Canadian gold and silver producing firm McEwen Mining has announced the achievement of commercial production at the Gold Bar Mine, located near the southern Roberts Mountains in Eureka County, Central Nevada, US.
McEwen said that the Gold Bar Mine has achieved commercial production as per the scheduled in second quarter of 2019 and the production guidance of the project is 50,000 gold ounces at an AISC of $975 per oz.
The company said that the gold recoveries from the heap leach are tracking better than the feasibility study design criteria and production is increasing steadily since first gold pour, as more ore is placed on the heap leach pad.
McEwen Mining president and chief operating officer Chris Stewart said: “The Gold Bar Mine is performing as designed. This summer we will be making modifications to the ore crushing and stacking system to mitigate the impact of challenging winter weather like we had in 2018/2019, which was the wettest winter ever recorded in the United States.
“Under the leadership of our new General Manager Jack Henris, our team at Gold Bar is focused on identifying and implementing operational enhancements to increase our daily throughput. I’m pleased to see that the mine has operated at 125% of our planned 7,200 tons per day production rate on several days during the past month.”
The Gold Bar mine is located 41km northwest of Waterton Global’s Ruby Hill Mine and 41km southeast of Barrick Nevada operation.
The company has carried out limited exploration at Gold Bar during the mine permitting years, and after securing the permit approval, it has started a property-wide exploration program.
The company has aimed to extend the life of the mine through expanding the mineral inventory surrounding the planned open pits and testing new targets.
McEwen said that the exploration indicated encouraging results and has focused initial drilling on three areas including northwest of the Gold Pick open pit, northwest of the Gold Ridge open pit, and in-between Gold Pick and Gold Ridge.
The company has made key changes to the strategy of the Gold Bar mine including addition of a crushing, conveying and agglomeration plant and changes in heap leach pad construction, to reduce overall project risk, while maintaining the highest capital efficiency.
