Awards M3 Engineering the Contract for Technical Report PHOENIX, Nov. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Excelsior Mining Corp. (TSX: MIN) (OTCQX: EXMGF) (FSE: 3XS) ("Excelsior" or the "Company") announces that Arizona-based M3 Engineering & Technology Corporation (M3) will prepare an updated technical report on the Company's new operating plan for the Gunnison Copper Project and Johnson Camp Mine that was originally announced in the Company's press release of September 9, 2021.
M3 is a full-service, international engineering firm providing engineering, procurement and construction management services to the minerals industry. Founded in 1986 in Tucson Arizona, M3 has a diverse staff of over 600 people with project experience in over 30 countries. M3 has won numerous awards including the prestigious AISC Engineering Award for Excellence in 2005 and 2015, and the American Mining Hall of Fame's 2007 Mining Foundation of the Southwest Industry Partnership Award.
Roland Goodgame, SVP Projects and Business Development comments, "With M3's diverse experience and familiarity with the project, they were the best choice to prepare an updated technical report for the new operating strategy. The Company has been actively moving forward with operational planning and permitting to re-start the Johnson Camp mine and implement wellfield adjustments at the Gunnison Project. Once operational, the cashflow from the Johnson Camp mine is expected to provide an alternative to financing the capital costs of the neutralized raffinate plant for Gunnison. The Company intends to operate Johnson Camp for only a short period of time to support its much larger and more environmentally friendly in-situ operation at Gunnison."
The new technical report will focus on an operating plan for both the Gunnison ISR Copper Project and Johnson Camp heap leach component. With respect to Gunnison, the focus will be on flushing the wells with neutralized raffinate, which does not require additional water or evaporation infrastructure. This approach should generate sustained improvement in injection and recovery flow rates for individual wells. It will require additional infrastructure such as a raffinate neutralization plant, additional piping and pond modification.
The Johnson Camp operations will be focused on exposed copper oxides within the existing Burro and Copper Chief open pits and high-value oxides in local extensions. The only new required infrastructure will be a new leach pad and minor piping and pumping facilities. Operations could provide up to 5 years of copper production at the 25 million pounds per annum capacity of the existing SXEW plant. Excelsior expects that copper cathode production from the Johnson Camp open pits could potentially commence in the second half of 2022, subject to receipt of permits, reclamation bonding, and construction schedules.
The Company is also planning to undertake well stimulation trials in the first half of next year. Well stimulation has the potential to clean out some of the CO2 bubbles, improve flow rates, improve sweep efficiency, and increase permeability and copper production. Data will be collected during the trials to ascertain the effectiveness of the technique. The trials will be subject to EPA approval.