RE: RE: RE: RE: real reasonP Schwammerl-----re your comment
HSR is about 30km south of Stewart,BC ->
https://www.infomine.com/index/properties/HOMESTAKE_RIDGE.html$0Eskay Creek is about 50 miles nw of Stewart
I copied some of the info below---my comments follow:
At Eskay Creek every year more than $1.5 million is spent on exploration, and over 12,000 meters of core is drilled. The current mine plan states that if no new reserves of ore are found through the exploration program, the mine will close in 2008. However, when the mine closes the site will be disassembled. All the buildings and equipment will be removed and the area will be reforested and returned to its original state for wildlife habitat.
Primary crushing at Eskay Creek is done in the mill, which is located only 30m from the mine portal. These jaw and impact crushers reduce the ore to less than 5cm in diameter. After this, the ore is sorted by metal grade. Due to the very high grade of Eskay Creek’s ore, half of the material can be sent directly to smelter after only primary crushing. The remaining 50% of the ore is ground down to a powder and processed by froth flotation to produce a metal concentrate. A gravity separation system recovers 5% of gold processed in the mill.
Stewart, BC where it is either loaded on to ships bound for Japan or it is trucked further on to Kitwanga, BC where it is loaded on to rail cars and hauled to Quebec. The gold-silver concentrate is trucked to Kitwanga, where it is loaded onto trains and carried to either the Noranda smelter in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, or to the Teck Cominco smelter in Trail, BC. Every year, the mine ships approximately 149,000 tonnes of raw ore and 133,000 tonnes of concentrate.
I do not know if Eskay creek is closing now or not, but I wonder how difficult it would be for them to ship the mill equipment to Homestake Ridge? It is interesting to note that they crushed the ore at Eskay and then shipped it to Stewart or to Kitwanga. HR is closer to Stewart than Eskay was, but much closer to Kitwanga than Eskay was (about half the distance). This really does seem like a natural fit for Barrick Gold.