Construction at the US$13-million project, owned by Consolidated Nevada Goldfields (TSE), entailed laying down a 4,200-ft. airstrip (capable of landing a C-130) and building a lined tailings impoundment, utilities and other necessities for a 50-man camp.
The 150-ton-per-day, underground operation, northeast of McGrath, is one of the highest-grade mines in the U.S. It is also the first hardrock mine to have opened in Alaska since the Second World War.
Fully diluted, minable reserves stand at 117,197 tons grading 1.32 oz. gold per ton. The mine is expected to crank out 60,000 oz. annually for a projected life of two and a half years. Cash operating costs are estimated at US$170 per oz.
Exploration potential to extend the life of the project is considered excellent. Numerous targets have been identified, and the company plans to spend US$1 million each year in an effort to replace reserves.
Mineralization occurs in gold-bearing skarns along the contact between a Tertiary quartz monzonite and a sequence of Paleozoic carbonates.
The mill consists of flotation and gravity circuits, with 25% of the recovered gold coming from the latter. Gold-copper concentrates from the flotation circuit are collected and shipped to the Kosaka smelter in Japan via Seattle, Wash.
Oxide recoveries are projected at 82%; sulphide recoveries at 94%. Mining will be carried out year-round.
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