Allied Nevada Gold,
coming off solid results in Phase 1 testing (using bio-oxidation as an
alternative to the originally planned and more traditional pressure oxidation
processing) aimed at generating saleable gold/silver dore bars from
concentrates at their flagship (61.4k-acre) Hycroft Mine near Winnemuca, has
come out today with a report that Phase 2 of the ongoing metallurgical program
is now complete, having produced positive results which are similar to Phase 1.
Extremely encouraging capital and operating cost projections developed from
these latest tests have sparked the initiation of a pilot plant level study via
a third party laboratory which will use the Phase 2 ambient pressure alkaline
oxidation (AAO) process on rougher concentrates. The bench-scale Phase 2 work
in AAO using trona (sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate) as the pH modifier
showed superb recovery capabilities, and management is now confident that they
have a stable approach vector for making dore bars on-site in a highly
economical fashion.
The pilot plant (expected
to be complete by the end of this quarter) will hammer out a complete
processing circuit covering grinding, flotation to rough concentrate, as well
as the final oxidation and leaching stages, giving ANV a really good idea of
what to expect in terms of the final logistical requirements and potential
further process optimizations that may be executed with the eventual
construction of a full-scale oxidation plant. The extant test data will be used
in conjunction with capital and operating cost analysis, alongside the pilot
plant work, to produce an updated prefeasibility study by privately held
full-service design firm out of Tucson, M3 Engineering & Technology, a
trusted ANV ally.
Extensive technical
analysis highlighting the AAO process and its use as intended at Hycroft is
available in the Pennstrom Consulting memorandum (includes Hazen Research and
M3 backgrounders) on the ANV website (PDF). Compelling overall recovery
efficiency and the related project economics are worth taking a closer look at,
with the available test data clearly indicating that processing the rougher
concentrate works as well as with cleaner concentrate, allowing ANV to forego
the 10% gold recovery loss typical of the necessary cleaning flotation.
The company has its
sights set now on processing 100% of the rougher concentrates into dore right
at the mine site, bypassing the inferior profitability metrics of the original
mine plan, which only targeted roughly 33% of the rougher concentrate and which
was handicapped by having to sell the remainder to third party facilities for
processing. Previous production from Hycroft under the prior ownership (from
1987 to 1998) totaled over a million ounces of gold via open-pit heap leaching
and since ANV picked up the digs and restarted operations in 2008, the company
has successfully sold more than 500k ounces of gold and another 2.2M ounces of
silver. The company also just sold off their non-core Hasbrouck and Three Hills
properties (Jan 27) for $30M to West Kirkland Mining, allowing ANV to put a
laser-focus on Hycroft.
Further emphasizing
a strong drive to advance the Hycroft Mine, ANV has now also tapped consultant
for Hycroft over the past 8 months and 40-year PM industry veteran, Garry
Keizer, a construction, engineering, process operations and project management
wizard, for the VP of Capital Projects slot. Keizer comes to Allied Nevada hot
from the GM position (engineering, procurement and construction management
contracts) over at Hanlon Engineering and Architecture in Tucson. Keizer has
certainly earned his scars in the industry, working across a variety of
technical and managerial roles for such heavy hitters as Barrick, involved with
several major billion dollar construction projects around the world like Pascua
Lama ($3B) and the $5B Pueblo Barrick/Goldcorp JV, Pueblo Viejo.
More info on Allied
Nevada Gold Corp. can be had at www.AlliedNevada.com
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