Post by
madbiker44 on Oct 19, 2009 7:19pm
Mining and Milling at Jerritt Canyon
Artie and others,
I followed up on your request to give an overview on info I've gathered on Jerritt Canyon.
The mining methods are typically bulk mining techniques using longhole stoping. As you know the ore is trucked to surface where is is dumped and reloaded into 150 ton trucks and carried to the mill. The milling is very similiar to the type of milling I am used to. It is a carbon in leach circuit. Basically the ore is crushed and ground to a very fine flour type material then it is sent through a circuit where a carbon pulp attracts the gold particles and basically holds the gold. This pulp mixture finally ends up in a tank mixed with cyanide, this is where the cyanide disolves the gold into a liquid form. The carbon (usually coconut shells) is purged and sent back to the beginning of the circuit again.
The grade of the orebodies being mined is very resonable. a third of an ounce is good grade when you consider gold is $1050 and ounce these days. The proven reserves are not huge tonnage by any stretch but the resource looks promising.
Costs could be a concerning factor going forward unless Gold continues climbing which looks to be the case.
I'll dig into it a little deeper when I get more time. The problem is working for a living takes up too much of my time. LOL....
Have a good evening.
Mad