Mining Quarterly Winter Edition 2013 by Elko Daily

P U BL I S H E D BY T H E E L K O D A I LY F R E E P R E S S

UARTERLY

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Mining History Comstock Mining CEO Corrado De Gasperis talks about the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plans for the site near Virginia City and what it is doing to restore old structures.

Marianne Kobak McKown/Mining Quarterly

— CONTENTS — COVER: MINING HISTORY Comstock plans to increase production, helps preserve historic buildings — Page 12

NEWMONT Drilling through ice: Leeville uses freezing technique to sink a shaft —

Page 4

National champions: Carlin rescue crew wins competition —

Page 40

Endings to beginnings: Carlin surface busy completing projects, starting new —

Page 76

BARRICK Mining ROCKS: Students tour Goldstrike — Page 32 Mine camp deluxe: Facility for drillers — Page 62 Bald Mountain: Site continues work to expand —

Page 117

ELKO — The mining industry has been John Livermore in the 1960s. Newmont continues work on the new through its ups and downs this year. Gold began the year at $1,600 but ventilation shaft for its Leeville dropped to below $1,300. As I write this, Underground. Barrick continues work at (Nov. 18) the New York spot Goldstrike and Bald Mountain. price sits at $1,276. The company built a new resThis change in price has idential facility for its drillers impacted the industry and at the Goldrush exploration forced companies to rethink project. While touring the how they go after the yellow facility, I wished my college metal. dorm room had been as nice When gold began dropping as this mine camp. If it had in April, many analysts been, I probably wouldn’t started talking in gloom and have wanted to leave college. doom terms, but so many Allied Nevada had a diffiseem to forget this boom and cult year, but seems to have bust industry has been in turned things around. Its Nevada more than 100 years. Hycroft Mine reported record Individual mines may come production in the third and go, but the gold price will quarter. not stop mining from being a The importance of an edupart of the state’s economy cation also seems to be a for years to come. ARIANNE theme for this issue. Companies large and small continue to find ways to make OBAK C OWN Nevada Mining Association President Tim Crowley wrote their operations more effiabout how a mining-based education can cient and still pay their employees well. In this issue of the Mining Quarterly, we be useful inside and outside the industry. A reporter tagged along with high school examine several mine properties from one students for a tour of Barrick’s Goldstrike side of the state to the other. Our cover story is on one of Nevada’s Mine. Many of the students showed an newest mines, which is in one of the state’s interest in mining for many reasons. Some oldest mining districts. Comstock Mining wanted to know more about geology and has been producing gold for a little more others said mining degrees sounded like a than a year and is in the process of good way to find a well-paying job. We also didn’t forget to include a hisexpanding its operations. While the company is looking toward its toric piece. Our “Blasts From The Past” future, it also is preserving the past. series features Unionville this time around. Comstock established a foundation to fund This little town was impacted by mining, the care and maintenance of historic mine but it also had a famous resident — Mark Twain. buildings. You can find the details on all these stoNewmont Mining Corp. had several ries and more in this edition of the Mining milestones this quarter. Its Carlin surface mines are finishing up Quarterly. ——————— projects and starting new ones. The Gold Quarry Pit is coming to the end of the Phase Marianne Kobak McKown is editor of the 4 layback, but has also begun the Phase 7 Mining Quarterly and mining editor for the layback in the same pit. The company also Elko Daily Free Press. She can be reached at is still mining the original deposit found by mining@elkodaily.com.

ALLIED NEVADA Hycroft turnaround: Financial results reflect change in production —

Page 111

COEUR Rochester: Site finds profit in waste —

Page 86

WESTERN LITHIUM Clay mine: Company in beginning stages — Page 96

Mining’s ups and downs

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FEATURES

— CONTENTS — U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei talks mining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Rich Perry new head of Division of Minerals . . . . . . . . . . .11 Barrick turns pink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 EPA spends $1.2 million to cleanup calcine . . . . . . . . . . .28 Phoenix produces copper plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 Gold fever among Las Vegas club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 Ruby Hill shuts down temporarily . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 Newmont to donate $2.08 million to charities . . . . . . . . .56 Newmont third-quarter earnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79

Marianne Kobak McKown/Mining Quarterly

Barrick donates $20,000 to reservoir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89

END THE VIOLENCE

MSHA sites Newmont . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90 MSHA third-quarter fatality data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93

Barrick sponsors domestic violence awareness

Goldcorp gives $750,000 to UNR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95

event at Elko Indian Colony —

Fight of copper heiress will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99 Veris Gold reports loss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100

SHOOTING FROM

Nevada Magazine covers industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103

THE SEAT

Nevada Copper files study results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105 Companies sponsor science program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106 Barrick third-quarter earnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123

Page 50

Group helps disabled hunters bag antelope

Uncertainty threat to mining industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126

near Newmont ranch

USW receives $600,000 grant for study . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129

—

Page 58 Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly

Residents receive millions for toxic mine pollution . . . . .130

IF THE BOOT FITS Elko stores help miners find

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Adobe buildings and falling cows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69

job —

Page 24

Heather Kennison/Mining Quarterly

COLUMNISTS Crowley emphasizes mining education . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Dobra explains environmental lawsuits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Baker talks copper and gold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84 Boyce responds to mine fatalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91 2 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

MINING QUARTERLY Travis Quast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Publisher Marianne Kobak McKown . . . . . . . . . . Editor To advertise, call 775-738-3118 Mining Quarterly is published in March,June, September and December by the Elko Daily Free Press (USPS No. 173-4320) at 3720 Idaho Street, Elko, Nevada 89801, by Lee Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Lee Enterprises. Periodical postage paid at the Elko Post Office. For change of address write 3720 Idaho St., Elko NV 89801

Responsible Mining A World of Possibilities We believe our commitment to responsible mining is the right way to operate and vital to achieving our business objectives. We invest in every community where we operate, contributing billions of dollars annually to local and national economies and creating a world of possibilities for our shareholders and stakeholders alike. www.barrick.com

WINTER 2013 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 3

Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly

Construction continues at Newmont’s Leeville Turf No. 3 Ventilation Shaft.

Drilling through ice Leeville prepares to sink new shaft By MARIANNE KOBAK McKOWN Mining Quarterly Editor

Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly

Clem Hartery, Newmont’s project manager for Turf No. 3 Ventilation Shaft, stands near insulated pipes carrying cold brine that will freeze the ground to allow crews to sink a new shaft for Leeville Underground.

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CARLIN — The latest work at Leeville Underground Mine is on the surface. More than a year ago, work began at Newmont Mining Corp.’s property, and soon contractors may begin drilling a new ventilation shaft for the underground. “The project is almost 50 percent complete,” Newmont Project Manager for Turf No. 3 Ventilation Shaft Clem Hartery said in October. “Construction is one-third complete.” Construction began in March 2012 and completion is expected by the fourth quarter of 2015, Hartery said. “It will double the capacity for ventilation,” he said. “It allows us to move north to an ore body. It also will give us access to move further north for exploration.”

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John Covert, Newmont construction manager, stands next to a 1,100 horsepower motor that will be used during construction of Leeville’s new ventilation shaft. The project will increase ventilation from 1.2 million to 2.1 million cubic feet, Hartery said. While the shaft will be sunk through conventional means, the ground itself will be unusual since it will be frozen. “We have to sink the shaft through the aquifer; from 400 feet down to 1,800 feet is saturated ground,” Hartery said. “The freezing allows us to control drilling.” It prevents water from flowing into the shaft and improves ground conditions, he said. “The technology is more than 100 years old but it is faster and more accurate,” he said. The shaft will be 26 feet in diameter. To drill, the ground must be frozen consistently from top to bottom. It must go through 1,400 feet of water. “To freeze the ground, we drill holes around the circumference of the shaft, put pipes in the holes, then very cold brine is circulated through the pipes. The brine is negative 30 degrees,” Hartery said. “Ice will form around the pipe and then the ground will begin to freeze until the entire circumference is frozen.” See LEEVILLE, 6

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Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly

John Covert talks about the construction at Newmont’s Leeville ventilation shaft.

Leeville ... Continued from page 5 Each of the pipes containing brine is 5 feet apart and goes down about 1,865 feet. “We have insulation over the pipes to keep the brine cold,” Hartery said. “The brine is fully contained and recirculated.” Hartery said people questioned whether they could drill directionally, but the project went well. The drilling program finished in January and contractors began injecting the brine in July. “Right now the ground is freezing,” Hartery said in October. Before the freezing, the shaft was sunk about 200 feet. The project also has monitoring holes to determine the temperature of the ground. See LEEVILLE, 8

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Newmont’s Clem Hartery, left, describes the operation of the hoist house as John Covert listens at Newmont’s Turf No. 3 Ventilation Shaft project. Ross Andreson/ Mining Quarterly

WINTER 2013 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 7

Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly

Clem Hartery talks about the winches at Newmont’s Leeville ventilation shaft project.

Leeville ... Continued from page 6

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“We also have a hole in the center that once the ground freezes, water will start spouting up from the monitoring pipe in the middle of the shaft,” Hartery said. “We won’t reach the 400-foot depth until sometime in the first quarter (of 2014).” As the hole is drilled, SMK will pour concrete every 15 feet. “You bring the concrete as you go,” Hartery said. “Right now it’s a very active construction site. The peak workforce will be 120 employees. Going ahead there will be about 100 employees, all contractors.” AMEC is the primary contractor and Thyssen Mining, out of Canada, will sink the shaft. The concrete liner will be strong, up to 10,000 psi, Hartery said. Newmont has a batch plant near the site. Newmont’s Construction Manager John Covert was proud of the project. “It has gone three full quarters without a MSHA violation,” he said. “We have an integrated safety program of best practices from all three companies.” Tim Matusiak, construction manager with AMEC, also was proud of the project’s record and said this was AMEC’s first time doing a freeze in Nevada. “We have ownership and responsibility with all the players,” he said. “We deal with safety as it comes up. We have a zero tolerance on drugs and alcohol and working under suspended loads.” While the ground was in the process of freezing, contractors were constructing the headframe and putting the finishing touches on the temporary buildings. The winch house will contain the cables that control the Galloway — a multi-deck platform used to sink the shaft, Hartery said. “The Galloway is in the ground,” he said. “It’s a working platform from which we excavate and line the shaft.” The site will pump air to the bottom of the shaft while it is drilled, Covert said. “We can add just airflow so we don’t freeze them out,” he said. “They are already working in a cold environment while mining through ice.” See LEEVILLE, 11

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Mark Amodei talks mining By MARIANNE KOBAK McKOWN Mining Quarterly Editor

ELKO — Mining is good for the state, but not the answer to all of Nevada’s problems, U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei told the Mining Quarterly in November. “It’s perception versus reality,” Amodei, R-Nev., said. “Before you start talking about anything, you must realize it’s a commodity. Do you really want to base taxes on a commodity?” Amodei is no stranger to the industry. He was president of the Nevada Mining Association from 2007-2008. However, he said that doesn’t mean he is against all discussions on taxing the industry. He said he is willing to talk about changing the way the industry is taxed, “if you want to have an intelligent conversation. You must be realistic.” Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly Amodei said gold has been U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., answers questions about on the radar of some politi- mining in November at the Elko Daily Free Press. cians because of the price of gold, but he would remind those politi- employee was $83,876, according to the cians the cost of producing gold also has Nevada Mining Association. However, five years prior, when the gold price was gone up. “So you want to single them out for $870, the average wage was $77,064. “They say it’s all Elko and some sort of reason? If I’ve missed the Winnemucca, but the main Cat dealer is facts tell me,” he said. Amodei said the industry pays all the in Las Vegas,” Amodei said. “Go to Vegas taxes other businesses in Nevada pay, and talk to construction in Vegas, they say ‘mining saved us.’ Mining is not the plus the net proceeds tax. “Mining has the highest per employee answer to all of Nevada’s economic needs taxes of any industry in the state. It pays but we’re happy to have them as part of three times more than the gaming the puzzle.” Less than 40 percent of total tax payindustry per employee,” he said. “It’s already the gold medalist of tax paying.” ments from the mining industry stays Nevada businesses pay $5,500 per with local governments, according to the employee in taxes, but the mines pay Nevada Mining Association. “The challenge for the industry is how $18,000 per employee, according to the to tell the story,” Amodei said. “How do Nevada Mining Association. “Every time they buy a haul truck tire, you tell your story so it’s effective as that is a lot of sales tax,” he said. opposed to urban myths?” In 2011, the mines and mining support “You can tax the industry out of activities paid more than $328 million in Nevada,” he said. “If they can’t sell the sales tax, according to the Nevada Mining gold for more than they produce it, then Association. The mines paid more than they don’t do it. It’s kind of like selling $231 million in net proceeds to the state hamburgers for 5 cents less than it costs to that same year. These numbers do not make them — you won’t be in the haminclude use, payroll or property taxes. burger business for long.” The state’s economy also benefits from mining’s high-wage jobs, Amodei said. In 2011, the average annual wage for a mine

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The versatility of a mining-based education is astounding By TIM CROWLEY Nevada Mining Association President

Today’s high school and college students will change employers and possibly careers several times throughout their adulthood. While this isn’t shocking news based on the nature of today’s workforce, I’m writing to tell these young adults why focusing studies in a mining related field could be the best decision they ever make for one reason – versatility. A degree based in mining opens a wealth of opportunities both within mining and outside of the industry should that student decide they want to pursue other career paths. The education received by mining students is not only a shining example of diverse skill sets but also an education that opens opportunities to land high-paying entry-level jobs, travel the world, and work with some of the world’s most advanced technology. Whether a student is attending the Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering to become a mining engineer or Great Basin College pursuing a degree in diesel technology, those skills can be

used in many diverse career fields during their life, and we just hope they choose mining! These are the types of jobs the economy needs and the types of jobs we are proud to provide. Let’s discuss the benefits of the versatility provided by a mining-based education. First, that young adult can be guaranteed to earn some of the best familysustaining wages in any field. Mining employees in Nevada earned an average annual salary of $86,476 per year in 2012, which was almost double the state average. Mining wages must stay at those levels because: 1) the high skill level needed to work as part of a mining operation mandates these salaries, and 2) other mining jurisdictions throughout the world are paying just as much, and our operations in Nevada must compete in a global marketplace.

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Therefore, studying a field related to mining assures students pursue a career that will pay well as long as the demand for minerals remains. As mentioned above, Nevada mining operations work within a global marketplace with mines based in China, Australia, Russia, South Africa, Peru, Canada, Chile, Indonesia and many other nations around the globe. A job in mining can lead to opportunities working within these countries as operators develop new and existing projects. Miners are often world travelers, and the cultural diversity experienced during their work is an opportunity to continue personal growth through global education. Too often people still ask me if mining is a bunch of guys digging in the dirt with shovels and pickaxes. This question is

frustrating because we work in one of the most technologically advanced career fields. The process of taking microscopic gold from the ground to a product with value on the London market is long and difficult. However, those who take on this challenge are rewarded with the opportunities to work with the most advanced machinery and practice cutting edge methods of mineral extraction. A young adult looking to engage their mind throughout their entire career should look no further than mining. The current downturn in mineral prices has highlighted the importance of our employees more than ever. Operators must constantly work at peak efficiency, and while prices continue to remain unstable, our industry must maintain an intelligent, motivated and diverse employee base to sustain operations. I’ve always been proud and quick to promote the great jobs we have in this industry, and hopefully, we can start to encourage our young adults to become the next generation of mining employees.

Perry adjusts to new state job By ELAINE BASSIER Mining Quarterly Staff Writer

ELKO — Former Elko City Council member Rich Perry resigned at the end of October and accepted a new job as the administrator for the Nevada Division of Minerals in Carson City on Nov. 12. “I have, throughout my career, worked in natural resources,” Perry said. He has experience in minerals exploration, geothermal engineering and production mining. During his time on the council, Perry also worked as the operator and maintenance man for South Fork Dam for the Division of Water Resources in Eastern Nevada. Perry worked as the operator for the dam since 2005. Before that, Perry worked for Newmont Mining Corp., and his experience there was one of the reasons he was appointed as the administrator for the division, according to the agency. According to the Nevada Division of Minerals, Perry has 25 years of experience in mining and natural resources industries. Perry served as the vice president of Newmont’s North American operations toward the end of his career with the mining company. The Nevada Division of Minerals is a part of the Commission on Mineral Resources. It is responsible for administering programs and activities to promote, advance and protect Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly mining and the development and production of Elko City Councilman Rich Perry gives a petroleum and geothermal resources in Nevada. farewell speech Oct. 22 during a council “I’m looking forward to seeing the mining, meeting at City Hall. mineral, oil and geothermal industries stay healthy in Nevada,” Perry said about his new job. The commission is appointed by the governor and directs mineral-related policy for the division and advises the governor and Legislature on matters relating to mineral resources. The division focuses its efforts on three main areas: industry relations and public affairs; abandoned mine lands; and regulation of oil, gas and geothermal drilling activities and well operations. “It’s important to Elko as natural resources are the major industries in rural Nevada,” Perry said. The division promotes Nevada’s mineral industries and attracts new companies to explore and produce in the state to generate jobs and tax revenues.

Leeville ... Continued from page 8 Six winches will be used to control the Galloway. “We will have four (winches) in one building and two in another,” Covert said. “We will have to commission these to start sinking the shaft further. About 2,200 feet of (cable) will be on each winch.” The hoists will be run by two 1,100 horsepower motors, Hartery said. “Once the sinking is done, the buildings and winches go away,” Covert said. After the shaft is completed, fans will

be installed. “We will have four 3,000 horsepower centrifugal fans versus two 2,000 horsepower axial fans,” Hartery said. “We will have 4,000 to 12,000 horsepower just to move the air. An axial is more like something in your house. Axial fans are underground, but centrifugal fans are quieter and more reliable and on the surface. They also are easier to maintain.” “It’s been fun watching things put in place,” Covert said.

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Mining History

Marianne Kobak McKown/Mining Quarterly

Comstock Mining’s operation is to the right of State Route 342.

Comstock plans to ramp up production By MARIANNE KOBAK McKOWN Mining Quarterly Editor

VIRGINIA CITY — Mining near a town can be tricky, but when the site is interwoven around historic structures it can be even more difficult. Comstock Mining Inc. seems to have figured out how to mine in a historic dis-

trict. It has been producing gold for a little more than a year. The company is Nevadabased and operates with more than 100 employees and about 100 contractors. “The Comstock has been mined since 1859,” said Larry Martin, vice president of exploration and mine development. “Our historian, Ron James, said there has not been one decade that has gone by that

12 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

there hasn’t been mining in the Comstock. Ron was the state historian. His passion has been the Comstock.” Martin has worked in the mining industry since 1979. He helped to start five gold mines in Nevada and began work with Comstock in 2008. “So we saw it go from dirt to dore,” Martin said. “That’s what Scott (Jolcover),

another employee says.” The company has mined about 1 million tons in the last year. The average grade placed on the heap leach pad has been about 0.02 to 0.03 ounces of gold per ton, Martin said. “Our resource contains about 10 ounces of silver for every 1 ounce of gold for the grade were mining now,” he said.

“We’re mining in three different places — the Hartford, Billie the Kid and the Lucerne mining patents in the overall Lucerne Resource area. The Comstock is one of our country’s most historic mining districts. In 1882, it was an open pit operation.” In September, the operation crushed about 5,000 tons of ore a day, Martin said. The ground has a high clay content, so cement is added to allow the cyanide solution to permeate through the heap leach pad, Martin said. The company also uses flat-black hexagonal discs that interlock over the artificial ponds. “They solve two problems we have in heap leach,” Martin said. “We don’t want waterfowl to land on the artificial ponds and the ultraviolet light will destroy the cyanide so it saves us money.” The company expected to hit 1 million tons mined this year on the heap leach pad at some point in November. Expansion Plans Comstock Mining CEO Corrado De Gasperis said the company plans to expand the operation. “Everything being mined right now is on private land,” he said in September. The company received permits to allow it to expand the heap leach and it received a water control permit. The permit increased the site’s capacities and processing rates from a maximum of 1 million tons to 4 million tons per year, according to the company’s third quarter report. The Lucerne Pit production was ramped up to 20,000 gold-equivalentounce annually. It averaged more than 400 gold-equivalent ounces per week for See COMSTOCK, 14

Marianne Kobak McKown/Mining Quarterly

Above: Larry Martin, vice president of exploration and mine development, talks about the operations as a haul truck drives on Comstock mine property in the background. Below left: Comstock Mining uses 40-ton haul trucks. Below right: The conveyor belts move material at the Comstock Mining operations.

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Comstock ... Continued from page 13

Marianne Kobak McKown/Mining Quarterly

Some of the mining that can be seen from the road at Comstock. Inset: A close-up of the shovel moving material on the hill.

the third quarter and more than 500 ounces per week in September, according to the report. “This is a critical permit modification that enables our production expansion goals for the remainder of this year, next year and beyond,” De Gasperis said. “We will move expeditiously to complete our current heap leach expansion from five to eight cells, to increase our rates of production and significantly reduce our unit costs associated with producing our planned 40,000 gold equivalent ounces for next year.” The company is spending about $3 million on the heap leach expansion, De Gasperis said. Comstock invested about $1.4 million to enhance productivity so the Merrill-Crowe and heap leach facilities could operate at much higher levels, up to 1,000 gallons per minute. The company has also expanded its fleet of Caterpillar haul trucks, purchasing eight during the last quarter, De Gasperis said. “The haul trucks are 40-ton,” he said. “We downgraded to what we call highway level.”

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The trucks are smaller than ones used at other mines across the state because of how close the site is to residential neighborhoods. The Lucerne Pit is at Gold Hill in Storey County, and mining can be seen from State Route 342. The smaller equipment also allows operators to move in tighter areas and on steeper grades, Martin said. “Nobody thought it was possible to mine responsibly in a historic district,” De Gasperis said. “We will leave it better than we found it. We’re doing things that haven’t been done before, we’re fully bonded like anyone else would be, but we will do even more. It will be engineered, we will reform the mountain. People say you can’t fill in the hole, but that is what we are going to do.” When Comstock is done mining it will reclaim all the features that other surface mines reclaim, but it also will engineer the pits to be filled in and reformed back into a mountain shape.

Comstock CEO Corrado De Gasperis talks about the signs his company installed to inform the public on the history of mining in the Comstock. Marianne Kobak McKown/Mining Quarterly

Historic Restoration While mining continues, Comstock is doing what it can to save the historic structures in the district. At the end of July, the company formed the Comstock Foundation for History and Culture. The See COMSTOCK, 16

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Comstock ... Continued from page 15 Nevada Secretary of State’s office accepted the foundation’s articles of incorporation July 30. “Comstock dedicated 1 percent royalty to the foundation,” De Gasperis said. “We were stunned at how lucky we were to get the state historian Ron James as CEO of the foundation.” The Comstock Foundation was established as a nonprofit corporation to encourage the preservation and promotion of historic and cultural resources within the Comstock Historic District. The district was granted National Historic Landmark Status in 1961, according to the company. The Comstock was where mining technology was developed and the industry’s legal issues were solved during the 19th and early 20th centuries. “The 1872 mining law was authored here at the Comstock,” Martin said. Various types of technology also were developed. At one time there were more than 200 mills in the area, but now many are gone or so dilapidated they will fall apart if not fixed, De Gasperis said. “We believe first and most importantly to secure what is about to fail for archeological structures,” De Gasperis said. “Ron James said one structure wouldn’t make it through another winter.” See COMSTOCK, 18

Marianne Kobak McKown/Mining Quarterly

Above: Scott Jolcover talks about the Donovan Mill historic building, built in the late 1800s. Below left: The back of the stamps in the Donovan Mill. Below right: Scott Jolcover explains how the ore would travel through the crushing system.

16 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

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The five battery stamp is two stories high in the Donovan Mill.

Comstock ... Continued from page 16 At least one structure has already received funds from the company. The Dayton Consolidated Mill received $40,000 in emergency support from the mine. Comstock also built kiosks, which tell the history of the area. The kiosks cost $15,000. The company and foundation have up to $200,000 committed to various historic preservation projects in the area. De Gasperis said the company has several ideas for the historic structures. He said they could be turned into anything from artists shops to museums. Martin said the Crown Point structure has been in the movies. “We don’t want it to be famous for falling apart,” De Gasperis said.

18 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

One historic mill building that is better off than some others is the Donovan Mill, however it still needs significant help. Scott Jolcover, Comstock’s director of business development, is part owner of the historic Donovan Mill. In his spare time, he has been cleaning the building. It was built in the late 1800s and was still being used as late as the 1960s. It’s a battery mill, Jolcover said. Each battery contains five stamps, which ground up the ore. “They stamp and grind at the same time,” he said. The mill also still has its wooden cyanide solution tanks. See COMSTOCK, 20

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Above: Scott Jolcover explains where the wooden cyanide solution tanks were made. Below: A Merrill press from 1904.

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Comstock ... Continued from page 18 “The solution was in these 25,000gallon tanks,” Jolcover said. “The oak would get wet and seal itself by expanding.” The mill also contains a Merrill press from 1904. “The mill is at least 150 years old,” Jolcover said. “It’s a 30 stamp mill. The ore from the mine was crushed and then agitated in the cyanide solution. If you put your ring in cyanide solution, the cyanide will just eat around the edges. Unless the solution is agitated, the process will stop.” Jolcover said the ore in the rock around Comstock is about 20 microns thick, which compares to a strand of hair at 77 microns. Exploration Ore production and historic preservation are not the only things on the minds of Comstock’s miners. The company continues to explore the area for more deposits, Martin said. The old Dayton pit was mined in the 1920s, but now the company has a Dayton Resource. Comstock has only conducted geologic exploration and resource modeling on about 10 percent of its 5,900 acres,

according to the company. It will use historic compilation, geological mapping, geochemical and geophysical investigations and drilling to explore the area. The company has validated measured and indicated resources in the Lucerne and Dayton areas containing more than 2 million gold equivalent ounces, according to reports. Martin said indicator minerals, such as quartz and molybdenum, are found throughout the areas being explored. “The Dayton Resource in Lyon County is in a resource plan but it’s not in a mine plan,” he said. “It’s measured and indicated but not reserves.” One area explored contained ore about 30 feet down from the surface. Martin said discovery holes are showing “a robust mineralized system.” The goal of the strategic plan includes validating qualified resources (measured and indicated) and reserves (proven and probable) of 3.25 million gold equivalent ounces, from Lucerne and Dayton, according to a company report. “We’re very excited about the exploration potential,” Martin said.

20 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

Marianne Kobak McKown/Mining Quarterly

Corrado De Gasperis explains how the flywheel would have operated equipment in the historic mill.

Submitted/Barrick Gold Corp.

Some of the employees at Barrick’s Goldstrike Mine show their support for breast cancer awareness.

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Barrick ‘paints it pink’ to raise funds for breast cancer screening ELKO — Barrick sites in Nevada joined forces for the Paint it Pink campaign during the month of October. Their goal: raise funds to provide breast cancer screenings for women in local communities. Participating sites donated $5 for each employee dressed in pink on a specified day. The regional community relations department matched the donations for a grand total of $12,500. All proceeds will support the Nevada Health Centers Mammovan, a mobile screening unit. NVHC operates the van, which travels to underserved areas in the state to provide mammograms to geographically isolated or uninsured women who may not seek out mammography services on their own. “The cost of a mammogram varies, but is typically between $120 and $250,” said Shirley Hampton, a registered nurse with NVHC. “Our employees are the ones who drive these events,” said Katie Neddenriep, Barrick community relations programs manager. “They are enthusiastic about participating and want to help. We are excited that funds raised this year will provide approximately 100 mammograms for women in our local communities.” In addition to the wear pink day events, Barrick employees at various sites showed their support for breast cancer awareness and fundraising initiatives in their own special way. Goldstrike’s process division painted a large ribbon on one of their process tanks and the Cortez Hills underground team refreshed the pink paint job on one of their trucks. The truck was initially painted pink for breast cancer awareness in 2012. At the Cortez process division, employees continued their tradition of making voluntary contributions to the cause, raising an additional $628 over what was contributed through the site’s wear pink events. “For the past five years, the Cortez process maintenance and process electrical and instrumentation divisions have raised additional funds over and above the wear pink donations,” said Tom Bastin, Cortez crushing and conveying crew member. “This is a cause close to our hearts. Many of us know someone who has been affected and we want to help make a difference.”

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The Environmentalist Shake(down) It’s not a new dance but it’s becoming more popular By JOHN L. DOBRA, Ph.D.

I’m old enough to remember when the Sierra Club was actually a “club” where people organized excursions to places like Yosemite and the Grand Canyon to take hikes and white water raft. Similarly, the Audubon Society used to just publish nice pictures of birds and organize bird watching expeditions. Oh, how times have changed. Today, these and other “green” groups are more like appendages of law firms, suing governments and firms over virtually everything. Enter “Audubon Society litigation” (or some other environmental group) into a search engine like Google or Bing and you will probably be amazed by the hyperactive litigiousness of these kinds of green groups. I don’t object to people suing to protect their interests, after all, litigation is a national pastime. And, I frankly approve of several California chapters of the Audubon Society

(www.marinaudubon.org/pdf/ClapperRail_Jan11_Web.pdf) suing the operator of wind turbines in Altamont Pass in California where between 7,600 and 9,300 birds, including 55 to 94 golden eagles, were killed between 2007 and 2011. In this case, the Audubon Society is enforcing the law that the federal government will not because of its bias in favor of “green” energy. However, what has been happening to the mining industry for several decades has to be considered an abuse of process. The process is established by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) which requires miners (and others) who wish to develop a project that would affect the environment to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) (or an Environmental Assessment for smaller projects) to be submitted to the relevant regulatory agency for review. The agency then opens up a public comment period in which anyone can offer support, objections or comments. After considering the EIS (or EA) and public comments, regulators will issue a Record of Decision which either approves, disapproves or approves with modifications to the proposed project.

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This is where the shakedown begins. When a regulatory agency issues an approval of the project, green groups routinely file an administrative appeal and the agency is obliged to schedule an administrative hearing. Generally, the appeal brings up information and allegations that were raised during the public comment period. These appeals are routinely denied — the appeal process rarely brings new facts so the regulator hearing the appeal have already considered the facts, concerns, etc. that the appeal is based on. Next, having exhausted their administrative alternatives, the greens sue. A typical example of this process involved a Nevada based gold mining company operating a mine in the 1990s. Because of the steep decline in gold prices its operations were losing money, so they decided to close the mine which required filing a plan for site reclamation following the NEPA process. The reclamation plan was approved by regulators and greens filed for an administrative appeal. The appeal hearing was scheduled. The appeal hearing was via teleconference and lasted all of five minutes, most of which involved getting everybody hooked up. When the hook up was completed the

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hearing officer asked the appellant’s lawyer if he had anything new that wasn’t exposed in the public comment period. The answer was “No.” The hearing officer then said “appeal denied,” and the hearing was over. Having exhausted their administrative remedies, the greens then sued. After two years of going through the process of filing the suit, responding, discovery, and all the normal things involved in a lawsuit, a trial date was set. When the company’s CEO and the company’s lawyers arrived for the trial they were met on courthouse steps by the greens’ lawyers and handed a piece of paper. What’s this?” the CEO asked. The greens’ lawyer laughed and said, “We’re dropping the suit.” In other words, the lawsuit was simple harassment designed to waste time and money. The High Country News published an article titled “The Faces Behind the Lawsuits” (www.hcn.org/ issues/274/14740/print_view) profiling the lawyers involved in the shakedowns. One profile included “Lawsuits stopped bad mines and overgrazing, but his specialty is endangered species.” I’m all for stopping “bad mines” but I suspect that this lawyer has never seen a “good mine.” Another profile of the founder of the Western Mining Action Project in Boulder, Colo., boasts of “Lawsuits and administrative appeals stopped or delayed dozens of mines in the West.” Unlike the Audubon Society’s lawsuit over birds killed by windmills to enforce federal laws, the Western Mining Action Project sues because it doesn’t like the 1872 Mining Law. Things get even dicier when these lawyers use Native

“The way it works is that when the EPA issues a regulation or ruling they are sued by the usual cast of plaintiffs: the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, etc., claiming that the regulations or rulings aren’t stringent enough. The EPA, the attorneys general allege, “reconsiders,” and strengthens the regulations or rulings and, it is alleged, pays the plaintiffs’ legal fees. So, in effect, the EPA is paying the green lawyers to sue it with taxpayers’ money.” Americans as foils as was the case in the lawsuit over Barrick Gold’s Cortez Hills mine. Their standing to sue derives from the Native Americans belief that the earth is sacred. The American Indian Religious Freedom Act protects, among other things, sacred sites. So, all a Native American has to do is say that a prospective mine site is sacred and it’s hard to argue it’s not. Environmental lawyers like these suits for a number of reasons. It harasses miners and better yet, the federal government pays the legal fees. However, the pièce de résistance is the “sue and settle” scam. Twelve states’ attorneys general have filed suit against the EPA over a practice they claim violates the Administrative Procedures Act (http://thehill.com/ blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/311425-states-file-lawsuitagainst-epa-over-sue-and-settle-strategy ). The way it works is that when the EPA issues a regulation or ruling they are sued by the usual cast of plaintiffs: the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense

Council, etc., claiming that the regulations or rulings aren’t stringent enough. The EPA, the attorneys general allege, “reconsiders,” and strengthens the regulations or rulings and, it is alleged, pays the plaintiffs’ legal fees. So, in effect, the EPA is paying the green lawyers to sue it with taxpayers’ money. What a deal! If you want to stop this abuse of process there is a simple solution. Other countries with legal systems based on British Common Law like Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain, as well as most of the rest of the world, have a “loser pays” system when it comes to litigation. That is, if you sue someone and lose, you have to pay their legal fees. The plaintiffs’ bar has fought this idea for obvious reasons, but its time has clearly come.

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If the boot fits The right safety footwear depends on job, comfort By HEATHER KENNISON Mining Quarterly

Heather Kennison/Mining Quarterly

Duane Jones, owner of Cedar Creek Clothing, holds a safety boot downstairs in the footwear section of his store.

24 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

ELKO — Making sure you have the right boot for the job is key to comfort and safety. That is why businesses such as Cedar Creek Clothing and Anacabe’s — Elko General Merchandise ask customers what they do before fitting them to a boot. “If we sell them the wrong boot for the activity they’re in, they’re not going to be happy,” said Duane Jones, owner of Cedar Creek Clothing. Mechanics need a sole resistant to oil products that isn’t slippery, Jones said. Drivers need a mud-resistant boot that will easily scrape off. The Mine Safety and Health Administration has certain safety footwear requirements that mine workers must follow. Mines may also make their own rules about safety footwear so

long as they meet the minimum requirements. “It needs to be at least ankle high,” said Newmont Mining Corp. Senior Health and Safety Specialist Andy Petersen. Newmont’s underground mines require metatarsal guards on the boot, he said. “It has to be incorporated — we don’t allow people to strap metatarsal guards on their foot,” Petersen said. Barrick Gold Corp. Communications Specialist Leslie Maple said employees are required to wear steel-toe boots. Barrick’s individual mine sites may have additional requirements, such as rubber boots for underground operations. These boots are made for mining When it comes to choosing the right boot, a few things to keep in mind are the amount of water and chemicals one is exposed to. Gore Tex membranes built inside the boots keep water out, while letting the boot breathe so moisture can escape, Jones said. For underground mines, boots with chemical shields are also an option. However, these may cost about $300, said Elko General Merchandise owner Anita Anacabe-Franzoia. “It’s going to outlast a $30 boot hopefully four times over, and eliminate problems caused by leather boots,” she said. Cedar Creek Clothing, which specializes in leather boots, offers both steel-toe and composite-toe boots. Although MSHA guidelines do not specify miners need a steel-toe boot, individual mine’s policies may do so. The benefit of a composite toe is it doesn’t get as cold with winter temperatures, Jones said. The prices are similar to steel-toe boots, he said. The average life of a boot varies, Anacabe-Franzoia said. “It’s hard to tell people that you’re only going to get a certain amount of life for your footwear,” she said. Bob Hawver, who works as a control

Heather Kennison/Mining Quarterly

Bob Hawver, left, tries on a pair of boots at Elko General Merchandise Oct. 30. At right is business owner Anita Anacabe-Franzoia. room operator for Barrick’s Cortez Hills Mine, said he goes through one to two pairs of boots each year. “You’re always in just a little bit of water,” Hawver said. Although he said he has found cheaper

boots that last longer, they have not been as comfortable. Newmont and Barrick both provide an allowance to their employees for footwear. “Newmont provides money to a debit

card every year,” Petersen said. “For underground, it’s $300 every year.” Aboveground Newmont employees receive $100 per year. See BOOTS, 26

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Boots ... Continued from page 25 For Barrick, the amount of the allowance varies with each department. Both Elko General Merchandise and Cedar Creek Clothing have a selection of safety boots to choose from. Cedar Creek Clothing carries brands such as Dr. Martens, Redwing and Keen ranging in price from $130 to $250. Anacabe-Franzoia said Elko General Merchandise carries more than 30 models in men’s metatarsal boots alone, with brands ranging from Michelin, Double H, Georgia Boot, Redwing and others. “One entire side of the store is all safety-toe footwear,” Anacabe-Franzoia said. Elko General Merchandise even carries specialized footwear for diabetics that is covered by Medicare Part B. For $20 more, the store can order mis-mates, which are different sized shoes. Jones said people rarely have the same sized feet, one usually being about half a size larger. Finding the right boot can involve measuring different parts of the foot. Jones tells customers not to fit to size, but to the arch. “It’s important that we fit that arch, because you don’t stand on the end of your toes,” Jones said. Both stores also carry stretching devices to make minor adjustments to boots. Anacabe-Franzoia said she can order custom boots as well. Women’s footwear When it comes to women’s safety boots, the selection is limited. “We probably have, unfortunately, about 20:1 (mens to womens),” Jones said. Anacabe-Franzoia said it is difficult for stores to even find women’s safety footwear through vendors. “It’s very hard, because there really isn’t much made for women,” she said. A basic Rigmaster women’s boot that’s waterproof and not insulated costs about $130.98 pre-tax at Elko General Merchandise. However, the store will be bringing in STC, a Canadian brand of footwear that offers women’s sizes. “It’s not going to be the prettiest boot,” Anacabe-Franzoia said. “... But this is going to last her.” A size 5 in mens footwear is about a size 61⁄2 in womens. Elko General Merchandise carries sizes 5 to 18 in mens.

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Boot care tips To help expand the boot life, proper care makes a difference. Leather boots, especially, last longer if they are oiled regularly, Jones said. “The boot is still kind of alive ... Your boot needs to be replenished to keep from drying out,” he said. Boot oil and refills are available at Cedar Creek Clothing. “Keep your boots oiled, just like putting lotion on your hands,” Jones said. Another thing to keep in mind when choosing a boot is there are some things not covered by warranty. These include chemical spills, including petroleum, which breaks down the waterproofing. Keen safety footwear has a 90-day fit guarantee, Jones said. At Cedar Creek Clothing, the boot warranty will cover stitching that comes undone. For boot repair, Elko General Merchandise sends boots out for repairs and provides shipping free of charge. When it comes to comfort, socks are also a factor. “Socks are so important, especially with underground boots,” Anacabe-Franzoia said. Both Jones and Anacabe-Franzoia do not recommend cotton socks, as they don’t wick away moisture. “Moisture conducts cold really, really quickly,” Jones said. For this reason, he recommends wool or synthetic socks with a liner. Cedar Creek Clothing was founded in 1970 as “Bob’s Togs,” and also sells in-soles. Elko General Merchandise has been owned by the Anacabe family since 1936, according to its website. The store also carries assorted hats and outer wear, among other items.

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EPA’s $1.2 million cleanup in McDermitt completed 10,000 tons of calcine taken home to Cordero By DEE HOLZEL Mining Quarterly Staff Writer

McDERMITT — When the residents of McDermitt needed fill for roads or driveways, they knew right where to go: the abandoned Cordero mercury mine just seven miles away. The waste ore from the roaster provided plenty of such material for unpaved roads and parking lots. Mercury was first discovered near the community on the Oregon border in about 1924 and two mines went into production: the Cordero Mine and the McDermitt Mine. By World War II, Cordero was the largest producer of mercury in the state but operations ceased there in 1970. In 2009, the EPA visited McDermitt at the request of the Fort McDermitt Pauite Shoshone Reservation representatives who expressed concern about possible contaminants from the old mine site. According to Tom Dunkelman, with EPA’s Emergency Response, it was then the EPA learned the residents of McDermitt and the reservation had been putting calcine from the abandoned Cordero roaster to use … well, everywhere. And they had been doing so for decades. Unfortunately, the roasting process did not capture all the ore’s mercury content. The waste ore from the roasting process, called calcine, left behind at the mine site still had mercury and arsenic content. In 2010, the EPA conducted soil tests that indicated areas of McDermitt and the Ft. McDermitt Pauite Shoshone Reservation showed concentrations of mercury and arsenic that exceeded EPA regulations. The EPA determined some properties with calcine material would have to have it removed and clean fill put in its place. Other properties had calcine in quantities too large to be removed; in those cases it was determined the best course of action was to

cap it in place. Initially some residents balked at having their driveways and landscaping torn up by the EPA. Dunkelman and staff from the EPA held town hall meetings with residents, town officials and representatives from the school district. As the removal of calcine material from private property was entirely voluntary, initially only 30 residents signed up. Dunkelman did not give up. He continued meeting with residents, even going door-to-door, until all 56 residential properties — including two on the reservation — agreed to the removal of the calcine. Dunkelman said once work started, and the residents saw the quality of work, the people who had initially declined later agreed to have the calcine from their properties removed and replaced. Dunkelman said, “The community has been great to work with. From my point of view this has been an excellent project.” Courtesy photo

See CORDERO, 31

This retort, where the ore was processed and mercury recovered, is still at the Cordero Mine site.

WINTER 2013 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 29

Courtesy photo

Open pit at the Cordero Mine site.

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Cleanup work being done at sports fields in McDermitt.

Cordero ... Continued from page 29 Resident Dale Hartley had the gravel replaced in his driveway. He praised the EPA and contractors for the quality of the work performed and their professionalism. At the McDermitt Combined School approximately 311, 682 square feet of mine waste required remediation. EPA found calcine material on the east side of the football field, the large parking lot adjacent to the football field, and in areas surrounding the playground. According to the report issued by Dunkelman, of the 311,682 square feet, 594 cubic yards of mine waste was excavated from 45,958 square feet located near the football field, 247,231 square feet (5.56 acres) of mine waste was capped in place at the school parking lot, and 18,493 square feet of mine waste was capped in place at the school playground. Additionally, a total of 40,410 square feet of mine waste was capped in place on two unpaved roads in the town of McDermitt. This work was performed in conjunction with the McDermitt General Improvement District. EPA also provided backfill material to Malheur County, Oregon, in order to cap 25,270 square feet of mine waste at one unpaved road, identified as Margarita Road and located west of U.S. Highway 95. On the reservation, 25,586 square feet of mine waste was capped in place at one unpaved access road leading to the tribal transfer station. Ultimately about 10,000 tons of calcine were removed from McDermitt and taken back to Cordero. Another 40,000 tons of calcine were capped in place with clean material. Funds for the cleanup came from the EPAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Superfund monies, but Cordero itself has not been identified as being on the Superfund National Priority List.

WINTER 2013 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 31

Students learn mining ROCKS at Goldstrike By ELAINE BASSIER Mining Quarterly Staff Writer

Elaine Bassier/Mining Quarterly

Katie Neddenriep, center, talks to the students on the bus at their arrival to Barrick Goldstrike Mine.

CARLIN — The bus drives through sagebrush-covered hills on its roughly one-hour trip to Barrick Goldstrike Mine, a ride employees take every day. Today, however, this bus is filled with 40 high school students who are talking to each other, playing games on their phones or listening to music. The students are from all over Elko County, representing high schools in Elko, Wells and West Wendover. The wide range of students are united in a common interest — they all want to learn more about mining careers — so they attended a Mining ROCKS tour. Christopher Maroney, a sophomore at Elko High School, said what many of the students may have been thinking as they went on the tour. “I mostly came here to see what I could do after college,” he said. “I want to see what my options are.”

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Maroney was interested in learning about underground work. Barrick Gold Corp. and Newmont Mining Corp. have been offering tours of their mines to high school students for several years, said Barrick Community Relations Program Manager Katie Neddenriep, the coordinator for the October tour. The tours operate twice a year, Neddenriep said, once in the spring and once in the fall. The mine site the tour goes to switches between Barrick and Newmont. Neddenriep enjoys the tours and thinks they are very important. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got a focus group of students ... itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a recruiting project for the mines,â&#x20AC;? Neddenriep said. Since the students are local, Neddenriep said it improves retention in the community. The tours also help Great Basin College. The students began their day with a presentation by Heather Steele, GBCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s regional technical preparation coordinator. of event at Steele showed the students a video about GBCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s elkodaily.com technology and industry program. Students in the program can get a certificate of achievement in 48 weeks in diesel technology, electrical systems technology, industrial millwright technology, instrumentation technology or welding technology. The program prepares students for a lucrative mining career in less than a year, Steele said. The students traveled from GBC to the mine site. They gathered in the open pit operations muster room and heard from representatives of every department in the mine about their jobs. Roger Souckey from human resources began the meeting by asking for â&#x20AC;&#x153;safety shares.â&#x20AC;? The employees shared a couple of examples of a coworker who was being safe and the students

Video

Elaine Bassier/Mining Quarterly

See GOLDSTRIKE, 34

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Travis Munster looks back as he speaks with the high school students visiting Barrick Goldstrike Mine.

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Elaine Bassier/Mining Quarterly

A shovel loads a haul truck with rocks at the Barrick Goldstrike Mine.

said some as well, such as wearing boots at the mine site. “I learned about a lot of the safety hazards on a mine site,” Dillon Avery, a senior at Elko High School, said. Chelsea Anderson and Kendra Olcott from the environmental department told the students about their jobs. “We work to minimize environmental impact,” Anderson said. “Anything we work on we have to reclaim.” She described some of the things the department works on — topography and seeding, clean water and clean soil. “We try to return it to its natural state,” Olcott said. David Gray talked about geology. “Our main goal is to find more gold,” Gray said. “(At this mine), we have found 60 million ounces and counting.” Gray said the deposits at Goldstrike are unique to Nevada. “Geology is exciting ... it can take you anywhere,” Gray said, mentioning some of his travels to Australia and South America. A couple of the students were interested in geology. Baily Bybee, a junior at West Wendover High School, said, “I think (mining) would be pretty cool. I’d go into underground or geology — or blowing things up.” Bybee is interested in underground because it sounds fun. As for geology, “I like looking through minerals. I have my own collection.” Braxton Own, a sophomore at Elko High School, said he was also interested in geology. “When I was little, I used to look at rocks,” he said. Jasmine Florescia, a sophomore at Elko High School, said she wasn’t interested in mining. However, her dad is a geologist and

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Elko High School junior Austin Ogle looks out over the pit as he waits for the OK to detonate a blast at Barrick Goldstrike Mine. she was interested in what he did. Kyle Nelson and Danny Donnelli talked about safety, health and security at the mine. Nelson is an industrial hygienist — he works on the health side of the department. He showed the students a respirator and explained how the employees stay safe around dangerous elements, such as mercury or lead. The miners have chemical detectors as a part of their gear. “We make sure miners aren’t injured and equipment is safe,” said Donnelli. The 23 people in the division of safety and health serve 1,765 mine employees. Bree McMaster talked about underground mining and ventilation engineering, which controls the temperature underground and takes out particles. The mine ventilates 41 miles of open drift, she said. McMaster said the job is challenging. “We have to know where the mine is going and what’s the best way to go forward.” Katie Kneiser talked about processing the gold, which involves stripping the minerals around the gold. She said the mine has three different processes and the process used depends on what minerals are trapping the gold. “If you like chemistry, I highly suggest this job,” she said. Sid Owen is in charge of open pit explosives and blasting. In a year, he said, the mine See GOLDSTRIKE, 36

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Above: A group of high school students stands in front of a Barrick Goldstrike Mine haul truck. At right: Anthony Siri, left, and Ron Hackler lead a tour of the truck shop at Barrick Goldstrike Mine.

Goldstrike ... Continued from page 35 uses 30 million pounds of explosives and blasts 90 million to 110 million tons of rock. Working with explosives requires a lot of training, Owen said. The blasters have two to three years of training before they can handle the explosives on their own. A blast is scheduled every weekday at 2 p.m. Sid showed a montage video of blasts at Goldstrike - including the biggest blast in Barrick history at 1,144 holes. Travis Munster, one of the tour guides for the day, said even the less glorious jobs, such as an operator, can be rewarding. “Where else do you get to run the biggest equipment in the world?” he asked. After a lunch break, the tour continued with a look around the mine’s truck maintenance and welding shops. Anthony Siri, the open pit training supervisor, gave the students a quick lecture on safety at the mine and provided each tour member with a bright orange vest and a white helmet. “Make sure you have your helmet on at all times,” Siri said. “There are a lot of things you can hit your head on out here.” See GOLDSTRIKE, 38

36 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

WINTER 2013 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 37

Goldstrike ... Continued from page 36 Ron Hackler, an open pit trainer, showed the students around the shops and told them about the maintenance involved in keeping the massive haul trucks in good condition. “The wheels on the trucks cost $60,000 each,” he said. A lot of the students were impressed with the huge machines, which are used to haul ore around the mine. Gurpreet Samra, a sophomore at Elko High School, learned “If one of the wheels on the haul truck pops, it can blow someone back a hundred feet.” A number of students were interested in going into the mechanics or welding side of mining. Avery said, “I want to go into welding. They make a lot of money.” Joshua Kirkwooe, a senior at Elko High School, said he wants to be a millwright because “You do everything ... mechanics, welding.” The tour continued on the bus, which drove around the mine. McMaster talked about the underground Meikle mine as the bus drove by and she described the elevator system

and the ventilation. The underground mine is so well ventilated she has seen snow underground. Kneiser and Munster talked about the roaster plant, which processes the gold. “I’m interested in going into mining engineering. My dad ... told me about how the process works,” said Haily Christensen, a senior at West Wendover High School. The tour ended at an overlook of the pit. The blasting crew met the students there and arranged the blast. Two students were chosen by their teachers to push the button to detonate the blast. Austin Ogle, a junior at Elko High School, got a special birthday present when he was picked to push the button. “I got to blow something up — on purpose this time!” he said after the blast. Not all of the students were set on going into mining careers, but the blast was a big hit and a few students were interested because of the high-paying jobs. Marisol Rodriguez, a senior at West Wendover High School, said she heard the tour was fun so she decided to come. “I might get interested in mining,” she

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A view of the open pit at Barrick Goldstrike Mine. said. “The money sounds good.” The tour provided an overview of the many career fields involved in mining. The Barrick Goldstrike employees encouraged students to consider educa-

tion beyond high school in careers that pay well and are rewarding.

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Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly

Newmont’s Carlin Rescue Team show their awards received as a result of recent national competition. Front from left: Mike Peck, Brad Nelson, Jeremy Armstrong and Dorsey Munson. Back from left: Jeromy Holland, Cody Allen, Wayne Courtney, Quentin Carroll, Dustin Kappes and Rob Carter.

National Champions Newmont team wins first place in mine rescue — first ever in the state By DYLAN WOOLF HARRIS Mining Quarterly Staff Writer

ELKO — Nine missing miners. Smoke in an underground drift. A rescue crew racing the clock. It was a mock field disaster — a fire in an underground mine. As one of 10 teams competing in the final day of the National Mine Rescue Competition, the Carlin Mine Rescue team was on its way to a National Champion first-place finish — an accom-

plishment no Nevada team has achieved before. The event took place over three days in Reno this past summer. “They’ll try to make it so the engineered design of the ventilation is disrupted somehow, and those people are trapped in a part of the mine where that ventilation has been disrupted. So now you have to make decisions on how to manipulate the ventilation in the mine to get fresh air to the trapped miners, so you can rescue them,” said Cody Allen, team captain and Leeville engineer.

40 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

Each time a team makes a wrong decision it is penalized a few points. The team with the fewest points takes home the trophy and title of National Champion. At the end of the third day of this year’s event, the Carlin Mine Rescue Team took the top spot. The disastrous simulations aren’t just obstacles to be conquered for the sake of competition, however. The mines want their rescue teams to be ready when called upon, whether that’s in the event of a fire, flood or dangerous gas leak.

“The competitions, really, what they prepare us for is on-the-spot, critical decision making in the case of a real incident,” Allen said. Having a qualified and capable rescue team on call is reassuring for other employees. “It makes me feel safer when I go out there and go underground, knowing that any shift that I go on, we have the best rescue team in the nation,” said Mike Peck, emergency response and hazmat manager.

Diamond Core Drilling Minerals Exploration Directional Drilling Geothermal Exploration Ceothermal Drilling Submitted

Newmont’s Carlin Mine Rescue team members give first aid to a volunteer during the National Mine Rescue Competition in August in Reno. The team — eight members — is made up of two mechanics, two electricians and four miners. There are also two coordinators. “This team has been together for a couple years now and we work real well together,” Allen said. He said the group has monthly training days where it takes competition-style field problems and reworks them, just to prepare. Newmont management took pride in the group’s accomplishments and hard work and recognized the example it set for the industry as a whole. “With their increasing successes, including their stellar performances at this year’s nationals, our mine rescue teams have garnered much attention from around the country,” said Tom Kerr, Newmont North America senior vice president, adding that other trainers and teams from across the country had success in subsequent competitions after they consulted with or observed Newmont’s teams. “We greatly appreciate the hard work and dedication of our mine rescue teams and all our other internal emergency responders, and we applaud their important role in our safety journey,” he said. In order to compete in the final scenario, the team had to compete through two days of qualifying rounds. Exercises included administering first-aid scenarios with live volunteers acting injured, setting up and checking a safety apparatus and searching through piping and barriers for missing miners. “You know that when you make the final day, you’re at the top of your game,” he said. Allen said the competitions are supposed to get progressively more difficult as the teams compete on day two and three. Newmont’s mine rescue teams have changed from mine site-specific teams to regional support teams, with the ability to help one another and other mines around the state. “Even our Carlin Surface Mine Rescue Team chose to skip this year’s Surface Competition in Gillette, Wyo., so they could assist with this contest,” said Randy Squires, senior manager on health safety and loss prevention and compliance. “It was good to see the surface and underground teams coming together to represent Newmont on a national stage.” Newmont’s Midas Mine Rescue Team competed at Reno as well and made it past the first two qualifying days. “We congratulate our Carlin and Midas mine rescue teams on their successes at this and other competitions this year,” Kerr said. “We also thank our mining industry partners, including the Nevada Mining Association, the Mine Safety and Health Administration and other mining companies, who provide the resources — namely, talented, experienced people — making it possible to continue holding this important event.”

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These pure copper cathodes were produced at Newmont Mining Corp.’s Phoenix Mine’s SX/Electrowinning plant south of Battle Mountain.

Phoenix begins commercial production of copper ELKO — New revenue, in the form of copper sheets, is coming out of Newmont Mining Corp.’s Phoenix Mine. Newmont announced Oct. 30 its Phoenix Copper Leach and processing facility began producing finished copper. The copper sheets are made using a run-of-mine copper leach pad and a new solvent extraction and electrowinning facility. The finished sheets are 3 feet by 3 feet and weigh 120 pounds. Phoenix expects to produce approximately 20 million pounds of copper each year, nearly doubling its historical copper output since the site started up in 2006, said Newmont Senior External Communications Representative Matt Murray. Construction on the plant began in 2012, but the leach pad was built in 2011. The leach pad is 8 million square feet. Phoenix is 12 miles southwest of Battle Mountain on private and public lands in Lander County. “The significant amounts of copper now being recovered at the Phoenix Copper Leach operation will help increase our profitable copper production, reduce the overall costs applicable to sales for Phoenix and the region, and increase reserves at the site,” General Manager of Operations for Phoenix Mine Joel Lenz said. “Beyond supporting Newmont’s strategy to build a stronger copper production profile, copper leach will also reduce our environmental footprint by lowering waste rock volumes.” “I am very proud of our team of employees and contractors who safely delivered this project on-time and on-budget,” said Lenz. The additional production stream from copper leach will effectively transform and elevate Phoenix from a provider of raw copper concentrate (a byproduct of the site’s gold production) into a reliable source of ready-for-market, finished copper for manufacturers of copper products. “Newmont joins our team at Phoenix in thanking all those involved in safely developing and rolling out this new business enterprise, and we look forward to many more years of safe copper production,” Senior Vice President Newmont North America Tom Kerr said.

42 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

WINTER 2013 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 43

AP Photo / Las Vegas Sun, Leila Navidi

Tony Rhodes shows off some of the gold he found over many hours of panning Sept. 28 during a Gold Searchers of Southern Nevada outing at a claim near Meadview, Ariz.

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — More than 20 people set up camp on a plot of Arizona desert in the middle of nowhere, just beyond the Nevada border on a recent weekend. Nothing but brush and dirt are visible as far as the eye can see. Equipped with shovels, buckets and holstered guns, they spread out along the desert expanse, shoveling dirt and rock into sifters and hunching over tubs of water to dip ridged pans filled with a black-sand-like concentrate into the water. A few waved beeping metal detectors, bending over to dig out buried items when the noise sped up; most only found trash. Maria Boyle is at the sifting station, dipping a ridged, dinner plate-sized saucer into water, when she spots the unmistakable metal — the one that brought everyone to the desert — in her pan. Her eyes widen and she lets out a shout of joy. She struck gold. “Bingo,” Boyle shouted. It’s been 150 years since the Gold Rush sent people scrambling to the deserts of the West, but gold fever still exists today. The group of people combing the desert this day belong to the Gold Searchers of Southern Nevada, a Las Vegas-based club whose members still are hooked on finding the elusive metal. “They call it gold fever, but it’s the entire experience,” club member George Niederriter told the Las Vegas Sun, “from the time you pull up (to the claim) to the time you drive home.” The group has five claims in the seemingly limitless desert expanse in Nevada and Arizona. They prefer to keep the exact locations secret to those who aren’t members to prevent against claim jumpers. There are about 400 total members in the club — which gives members unlimited access to each of its claims. The prospectors range from retired men and women looking for a hobby to outdoor enthusiasts to families. They conduct meetings and outings once a month. During the outings they often have potluck meals, a metal-detecting scavenger hunt and panning contests. Everyone helps one another to find gold. Dues are $45 for the inaugural year’s membership and $30 annually thereafter. The dues cover the member’s entire family. “Most people need an excuse to do something,” Niederriter said. “Gold is the excuse. Hobbies do not pay typically. What we do pays for itself in being outdoors, the socializing, family bonding . and the cost is minimal.”

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Gold fever ... Continued from page 44 Niederriter acts as a guide for inexperienced members. He’s been in the club for more than 15 years and knows almost everything about gold, from its weight compared with water (it’s 19 times heavier) to where to look for it (areas with river-washed rock and quartz). He sets up his sluice — a metal chute with flowing water hooked up to two tubs of water to simulate a river — and shows people how to pan for gold. He also has coffee brewing and a canopy outside his travel-worn 1980s RV for anyone who wants to rest. Despite improvements in technology, the process hasn’t changed much since the 1800s, Niederriter said. Prospectors still use pans, sifters, sluices and dry washers that have been made only slightly more efficient than those used in the 1800s. Finding gold almost always comes down to a little luck and a lot of hard work. Although few people strike it rich, almost everyone leaves these outings with at least a little gold. “The process is basically the same,” Niederriter said. “If you want to find the material, you’re going to have to work. You have to dig the material, same as back then.” Few become rich digging for gold. Most only find specks of gold the size of bread crumbs, but the rush of discovery and the prospect of finding more keep them coming back. Few members ever sell the gold they find. “I became hooked the first time I saw gold,” club president Ian Thaler said. “Who else do you know that

has gold and actually dug it up?” Club member Tony Rhodes rested on his RV steps after discovering his own specks of gold during the club’s September outing. A thin layer of dust covered his sweats, boots and arms from the morning’s work. He’s spent time the past two years digging for gold. He joined the club after he saw a show on modern gold prospecting and decided to give it a try after he retired. He’s hoarded every piece of gold he’s found ever since. “I don’t do it for the money,” Rhodes said. “I do it to show people what I found.” AP Photo / Las Vegas Sun, Leila Navidi After a moment he holds out June Petrucci scans the desert for gold nuggets and metal during a Gold Searchers of a tray filled with vials of gold Southern Nevada outing Sept. 28 at a claim near Meadview, Ariz. specks and nuggets the size of a pinhead. The gold glistens in value can still draw people to the desert, even 150 years the sun, giving off a faint glow even in the light of day. after the Gold Rush. This is the fruit of his labors. To him, the money paid for “There’s plenty of gold out there,” Rhodes said. “You gold doesn’t make up for the hard work and memories just got to work for it.” involved in finding the precious metal. There’s a thrill to discovering gold. Its elusiveness and

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The highwall at Barrick Gold Corp.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ruby Hill Mine failed Nov. 2.

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ELKO â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Barrick Gold Corp.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ruby Hill Mine will be shut down until next year, but employees will still have jobs. A portion of Ruby Hillâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s high wall failed Nov. 2 and caused loose material to move down the slope toward the pit floor, said Communications Director for Barrick Gold of North America Lou Schack. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Stabilizing the area affected by the failure will require a new mine plan and possibly new permitting,â&#x20AC;? he said. New permits may be required because Barrick may need to disturb ground outside the current permits to stabilize the high wall. Schack said Barrick hopes to restart mining in the early part of 2014. â&#x20AC;&#x153;On Nov. 2, we had sent employees home with pay, in hopes of restarting mining in two weeks,â&#x20AC;? he said. Since the shutdown will take longer than expected, about 80 of is 120 employees are being offered positions at two other Barrick sites â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Bald Mountain and Cortez Hills. Some staff will remain at Ruby Hill to handle the failure. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We certainly hope all of these employees will stay at Barrick,â&#x20AC;? Schack said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If any of these employees donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to move to a new site, they will be offered a severance package. When mining resumes at Ruby Hill anyone who takes the severance package will be eligible for rehire. We are trying to do right by our people. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not an easy situation, but at least we have some options.â&#x20AC;? Some of the haul trucks and loading equipment also will be relocated to Bald Mountain. Barrick believes the failure occurred where the alluvium meets the bedrock. Alluvium is the unconsolidated rock or layers of soil and rock found at a mine. Engineers had been monitoring the portion of the pit wall that failed for several weeks. Mining was suspended the night before the failure. No one was injured and no equipment was damaged by the slide. Ruby Hill is less than a mile northwest of the town of Eureka. Barrick did not have an estimate yet on the tonnage moved in the slide. Ruby Hill had been in a care-and-maintenance mode before mining resumed at the site in 2007. Mining at the site was expected to last through 2014. It was scheduled to go back to a care-and-maintenance mode in 2015, Schack said.

WINTER 2013 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 49

End the Violence Barrick sponsors event at Elko Indian Colony By MARIANNE KOBAK McKOWN Mining Quarterly Editor

Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly

White Ribbon Executive Director Todd Minerson talks about the international organization’s mission to end domestic violence Oct. 23 during the Circle of Life - Native Conference at the Elko Colony Gymnasium.

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ELKO — Domestic violence is not just a women’s issue. Presenters said these words several times during the Circle of Life - Native Conference in October at the Elko Indian Colony Gymnasium. The conference had about 200 people in attendance. The Elko Band Domestic Violence Program, White Ribbon Foundation and Barrick Goldstrike sponsored the two-day event. The theme of the conference was gender-based leadership roles of Native men and boys to end violence against Native women and girls. The conference also coincides with October being Domestic Violence Awareness month. Barrick Gold Corp. partnered with the White Ribbon Foundation globally to look for ways the company could help reduce domestic violence in the communities where Barrick operates. White Ribbon identified three different communities to participate in three-year projects, said White Ribbon Foundation Executive Director Todd Minerson. Besides Elko, the foundation will be working with

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communities in Papua New Guinea and Zambia. The Toronto-based organization was started in 1991 as an effort to get men and boys involved in ending violence against women, Minerson said. The group asks men to wear white ribbons as a pledge to never commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women and girls. The effort has spread to more than 60 countries around the world. Minerson said the organization was founded after a 1989 tragedy in Montreal where a man murdered a group of 14 women because he blamed them for what was wrong in his life. Men in the community said they decided they had to do something to protect women, Minerson said. “They said violence against women can’t be just a woman’s issue,” he said. White Ribbon will be working with Barrick and Western Shoshone programs and other area non-profits for three years, said Suhail Abualsameed, project coordinator for White Ribbon. “This is the best way to get people invested and engaged in our effort and tell them what were doing,” he said. “Then from that we can design different area programs.” The keynote speaker for Wednesday was Gene Redhail of Oneida, Wisc.

Redhail said he works with Native men who have been convicted of domestic violence. “I try to engage the men in ending violence against women,” he said. He said Native Americans make up 2 percent of the population but a greater percentage of Native women are victims of domestic violence. A 2004 Department of Justice report estimated American Indian women suffer domestic violence and physical assault at as much as a 50 percent higher rate than the next most victimized demographic. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Native Americans are 2.5 times more likely to experience sexual assault crimes compared to all other races, and one in three Indian women reports having been raped during her lifetime. However, Redhail said violence against women is new to the Native culture. He said traditionally men were taught that women were sacred. “The only ones who are going to protect our children and our women is us men,” he said. He said violence against women was something Natives learned from the cavalry. He said the tactics abusers use are the same tactics used during coloniza-

Gene Redhail talks about ending domestic violence in the Native American community Oct. 23 during the Circle of Life - Native Wellness Conference at the Elko Colony Gymnasium. Redhail was the keynote presenter. Marianne Kobak McKown Mining Quarterly

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Above: Barrick employees and tribal members from several Western Shoshone bands join in a round dance or friendship dance Oct. 23 during the Circle of Life - Native Conference at the Te-Moak Tribe’s Elko Indian Colony Gymnasium. At left: Kristi Begay of the Wells Band helps her granddaughter, Kiana Hooper, 3, put paint on her hand to stamp a poster pledging to end domestic violence.

Colony ... Continued from page 51 tion, such as valuing might over right. He told the audience the seven philosophies for a Native American man is to have respect for women, guide his children, respect for the family, community, Mother Earth, the Creator and to himself. “We have to understand our history to heal from it,” he said. “I can’t change my father’s history. What we are trying to do here is relearn our history so we can come together and reclaim our values.” Sharing their stories People attending the conference shared their own stories of domestic violence during the second day. Whether they were victims or abusers, many of the stories involved anger, alcohol and co-dependency. The people who told their stories said spirituality and treatment programs helped them get away from the violence in their lives. Many also received help from elders in the tribe. One man said, “we need to share our stories so we let the pain out and break the cycle of violence.”

52 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly

Silus Miller, 4, far left, Dyami Jones, 3, and Kaden Snapp, 6, all of Elko perform a traditional grass dance.

Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly

Above: Star Nayea sings to Dyami Jones, 3, of Elko. At right: Anthony Tom shares a part of his life during the 2013 White Ribbon event in October at Elko Indian Colony Gymnasium. A panel of elders seemed to have a large impact on the crowd. Roselyn Smith of Elko said she would like to see the community “come together and be unified.” Louie Gibson said the people “need to get back to helping each other out.” Anthony Tom of South Fork Reservation said he could relate to a lot of the presenters. He said he hurt his children by ignoring them. “I was watching a movie about alcoholism and I started crying,” he said. “I called up my daughter and we had a good talk. My grandchild has never seen me drunk. I’m proud of that. “I took a class about minority economics. A bunch of black people from all over the state were in the class and they talked as if they were all brothers,” he said. “I thought why can’t Indian people be like that? We’re not tribes fighting, but families fighting.” Families were also on the mind of Evelyn Temoke Roche. “I would like to see families gain trust,” she said. “Eat meals together, have barbecues once a week. Help each other.” Naomi Mason said she was born in 1929 in Owyhee and she enjoyed the conference. “Everyone was able to let it hang out and talk like they were at the psychiatrist,” she said. Cecilia Firethunder said the community needs to ask why its members don’t get along. “We have all these stupid reasons why we don’t like each other,” she said. “What is important for us is compassion. The person you don’t like the most is the

person you pray the hardest for.” Besides presenters and individuals’ testimonials, the conference also featured Native American culture. Both days there were dances and Native voices filled the gym in song. Children in attendance performed traditional, fancy, jingle and grass dances. Alfreida Jake, Te-Moak diabetes coordinator, also shared Indian sign language with the crowd. Juanita Joe, Elko Band Domestic Violence Program coordinator, said she was pleased with how the conference turned out. “I love the presenters came down to earth and tell it like it is,” she said. “I had a real good committee for organizing this. I’d also like to thank Barrick and the White Ribbon Campaign. They financed this.” Many of the participants said they enjoyed the conference and look forward to similar events. “It was good and very inspirational to hear all those people and what they go through,” said Michaela Murphy from the Goshute Reservation.” “I thought it was great,” said Russell Abel. “I liked the breakout sessions with people coming together from the youngest to the oldest and telling stories. I enjoyed meeting people from White Ribbon. I’d like to see more events for men.”

Mark Thomas of Owyhee said the conference was “good outreach and awareness for people. “It was good to hear the men’s stories about child molestation and abuse,” he said. “You always hear about the women and you don’t hear about the men who were victims. I hope more men’s groups come out of it.” Cathi Crutcher of McDermitt said she the conference was helpful to her family. “I really enjoyed it, being a survivor of domestic violence myself,” she said. “I really like that I’m here with See COLONY, 55

WINTER 2013 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 53

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Above: Alfrieda Jake performs Indian sign language Oct. 24 during the Circle of Life — Native Wellness Conference at the Elko Colony Gym. Opposite page: Children performed traditional dances Oct. 24 during the the Circle of Life — Native Conference at the Te-Moak Tribe’s Elko Indian Colony Gymnasium. For more photos of the conference look at the photo gallery on elkodaily.com Top at left: Anna Gonzales, 8, of Elko performs a fancy shawl dance. Top at right: Kaden Snapp, 6, of Elko performs a grass dance. Bottom at left: Ayanna Jones, 10, of Elko performs a fancy shawl dance. Bottom at right: Tehya Jones, 9, of Elko performs a jingle dance.

Colony ... Continued from page 53 the father of my children. I hope to be a better role model to my children and understand more. We have three boys and we’ll teach them as well. I really enjoyed it and I’m glad we’re here as a couple.” Myron Jones of Owyhee said it was a good learning experience. “I learned a lot from the younger people to the elders,” he said. “I hope it brings all the people together. We need more of that.” Alfreida Jake said the conference was “awesome.” “The people really came together and helped one another,” she said. “They found out it’s not just them. It’s throughout the community. It’s a healing process.” Kristi Begay of Wells Band and a Barrick employee said she loved the conference. “We got such good reviews,” she said. “There was a lot of cultural healing here. I’m very thankful for Barrick. There were tears and healing.” Te-Moak Tribal Chairman Davis Gonzales said he was impressed with the turn out. “The people actually stayed and had their full attention. They were all really interested in what the speakers were saying,” he said. “The word of mouth that everybody who attended this conference is going to take the message out and it’s going to be in their minds for a while.”

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Newmont to donate $2.08M to nonprofits By ELAINE BASSIER Mining Quarterly Staff Writer

Elaine Bassier/Mining Quarterly

Members of the Newmont Mining Corp. Legcay Fund stand in front of the company’s Elko office. From left to right, Legacy Fund Director Nancy Ostler, Legacy Coordinator Dede Chase, Legacy Fund President Paul Pettit and Mary Korpi, the director of Newmont’s external relations.

ELKO — Newmont Mining Corp. has raised a lot of dough for a worthy cause. Its Nevada employees have pledged more than $1 million to the Newmont Legacy Fund for 2014 through the company’s workplace giving program. These pledges will be matched dollar for dollar by Newmont, resulting in $2.08 million in funding for various nonprofit organizations across northern Nevada. This is the second year in a row the company has raised more than $2 million through the fund. This year, more than 70 percent of the employees pledged to give money. “I am proud of our employees, and this is truly a time to celebrate ... we will impact and improve the lives of thousands of people within our northern Nevada communities,” said Tom Kerr, Newmont’s North America regional senior vice president. “The Newmont Legacy Fund is a very successful program and we are pleased that it continues to grow, ensuring the legacy of Newmont and our employees in our communities for future generations,” Kerr said. The Legacy Fund was developed in April 2010 and has raised $7 to $8 million overall. It is a three-

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“The Newmont Legacy Fund is a very successful program and we are pleased that it continues to grow, ensuring the legacy of Newmont and our employees in our communities for future generations.” — Tom Kerr Newmont’s North America regional senior vice president pronged program made up of an employee giving campaign, a community investment program and a community endowment fund, the third of which will assist in meeting future community social service needs. The employee giving portion of the program allows Newmont employees to give their personal contributions to nonprofit organizations that provide invaluable services in northern Nevada communities, while the endowment fund portion allows employees to invest in the future sustainability of those communities. The employees pick the agencies they want to support and all of the money stays with local organizations. Newmont is proud to partner with its employees and provides a 100 percent match of all donations. Mary Korpi, director of external relations, emphasized all of the money contributed through the fund goes to the designated nonprofit community organizations and social service programs. Newmont covers all overhead and administrative costs separately. “The impact of our employees’ generosity is incalculable, and the statistics don’t even begin to tell the whole story,” said Korpi. “With the assistance of our hardworking and dedicated team of campaign coordinators, Newmont has created a culture of giving that radiates across northern Nevada, impacting more than 200 nonprofit organizations in the communities where Newmont operates — Battle Mountain, Carlin, Elko, Wells, West Wendover, Wendover and Winnemucca.” Paul Pettit, the president of the Legacy Fund, said Newmont supports all types of nonprofits, such as food banks, homeless shelters, senior centers and youth programs. “It’s part of our job ... and it’s absolutely amazing,” Pettit said. Nancy Ostler, the director of the Legacy Fund, said the Legacy endowment fund currently has $650,000. The company gives $100,000 each year to the fund and matches the dollar amount given by employees. Dede Chase, a Newmont employee and a Legacy coordinator, said the people she rallied at surface mine maintenance exceeded her expectations. “We had 81 percent participation (in our department) and raised $65,000,” Chase said. Kerr said, “A big heart-felt thank you goes out to all the employees who continue to make the Legacy Fund a success. Their willingness to assist others exemplifies their commitment to maintaining healthy and vibrant communities where we live and work.”

Look for more

Mining News at elkodaily.com

ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS WINTER 2013 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 57

Shooting from the seat Disabled hunters bag antelopes By JOHN RASCHE Mining Quarterly Staff Writer

ELKO — The evening before the big hunt, two men wheeled out onto the porch of the TS Ranch. From under the awning, the men watched the dark clouds sprinkle rain over the rural Dunphy landscape, about a mile from Interstate 80. Then the two picked up the conversation from where they left off. “Where’d you get those beefy tires?” Brian Martinez asked the fellow wheelchair bound man next to him. “Oh, these?” Tyler Douglass responded, proudly patting the thick rubber tubing of his wheelchair. “I got them at the bike shop.” The two men then continued to talk about their families. Douglass lives near San Francisco and is a business partner for a construction company. Martinez lives in Erda, Utah, with his girlfriend. Douglass and two other disabled men Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly were chosen for the 2013 Nevada Tyler Douglass, right, talks about the beefier tires that he has on his wheelchair with Brian Martinez Outdoorsmen in Wheelchairs hunt, an the day before hunting at Newmont’s TS Ranch. Douglass and others are part of the Nevada experience provided by Newmont Mining Corp. Outdoorsmen in Wheelchairs. Established in 2008, NOW provides Top at left: Chad Bliss, Nevada Outdoorsmen in Wheelchairs representative, smiles during dinner at handicapped individuals from across Newmont’s TS Ranch the day before the August hunt. the country with unique opportunities Top at right: A screenshot from NOW website.

58 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

they otherwise may not be able to enjoy, such as touring a gold mine operation, sleeping under the stars or hunting antelope. The hunters are housed in the handicap-accessible guest house of the 400,000-acre ranch, owned by the Newmont subsidiary Elko Land & Livestock Company. Martinez, who participated in the event last year, decided to return to the ranch just to tag along. “I just came to see all the new hunters and my old buddies,” Martinez said. “This is a total once-in-a-lifetime thing. ... The camaraderie between everyone here is second to none. (NOW) is an organization that makes wheelchair people feel like they’re normal.” As Martinez and Douglass conversed on the porch, the inevitable question arose: How were you handicapped? That question gets asked a lot, said Reno resident Brian Whalen, another one of the handicapped men on the trip. “Most people are genuinely interested in what happened to you. You lose your modesty after something like this,” Whalen said, relaxed in the armrests of his wheelchair. “But you get over it, because you do need other people to help you.”

Each of the men has his own story about becoming disabled, Whalen said. Douglass was the victim of an attempted car jacking and was shot; Whalen had a diving accident when he was 17; Martinez broke his neck riding a bull during his senior year of high school, a month away from graduation; and Kevin Kinnan, the third huntsman, was born with cerebral palsy. “When you grow up (with a disability), people always treat you with kid gloves, so getting out of the woods is kind of scary for (me), but I’ll learn as I go along,” Kinnan said. Hunting from a wheelchair Prior to the hunt, NOW designed custom hunting tools suited for each man’s disability. “Each hunter has a different need, so we provide the mechanics necessary to hunt,” said NOW President Matt Murray, who is also the senior external communications representative of Newmont. Each hunter is paired with guides, who help scout out a favorable hunting ground in the area a day before the hunt. “Some of my best memories are going out and hunting and fishing with my dad, so this is wonderful,” Whalen said. On the eve of the hunt, the disabled men, along with their families and NOW members, celebrated with a cookout at the ranch. Each hunter was hopeful he’d land something. “This will be my fourth or fifth season of hunting, but I never got anything, (but with help from NOW), I have a lot of confidence I’ll get something. If I don’t, I’m going back home shirtless,” Kinnan laughed. Submitted

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Above: Kevin Kinnan with his first trophy. Above at left: Brian Whalen Jr. and NOW representative Ronnie Jordan with Brian’s trophy. Below at left: Tyler Douglass with his antelope.

Outdoorsmen ... Continued from page 59 And the men were right. Each hunter bagged a trophy buck. “It was a 100 percent success,” Murray said a week after the hunt. The men left Elko with their new hunting equipment and their prizes, he said. “We had the antelope butchered for them and delivered the head and horns to their homes,” Murray said. The men were able to keep the hunting devices, because “we don’t want this to be a one time thing for them.” Visiting Elko For most of the hunters, Elko was an experience in and of itself. The men and their guests — mainly family members — participated in multiple activities in the county, including a tour of Newmont’s Gold Quarry mine. “We would always drive through Elko and not really think about,” Douglass said, “but this is such a beautiful place and such a great experience. It sounds silly, but I didn’t know you still mined gold here. It’s a really cool thing to see this whole community and to learn about a whole new industry. When you learn about the mines and see one for the first time, it’s mind boggling.” All four hunters also said they felt pampered by NOW. “Everybody’s been really great,” Kinnan said. “If something’s wrong, they’ll fix it. You don’t often see that in the disability world. It’s really a breath of fresh air.” “They spoil me rotten,” Whalen added. “It’s wonderful. This place is wonderful.” In addition to the food and companionship, the hunters also received entertainment, such as Nevada “Mountain Man” Henry Tuckett’s outback storytelling. Special guests, more publicity After the pre-hunt cookout, young members of the Elko Arinak Basque Dancers performed traditional dances from the Basque Country for the hunters. Tony Wasley, the director of the Nevada Department of Wildlife, also joined the festivities.

60 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I just wanted to come up and experience this program,â&#x20AC;? Wasley said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Going on the hunt is a great opportunity for these folks.â&#x20AC;? Jay Presti, the host of the television show of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Blue Collar Adventuresâ&#x20AC;? on NBC Sports, was present for the second year in a row to produce an episode about the hunt. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I grew up in Lamoille and all my relatives told me about the (NOW) program,â&#x20AC;? Presti said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;To take handicapped people out and give them the opportunity to go outside â&#x20AC;&#x201D; thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a special program to me.â&#x20AC;? Presti was excited for the hunt the following day, especially after meeting such inspiring people, he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contagious to be here with these guys,â&#x20AC;? he said, smiling. NOW has slowly grown since it was founded back in 2008. The nonprofit organization began with Rob McMillan, who lost a leg in a motorcycle accident but wanted to continue hunting. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re still in our infancy, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re just starting our marketing,â&#x20AC;? Murray said, â&#x20AC;&#x153; ... but we used to have to really search for hunters in wheelchairs. Now, people are seeking us. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no telling where this organization can go.â&#x20AC;? For information, visit www.NVoutdoors men.com.

Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly

From left Kevin Kinnan, Brian Whalen and Tyler Douglass applaud Basque dancers after having dinner and the day before hunting at Newmontâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s TS Ranch.

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Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly

Signage greets the guests of Barrick’s Pine Lodge in Pine Valley. At right: A partial view of Barrick’s The Lodge at Pine Valley.

More than a mine camp Barrick builds residential facility for drillers By MARIANNE KOBAK McKOWN Mining Quarterly Editor

CRESCENT VALLEY — Barrick Gold Corp. may have built a new man camp, but it is much more than that simple description. The Lodge at Pine Valley resembles a college campus rather than a mine camp for contractors and Barrick employees. It was built to house the drillers working on the Goldrush exploration project in Eureka County. The distance of the projects from Elko is what spawned the need for the Lodge, said Melanie Lawson, community relations for Barrick. “The drilling shift is 12 hours and the commute is two hours each day,” she said. “It was mainly for a fatigue management issue.” Drillers and anyone else staying at the camp will be transported to the closed campus. The residents will be taken to and from the drill sites, which is about 30 minutes from the camp. “People will be bussed to camp,” Lawson said. “Managers and geologists can drive work vehicles here, but no private vehicles will be on site.” Once the camp takes in residents, it will take about 90 vehicles a day off State Route 278, said Floyd Davey, security and

Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly

Floyd Davey, security and emergency response supervisor for Barrick, describes the features of the lobby of Barrick’s The Lodge at Pine Valley. emergency response supervisor for Barrick. “The big thing is the safety issue,” Davey said. “By the time people are getting home, they have eight hours to eat, sleep and see the family. That eight hours

62 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

should be for sleep only. We’ve had seven accidents in a two-year period of time from people falling asleep on the highway. A couple of them were very serious.” Even though people will be living at the Lodge for several days or weeks in a row —

drillers normally work 14 days on and 10 days off — they will still be able to communicate with family. The entire campus will have Wi-Fi connection and comSee LODGE, 64

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Lodge ... Continued from page 62 puters will be available so people can Skype with family, said Josh Rigby, Lone Tree camp manager. Lone Tree USA will manage and operate the camp for Barrick. Lone Tree employees’ main focus will be on service, housekeeping, maintenance and cooking, Rigby said. “Basically we just want to take care of people,” he said. He said the company looked at what worked in its other facilities across the country and brought the best amenities together for the Lodge. The facility has multiple buildings, which are across from the JD Ranch buildings on State Route 278. It is built to house up to 300 people, but with rotating shifts an estimated 150 to 175 people will be on site at one time, Rigby said. “In the old days of Bald Mountain, we had a man camp with trailers, but it wasn’t this big,” said Communications Director for Barrick Gold of North America Lou Schack. The main building functions as the check-in area for anyone staying at the Lodge in one of the four dormitories. “This is going to be the heart and hub of the facility,” Davey said about the main building. “We will have a list of who is authorized to be here. We will have rooms assigned according to shifts.” Each dormitory is 290 feet long and has 22 rooms on each floor. Rooms will have one hour and 45-minute lapses between occupants. The rooms will have

Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly

Above: Mining Quarterly Editor Marianne Kobak McKown, left, Lone Tree Camp Manager Josh Rigby and Barrick Security and Emergency Response Supervisor Floyd Davey walk toward two of the double occupancy dormitories of The Lodge at Pine Valley. Top at left: Sleeping quarters for single occupancy at The Lodge. Top at right: Davey talks about places where workers can relax at Barrick’s The Lodge at Pine Valley. Rigby stands in the background. space for two, but the schedule will be arranged so only one occupant is in the room at a time. One roommate will be on shift while the other is using the room. “We have 320 beds,” Davey said. “The

64 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

number of people out here will vary. There’s a lot of amenities packed into a small package.” Each room has a bathroom, two refrigerators, two beds, storage space and a tel-

evision. The Internet will be open to residents so they can stream movies or just keep in touch with the world. The rooms See LODGE, 66

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Lodge ... Continued from page 64 also have black-out curtains, an extra blanket and two pillows. “It’s a lot more like a hotel,” Rigby said. “The walls are 6 inches thick to eliminate sound,” Davey said. The hallways also are carpeted to help keep the noise down, Rigby said. Each dorm also has washing machines and dryers for personal items. The buildings also have common areas with large screen TVs and extras, such as ping pong tables or an X-box. The dorms also have phones in the hallway to call for emergencies or to communicate with the rest of the camp. Security cameras also were installed in the hallways and keycards will only allow residents access to his or her own dorm and own room. “At the end of the day, this is their home,” Davey said. “We want them to relax. We don’t want them to feel like they’re still at work.” The camp does more than provide shelter and housekeeping for residents. It also provides meals. “A lot of the guys right about here (after a tour of the dorms) are saying it’s

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not too bad,” Davey said. “After they see the dining facility, they want to stay that day.” The main dining hall seating area is set up like a restaurant. Instead of long banquet tables, each table seats about four and the chairs have padding. “The food is cooked to order,” Davey said. “It’s cooked fresh, and it’s not a chow line.” “In any given dinner there is about 18 different ways to have dinner,” Rigby said. “We have two freezers and a cooler. We have separate prep tables so we don’t have cross-contamination. We also will prep in the cooler so food doesn’t warm up and then cool “The food is cooked to order. back down.” The facility also will have items drillers can It’s cooked fresh, and it’s not take to the site for lunch, such as sandwiches, a chow line.” granola bars and bottled water. Lone Tree will keep track of the roster, so if a — Floyd Davey resident has any allergies or dietary needs they Barrick Security and Emergency only have to tell the staff once, Rigby said. Response Supervisor However, the personal details told to staff are kept confidential. “We have to follow HIPA. If someone tells us they have an allergy, we can’t tell everyone in camp,” Davey said. “The chef in camp is also a nutritionist, so we have them fill out a card and residents can say if they want to talk to the nutritionist.” While meals are provided, if someone forgets something like shampoo, he or she can buy the item in the commissary. The money generated from the commissary and vending machines is donated to a charity, Rigby said. Besides the dorms and the dining hall, the camp also has exercise areas and a bar called Creel’s Fine Food & Great Spirits. “This is a wet camp, but it must stay around the bar,” Davey said. “Alcohol is available three hours a day, twice a day. It opens one hour after each shift and residents are limited to three drinks per day. They have to have a valid ID for every drink and they pay for it.” The bar has a pool table and free video games. The bar looks and feels like any bar in a town, but it is only for camp residents. “Our big thing with us is we should never have anybody be inebriated,” Davey said. “You want people treated with respect. We are all adults and we will treat them like that. We want this to be a home, a community, not just guys holed up in their rooms. … We did give them a bar, but it’s theirs to lose. We do have a zero tolerance.”

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Barrick Security and Emergency Response Supervisor Floyd Davey talks about a snack bar where workers can make their own lunch at The Lodge at Pine Valley. Opposite page: One of the features of Barrick’s The Lodge at Pine Valley is this bar.

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Lodge ... Continued from page 67 Near the bar is a pavilion, horseshoe pits, basketball courts, exercise room and a multipurpose room. “People can come and work off excess energy and not have to deal with the freeweight crowd. There will be a separate area for free-weights,” Davey said. “We also have a quiet area where people can come and relax with a community library.” The camp is also ready for emergencies. It will have three EMTs on site and the main building has a first aid room with a ramp to the helipad. “We can keep them out of the weather until the helicopter arrives,” Davey said. “We will have it fully stocked. We are trying to provide an all-encompassing service.” Lawson said the facility is trying to be as self-sufficient as possible so it doesn’t put a strain on the county services. “Everything mimics what the county has,” Davey said. “We have an agreement with Summit Air and we can work with every department in the area. We have one-and-a-half times of the defensible space needed around the area. We have five hydrants on the property and a path around the facility for fire trucks.” It won’t be all rest and relaxation at the facility. The Lodge also has a logging facility for samples, a core cutting building and an office building for the geologists on site. “The lights (in the core logging building) are more like natural light and the building has lots of glass to let the sun in,” said Mike Penick, director of U.S. mine site exploration for Barrick. “It’s also a heated building.” The logging will be done on tablets rather than on paper and each table has a pallet jack, so people don’t have to bend over to move core boxes, he said. “It’s set up to move a lot of samples,” Penick said. “It’s comparable to Cortez. It’s comparable to the nicest facilities we have.” The last stop on the tour was the separate boot wash building. It was built as a walk through so after residents clean their boots, they don’t track back through the mud on the floor. Davey said he has received the same reaction from everyone who has seen the Lodge. “People initially don’t want to stay at the camp and then after a tour of the facility they’re asking ‘when does it open’,” he said.

Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly

Mike Penick, director of U.S. mine site exploration for Barrick, talks about the route of samples in the core building of Barrick’s The Lodge at Pine Valley. At right: Lone Tree Camp Manager Josh Rigby demonstrates the bootwash at Barrick’s The Lodge at Pine Valley. Below: This is just one example of places for workers to relax at Barrick’s The Lodge at Pine Valley.

68 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

BLASTS FROM THE PAST

Adobe buildings and falling cows Unionville’s short-lived silver rush By JOHN RASCHE Mining Quarterly Staff Writer

Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly

Samuel Clemens didn’t have much luck mining for gold in Unionville; but he left the Humboldt mining community with a wealth of stories. Clemens — commonly known by his pen name Mark Twain — was one of the early pioneers to scavenge Unionville, which was established in 1861 on the east side of the Humboldt Mountains. “The ... landscape was made up of bleak mountain walls that rose so high into the sky from both sides of the (canyon) that the village was left, as it were, far down in the bottom of a crevice,” Twain reported in his book, “Roughing It.” Twain had a plethora of things to say about the area, espe-

Above: The Unionville School sits on private property. Top at right: This undated photo from Don Ashbaugh’s “Nevada’s Turbulent Yesterday” depicts a school in Unionville. The photo was provided by E.W. Darrah.

See UNIONVILLE, 70

WINTER 2013 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 69

Unionville ... Continued from page 69

Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly

A covered bridge is one of the structures in Unionville.

70 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

cially the Humboldt River, which he described as a “sickly rivulet.” “One of the pleasantest and most invigorating exercises one can contrive is to run and jump across the Humboldt River till he is overheated and then drink it dry,” Twain wrote. Despite Twain’s callous descriptions of the Humboldt area, many others found the canyon majestic. In fact, two explorers aptly titled it “Buena Vista” around the time Unionville was established. “I can’t help but wonder why nature could not have taken a little more time and made every part of the State as beautiful as Buena Vista Canyon and the pretty little town of Unionville,” wrote Allen C. Bragg, editor of the Silver State newspaper in 1905. On the surface, Unionville sound like any other mining community: Grocery stores, saloons, hotels. But because the region lacked wood, most of those establishments were built with adobe clay and sage grass. Twain provided a step-by-step approach to building in the canyon in his book, “The Innocents Abroad.” “You dig a square in the steep base of

the mountain and set up two uprights and top them with joists,” he wrote. “Then you stretch a great sheet of ‘cotton domestic’ from the point where the joists join the hill-side down over the front of the mansion; the sides and back are the dirt walls your digging has left. A chimney is easily made by turning up one corner of the roof.” The simple construction for dwellings had its downfalls, though. Twain claimed simple-minded mules and cattle would fall off the canyon’s cliff and into his shelter. Twain described the instances through narrative about his friend, Oliver, in “Innocents Abroad.” “(Oliver) moved to a mansion on the opposite side of the (canyon), because he had noticed the mules did not go there,” Twain wrote. “One night about eight o’clock he was endeavoring to finish his poem, when a stone rolled in — then a hoof appeared below the canvas — then part of a cow — the after part. He leaned back in dread, and shouted ... and before Oliver could get well away, the entire cow crashed through on to the table and made a shapeless wreck of everything!” Twain, however, didn’t stay in Unionville very long. He left Unionville in 1862, after having stayed there for less than a year.

Courtesy of Pershing County Marzer Museum and reprinted in the The Nevadan

This photograph from 1885 shows the Pony Express office and Wells Fargo. Pony Express service was offered three times a week in 1864. Stops included, Idaho City, Virginia City and Unionville. A brief, bustling town Unionville was initially separated into two different communities, modeled after Civil War tensions: Upper Town for the Yankee supporters and Lower Town

(or “Dixie”) for the Confederate advocates, according to Don Ashbaugh’s study on ghost towns, “Nevada’s Turbulent Yesterday.” Surprisingly, there were only three

recorded instances of murder — namely due to either a lovers’ quarrel or a drunken fight, according to the ghost See UNIONVILLE, 72

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Unionville ... Continued from page 71 town study. But Civil War sentiment was not what drew people to Unionville; it was the silver. And Unionville had tons of it — or so people thought. The city’s largest mine was named Arizona, but many others — like Twain — sought to stake their own claims. A mining reporter from Virginia City’s newspaper at the time, the Territorial Enterprise, promised Unionville’s wealth in a personal account documented by Ashbaugh. “Humboldt County is the richest mineral region upon God’s footstool,” the unidentified reporter announced. “Each mountain range is gorged with precious ore! ... Each day, and almost every hour, reveals new and startling evidence of the profuse and intensified wealth ... Have no fears of the mineral resources of Humboldt County. They are incalculable.” By 1865, Unionville had grown to more than 1,000 people and offered 10 stores, nine saloons, six hotels and zero churches, according to James F. Varley’s book, “Steamboats, Shoshoni, Scoundrels and Such.” However, in his book “Ghost Towns

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This is one of the structures still standing in Unionville. Note the bucket on the chimney. Opposite page: A warped sign is for the visitor attempting to trespass in Unionville. of Nevada,” historian Donald C. Miller states that Unionville held the first Methodist church in Humboldt County. A Unionville newspaper — the Humboldt Register — was established a few years earlier in 1863 by William J. Forbes, a prominent editor in the West, according to “Steamboats, Shoshoni, Scoundrels and Such.” The newspaper office, like so many other structures in the city, was constructed with adobe clay and rocks. Although Unionville was peaceful within, conflicts with the Native American tribes appeared to be everywhere else. Native American raids east and south of Unionville in 1865 alarmed many residents and angered many nearby military troops. Soldiers fought against Bannock, Paiute and Shoshone tribes near Wells, Clover Valley,

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This is one of the stone and mortar structures still standing in Unionville. Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly

Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly

A tabby cat peers through a slit in a door in Unionville.

Unionville ... Continued from page 73 Paradise Valley and other locations along the Humboldt Mountain Range, according to “Steamboats, Shoshoni, Scoundrels and Such.” Reports of soldiers being beheaded, dismembered and disemboweled sent the Humboldt area into a frenzy of fear and hatred of the native populations. In an article published July 15, 1865, Forbes described the Native Americans as “bestriding the horses of murdered American citizens, and sporting as fine muskets and rifles as the best of us. The Indian is in his element — his glory — it is his Summer, and the harvest is golden.” Unionville’s decline While some believed the Native Americans’ harvest was indeed golden, there was no doubt as to the barren harvest of Unionville. Unionville’s silver boom ended almost as soon as it began. While silver was still extractable, limited resources forced many miners to stake claims elsewhere. In 1873, the state legislature moved the county seat from Unionville to Winnemucca and the shimmer of the boomtown began to dwindle, according to “Ghost Towns

74 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

of Nevada.” Residents had hoped Central Pacific would build railroad tracks near the city, but the company had other plans. “Unionville might have prospered if the Central Pacific had constructed its main line up the east side of the Humboldt as the residents expected it to do,” Ashbaugh wrote in “Nevada’s Turbulent Yesterday.” “But when the tracks were laid along the river up the west side of the range, the town was doomed.” Perhaps predicting the city’s decline, Forbes sold the Humboldt Register in 1867 and the newspaper’s equipment was sent to Elko, where it would be used to publish the Elko Independent. The Arizona silver mine closed almost a decade later, with few prospectors still clinging to every hope that they would find their fortunes. By 1881, the population of Unionville had dropped to 200, according to Gerald B. Higgs’ “Lost Legends of the Silver State.” Bragg, who remarked on the beauty of Buena Vista canyon, visited the remains of Unionville during an in-depth tour of Humboldt County in 1905. “The little village that at one time was the chief town in the county and one of the busiest in the state, is fresher and cleaner today than it was 40 years ago ... (from when) the busy mills were moved, the mines shut off the streams from their hoists and the tunnels were closed, the drifts made homes for bats and the curtain fell,” Bragg wrote for the Silver State newspaper. Remains of a few structures can still be found in Unionville. The ghost town remains a minute, albeit memorable, stop for hardcore Twain enthusiasts, who track the author’s journey from bags to riches. Visitors can also walk through the cemetery, which still stands today. In one report, Bragg’s sorrow for the fate of the area kept him from describing more of its emptiness.

“At the foot of the canyon is ‘God’s Acre’ where many of the brave man who made the canyon a place of great activity now sleep the sleep that knows no waking,” Bragg wrote. “But I must get out of the channel of memory and deal with today.”

Author’s note: The reports from Bragg were archived by the North Central Nevada Historical Society in a book called “Humboldt County 1905.”

At right: A farm implement collects rust in Unionville. Far right: This ore cart is a remnant of days gone by in Unionville. Top: This is one of the structures still standing in Unionville. Ross Andreson/ Mining Quarterly

WINTER 2013 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 75

Endings to beginnings Newmont Carlin mines busy By MARIANNE KOBAK McKOWN Mining Quarterly Editor

CARLIN — As a few projects come to a close at Newmont Mining Corp.’s Carlin Trend others are just beginning. Gold Quarry’s Phase 4 is almost finished, said Chief Engineer for Carlin Surface Nate Bennett. “It’s a major milestone, having survived a major setback with a slide,” Bennett said. Phase 4 was a six-year layback. The pit was producing about half a million ounces each year, but on Dec. 24, 1999, a landslide delayed the project, Bennett said. An estimated 16 million tons of rock came down in the slide. After the slide Gold Quarry only produced 3,000 ounces in 2010. “The slide impacted mining. We had some really high grade leach that got covered,” he said. “In 2011, we were back to half a million ounces. The cool thing is we were not able to feel too much impact, because we fed the mills that year from stockpiles and made room for more stockpiles.” The finishing steps of Phase 4 will include mining out the bottom of the pit. The average grade is 1/4-ounce of gold per ton at the bottom of Gold Quarry. “Right now we are at the highest grade,” Bennett said. “The bottom of the Marianne Kobak McKown/Mining Quarterly

Newmont Chief Engineer for Carlin Surface Nate Bennett talks about Phase 4 at the bottom of Gold Quarry.

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Marianne Kobak McKown/Mining Quarterly

Above: Nate Bennett talks about the area that sustained a failure in the pit wall in 2009 and affected Phase 4 of Gold Quarry. At right: A remote drill rig sits at the bottom of the East Carlin pit.

Carlin ... Continued from page 76 pit is very narrow, about 140 feet across. We’ll probably end up drilling the bottom twice. We also will mine out the road.” The only downside of the project right now is the long haul for ore. The haul road to the bottom of the pit is about 1,400 feet, Bennett said. The drive takes about 40 minutes in a haul truck to go from the bottom to the top. “Phase 4 required a lot of teamwork but it’s been good,” Bennett said. Besides ore, Gold Quarry supplies construction rock for projects. It supplies about 400,000 tons of rock, Bennett said. Once Phase 4 is done, that is not the end of mining for Gold Quarry. Miners have already begun Phase 7 in the pit. “That will be another six- or sevenyear layback,” he said. Gold Quarry should produce another 3 million ounces of gold, Bennett said. “Phase 7 has its challenges,” Bennett said. “It has clay seams, so when we shoot, the blast finds the least path of

resistance, it shoots through the clay and leaves big boulders. We’re trying different ways to do blasts.” Gold Quarry isn’t the only activity in the south area of the Carlin mines. Some work has been done in the Tusc and Mac pits, Bennett said. Miners are drilling the Tusc Pit to see if it will be another layback. “We drilled four holes and all of them had pretty positive results,” Bennett said. “We haven’t been in Tusc or Mac for about a decade. Tusc and Mac were mined from 1995 to 1999.” While Tusc is still being mapped out, Newmont has plans to mine the Mac Pit again. “Mac has been pretty well drilled and mapped out,” Bennett said. “It’s all leach right now.” North Area The south area of the Carlin Trend isn’t the only activity. “East Carlin has become a kind of huge project,” Bennett said. “We’re down low enough to mine through old underground

78 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

“East Carlin has become a kind of huge project. We’re down low enough to mine through old underground and mine through voids.” — Nate Bennett Newmont Chief Engineer for Carlin Surface and mine through voids.” The area being mined in the East Carlin Pit is part of Newmont’s original pit from 1965, said Perrin Slepsky, East Carlin voids planner. “It’s been mined throughout the years, surface and underground,” she said. When working around old underground, it is called void mining. The surface must be drilled to determine where voids are located and how big they are, Slepsky said. “We use a remote drill to go into an

area where there are suspected voids,” she said. “We use a drill to go down 105 feet deep. It gives us an advantage to identify areas ahead of time. We have a camera and scanner that deploy through holes to inspect the ground. The scanner gives the 3-D model of the voids.” While miners have an idea where voids may be located, each hole under the surface must be verified. The remote drill is set up on the surface. The drillers lock it See CARLIN, 80

Newmont net income up 7 percent By MARIANNE KOBAK McKOWN Mining Quarterly Editor

ELKO — Newmont Mining Corp. reported a 7 percent increase in its net income due to the sale of an investment and higher production. Net income from continuing operations increased to $429 million, or 86 cents a share, in the third quarter, compared with $400 million, or 81 cents per share for the same time period last year. The net income attributable to stockholders of $408 million in the third quarter was up 11 percent from $367 million in the third quarter of 2012. “Our efforts to improve costs and efficiencies are gaining momentum, and we have reduced consolidated spending by $700 million year to date,” President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Goldberg said.“Strong third quarter production was driven by our Australia and New Zealand operations.Our Nevada operations are also overcoming first half challenges. We remain focused on delivering value over volume at our existing operations as well as profitable growth at our new ones — a great example is Akyem in Ghana where we recently achieved commercial production.” Third quarter results benefited from the sale of the company’s investment in Canadian Oil Sands Limited for approximately $587 million, resulting in a pretax gain of $280 million, according to Newmont. Adjusted net income was $227 million, or $0.46 per

share, compared with $426 million, or $0.86 per share, for the prior year quarter. Results for the third quarter of 2013 were favorably impacted by higher production from Nevada and Australia and New Zealand operations. “Improved production and stable operating costs relative to the prior year quarter were offset by declines of 20 percent and 13 percent, respectively, in gold and copper prices,” the report stated. Newmont has maintained its 2013 attributable gold production outlook of 4.8 million to 5.1 million ounces and has revised its attributable copper production outlook to 135 million to 145 million pounds. Newmont now expects to be at the low end of its previously announced 2013 outlook for gold costs applicable to sale of $750 and $825 per ounce inclusive of stockpile write-downs. Newmont continues to expect copper CAS of $4.05 and $4.40 per pound, respectively, inclusive of stockpile write-downs. Exclusive of stockpile write-downs, the company continues to expect gold and copper CAS between $675 and $750 per ounce and $2.25 and $2.50 per pound, respectively.

as higher grade and throughput at Juniper Mill and Phoenix, partially offset by lower grade and recovery at Mill 5 and lower throughput and recovery at Mill 6 and the Twin Creeks Autoclave. CAS per ounce decreased 20 percent from the prior year quarter due to higher ounces produced, higher by-product credits, and lower royalties. All-in sustaining costs (AISC) at Nevada were $722 per ounce, down 29 percent over the prior year quarter. Newmont is maintaining its 2013 attributable gold production outlook of between 1.7 million and 1.8 million ounces at CAS of $600 to $650 per ounce. La Herradura, Mexico Attributable gold production at La Herradura in Mexico was 52,000 ounces at CAS of $765 per ounce during the third quarter. Gold production increased 2% from the prior year quarter due to higher production from Noche Buena and Centauro, essentially offset by lower production from Soledad and Dipolos. CAS per ounce increased 26 percent from the prior year quarter due to higher waste mining. AISC at La Herradura were $1,173 per ounce, up 15 percent over the prior year quarter due to an increase in gold CAS per ounce. Newmont now expects to be at the low end of its previNorth America Operations ously guided 2013 attributable gold production range of Nevada Attributable gold production in Nevada was 468,000 between 200,000 and 250,000 ounces and at the high end of ounces at costs applicable to sale of $527 per ounce its previously guided CAS range of $650 and $700 per ounce during the third quarter. Gold production increased 2 inclusive and exclusive of stockpile write-downs. percent from the prior year quarter due to higher leach production from Emigrant and Carlin North Area as well

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WINTER 2013 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 79

Marianne Kobak McKown/Mining Quarterly

Above: The pink sticks with flags indicate a void zone and the sticks with white flags indicate a buffer zone for ore control. At right: Perrin Slepsky, East Carlin voids planner, talks about the East Carlin pit project. Bottom right: Slepsky points to the screen with a live feed to show drillers what is going on at the East Carlin Pit.

Carlin ... Continued from page 78 up and then go back to the office to do the drilling. “The drill will tell them when they intersect a void,” Slepsky said. “It is a production drill, so it can do everything other drills do. The drillers video the hole the entire way down, and use the camera to inspect the hole before they scan it.” The monitors in the control room indicate an approximate size of the void. “It indicates the void is 84 feet to 105 feet deep, but 105 is as deep as we can drill, so it could be deeper,” Slepsky said while pointing to one computer screen. “We have to have a geo-tech engineer scan the hole to see how deep it actually goes.” Miners have to deal with three types of voids - drift, cut and fills and stopes. A drift is usually 15 feet wide, 15 feet long and 15 feet deep. They were the travel ways from the previous underground mine. Cut and fills are mined out areas that are filled back in. “We consider it a void until we drill into it and see it is backfilled,” Slepsky said. The largest voids are the stopes. In an underground mine a stope is a large hole that is used to move ore. “We have a very large stope on site,” Slepsky said. “It’s 40 feet wide, 160 or 180 feet long and 100 feet deep. It is a very large stope, and it is open.” See CARLIN, 70

80 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

WINTER 2013 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 81

Marianne Kobak McKown/Mining Quarterly

Above: Nate Bennett, left, listens as Pilo Medrano talks about the blasting on Payraise Pit. Medrano is the lead blaster. At left: Perrin Slepsky explains how the remote drill works.

Carlin ... Continued from page 80

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To work around the voids, miners have a couple different options. The void can either be backfilled with material or it can be collapsed. “To collapse a void we set an explosion about 40 to 50 feet above the void,” Slepsky said. “Then we let it rest before we go into the area. We need to see if it subsides. We usually wait 12 hours for it to settle to make sure it is safe to go around the area.” Slepsky said they are trying to mine in a clockwise rotation in the pit. “There are many extra safety procedures you have to do when mining around voids,” she said. “We have about 13 different procedures for drilling, surveying, mining and anything else done on site. It all depends on what we’re aiming to drill into and what we’re expecting. We also have a remote dozer to move the material the shovel can’t safely reach. It takes a little extra time, but it’s the safest way possible.” Another safety precaution includes visual guides set around the top of the pit to indicate the voids beneath the surface. The pink sticks with yellow flags indicate the void zone and the stakes with white flags indicate an ore control zone, Slepsky said. “The stakes are a visual guide, but we come back in with GPS equipment,” she said. “All the equipment has high-precision GPS to operate around the area.” While East Carlin is just getting started, some other projects are almost finished or just about to start. Payraise should be done in seven to eight months, Bennett said. A crew was preparing Payraise for another blast in early November. The blast pattern had 400 holes. Each hole was 16 feet apart and there was 18 feet between the rows. Also in the north area, the Pete waste dump is in the process of being reclaimed, Slepsky said. Bennett said miners may soon begin mining the Silverstar Pit full time.

WINTER 2013 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 83

COPPER & GOLD

The Long Ride from Lehman Brothers By RICHARD P. BAKER The Eureka Miner’s Market Report

Although gold production is an economic cornerstone of Northern Nevada, copper mining is becoming increasingly important. Copper is no stranger to basin and range country — the Robinson Mining District west of Ely has produced billions of pounds of copper over more than 100 years. New projects coming online will add to that legacy. The Newmont Phoenix Mine has just started producing finished copper sheets from its new processing facility. Phoenix plans to produce 20 million pounds of copper per year as a byproduct of gold mining, doubling its output of the red metal since start-up in 2006. Nevada Copper is presently in Stage 1 mine construction of its Pumpkin Hollow Project with production planned for 2015. With the completion of its Stage 2 open pit, the company projects an average annual production of 285 million pounds of copper

for the first five years. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold CEO Richard Adkerson provided an upbeat red metal forecast for the remainder of this year and 2014 during his October third quarter Webcast. He stated that copper demand in China has been stronger than expected this year, there are early signs of improvement in Europe and globally, consumer inventories remain low and the demand side is positive. Freeport also produces gold as a byproduct of copper mining — will the yellow metal regain some shine in 2014 too? The price journey ahead for copper and gold begins with a glance in the rear view mirror. The metallic duo’s long ride over the last five years includes two copper crashes, all-time records for both and the more recent downdraft in gold price. The period also witnessed unprecedented

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global monetary policy to mitigate the 2008-2009 financial crises and stimulate recovery. In addition to central bank stimuli of other developed economies, the U.S. Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing (or QE, the printing of money to buy bonds) has had a significant influence on metal prices — a flood of easy money that has often trumped the laws of supply demand. The first QE cycle, started shortly after the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy filing on Sept.15, 2008, reflated crashing copper prices from sub-$2 per pound levels and boosted gold prices from $800 to $1,100 per ounce territory. The second cycle inflated metal prices on overzealous global recovery expectations pushing copper to record $4.5+ per pound levels in early-2011. This was followed by a second crash in copper prices after the U.S. debt downgrade Aug.

5, 2011 and an all-time Comex record gold price of $1,923.7 per ounce Sept. 6, 2011. The third QE cycle, started in September 2012, is now expected to continue at full strength before tapering begins in late2013 or 2014. So far, QE3 has not seen the extreme gyrations of the previous cycles and may very well be remembered as a time of metal price stabilization. If Mr. Adkerson is wrong and 2014 markets pressure copper prices lower, QE3 likely provides a $3 per pound floor since mid-October 2009 copper has remained above this level 99.3 percent of the time through very volatile market conditions. A red metal flight to $4+ per pound heights is unlikely too - the tepid pace of global growth has replaced the heady expectations of the inflationary QE2 cycle. Copper prices have traded in a $3-to-$4 per pound range 93 percent of the time since the end of QE2 and will probably remain in that neighborhood for some time to come. What about gold? While having my

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morning coffee, I divide the price of gold by that of copper to determine how many pounds of the red metal can be bought for an ounce of gold. The answer was about 500 pounds in November 2012; a year later an ounce buys about 100 pounds less - gold has not only suffered a decline in U.S. dollar price, it has also lost value to copper. The bar chart below shows that gold/copper devaluation is a consistent characteristic of QE cycles while the direction of price change is not (green and red arrows): Between the second and third QE programs, gold gained a premium to metals as it soared to an all-time high. Since the introduction of QE3 almost all that premium has vanished. Given the last 5 years, the fair value of gold is approximately 400 pounds per ounce — if you join me in a morning calculation, answers greater than 400 suggest the yellow metal is trading at a premium to the red; below 400, at a discount. A transition of gold from premium to discount limits its upside potential and may presage further downside. For example, if continued easing returns valuations to pre-QE2 levels of 350 pounds per ounce, a $3-to-$4 range for copper would imply a $1,050-to-$1,400 range for gold. Absent future price shocks, continuation of the present QE3 program will likely mean less volatile copper and gold prices stabilized within trading ranges. As monetary accommodations fade, metals will naturally revert to the laws of supply and demand. As inflation expectations return, the market should eventually reverse in gold’s favor with a resumption of higher sustainable prices. ——— Richard P. Baker is the author and editor of the Eureka Miner at eurekaminer.blogspot.com. He owns common shares of mining stocks: General Moly (GMO), Newmont Mining (NEM) and Timberline Resources (TLR). Please do your own research, markets can turn on you faster than a feral cat.

WINTER 2013 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 85

Coeur Rochester discovering there’s profit in waste rock Mining stockpiles now represents majority of production By DEE HOLZEL Mining Quarterly Staff Writer

Photo courtesy of Coeur Rochester

The ore stream at Rochester Mine.

WINNEMUCCA — Coeur Rochester has been involved in largescale mining at its Pershing County site since purchasing it in 1986. During that time through 2008, the price of gold was such that both gold and silver grades had to be high to make mining more economical. Low-grade ore was diverted to massive waste dumps. “What that meant was, when metal prices were low our cutoff grades ranged from 1 ounce per ton to 1.5-ounce per ton for silver — everything that did not meet those grades went to the waste dumps, outside of the pit,” said Assistant General Manager Greg Robinson. By 2009, metal prices were low, reserves were exhausted, and the company opted not to pursue the environmental permitting that would have allowed it to continue mining. At that time, there was little profit in mining. The mothball did not last long as 2010 saw the return of gold prices that made mining metals profitable once again. Gold prices would go on to record highs. So much so, Coeur Rochester took another look at the piles of dumped rock outside the pit and decided what they had on their hands wasn’t so much waste as stockpiles — stockpiles of potential profit. Robinson explained the company always kept really good records of

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Gold is poured at the Rochester Mine. what was being dumped and where as part of normal mining practice. A drilling program that tested the stockpiles showed good results in some areas and not so good in others. Some of the material in the waste piles was just that: waste. But some of the stockpiles had enough silver and gold to make mining it profitable. One of the reasons mining the stockpiles works for Coeur Rochester has to do with geology. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It definitely takes a certain type of deposit,â&#x20AC;? Robinson said of mining the stockpiles. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our metals are scattered throughout the whole mine, not concentrated in a vein or little areas. That means there is mineral content in every truckload of material we mine, whether it goes to the waste dump or the crusher.â&#x20AC;? Mining the stockpiles has been underway for a year and now represents 80 percent of production; though, the process has not been trouble-free. One of the issues the company faced had to do with the historic practice of dumping everything in the waste piles, including scrap metal and old equipment. Robinson said there was no feasible way of sorting it, and putting it through the

See COEUR, 88

WINTER 2013 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 87

Coeur ... Continued from page 87 crusher did too much damage. At one point during the last year as the program was being developed, the crusher was down for two weeks due to damage from scrap metal in the stockpiles. As necessity is the mother of invention, the company modified the crusher system to allow for a metal removal system, which included the attachment of a big magnet to pull some of that metal out. Additionally, moisture in the stockpiles has caused some problems that had to be mitigated. The stockpiles actually sit on large, flat benches where rain and snow have accumulated. In years past, when it snowed in the pit, the snow was removed to the stockpiles. Robinson explained the crusher has a hard time processing wet material so they either have to shut the crusher down and clean it out or blend dry, rock material to prevent the crushers from gumming up. Despite these little bumps in the road, mining the stockpiles has proven eco-

nomical. Robinson pointed out there is significant cost in drilling and blasting. By mining material that has already been through that process years ago, and is situated so close to the crusher, the company is able to mine with less cost. Robinson said there’s a couple of years of mining in those stockpiles depending on how they’re mined. In the meantime, Coeur will continue exploring the waste rock to see if there are other viable options on the property. “This has been a good program for us,” Robinson said. “It’s been a learning experience, as well. Our workforce and management are proud of what we were able to do, that we were able to make it work.” Robinson reflected Coeur Rochester has gone from being a mine on the verge of shutdown to one which is a long-term viable operation and is in the process of permitting an expansion, which is still two or three years away. “We’ve got a long and successful history here and expect to continue for many years,” Robinson concluded. Coeur Rochester is located in Pershing County and about 60 percent of the workforce lives in Lovelock. Photo courtesy of Coeur Rochester

The metal removal system at Rochester Mine.

88 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

Barrick makes $20,000 donation to improve Jiggs Reservoir By MARIANNE KOBAK McKOWN Mining Quarterly Editor

ELKO — Barrick Gold Corp. is helping to dig for more than just gold. Barrick gave a $20,000 donation in October to help improve an Elko County fishing hole. Barrick’s donation went to the Nevada Department of Wildlife to reconstruct the Jiggs Reservoir dam and to deepen the artificial lake, said Jeff Petersen, NDOW fisheries biologist. The Jiggs Reservoir is about 30 miles south of Elko and has been a popular fishing area for years, Petersen said. NDOW employees first started talking about improving it in 2009. “We just wanted to dig a hole so the fish would survive,” Petersen said. “It just snowballed from there.” The reservoir originally had a difficult time holding water, he said. “In the winter the water would sink out and the ice would collapse,” Petersen said. “Historically, it’s popular and it’s been around for a long Marianne Kobak McKown/Mining Quarterly Jeff Petersen, Nevada Department of Wildlife fisheries bioltime.” “It’s the closest thing Elko ogist, explains where the water was in Jiggs Reservoir in had to an urban fishery,” said the 1980s. Joe Doucette, conservation educator for NDOW. “I’m hoping to use it for (fishing) clinics.” “We will be lining it with bentonite clay,” he said. “It will increase the clay so it will reduce the seepage. The reservoir has to be dry to do the work and for the improvements needed to be done to the dam.” Petersen said the reservoir has been “bone dry” for the last two years. “NDOW came to us a few years ago and we pledged to it,” said Katie Neddenriep, community relations program manager for Barrick Nevada. Barrick decided to help with the project because it would help the community, she said. Once the reservoir is improved, NDOW will add large-mouth bass and bluegill sunfish to the water, which will sustain themselves, and rainbow trout will be added every year, Petersen said. The fish were chosen because those were the types originally in the water. The bass will like the weedy habitat and the bluegill will be food for the bass and great for children, Petersen said. “The bluegill are easier to catch,” said Doucette. “The trout will be stocked and it will be good fishing when it’s done,” Petersen said. “It will produce good size fish and it’s close to town with easy access.” The cost of the project will be about $300,000. State and federal governments and private companies provided the funds. Petersen said landowners also have participated in the project as well. The depth now is about 8 to 10 feet and after the improvements the depth will be closer to 15 feet. Once the project goes to bid, it will be in the hands of contractor, Petersen said. “We’re hoping to be completed by the end of the summer and the goal is to have fish in the reservoir by 2015,” he said. If individuals or companies want to donate to the project, they can contact Petersen at 775-777-2331.

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www.greatbasinindustrial.com WINTER 2013 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 89

MSHA cites Newmont for June fatality By MARIANNE KOBAK McKOWN Mining Quarterly Editor

ELKO â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Mine Safety and Health Administration issued Newmont Mining Corp. two citations for the June 2 death of a miner in the Exodus Underground Mine. Corey Vasquez, 43, was killed while operating a loader during the night shift. His vehicle overtraveled the edge of a stope and fell about 40 feet into an open hole, according to the MSHA report released Oct. 31. The MSHA investigators concluded the root cause of the fatal accident was management failed to ensure the safety procedures were being followed. People were not protected from overtravel near the open stope and visual markers to identify the open hole were not in place, according to the report. MSHA issued the first citation because berms, bumper blocks or similar impeding devices were not provided at the edge of the open stope. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Prior to the accident, the shift supervisor had directed a miner to remove a concrete bumper block from the edge of the open stope and failed to take any other steps to prevent the (load haul dump) from overtravel,â&#x20AC;? stated the MSHA report.â&#x20AC;&#x153;The shift supervisor engaged in aggravated conduct constituting more than ordinary negligence in that he failed to ensure that all safety precautions were in place prior to beginning work in the area. This violation is an unwarrantable failure to comply with a mandatory standard.â&#x20AC;?

The second citation was issued because no signs or signals were placed near the edge of the open stope warning people of the hazardous conditions. The report stated the shift supervisor entered the stope to conduct a post blast inspection and failed to ensure a sign or signal warning of a hazardous condition was in place prior to people working in the area. Streamer from a previous blast were in place, but they were 18 feet from the leading edge of the opening, according to the report. During the investigation, signs and streamers were posted 10 feet from the edge of the stope. MSHA also directed Newmont to install berms using remote equipment or a bumper block until a berm is constructed around open holes. Vasquez and his family lived near South Fork and he had worked for Newmont since February 2011, said Newmont Director of External Relations Mary Korpi. Exodus is a multi-level, underground mine about 25

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miles north of Carlin in Eureka County. The mine operates two 12-hour shifts per day, seven days per week. Total employment is 104 persons. This was the second fatal accident in a Nevada mine this year. The first was Jan. 21 at the Apex Quarry and Plant in Clark County. Apex is owned by Lhoist North America of Arizona Inc. A 54-year old mechanic with six years of experience was killed at a lime operation. The victim went to a kiln preheat deck to repair a leaking hydraulic cylinder that activates a pusher arm on the kiln. He was caught between the corner of the angle iron and the plate connecting the push rods. Vasquezâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fatal accident is the eighth death in metal and non-metal mines and the 16th death in any mine in the country for 2013. This is the second fatality in less than a year in the Exodus Underground. Allen Campbell, 49, of Spring Creek died in an accident Aug. 31, 2012. Campbell fell through a hole that had developed beneath bridged material in an open stope, according to an MSHA report. He â&#x20AC;&#x153;fell approximately 90 feet from the drift he was working into the muck pile on the level below.â&#x20AC;?

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More than Words How will your mine site respond to a fatality? By THOMAS E. (TED) BOYCE, Ph.D.

Because of the recent fatalities that have occurred in the mining industry, I was asked by the Mining Quarterly to comment on what I believe mine operators should do if they experience a fatality at their mine site. Before doing so, we at the Center for Behavioral Safety want to express our deepest sympathies to the families, friends and colleagues of those miners who have passed. Moreover, I want to express my on-going personal commitment to the cause of creating culture change that prevents deaths and injuries in mining and other high-risk industries. Thus, the recommendations that I make in this article can also be seen as tools that can be used upstream from a fatal or injury-producing incident to prevent it from occurring in the first place. To be firmly in prevention mode, it is also important to recognize that, despite how mining fatalities may have been portrayed in various media, a temporary government shut-down neither caused nor prevented any fatalities. If you believed that, you would consider giving MSHA inspectors a full-time office at your mine site and request that they be present at all your safety meetings, and perform all of your employee training, perhaps even more. And while enforcement does have its place, behavioral science has shown it is overused and its effectiveness over-rated by those who use it. So, let’s get real about what will really make a difference should your mine site experience a fatality (or better yet to prevent one from occurring). Specifically, I want to provide three practical recommendations that can immediately improve safety at your mine site. If followed, these strategies will promote factfinding and an open exchange of information instead of the fault-finding and defensive communications that can sometimes occur after an injury or fatality. Driven from a personal focus on people, rather than an impersonal emphasis on the company bottom-line or working to meet regulatory standards for reporting or avoiding fines, the quality of information gained from these strategies may keep other miners from dying on the job. The purpose of a fatality (or injury) investigation should be to uncover “facts” about the incident that will allow changes to be made so it will not ever happen again. So, the first recommendation I have is to replace the word “investigation” with the word “analysis.” An investigation places too much emphasis on blame and finding a “guilty party.” Investigations place people on the defensive and inhibit the open exchange of information necessary to truly understand and learn from what happened. The truth of the matter is that both the operator and the employee likely share responsibility for any fatality (or significant injury). Thus, any process to uncover the facts should start with this assumption. Asking questions like: “how did we (the mine site) fail this employee?”; “what decisions did the employees make that allowed this failure to manifest itself today in a death (when in the past it hasn’t risen to that occaSee BOYCE, 92

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Boyce ... Continued from page 91 sion)?”; and “what systemic factors may have contributed to those decisions (e.g., poor training, real or perceived production pressures, management or supervisor styles/relationships, tradition, etc.)?” is a start. In my experience, investigations don’t promote the asking of all the right questions. An analysis would be more likely to do so. For many operators who do perform an analysis, the process often takes the form of a “root cause analysis” that masquerades as a fact-finding process. I also don’t like the term “root cause.” There are likely multiple contributing factors to any fatality (or injury). Thus, to focus on a “root cause” by any form may not uncover the entire story if taken too literally. Root cause processes can also contribute to the “finger-pointing” and blaming of individuals. Thus, my second recommendation is that we use the term “contributing factor” instead of “root cause.” An analysis of contributing factors is more likely to prevent the psychological biases that would erroneously favor one explanation of the incident over another. Thus, use of specific words should be seen as more than just a PR effort. They should drive changes in processes and behaviors consistent with the meanings of those words. Finally, we must acknowledge that after a fatality or significant injury there is significant motivation by the company (and also individuals) from a legal perspective

92 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

“More frequent or significant fines and penalties will not work to improve mine safety. Thus, to move beyond the current status and to truly impact mine safety moving forward, I recommend that we look beyond enforcement and embrace a more comprehensive and collaborative approach to injury prevention.” to avoid fines and other penalties. The investigation process by any outside authority understandably places the operator and specific individuals (those responsible for the work being performed when the incident occurred) in defensive mode. As stated above, defensive communications will not reveal facts that will allow us to prevent the future fatality or injury. To avoid this trap, it is imperative that the mining industry as a whole, especially regulators, recognize that enforcement and penalties have already produced their maximum effectiveness at improving mine safety and health. That is, more frequent or significant fines and penalties will not work to improve mine safety. Thus, to move beyond the current status and to truly impact mine safety moving forward, I recommend that we look

beyond enforcement and embrace a more comprehensive and collaborative approach to injury prevention. I feel so strongly about this that I have planned future articles and public presentations around this topic. My goal is to create a community of mining operators that will help me to make this culture change at the level of the mining industry as a whole. To be clear, when injury and fatality investigations are about protecting the operator and the company bottom-line, they are typically defensive, backwardthinking, and focused on avoiding citations. When injury and fatality analyses are about people they tend to be more comprehensive, collaborative, forwardthinking, and focused on putting in place processes to prevent future occurrences. The comprehensive and collaborative approach will always produce a better result than the defensive approach, including preventing future mining-related fatalities and building relationships with the families and communities that supply a mine sites’ most valuable resource — its employees. People taking care of people and not just working harder to avoid penalties or complying with regulation should be the future of mining safety. Unfortunately, I’ve seen indicators that key decisions impacting the mining industry are taking us further away from the proper emphasis on people by requiring mine operators to spend more time and resources doing things that just won’t work to produce the result that we

all desire — zero fatalities and injuries. Of this I testify with all of my training in human behavior and 20 years of success in helping mine sites prevent injuries and death. ——— About the Author: Dr. Thomas E. (Ted) Boyce is a behavioral strategist and President and Senior Consultant with the Center for Behavioral Safety, LLC. The Center is a Nevada-Based Safety and Leadership consulting firm that turns managers into leaders and helps companies create an injuryfree workplace. Learn more at www.cbsafety.com or contact Dr. Boyce directly at ted.boyce@cbsafety.com. ——— Dr. Boyce would like to thank his assistant, Adria, for her valuable feedback on an earlier draft of this article.

Nine miners lose their lives in a three-month period according to MSHA fatality data ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration released a summary of U.S. mining deaths that occurred during the third quarter of 2013. From July 1 to Sept. 30, there were nine mining fatalities in the United States. Five miners died in coal mining accidents and four in metal/nonmetal mining accidents. The number was two fewer than during the third quarter in 2012. The report was released Nov. 7. Two coal miners died in machinery accidents, and one each died in powered haulage, fall of roof or rib, and drowning accidents. Two metal/nonmetal miners died in powered haulage accidents, and one each died in machinery and falling or sliding material accidents. Twenty-seven miners died in mining accidents in 2013 from Jan. 1 through Sept. 30, compared to 30 from Jan. 1, 2012, through Sept. 30, 2012. “While the number of mining deaths was lower than in the same period last year,

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miners continue to die in accidents that could have been prevented, such as by using proximity detection equipment,” said Joseph A. Main, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health. On July 2, a continuous mining machine operator was killed when he was struck by a battery-powered coal hauler and pinned between the coal hauler and coal rib. Proximity detection systems can be programmed to send warning signals to alert miners to the presence of moving machinery and can stop the machinery before it strikes, pins or crushes a miner working in the vicinity. As of Sept. 30, 372 proximity detection systems had been installed on contin-

uous mining machines, coal hauling machines and scoops in underground coal mines. “In metal/nonmetal mining, fatalities continue to occur that could be prevented by using ‘lock out/tag out’ best practices,” said Main. “Two of the fatalities this quarter could have been avoided by: disconnecting the power, ensuring the miner on the job has locked the power source in the safe position and tagging to prevent the power from being re-energized. “While actions undertaken by MSHA and the mining industry continue to move mine safety in the right direction, these deaths are a reminder that much more needs to be done to protect the nation’s miners and ensure they return home after every shift.” An analysis of third-quarter mining fatalities is available at www.msha.gov/fatals/ summaries/summaries.asp, along with best practices to help mining operations avoid similar fatalities.

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Goldcorp continues mining education support with $750,000 gift to UNR Professor begins second year of teaching, research at UNR RENO — After a long career in the mining industry, Charles Kocsis kicked off his teaching career last year under the Goldcorp Term Professorship, a $750,000 5-year term professorship to the University of Nevada, Reno’s mining engineering program. Goldcorp, a Canadian flagship mining company, has sponsored the Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, a division of the College of Science at UNR, since 2004 with more than $1.3 million in support for other faculty positions. Their financial assistance has helped the College of Science meet student demand while helping to provide qualified mining engineers to the industry. In 2012, Goldcorp extended its donations to include the appointment of a professor, leading the university to seek out and hire Kocsis. “We heavily recruited Charles. His expertise is what first attracted us and made him the top choice for Goldcorp’s professorship,” Jeff Thompson, dean of the College of Science, said. “He has proven himself to be a great addition to the faculty. The support from Goldcorp is tremendous, it allows us to make another connection with industry that will help build relevant workforce and make sure our students are well prepared to enter one of Nevada’s important business sectors.” Chief Executive Officer of Goldcorp and UNR alumnus, Charles Jeannes, came to campus to welcome Kocsis. Jeannes was impressed by the school and Kocsis’ expertise. See UNR, 103

Photo courtesy of Mike Wolterbeek

Second-year Associate Professor Charles Kocsis stands in the University’s mine ventilation laboratory. Kocsis teaches mining engineering classes and conducts Ventilation-On-Demand research.

WINTER 2013 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 95

Western Lithium proceeding with clay mine Lithium market continues to develop By DEE HOLZEL Mining Quarterly Staff Writer

Photo courtesy of Western Lithium

Jay Chmelauskas, center, explains the benefits of the lithium battery and the electric car.

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WINNEMUCCA — For now, there’s not much going on at the Western Lithium mine site located 60 miles north of Winnemucca, but the future of electric batteries dependent on lithium is promising, and the current use of hectorite organoclays in directional drilling is even more promising. Western Lithium President Jay Chmelauskas explained the electric car industry is in transition from earlier technology of nickel-metal hybrid batteries to ones dependent on lithium. He explained the change occurred first in small-scale electronics, such as computers and cordless tools. “There has been nice growth in lithium demand market over the last several years,” Chmelauskas said. “With an 8 percent annual growth in lithium demand based on small-scale electronics alone.” The benefits have since made their way into electric cars. Lithium batteries are seen as positive for the auto

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Western Lithium’s new sign at its property. industry due to the fact they have higher energy density and therefore better performance, Chmelauskas explained. Lithium batteries have three times the energy density, the battery is one-third the size, and can go three times further. Companies such as Tesla offer all electric vehicles utilizing lithium batteries, with 100 pounds of lithium in the battery. “We have been placing our demand expectation on this new demand from the electrification of automobiles,” Chmelauskas said. Consumers are satisfied with their electric cars — himself included — and as demand has increased prices have begun dropping, which may increase demand even more in the long run — a positive development. The diversification of the energy market will not only be positive for the consumer, Chmelauskas pointed out, but may be advantageous for the state as well. Areas where there has been energy diversification development have also seen the growth of supporting technology and increases in jobs for related fields. Tesla, for example, took a leadership role in the electric car industry and as a result there was job growth for scientists and software engineers, etc. There is an opportunity to create a larger economy, Chmelauskas said, a macro opportunity starting with the raw materials located in the state. However, the lithium market is still developing and it will be several years before the first ounce of lithium is mined in Humboldt County. Western Lithium has not yet even begun the permitting process as the company watches the world lithium market develop to the point mining it becomes profitable. In the meantime, the company has decided to take advantage of the byproduct: hectorite clay. Western Lithium is in the permitting process to mine clay, which is used in drilling for oil and natural gas.

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Bo Elgby, right, explains the geology of the lithium deposit.

Lithium ... Continued from page 97 Dennis Bryan, senior vice president of development, said the company has purchased a property in Fernley and is constructing a facility for the development of the clay, which should be operational next spring or summer. The company will be permitted to mine 15,000 - 20,000 tons of clay per year; once the lithium mining starts the clay byproduct may be closer to 100,000 tons per year. Although the mining of industrial clay is usually not controversial, its use in what has become known as fracking is. Fracking is the short name for hydraulic fracturing, the process of drilling and injecting fluid into the ground at high pressure to fracture shale rocks to release the natural gas or oil inside.

98 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

Chmelauskas acknowledged the negative consequences of fracking need to be managed and mitigated, but he added the development of alternative energies would have other positive benefits, such as the improvement of air quality. “We used to burn firewood, coal, and natural gas,” he said. “The transition has always produced something better.” Western Lithium anticipates mining 30,000 tons of lithium carbonate per year and may employ 120-130 people at the Humboldt County mine site. Although small in comparison to the area’s gold mines, it does represent a diversification of an economy largely reliant on gold mining. Mining lithium is very similar to other types of mining, except it occurs in clay as opposed to hard rock. Chmelauskas said the skills acquired in hard-rock mining of metals will be applicable to lithium mining, and those skills will be very desirable in potential employees once the mine is operational. The lithium-rich clay deposit is located 60 miles north of Winnemucca and is generally considered the fifth largest lithium deposit in the world. The majority of the world’s lithium is currently mined in South America.

Fight over copper heiress’ will ends in deal By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press

NEW YORK — A feud over how an enigmatic heiress meant to bequeath a $300 million fortune made in Montana copper mines and the beginnings of Las Vegas was settled, with a deal that mainly benefits arts charities and her distant relatives. A nurse who once stood to inherit as much as $30 million from Huguette Clark will instead have to give back more than $5 million received during Clark’s lifetime, and a lawyer and an accountant whose work for Clark came under question won’t get bequests that went to them in a disputed will. The settlement was filed in court and got a judge’s approval Tuesday. Word of a pact emerged over the weekend, as a likely two-month trial loomed over the true intentions of a reclusive woman who died at 104 and signed two starkly different wills within six weeks when she was 98. “This result is a fair result,” Manhattan Surrogate’s Court Judge Nora Anderson said. Clark died in 2011, leaving no close rel-

atives. Her father, U.S. Sen. William A. Clark, made his wealth from mining and the establishment of Las Vegas, among other ventures. Rarely seen in public since at least the 1960s, Huguette Clark had elected to live in a Manhattan hospital since 1991, rather than her grand homes in Manhattan, Santa Barbara, Calif., and New Canaan, Conn. Her circumstances came under question in 2010, when some descendants of her half-siblings unsuccessfully asked a court to bar her lawyer and accountant from involvement in her affairs. The two have denied wrongdoing. Then the two wills emerged. The first left most of her money to her distant relations. The second cut them out, giving bequests to arts charities, the nurse, a goddaughter, the hospital and others. The relatives said caregivers and advisers had manipulated Clark. The beneficiaries said she showed deliberate generosity to those most involved in her life. The nurse, Hadassah Peri, worked 12hour days and seven-day weeks for Clark for years, said her lawyer, Harvey Corn.

He said Peri was “very happy to contribute to the settlement,” though she will inherit nothing and give back about a fifth of $30 million in gifts before Clark’s death. In the two biggest bequests, the deal gives a newly created arts foundation about $100 million, including the estimated $85 million Santa Barbara estate, and 20 Clark family members receive a total of $34.5 million. The oceanfront Santa Barbara property is envisioned as an arts center, which Mayor Helene Schneider hailed as “an amazing opportunity.” Washington’s Corcoran Gallery of Art is to get at least $10 million. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office, which got involved in the case to protect nonprofits’ interests, said the pact would “ensure that Huguette Clark’s charitable wishes are fulfilled.” The relatives, meanwhile, portrayed the settlement in a statement as “a strong message that those entrusted with the care of the elderly will be held accountable for their actions.”

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Veris Gold reports $18.2 million loss

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ELKO — Veris Gold reported a net loss of $18.2 million in its third quarter, due partially to a revaluation of a facility. This loss compares with a net income of $9 million in the third quarter of last year. The loss was attributable to a $12.1 million non-cash loss arising from the revaluation of a senior secured gold facility that resulted from an accounting treatment change in the quarter, a non-cash derivative loss of $2.4 million and $8.3 million in finance and transactions costs, which together more than offset the $4.5 million of income from operations earned in the quarter. The third quarter results were announced Nov. 15. The company reported income from operations of $4.5 million during the third quarter, compared with $8.5 million earned in the same quarter of the previous year. “Jerritt Canyon continues to improve on an operational level and we are very encouraged by the recent results and milestone achievements such as the successful startup of Starvation Canyon, the commissioning of the TSF2 Tailings Pond, the accretive toll milling contract with Newmont and continued record production and gold sales,” said President and CEO Francois Marland. Veris Gold owns the Jerritt Canyon Mill Complex, which is 50 miles north of Elko. The complex property includes three gold mines — Smith, SSX-Steer and Starvation Canyon. “With our mines continuing to deliver increased tonnage, and our mill operations returning excellent recoveries, we will be able to deliver on reducing our cash costs,” Marland said. “At this time, including toll milling credits, our cash costs are $1,071. Also, under the leadership of COO Graham Dickson and General Manager Bill Hofer, we are seeing improved efficiencies at the mine and at the mill. We expect to continue to optimize mill and mining operations and anticipate adding more tonnage through the development of an additional mine, Saval 4 in early 2014; we also continue to seek toll milling opportunities and look forward to updating our shareholders in the near future.” Jerritt Canyon Underground Mining Overview: During the third quarter, the underground mining operations at Jerritt Canyon delivered a total of 275,825 tons containing an estimated 46,637 ounces (estimated 0.16 ounces per ton), compared with 271,880 tons delivered in the second quarter of this year. This represents a 1 percent increase in tons produced primarily attributed to higher mining production from Starvation Canyon during the quarter, offset by lower production from the SSX-Steer mine.

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SSX-Steer Mining Complex: At the company operated SSX-Steer mining complex, mine production was 77,776 tons (averaging 845 tons per day) at grades of 0.153 ounces per ton, for an estimated 11,885 contained ounces for the third quarter. This represents a 10 percent decrease from the previous quarter’s delivery of 86,512 tons and a 19 percent decrease in the contained ounces of 14,685 ounces in the second quarter. The reduction in productivity for the quarter is directly related to issues with equipment availability, mine planning and a shortfall in mine development. The company has purchased and received a new Sandvik Cubex underground production drill in order to increase the pace of development. As well, the company has recently added additional senior mine engineering personnel and increased the operating and maintenance training programs at site to improve mine planning and equipment availability. The company expects these changes and initiatives to return the SSX-Steer mine to budgeted levels of production and grade in the near term.

Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly file

Small Mine Development miners gather in front of the Veris Gold Starvation Canyon portal. SMD is operating the Veris Gold mine.

Saval 4 Update: In 2014, the company is planning to commence development on Saval 4, which is located near the SSX-Steer Mine. This new mine would add an estimated production of 300 tons per day, at an estimated 0.16 ounces per ton, thereby bringing the overall production at the SSX-Steer to an estimated 1,200 to 1,300 tons per day. Smith Mine: In the Smith Mine, Small Mine Development, LLC delivered 141,369 tons (averaging more than 1,500 tons per day) to the mill, containing an estimated 22,518 ounces during the third quarter. The tonnage increased from the 137,978 delivered in the second quarter with a corresponding increase from the 18,778 contained ounces mined in the prior quarter. The third quarter average grade of 0.17 ounces per ton is now back to plan and has increased from the 0.14 ounces per ton experienced in the second quarter. Starvation Canyon: Starvation Canyon delivered 56,680 tons (averaging over 600 tons per day) to the mill containing an estimated 12,234 ounces of gold representing a 20 percent and 42 percent increase respectively from the 47,390 tons and 8,630 contained ounces of gold delivered the prior quarter. Overall grade has improved at Starvation Canyon as the operation in now past the development stage into more productive mining areas. The company is exploring opportunities to increase production levels at Starvation Canyon. Mill/Processing: In the third quarter of 2013 the mill processed 314,506 tons of ore through the roasters (average of 3,419 tons per day), which included 57,613 tons of third party tollmilled ore, lower than the 328,606 tons (average 3,611 tons per day) processed in the second quarter due to the 10-day shutdown taken in the month of July. Recoveries for the quarter averaged 86 percent, a significant increase from the 83 percent averaged in the second quarter. Despite the lower roaster throughput resulting from the 10-day shutdown in July the higher Veris grades delivered to the roaster facility and the improvement in recoveries enabled the Jerritt Canyon operations to achieve an overall production of 37,544 payable ounces during the quarter, comparable to the 38,018 ounces produced in the second quarter.

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Nevada Magazine covers mining’s past, present CARSON CITY — Modern mining is one of the featured stories in the current edition of Nevada Magazine. The November/December 2013 issue, featuring former president Abraham Lincoln on the cover, is available on newsstands throughout Nevada. In it are parallel feature stories: one about the logistics of modern mining in the state, “From Dust to Dore,” and a partner piece that focuses on Nevada’s mining history and how the innovative and lucrative Comstock district propelled Nevada into statehood on October 31, 1864. Lincoln was president during the Civil War, when Nevada become a state, earning it the “Battle Born” moniker. This is the second of eight Sesquicentennial Special Editions the magazine will produce through November/December 2014. The State of Nevada celebrates its 150th birthday in 2014. Also highlighted in the issue are the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Museum and Visitor Center, Fort Churchill State Historic Park, Sand Springs Pony Express station, the Frank Sinatra Jr. kidnapping of 1963, South Lake Tahoe’s new Gunbarrel Tavern, and The LINQ, an open-air retail, dining, and entertainment district now under construction on the Las Vegas Strip. The magazine is currently offering a number of great holiday gifts, including the Historical Nevada book, the 2014 Nevada Historical Calendar, and its special 75thAnniversary Edition of 2011. Find out more at nevadamagazine.com or by calling 775-687-0610.

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UNR ... Continued from page 95 During his first year, Kocsis taught a variety of mining engineering undergraduate and graduate level classes, conducted research and became a club adviser. “Dr. Kocsis brings to the Mackay School a strong work ethic, great energy and an outstanding knowledge of mining, especially mining methods and underground mine ventilation,” Russ Fields, director of the Mackay School, said. “I’ve received very positive feedback from students. Charles has also taken on the added responsibility of faculty advisor to the John Mackay Club, an important student organization in the Mackay School.” Kocsis earned his doctorate in mining engineering at the University of British Columbia and his license in professional engineering in Ontario, Canada. Following his education, he worked for 23 years in the mining industry, most recently at Canmet, a mining and mineral sciences laboratory. During his 13 years with Canmet, Kocsis began to specialize in mine ventilation. “If you look at a human body, blood carries oxygen to the brain,” Kocsis said. “A mine is like a body. It requires oxygen. Mine ventilation creates conditions for a clean and adequate work environment in the mines. It is of paramount importance.” Along with classes, Kocsis has been researching methods of moving air through the mines, particularly Ventilation-On-Demand. It uses sensors to see where workers and vehicles are moving throughout a mine and directing the necessary air to those areas while limiting airflow in unused areas. His design has the potential to cut electricity costs, decrease emissions, and increase worker productivity in underground mines. A working model is set up in the mine ventilation laboratory at UNR. Research is not Kocsis’ only focus. He is impressed by his student’s aptitude and willingness to learn, which is aided by his practical approach in teaching. With Kocsis’ guidance, students are able to construct full ventilation designs by the end of their class. “Working here has had immediate rewards,” Kocsis said. “I want to generate professionals with lots of responsibility for what they do, and it’s wonderful to see students become passionate and professional about their work.”

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Nevada Copper files positive study results for open pit YERINGTON — Nevada Copper Corp. announced its feasibility study confirms the technical and economic viability of a 70,000 ton-per-day open pit copper mine. The company announced Nov. 14 it had SEDAR-filed its National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report Feasibility Stud for its Pumpkin Hollow Copper project located near Yerington. The feasibility study is available at www.sedar.com as well as the company’s website, www.nevadacopper.com. The feasibility study reports the results of a stand-alone open pit operation. The study confirms the technical and economic viability of constructing and operating a stand-alone 70,000 tonper-day open pit copper mining and processing operation. The Stage 2 Open Pit Operation would be located about 2.5 miles west of its 6,500 ton-per-day Stage 1 underground operation that is currently under construction. Development of the Stage 1 Underground Operation is supported by a feasibility study filed on SEDAR in December 2012. This operation will initially access ore from the East deposit and, if warranted, the E2 deposit. With all Stage 1 permits received on Sept. 5 and a significant portion of project capital funding arranged, Nevada Copper is advancing towards production from the Stage 1 operation and, subject to receipt of permits and project funding, construction of the Stage 2 Open Pit Operation. Production for the Stage 1 Underground Operation is expected to commence in 2015 with Stage 2 Open Pit

Operation targeted for 2016, subject to the successful passage of the Lyon County Economic Development Land Bill. It is anticipated the Land Bill could be passed by Congress in 2013 or early 2014. The following positive Stage 2 Feasibility Study results further support the company’s decision to proceed with a two-staged development of Pumpkin Hollow. Upon successfully establishing production from both Stage 1 and Stage 2 operations, Nevada Copper’s projected annual average production for the first five years will be approximately 285 million pounds of copper; 45,000 ounces of gold, 1.1 million ounces of silver resulting in annual operating cash-flow of approximately $500 million which assumes a forward price curve reducing to a long term price of $2.75 per pound copper. Highlights of the Stage 2 Open Pit Feasibility Study • The project development consists of a nominal 70,000 ton-per-day open pit mining and milling operation; • The open pit proven and probable mineral reserves increased from 3.2 to 4.1 billion pounds of copper reflecting a 29 percent increase. The current mineral reserves for the precious metals are 717,530 ounces of gold and 26.7 million ounces of silver. Mineral reserves are based on drill data up to July 2012; • First production targeted for 2016, with the mine life expanding from 18 to 22 years. The current open pit mine life is based on increased daily throughput of 70,000 ton-per day, up from 60,000 ton-per-day previously;

• The 29 percent increase in mineral reserves reflects a lower copper price of $2.80 per pound copper used for the current pit design limit, versus $3.00 per pound used in the 2012 mineral reserve. The expansion of the mineral reserves has resulted in a merged North and South open pit. This has had a positive impact on sustaining capital; moving South pit pre-stripping out four years and reducing equipment needs; • Life-of-mine metal production contained in concentrates totals 3.7 billion pounds of copper — an increase of 29 percent, 483,476 ounces of gold and 15.0 million ounces of silver; • Average annual copper production in concentrates (amounts reflect periods of full production): Years 1 to 5: 221 million pounds per year Years 1 to 10: 197 million pounds per year • Average annual gold and silver production in concentrates (amounts reflect periods of full production): Years 1 to 5: 24,089 ounces of gold and 849,300 ounces of silver per year Years 1 to 10: 23,320 ounces of gold and 808,870 ounces of silver per year • Initial capital costs are estimated to be $926 million including contingencies, excluding working capital of $23 million; • LOM site operating costs are $9.94 per ton of ore-milled; copper production costs net of gold and silver credits are: Years 1 to 5: $1.58 per pound of copper Years 1 to 10: $1.69 per pound of copper

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Get in the Act Mining companies sponsor science education program By HEATHER KENNISON Mining Quarterly Staff Writer

Heather Kennison/Mining Quarterly

ELKO â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Sometimes, a little fun and games can enhance the learning process. One way to do this is through the arts. Get in the Act! Arts in Action brought its Science Theater program to Mountain View Elementary this fall to teach students through acting. The theme was â&#x20AC;&#x153;Rocks and Minerals.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re hoping to expand this style of learning to all the schools in this area,â&#x20AC;? said Get in the Act Executive Director and lead teaching artist Diane Handzel. The program was sponsored by grants from Newmont Mining, Joy Global Foundation and the Nevada Arts Council.

Get in the Act Executive Director and lead teaching artist Diane Handzel talks to third-grade students at Mountain View Elementary on Sept. 30.

See SCIENCE, 108

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Science ... Continued from page 106

Heather Kennison/Mining Quarterly

Third-grade students Justice Sirotek, Kayla Howe and Gabriella McAnany stretch their face muscles during a Science Theater exercise Sept. 30 with Get in the Act at Mountain View Elementary.

108 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

“It enabled us to service 1,200 students,” Diane Handzel said, since the sponsorship brought Get in the Act to both Mountain View Elementary and Battle Mountain. “Sustainability of our communities is very important to us at Newmont,” said Newmont Senior Communications Representative Matt Murray. “One way we can help insure that sustainability, is to sponsor programs that reach our communities through youth programs that focus on education, health and welfare and reach the underserved populations.” Students in all grades at Mountain View Elementary and in Battle Mountain were able to learn about the forms of rock through interactive, impromptu skits, between Sept. 23 and Oct. 1 “The curriculum changes with the age of the students,” said program manager and secretary Gary Handzel. Victoria McAnany, senior human resources generalist for Joy Global, said she attended kindergarten and third-grade classes at Mountain View during the presentations. “It was interesting to see the kids interact even at that level,” McAnany said about the kindergarten class. “... It was a great experience for me.” Get in the Act was established in 2009 in Stateline. Since 2010, it has worked with five

school districts statewide. With a master’s degree in interactive arts education and a Bachelor of Arts in theater, Diane Handzel operates the business with her husband and other board members. This was the first time Get in the Act came to Elko County. Gary Handzel came to the business with a background in finance. “I essentially left that industry to help Diane,” Handzel said. “It’s something I believe in.” The children were given brief instructions before each skit and, in some cases, props. “The approach of utilizing the Science Theater to improve learning skills is a innovative idea and has been proven successful in other communities,” Murray said. Through the activities, the children learned the difference between lava- and magma-formed igneous rocks, and how water and wind affect rocks. “Wind can really sweep and shape a rock,” Diane Handzel told the thirdgrade students in Jennifer Andersen’s class. “... Rain can make a rock really smooth, and wear it away. Plants are part of the weathering process, too.”

Mountain View Elementary third-grade students laugh Sept. 30 during a Science Theater skit with Get in the Act. From left: Get in the Act Executive Director and lead teaching artist Diane Handzel and students Olivia Guzman, McKenzie Shouse and Kayli Gibbons. Heather Kennison/ Mining Quarterly

See SCIENCE, 110

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WINTER 2013 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 109

Heather Kennison/Mining Quarterly

Third-grade student Gabriella McAnany, 8, acts as an active volcano Sept. 30 during Science Theater at Mountain View Elementary.

Science ... Continued from page 109

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110 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

To prove her point, she showed the children an example of the effects of wind, water and plants on hair. Using several wigs, the third-graders laughed as they watched the instructor bring out the next one. “They have to really listen so they know what to do,” Diane Handzel said. “... It’s good for their listening skills.” Before the acts, students participated in activities of “face stretching” and tonguetwisters, both to build esteem and to get into the act. “Science Theater is a wonderful way to engage students with any topic,” said Tena Williams, a second-grade teacher at Mountain View Elementary. “If we taught this way each day, retention and recall would skyrocket.” The Nevada Arts Council granted Get in the Act $3,134 in learning grants at its board meeting June 14. Get in the Act offers nine other science-themed programs, such as electricity and solar systems.

Hycroft Turnaround Financial reports reflect efforts of Allied Nevada to increase production By DEE HOLZEL Mining Quarterly Staff Writer

WINNEMUCCA — It’s been a rocky year for Allied Nevada’s Hycroft Mine, but the company appears to have made a complete turnaround and the future is looking brighter with the recent announcement of record production in the third quarter. In a statement released by Allied Nevada, President and CEO Randy Buffington said, “I am very pleased with the progress being made at the site by the new operating team. While I fully expected them to turn the operation around, I am impressed with the speed and efficiency with which they have been able to improve production.” “This is a first-rate team with the systems, discipline and determination that give us the confidence we can continue to Photo courtesy of Allied Nevada

See HYCROFT, 112

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WINTER 2013 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 111

Hycroft ... Continued from page 111

Photo courtesy of Allied Nevada

move forward with building a worldclass operation,” Buffington said. Buffington made the comments following the news that Hycroft achieved its metal production and sales expectations in the third quarter — producing a record 52,198 ounces of gold and 184,082 ounces of silver. Despite the slow start to the beginning of the year, the record production may allow Hycroft to achieve full year production and sales goals of 175,000 200,000 ounces of gold and .9 million 1.1 million ounces of silver. It was welcomed news for Allied Nevada and signaled the turnaround it had been working toward since the beginning of the year. Hycroft was in the middle of an expansion announced three years before when the price of gold began dropping from historic highs. Then came the announcement production was down due to inefficient solution management on the heap leach pads, which resulted in less-thanstellar metal recovery from late 2012 to early 2013. With production and profits

A view of Hycroft Mine’s secondary crusher.

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in a downward spiral, Allied announced in the summer it was laying off 24 percent of its workforce. One of the first actions undertaken by Allied Nevada to put Hycroft on a more sturdy footing was to bring in new leadership. Allied’s Tracey Thom, vice president of investor relations and corporate communications, explained as the mine transitioned from being a smaller operation to a much larger gold and silver producer, it was necessary to bring in an operating team with experience in larger gold operations to effect the transition. Thom said it was important to find people with the right skill set to ensure the mine plan was achieved on a daily basis and the all divisions were meeting their goals. One of the first people hired last spring was Carl Waggoner, vice president and general manager of Hycroft, who came to the company with 30 years of experience and was previously the general manager at Coeur Rochester and before that was manager of construction and engineering at Barrick’s Turquoise Ridge Joint Venture. Waggoner then replaced the entire management staff with people who had experience in larger gold operations. However, in order for Hycroft to successfully transition to a large mining

Photo courtesy of Allied Nevada

Hycroft Mine’s new plant. operation, it had to have the ability to move and process more ore and capture more gold and silver in the end. This has long been Allied’s goal, and in 2010 it announced they would be spending $212 million in equipment and capital outlay over the next several years. To efficiently move more ore the company purchased two CAT 7495 electric rope shovels, weighing in at 1,500 tons.

The first has been in use since May of last year; the second went to work in July of this year. The impressive CAT 7495s are capable of moving 100 tons in a single scoop. Thom explained the previous shovels required seven to 10 scoops to fill the trucks. The new shovels can fill a truck with three or four scoops, which keeps the trucks moving. In addition to the

shovels, larger capacity 320-ton Komatsu trucks have been added to the fleet, now totaling 33 trucks, to meet the increasing mining rate. All that ore has to be processed and another of the important factors in the Hycroft turnaround was improvements See HYCROFT, 114

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Photo courtesy of Allied Nevada

Hycroft Mineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gyratory crusher.

Hycroft ... Continued from page 113 to management of the heap leach pads. Pumping capacity and access to water on a daily basis have increased so that flows to the heap leach pads now average 22,000 gallons per minute, an increase of 36 percent from the beginning of the third quarter. However, remediation on the Lewis leach pads is ongoing. Allied Nevada has indicated all permits are in place and solution is currently being introduced to the leach pad at a rate of 1,500 gallons per minute. The company expects to begin recovering gold and silver from the pad in 2014. Another important turning point for the mine was the new Merrill-Crowe plant capable of processing 21,500 gallons-per-minute, which went online in October. The Merrill-Crowe process is used for removing gold and silver from cyanide once the solution is recovered from the heap leach pads. The old process, which included a 5,000 gallon per minute Merrill-Crowe plant and 6,500 gallon per minute carbon column could not process at the rate needed. In addition, the carbon columns were not efficient at recovering silver from solution, which was not lost, but continued to recirculate in solution until it was run through the Merrill-Crowe process. The carbon columns have since been discontinued at Hycroft. Thom explained silver is the first metal captured by the carbon columns, but is â&#x20AC;&#x153;chased offâ&#x20AC;? as gold is captured later in the process. Allied Nevada anticipates increase capture of silver with the new plant should increase to approximately 6 ounces of gold for every ounce of silver, as compared to the 1 ounce of gold for each ounce of silver captured in the carbon process. In addition the the new Merrill-Crowe plant, the company is building a crushing system that will help to increase the gold and silver recoveries in the heap leach operation. It is expected that the crushing system will be completed and commissioned by the end of 2013 and fully operational in 2014.

114 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

Be Winter

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Equipment in the plant at Hycroft Mine. Construction of a new mill capable of processing 130,000 tons a day and producing more than 500,000 ounces of gold and 21 million ounces of silver per year remains a key focus of the team. The deferment of mill construction was announced earlier in the year when the price of gold dropped significantly; though, Allied Nevada has continued with the permitting process as well as the metallurgical program to determine the best and most cost-efficient method for extracting gold and silver from sulfide ore should the mill be built. Allied considered traditional autoclaving and roasting but is reviewing other traditional methods. The company has also considered concentrated sales; that is selling off the ore, to reduce spending on capital projects. The tests to date indicate that the processes being reviewed work well with Hycroft ore and the focus is now to optimize that process. The company expects to complete a pre-feasibility in the first quarter of 2014 and a feasibility study in the fall of 2014 which will lead to a decision to build the mill. Communities in Humboldt and surrounding counties will be closely watching developments as construction of the new mill would represent more jobs - a positive benefit for both miners and the health of mining towns.

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Bald Mountain continues work to expand By MARIANNE KOBAK McKOWN Mining Quarterly Editor

Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly

A drill rig sits near a blast pattern at Barrick’s Bald Mountain mine site. Top: Surface mining is observed at Barrick’s Bald Mountain mine site.

WHITE PINE — Barrick Gold Corp. still plans to expand its Bald Mountain Mine, but it may take a little longer than expected. Employees are working with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to consolidate the site into two plans of operations so the site can expand. “We’ve continued work on the environmental impact statement,” said Amanda Steensen, environmental superintendent for Bald Mountain. “We may not get the final EIS until 2015.” The expansion plans were submitted to the BLM in October 2011. In October of 2012, staff thought the final EIS would be done by 2014 and the record of decision by 2015. See BALD MT, 118

WINTER 2013 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 117

Bald Mt ... Continued from page 117

Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly

Amanda Steensen, environmental superintendent for Bald Mountain, talks about an expansion plan at the mine site.

Steensen said staff is working on alternate plans to the ones originally submitted. She and the rest of the staff are still working on the mule deer migration corridors on the property. The Area 10 herd of about 25,000 deer migrates across Bald Mountain property. The site is 70 miles south of Elko in White Pine County. It is in the southern most end of the Ruby Mountains and 95 miles southeast is Ely. Even before the expansion, Bald Mountain is the largest mine site by area in the U.S. It stretches 25 miles north to south and 10 miles east to west. The north and south areas are 12 miles apart, Steensen said. The main issues in the EIS were how to handle the mule deer and sage grouse on the property. Steensen said an alternative plan is under development. “In the alternative plan, there are routes and facilities that are modified to open up areas wider,” she said. “The alternative has changed the boundary of the alignment. The revised mine plan is to focus on the North Operation.” The North Operations Area will have new or modified amenities. It will have 11 open pits, 18 rock disposal areas and four new process facilities or leach pads, Steensen said. The South Operations Area has some new or modified areas. It will have four open pits, six rock disposal areas, three process areas and a truck shop and administration

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118 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

facilities. The South Operation will be largely autonomous from the North Operations Area, however, both areas will operate under one general manager. “EIS approval could expand mine life up to 18 years,” Steensen said. “The current mine plan at $1,300 gold is still in development. The mine life could vary from 2019 to 2023.” Employees and Production If the EIS is approved the workforce may increase to 400 to 430 employees, Steensen said. In October, the site was at about 390 employees. “We’ve added more than 300 jobs since 2005,” she said. “We have 20 to 40 contractors.” About 71 percent of the workforce lives in Elko and Spring Creek, 12 percent lives in Ely and McGill, 5 percent in Eureka, and 12 percent lives in other areas. Separate from the permitting process, Barrick has made a few changes at Bald Mountain. After the 2013 third quarter, the company announced it changed its mine plan “to reduce the number of pits and focus on the most profitable ounces, while retaining the option to access other ore in the future.” For the first half of 2013, the site produced 51,000 ounces at all-in sustaining costs of $1,873 per ounce and adjusted operating costs of $918 per ounce, according to the Barrick website. Bald Mountain’s proven and probable mineral reserves

Where Bald Mountain employees live

Barrick Gold Corp. graphic

See BALD MT, 121

WINTER 2013 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 119

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Bald Mt ... Continued from page 119 as of December 2012 were 5.2 million ounces of gold. Current Operations and General Facts While most days at Bald Mountain are about mining at the end of October some of the employees shared their love of the job with students from Ely. The teens took a tour of the site and learned some basic facts about the industry. The first mine claim on the site was made in 1869, said Jimmy MacPherson, dumps and leach engineer. The district has been mined more than 100 years by different operators. Barrick bought Bald Mountain from Placer Dome in 2006. The mine site’s exploration boundary is 250 square miles. The largest pit has 40-foot benches. Bald Mountain has two electric P&H shovels with 60-ton buckets, MacPherson said. The shovel weighs about 2.3 million pounds, which is the equivalent of eight full grown blue whales, he said. Each shovel costs $22 million. The site also has three hydraulic 40-ton-Hytachi shovels. The site has 36 Komatsu 240-ton haul trucks. The weight of one truck would equate to 40 African elephants. The haul trucks receive maintenance about every 16 days, said Brad Heimgartner, maintenance planner. Each tire costs about $37,800. Ross Andreson/Mining Quarterly

Jimmy MacPherson, dumps and leach engineer, explains what is on a leach pad at Barrick’s Bald Mountain mine site.

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Barrick reports earnings down to $170M By MARIANNE KOBAK McKOWN Mining Quarterly Editor

ELKO — Barrick Gold Corp. reported the company’s net earnings dropped 73 percent in its third quarter because of lower gold and copper prices and higher expenses. Net earnings decreased to $170 million, or 17 cents per share, compared with net earnings of $650 million , or 65 cents per share, for the same quarter the year prior, Barrick reported Thursday. Net earnings reflect the impact of lower realized gold and copper prices, higher interest expense and higher income tax expense, partially offset by higher copper sales, according to Barrick. Adjusted net earnings were $580 million, or 58 cents per share, compared with $880 million, or 88 cents per share, for the third quarter in 2012. “Significant cost and operational improvements achieved this year, including previously announced reductions of $2 billion from budgeted 2013 capital and costs, have translated into another quarter of strong results,” Barrick’s President and CEO Jamie Sokalsky said. “We continue to make excellent progress at Lumwana and are evaluating a number of other opportunities to improve performance further. We have also targeted additional annual savings of approximately

$500 million through a simpler, more efficient operating model and other initiatives, demonstrating our commitment to continued cost reductions. The suspension of Pascua-Lama will also significantly improve our near term cash flows.”

on improved project economics such as go-forward costs, the outlook for metal prices, and reduced uncertainty associated with legal and other regulatory requirements. “We have determined that the prudent course — at this stage — is to suspend the project, but naturally we will maintain our option to resume construction and finish the project when improvements to its current challenges have been attained,” Sokalsky said. “As a result of our previous decision to slow down and resequence construction, which resulted in significant demobilization over the last few months, we are in a much better position to implement this temporary suspension quickly and efficiently, with many ramp-down activities already underway. Our previously lowered capital cost guidance for 2014 is now expected to be further reduced by up to $1 billion while we continue to address all our environmental and social obligations. This decision is consistent with our disciplined capital allocation framework announced last year.”

Pascua-Lama Project Suspension Barrick decided to temporarily suspend construction activities at Pascua-Lama, except those required for Operating models and cost reductions environmental protection and regulatory compliance. Barrick is targeting $500 million of annual cost savThis decision will postpone and reduce near term cash ings related to job reductions from a company-wide outlays, and allows the company to proceed with devel- review launched earlier this year. The company has a opment at the appropriate time under a more effective, phased approach. The decision to re-start will depend See BARRICK, 124

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Barrick ... Continued from page 123 new operating model, a program to reduce procurement costs and other initiatives. The new model provides a more efficient and simpler decision-making structure to better supports the company’s goal of cost reduction. The new model will eliminate the Regional Business Unit structure and will be in place by early next year. As a result of the change in operating structure, the company is eliminating about 1,850 positions, 85 percent of which have been achieved to date. Under the new structure, Cortez, Goldstrike, Pueblo Viejo, Lagunas Norte and Veladero will report directly to the chief operating officer, as will the head of Copper operations. The balance of the mines will report to operating heads in North America and Australia Pacific and in turn, to the COO. The new operating model allows mine managers to focus more sharply on the core business of mining, brings senior management closer to the mines, and creates a flatter organization with stronger accountability. Improvements done and ongoing In the second quarter, Barrick’s mine plan for Bald Mountain changed to reduce pits and focus on the most profitable ounces and retained the option to access other ore in the future. In the third quarter, it implemented the mine plan changes.

Barrick also worked with joint venture partners to optimize mine plans for Round Mountain and Marigold mines. The company is developing new mine plans at $1,100 per ounce at its mines. The combination of selling noncore assets, changing mine plans to focus on more profitable production, and calculating reserves with a lower gold price assumption will reduce year-end reserves and future production. North America Operations North America produced 900,000 ounces at AISC of $816 per ounce. Barrick’s 60 percent share of production from the Pueblo Viejo mine was 110,000 ounces at all-in sustaining costs (AISC) of $770 per ounce. Barrick’s share of 2013 production from Pueblo Viejo is anticipated to be about 500,000 ounces at AISC of $700-$750 per ounce, primarily due to a slower than expected ramp-up. Major modifications to the autoclaves have been completed and all four autoclaves are online after being individually tested to design capacity. The new 215 megawatt power plant was commissioned on schedule in the third quarter. The mine is now expected to reach full capacity in the first half of 2014 following completion of de-bottlenecking modifications to the lime circuit. During the quarter, proposed amendments to the Pueblo Viejo SLA were approved by the Government of the Dominican Republic and Pueblo Viejo Dominicana

Corporation and were effective as at the quarter-end. Nevada Operations The Cortez mine produced 330,000 ounces at AISC of $470 per ounce on lower grades and recoveries. Production at Cortez is expected to decline in the fourth quarter due to lower grades as anticipated in the mine plan. Goldstrike produced 230,000 ounces at AISC of $874 per ounce, reflecting higher open pit grades following a stripping phase in the first half of the year. The autoclave facility is undergoing modifications for the thiosulphate project, which will enable about 4 million ounces to be brought forward in the mine plan. Total project costs are now expected to be about $585 million due to increased steel requirements and higher contractor costs. The company expects first production from this project in the fourth quarter of 2014 and average annual production of 350,000-450,000 ounces over its first full five years of operation. Full year production for North America is expected to be within the original guidance range of 3.55-3.70 million ounces. Full year AISC are anticipated to be at the high end of the previous guidance range of $750$800 per ounce, primarily on higher costs at Pueblo Viejo due to lower silver by-product credits as a result of the slower than expected ramp-up.

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Uncertainty main threat to mining industry By MARIANNE KOBAK McKOWN Mining Quarterly Editor

Marianne Kobak McKown/Mining Quarterly

Duane Peck, Nevada Mining Association chairman and Goldcorp Inc.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Marigold Mining Co. mine general manager, speaks at the Nevada Mining Association convention.

LAKE TAHOE â&#x20AC;&#x201D; The mining industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best weapon against uncertainty is to be proactive. The speakers at the Nevada Mining Associationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2013 convention had one major theme â&#x20AC;&#x201D; miners need to speak up for themselves and their livelihoods. Miners need to get engaged, said Duane Peck, Nevada Mining Association chairman and Goldcorp Inc.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Marigold Mining Co. mine general manager. â&#x20AC;&#x153;All of us should proudly let other Nevadans know Nevada mining pays some of the highest wages in the state, provides economic and development opportunities to thousands of Nevada businesses and contributes more taxes than any other industry per employee,â&#x20AC;? Peck said. Despite the downturn in gold prices and increases in operational costs, Peck said â&#x20AC;&#x153;mining will continue to pay the highest wages and continue to work with Reno and Las Vegas based businesses and continue to pay more than our fair share of taxes. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll do all this because we are not a boom or bust business. .... Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll tighten our belts and be a little more efficient. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not a bust, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just a good business practice.â&#x20AC;? Peckâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s statements came after the industry went through several issues in the last year. Gold prices dropped more than $200 in April, from above $1,600 to below $1,361. The price dropped a second time in June to $1,191, but is now hovering around $1,388. Another hurdle for the industry in the last year was the passage of Senate Joint

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Jeremy Aguero, principal analyst with Applied Analysis, talks about the mining industry during the Nevada Mining Association Convention in September.

Resolution 15. The resolution repeals a provision in the state constitution that caps the mining industry’s net proceeds of minerals at 5 percent. It passed through the Legislature in May and will be listed on the 2014 ballot for voters to decide. “Mining has been a part of Nevada since before the founding of our state and will be here for generations to come,” Peck said. “I ask you once again to play an active role by telling your fellow Nevadans how “Always be proud to call yourself important mining is to you, your family, a Nevada miner. Be proud of your community and while it may surprise what you do and how you do it. them, their own community. “Always be proud to call yourself a If we don’t speak up for ourselves, Nevada miner,” he said. “Be proud of what you do and how you do it. If we don’t how can we expect others to speak up for ourselves, how can we expect others to know our passion and know how know our passion and know how much we care?” much we care?” While Peck began this theme, it con— Duane Peck tinued throughout the day. Nevada Mining Association chairman and Jeremy Aguero, principal analyst with Goldcorp Inc.’s Marigold Mining Co. Applied Analysis, spoke about the impacts mine general manager the industry has made on the communities with mines, but also how mining has affected the state as a whole. Aguero said Nevada is the No. 8 place in the world for gold production, at 5.9 percent of the world’s gold. China was No. 2 at 13.6 percent, Australia was No. 3 and the United States was No. 4 at 8.8 percent. The high rank in gold production — Nevada has more gold mines than any other state in the U.S. — is important because it helps to produce jobs. However, the No. 1 See CONVENTION, 128

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Convention ... Continued from page 127 concern for miners is uncertainty, especially about the state’s tax structure, he said. He said the state’s economy is in recovery mode, but it is a “long way” from being recovered. “Pound for pound on an employee basis, there is no industry (in the state) that paid more in taxes,” Aguero said. He said the industry needs to make others aware of how mining affects the state as a whole. Aguero talked about the direct impacts, but he also said the industry had indirect and induced impacts on the state. The industry can account for 29,434 jobs, directly, indirectly and induced, he said. Besides mine operators, 2,200 businesses were affected by mining, Aguero said. Once again the theme continued through the day. The legislative panel consisting of state senators Moises Denis and James Settelmeyer and assembly members Maggie Carlton and Pat Hickey all said the mining industry needs to speak on its own behalf. “We do have a citizen’s Legislature,” Carlton, D-Las Vegas said. “It is going to take a lot of work to educate them.” She said the mine operators need to get the vendors involved and tell the public about the good things the industry does. “It’s easy to tax the other guy who is 500 miles away,” she said. “I told gaming the same thing — toot your own horn. When they hear it from a family member or a

Marianne Kobak McKown/Mining Quarterly

State Senator Moises Denis, D-Las Vegas, left, speaks while state Assemblyman Pat Hickey, R-Reno, listens during the Nevada Mining Association Convention at Lake Tahoe. friend, it will stick with them a lot more.” Settelmeyer, R-Gardnerville, said the economy and jobs are the most important issues facing the state. He said the only way business will grow is with “a predictable situation.” “Uncertainty will hinder growth,” he said about the tax bills on the ballot for 2014. “I was very disappointed to see some things go to the ballot the way they did.”

Denis agreed that creating tax policies by ballot was “not a good thing.” Another uncertainty for the industry is the sage grouse and whether it will be listed as an endangered species. Ted Koch, Nevada state supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the biggest threats to the bird are fire and evasive species, such as cheat grass.

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USW receives $600,000 grant to fund Mine Safety Study

Marianne Kobak McKown/Mining Quarterly

State Assemblywoman Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, left, listens while state Senator James Settelmeyer, R-Gardnerville, talks during the Nevada Mining Association Convention at Lake Tahoe. Koch said mining has an opportunity to be involved in how the sage grouse issue is solved. He said one idea being looked at in the state is a conservation credit. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just be a passive observer,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Be proactive. ... Nevada is ground zero for this issue. This is not anything we canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t overcome.â&#x20AC;?

PITTSBURGH â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The Alpha Foundation for the Improvement of Mine Safety and Health has awarded the United Steelworkers a $600,000 grant to fund a two-year research project focused on finding and fixing health and safety hazards in metal and non-metal mines. The USW grant is part of the foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first round of awards worth $10 million. The union is the only non-academic grant winner out of 16 recipients. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are excited to begin working on a project that we know will save lives and make all mines safer places to work,â&#x20AC;? said Nancy Lessin of the USWâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tony Mazzocchi Center for Health, Safety and Environmental Education. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We will never forget that it took a deadly tragedy to make this possible, and we consider it our duty to make sure such a horrific event never happens again.â&#x20AC;? The Alpha Foundation was established in 2011 after an explosion killed 29 at West Virginiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Upper Big Branch underground coal mine, owned by Massey Energy. Alpha acquired Massey after the disaster and agreed to establish a $48 million trust fund dedicated to improving mine safety. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is no more important job for a union than to protect workers, and that begins with health and safety,â&#x20AC;? said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This grant will go a long way toward helping us do that job. No worker, whether they work in an office or a factory or a mine, should go to work and worry about whether they are going to come home.â&#x20AC;? The USW grant will pay for a two-year study to identify hazardous conditions in mines and examine ways to fix them, including looking at impediments that could prevent miners from speaking out about unsafe conditions. The USW represents 850,000 members in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. It is the largest private-sector union in North America, representing workers in a range of industries including metals, mining, rubber, paper and forestry, oil refining, health care, security, hotels, and municipal governments and agencies.

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Yerington mine pollution deal brings residents $19.5M By SCOTT SONNER Associated Press

AP Photo/Cathleen Allison, File

Peggy Pauly poses for a photo Nov. 23, 2004, at her Yerington home.

RENO — Rural neighbors of an abandoned World War II-era copper mine that has leaked toxic chemicals in northern Nevada for decades have won up to a $19.5 million settlement from companies they accused of covering up the contamination. Atlantic Richfield Co. and its parent BP America Inc. acknowledged no wrongdoing under the agreement, which also calls for them to pay $2.6 million in attorney fees to the legal team that represented about 700 past and present neighbors of the old Anaconda mine built in 1941 on the edge of Yerington about 65 miles southeast of Reno. Residents said in a class-action suit filed in 2011 the companies had “intentionally and negligently” concealed the extent of uranium, arsenic and other pollutants leaking into their drinking water wells from the mine covering 6 square miles — an area equal to 3,000 football fields. “We are so pleased,” said Peggy Pauly, 64, whose 2acre home borders the mine. She helped organize concerned families in 2004 after a U.S. government whistleblower started publicizing studies that had previously been kept secret documenting health and safety risks posed by a plume of radioactive contamination migrating off the site. “It was a long ordeal, but it was worth it,” Pauly

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The old Anaconda mine pit is partially filled with water April 14, 2009, near Yerington.

told The Associated Press in November. “Residents wish we had never had to deal with any of this.” The companies agreed to pay $7 million in property damages and $900,000 to a medical monitoring fund. The final damages will depend on the cost of extending city water supplies to about 200 residents, estimated between $6.5 million and $12.5 million. BP America said the settlement is “fair and reasonable.” “It delivers a good outcome for the community by guaranteeing the availability of a reliable, clean source of drinking water by connecting residents to the city water supply, and furthers the company’s interests toward achieving a final resolution of groundwater concerns in the area without the cost and distraction of further litigation,” the company said in an email to AP. About a dozen families filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Reno nearly a decade after they started pressing concerns with state regulators they said were too cozy with Nevada’s mining industry to effectively enforce a cleanup schedule at the site, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency since has assumed control of under its Superfund program. In 2008, a U.S. Labor Department review panel upheld a whistleblower claim by exmine cleanup supervisor Earle Dixon who said the U.S. Bureau of Land Management illegally fired him four years earlier for speaking out about the risks in defiance of local politicians who tried to muzzle him. “This was a small community taking on a big corporation in a mining town over mining pollution — an imposing challenge,” Steven German, co-counsel for the plaintiffs, said in a telephone interview from New York. Fueled by demand after World War II, Anaconda produced 1.7 billion pounds of copper from 1952-78 at the mine in the Mason Valley, an irrigated agricultural oasis in the area’s otherwise largely barren high desert. See TOXIC MINE, 132

WINTER 2013 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 131

Toxic mine ... Continued from page 131 The EPA determined over the years that uranium was produced as a byproduct of processing the copper and the radioactive waste was initially dumped into dirt-bottomed ponds that — unlike modern lined ponds — leaked into the groundwater. BP and Atlantic Richfield, which purchased Anaconda Copper Co. in 1978, have provided bottled water for free to any residents who want it for several years. But they had said uranium naturally occurs in the region’s soil and that there was no proof that a half-century of processing metals there was responsible for the contamination. Pauly and others started seeking outside legal help after a new wave of EPA testing first reported by the AP in November 2009 found that 79 percent of the wells tested north of mine had dangerous levels of uranium or arsenic or both that made the water unsafe to drink. One a half mile away had uranium levels more than 10 times the legal drinking water standard. At the mine itself, wells tested as high as 100 times the standard. Though health effects of specific levels are not well understood, the EPA says long-term exposure to high levels of uranium in drinking water may cause cancer and damage kidneys.

Top at right: This aerial photo shows the Yerington mine site on Jan. 28, 2004, adjacent to the small farming town of Yerington. AP Photo/Cathleen Allison, file

Bottom at right: In this Oct 26, 2009 file photo, Peggy Pauly’s home is located just near the boundary of the former Anaconda copper mine site near Yearington. AP Photo/Scott Sady, File

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134 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

CONSOLIDATED ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTORS. ................................46 CRAWFORD DOOR SALES .......................................................................131 DMC MINING ..............................................................................................109 ELKO CONVENTION AND VISITORS AUTHORITY .............................5 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS ..................................... INSIDE BACK COVER ELKO OVERHEAD DOOR COMPANY ....................................................35 ELKO TOOL AND FASTENER ....................................................................31 ELKO WIRE ROPE & MINING SUPPLY .................................................107 ELKO WOMENS HEALTH CENTER .......................................................124 ENCORE AUDIO VISUAL DESIGN ...........................................................19 ENVIROSCIENTISTS, INC.........................................................................124 ESCO SUPPLY ...............................................................................................125 FABEN CO, INC ..............................................................................................28 FAIRMONT SUPPLY COMPANY ...............................................................30 FAST TRACK TRANSPORT LLC ................................................................35 FERGUSON ENTERPRISES .......................................................................111 FLOW CONTROL EQUIPMENT ................................................................73 FORD STEEL ...................................................................................................73 FORDIA USA ..................................................................................................56 GCR TIRE CENTER .......................................................................................87 GENERAL MOLY, INC. ...............................................................................111 GENERAL TOOL INC ...................................................................................70 GHX INDUSTRIAL ........................................................................................67 GOLD DUST WEST - ELKO .........................................................................15 GRANITE CONSTRUCTION CO. ............................................................118 GRAYMONT WESTERN US INC ...............................................................89 GREAT BASIN INDUSTRIAL ......................................................................89 HANLON ENGINEERING ............................................. CENTER SPREAD HARD ROK EQUIPMENT, INC ..................................................................15 HEDWELD USA .............................................................................................96 HIGH MARK CONSTRUCTION ................................................................94 HYCROFT RESOURCES & DEVELOPMENT ........................................127 INTEGRATED POWER SERVICES, LLC ...................................................33 J.S. REDPATH CORPORATION ................................................................101 JBR ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANTS,.............................................113 JCR DEVELOPMENT ....................................................................................39 JENNMAR CORP..........................................................................................136 JENTECH DRILLING SUPPLY .................................................................128 JOHN DAVIS TRUCKING ..........................................................................127 KEJR, INC GEOPROBE SYSTEMS ..............................................................37 KENWORTH SALES ......................................................................................87 KIVA ENERGY ................................................................................................79 KNIGHT PIESOLD AND CO. ......................................................................86

ADVERTISERS INDEX Alphabetical KOMATSU EQUIPMENT COMPANY ......................................................83 LEAVITT ........................................................................................................114 LEDCOR ........................................................................................................126 LEGARZA EXPLORATION........................................................................104 LES SCHWAB/ELKO....................................................................................105 LIEBHERR MINING EQUIPMENT..........................................................129 LOGAN CORPORATION ...........................................................................129 MAP SCIENCE CORP .................................................................................106 MASS MEDIA- SW GAS..............................................................................115 MICHAEL CLAY CONSTRUCTION ..........................................................11 MIDWEST INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY ...........................................................110 MINE SOURCE INC ......................................................................................29 MINING & ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES ...........................................121 MYRNAS HOT SHOT .................................................................................121 MYRNAS HOT SHOT ...................................................................................82 NA DEGERSTROM ......................................................................................119 NATIONAL EXPLORATION .............................. INSIDE FRONT COVER NEFF’S DIESEL ...............................................................................................81 NEVADA COPPER INC ................................................................................18 NEWMONT...................................................................................................113 NORTHERN NEVADA EQUIPMENT .......................................................10 NORTHERN NEVADA EQUIPMENT .....................................................116 OAK TREE INN ..............................................................................................76 ORMAZA CONSTRUCTION ......................................................................63 P&H MINEPRO SERVICE / JOY GLOBAL .................. CENTER SPREAD PAC-VAN .......................................................................................................106 PLUMB LINE MECHANICAL ...................................................................108 PLUMB LINE MECHANICAL .....................................................................34 POLELINE CONTRACTORS .....................................................................108 PRECISION AIR CARGO INC .....................................................................91 Q & D CONSTRUCTION ...........................................................................100 RAM ENTERPRISE INC .............................................................................130 RAPID TRANSPORT, LLC ............................................................................98 RED LODGE PARALEGAL SERVICES ......................................................98 REDI SERVICES LLC .....................................................................................92 ROBERT FRISCH/GENERAL MINE ............................................................5 ROCKMORE INTERNATIONAL ................................................................56 ROSS EQUIPMENT .......................................................................................91 ROUND MOUNTAIN GOLD CORP...........................................................99 ROYAL GOLD .................................................................................................90 RUBY VISTA LODGING ASSOCIATION ..................................................38 RUD-CHAIN, INC./ ERLAU.........................................................................90 S&G ELECTRIC MOTOR REPAIR ..............................................................88

SACRISON ENGINEERING.........................................................................98 SAN JUAN DRILLING...................................................................................88 SAS GLOBAL MINING CORP ...................................................................102 SCOTTS MARKET LLC ..............................................................................121 SGS MINERALS ..............................................................................................61 SIERRA FREIGHTLINER............................................................................105 SILVER STATE FIRE ......................................................................................59 SIMPLEX GRINELL .......................................................................................79 SLEEPSOURCE/ENCORE ..........................................................................103 SMALL MINE DEVELOPMENT LLC ........................................................14 SNYDER MECHANICAL..............................................................................48 SPRUNG ...........................................................................................................55 SRK CONSULTING........................................................................................48 STRATA WORLD WIDE ...............................................................................43 SUMMIT ENGINEERING ............................................................................42 SWCA ENVIROMENTAL CONSULTANTS .............................................72 T.F. HUDGINS, INC .......................................................................................84 TAHOE RESOURCES INC............................................................................65 TAYLOR MADE IRON SERVICES ..............................................................42 TECH-FLOW ..................................................................................................21 TETRA TECH INC. ........................................................................................20 TMEIC ..............................................................................................................32 TONATEC EXPLORATION, LLC ................................................................41 TRAYLOR BROS., INC.....................................................................................8 VALLEY RUBBER & GASKET .....................................................................20 VICTAULIC .....................................................................................................26 VOGUE DRY CLEANERS.............................................................................98 WALLACE MORRIS SURVEYING ..............................................................76 WALLACE MORRIS SURVEYING ..............................................................35 WALLACE MORRIS SURVEYING ............................................................132 WELSH HAGEN ASSOCIATES ...................................................................51 WOMACK MACHINE SUPPLY ............................................................. LIST WORLDWIDE RENTAL SERVICES ...........................................................57 WYOMING, INC ..........................................................................................122 YANKE MACHINE SHOP ............................................................................51

To Advertise in the Mining Quarterly please call:

775-738-3118

WINTER 2013 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada 135

Under Control

Making sure the ground above stays under control. M JE JENNMAR’s PYTHON® Expandable Rock Bolts offer superior quality that responds to the th most demanding rock reinforcement and support applications. PYTHON’s high load capacity ca and excellent elongation properties provide immediate full-length support and allow a it to withstand rock movement without cutting. That means safer working conditions and a faster excavation cycles, effectively reducing costs and increasing production. A And, of course, behind every PYTHON is JENNMAR’s second-to-none customer service en ensuring your complete satisfaction.

From Bolts and Beams to Channels and Trusses to Resin and Rebar!

G LO B A L H E A D Q UA RT ERS

Pittsburgh, PA, USA • (412) 963-9071 www.jennmar.com

136 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada WINTER 2013

r u O ff a t S

Travis Quast Publisher tquast@elkodaily.com

Amber Eliades 775-748-2744 aeliades@elkodaily.com

Marianne Kobak McKown Editor/Mining Quarterly mining@elkodaily.com

Terra Josephson 775-748-2743 tjosephson@elkodaily.com

Nancy Streets Advertising Director nstreets@elkodaily.com

Lizz Todd 775-748-2714 etodd@elkodaily.com

Kassidy Zaga 775-748-2701 kzaga@elkodaily.com

Betti Magney 775-748-2706 bmagney@elkodaily.com

Seana Chapman 775-748-2738 schapman@elkodaily.com