Cortez still a golden operation By ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Editor
CRESCENT VALLEY — Barrick Gold Corp.’s Cortez Mine is in a golden era of high gold production and new discoveries. “There’s lots going on,” said Cortez General Manager Brian Grebenc. “We’re definitely excited about the growth. It’s a fantastic property and has fantastic prospects, but what really caught my eye were the people at Cortez. They have a passion for what they do here.” The company expects to produce in the range of 1.18 million and 1.25 million ounces of gold this year, he said. That’s a lot of gold but down from 2011 production. Cortez produced 283,000 ounces of gold in the fourth quarter of last year and 1.42 million ounces for all of 2011, according to Barrick. That compares with 1.14 million ounces for the year 2010 and 205,000 ounces in the fourth quarter of 2010. Barrick President and Chief Executive Officer Aaron Regent said in Barrick’s earnings teleconference in February that Cortez “is one of the most profitable gold mines in the world.” Cortez has roughly 1,200 employees and roughly 400 contractors on the site, said Grebenc, who came to Cortez from Barrick’s Cowal Mine in Australia roughly six months ago. The Cortez Mine includes the newer Cortez Hills operations and the older Pipeline complex of pits and the mill that processes ore from the two areas. Grebenc said Cortez has something for every miner, with both open pit and underground mines and “three types of process streams.” Cortez processes the better grades of ore in the mill, leaches the lower grades at both Cortez Hills and Pipeline and sends refractory ore by truck to Barrick’s Goldstrike Mine north of Carlin for processing. Cortez currently is mining at Cortez Hills, where there are both underground and surface operations roughly 10 miles from the Pipeline operations. “We’re talking right now about moving some resources over to Pipeline, but the main production is from the Cortez
2 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SPRING 2012
ABOVE: Henri Gonin, left, maintenance superintendent at the Cortez Hills operations, poses with mechanic Danny Jensen of Spring Creek in the truck shop. A 400-ton Liebherr haul truck is in the background. LEFT: A 400-ton Liebherr haul truck carries a load of material out of the open pit in February at Barrick Gold Corp.’s Cortez Hills operations in Lander County. Ross Anderson Mining Quarterly