Mining Quarterly Summer 2017 edition by Times-News/ Elko Daily Free Press

UARTERLY

SUMMER 2017

JOINING FORCES Goldstrike and Cortez Hills mines functioning as one business called Barrick Nevada

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Summer 2017 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada • 3

CONTENTS Cover: Joining Forces

Goldstrike, Cortez functioning as one business Page 5

RYE PATCH

Florida Canyon pouring gold Page 16

RMI

RheoMinerals finding ways to innovate, collaborate Page 36

NEWMONT

Warehouse supplies mines efficiently Page 58

McEWEN

Company plans mine on Cortez Trend Page 86

FATED PAIRING

Mining, pizza lead to love, marriage Page 34

CYNTHIA DELANEY, ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS

George and Melissa Fennemore share a Famous George pizza at the Stray Dog Pub and Cafe in Elko.

On the Cover

Jeremy Johnson, open pit operations superintendent at Goldstrike, looks over the pit. The process facility for the mine is in the background. Photo by Marianne Kobak McKown

Looking forward on the mining trail

ooking to the future and honoring the past seems to be a theme this year in Elko County. The City of Elko turned 100, Great Basin College celebrated 50 years and at least one mining company is trying to think in decades rather than just a few years down the line. In February, Barrick Gold Corp. combined its Goldstrike and Cortez Hills properties into one business – Barrick Nevada. After collaborating for a few MARIANNE months, the miners KOBAK shared some of their MCKOWN accomplishments with the Mining Quarterly. Everyone I talked to was surprised by how easily the two sites were able to work together. Barrick Nevada CEO Bill MacNevin told me by combining the mines, the employees were “accelerating the improvement on what we’re doing.” What does this mean to the layperson? It means everything is moving more efficiently at Goldstrike and Cortez. All the miners communicate on a daily or weekly basis and are modifying the different protocols, so no matter which site a person is working at the procedures are the same. This new way of doing business allows the miners to have a goal of 100 years from now rather than 5 or 10. This may seem like a lofty goal for an industry that is known for booming

and busting. However, the Cortez area has already seen more than 150 years of mining, so wanting another century of gold out of the rock may not be as impossible as some may think. Mining companies are constantly trying to find new ways to separate the minerals from the dirt around them. Speaking of efficiencies, Newmont Mining Corp. gave the Quarterly a tour of its central warehouse in Elko. Storing items and transporting them to sites when necessary is a much more complicated process than may be expected. The company is working on making the method as smooth as possible. While everyone is in town for the annual Elko Mining Expo, they should really take a look and see if expanding into the county on a permanent basis would be good for business. The Governor’s Office of Economic Development has been working to entice Canadian businesses to the state and to help Nevada’s mining companies work in Ontario. Production and exploration in the state also has seen up and down swings. We take an in-depth look at what the Division of Minerals, mining companies and drilling businesses are doing to find key commodities. We also take a look at the history of women in mining and the impact females have made on the business. You can find the details on all these stories and more in this edition of the Mining Quarterly.

4 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada Summer 2017

CONTENTS Elko Mining Expo begins today.......................................................Page 15 Miners die working alone............................................................... Page 26 Net proceeds of minerals considered volatile tax........................ Page 28 Nevada gold production rises........................................................ Page 30 Mining claims increasing in Nevada.............................................. Page 42 More exploring for precious metals.............................................. Page 50 Barrick earns $679M...................................................................... Page 56

FEATURES ‌ A MINE OF THEIR OWN‌ The changing face of women in mining lies in education Page 23

Newmont reports $69 million in net income ...............................Page 68 Advertisers Index.....................................................................Pages 84-85

COLUMNISTS‌ NVMA says women helped blaze the Nevada mining trail...........Page 22 Boyce asks what good is training if you can’t get the right people in the room?...............................................................................................Page 64 Dobra explains a post script and more from his last column......Page 71 Baker says bottoms up for oil, gold, copper, silver and mining jobs.......................................................................................Page 77

LOOKING FOR MINERALS‌

Mining companies explore in and around operations Page 44

ONLINE EXTRAS‌ Look for videos and photo galleries at elkodaily.com

PARTNERS IN TECHNOLOGY‌ GBC, Cisco team up with Barrick USA Page 74

MINING QUARTERLY ‌Travis Quast: Publisher Marianne Kobak McKown: Editor Nancy Streets: Advertising Director 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.

CANADA CALLING‌ Ontario wants Nevada businesses to expand Page 82

SUMMER 2017 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada • 5

JOINING FORCES Goldstrike, Cortez functioning as one business MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN mkobak@elkodaily.com

CARLIN – Barrick Gold Corp. has operated Goldstrike and Cortez mines for decades, but in February the two sites truly became one company named Barrick Nevada. This change is beneficial to the mines and staff, said Barrick Nevada CEO Bill MacNevin. “We’re uniting our Nevada operations, building on our combined strengths to create new opportunities and grow the business for our people, communities and owners,” he said. MacNevin said both sites have talented people that do things very well, but by combining the two into one operation, the company is “accelerating the improvement on

what we’re doing.” One of the changes made when the two mines became one business was cosmetic but still important. MacNevin W h e n t h e m i n e s operated separately employees’ shirts had Goldstrike or Cortez on them. Now, employees wear a yellow and blue shirt that states Barrick Nevada on the front and a logo on the sleeve – the outline of Nevada and the words Battle Born. The shirt is more than just for safety, it represents what Barrick Nevada is as a company, MacNevin said. “It’s not the shirts, it’s Nevada,” he said of why employees have See JOINING, 7

Jeremy Johnson, open pit operations superintendent at Goldstrike, looks over the pit. The process facility for the mine is in the background. MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN, MINING QUARTERLY

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Joining... Continued from 5 embraced the new uniform. “We’re proud of where we come from. … It’s one operation. It’s not little pieces within.” Human Resources Manager Deb Davis said it’s an “ownership piece.” Barrick has granted 75 shares to the majority of its employees. “The ownership in Nevada, I think, is really important,” she said. MacNevin said employees aren’t just part of the business now but actually own a portion of where they work.

Better Communication‌ A big part of becoming one business means better and

MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN, MINING QUARTERLY‌

Carly Stroker, senior metallurgist, left, and Jodi Esplin, chief metallurgist, talk about the carbon in leach tanks that were recently commissioned at Barrick Nevada’s Goldstrike Mine. more frequent communication between the two mines. The sites have always communicated, but acting as one business allows them to share knowledge and resources faster than before. “Mining is a people-centric business,” MacNevin said. “It’s people that make the

business work.” More effective communication includes improved technology and more face to face interaction. MacNevin said the days of speaker phones for meetings are over. Employees at both mines meet regularly through

video chats. “The power of having a conversation when you’re still looking at someone, is very different from the phone,” he said. “We’ve integrated technology to enable the communications to still being linked and one.” Many of the employees agreed that having staff meetings with a video feed allows everyone to get to know each other and people know when someone isn’t paying attention. “We know we can call them for advice and they can call us for advice,” said Mark McCabe, general supervisor for the truck shop at Goldstrike. Chris Valdez, open pit maintenance superintendent at Goldstrike, said he collaborates much more frequently with people at Cortez. “We used to collaborate with See JOINING, 8

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Joining... Continued from 7 Cortez on an as needed basis, three or four times a year,” he said. “Now, I probably talk to my counterpart at Cortez about three or four times a week.” He said instead of looking at the maintenance issues just for one site, they look at what the entire region needs. John Reeves, underground maintenance superintendent for Cortez, said the two sites compare how they handle jobs and try to learn from each other. “We have a really good rebuild program on trucks and loaders,” he said. “Instead of getting rid of machines and buying new, we got efficient enough with rebuilding to not have a lot of down time. The majority of the fleet is over 40,000 hours.

MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN, MINING QUARTERLY‌

Miguel Lamadrid, underground mine manager at Cortez Hills, explains in May how miners can keep track of the tasks they are completing, such as maintenance to a machine, using a tablet. It’s about maintenance versus repair. Maintenance is cheap and repair is expensive.”

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Process Manager Paul Wilmot said both sites talk about every situation, including safety policies. “We still have about 30 policies to integrate,” he said. Evan Verkade, underground technical services superintendent at Goldstrike, said sharing the safety programs and experiences will be a help to employees and the contractors who need to be on both sites. Both sites are still working on an overall shutdown schedule for when major work needs to be done on the roaster, mills, or any major rebuilds on the equipment. Jodi Esplin, chief metallurgist, said the open communication “takes a lot of the frustration” out of the job. Wilmot said he was surprised by how smoothly the sites have transitioned into one business. Theo Kandawasvika,

underground technical services superintendent at Cortez, said the two sites have shared planning software and have learned from each other. “The big thing for us is the understanding, planning and geology around stoping,” he said. “Goldstrike has been doing it for years and they’re experts at it. As we’ve been working with Goldstrike, we’ve been finding opportunities to improve that change in mining method. There’s a lot to be learned.” Manager of Growth for Barrick Nevada George Fennemore said a lot of people are involved to get the gold out of the ground. “The advantage of Barrick Nevada is that we have a lot more visibility into our business,” he said. “We are no longer working as separate teams, and we can see what each other See JOINING, 10

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10 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017

Cortez Underground celebrates safety MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN mkobak@elkodaily.com‌

‌CRESCENT VALLEY – Cortez Hills Underground Mine celebrated safety with its employees after the site reached almost two years without a reportable incident. “We take safety very seriously,” Miguel Lamadrid, underground mine manager at Cortez, said. “We take it very personal to the point that we look after each

other. Safety is something we have in our DNA here.” He said several groups at Cortez have five years with no reportable incidents. The entire mine went 22 months with a triple zero record, which means everyone went home healthy and was able to return to work for their next shift. “For an underground mine, that’s unheard of really for a mine this size,” said John M c C u r r y, u n d e r g r o u n d

operations superintendent. Lamadrid said the mine was on track for the journey of two years of triple zero, but unfortunately the mine had an incident. He did not say what happened. However, the company celebrated with employees and their families in May in the Elko Main City Park. Lamadrid said the families were invited to the park because “the most important thing about being safe is going back home safe and healthy, the same

way you came in.” Everyone who checked in during the safety celebration wrote their name on a banner that will be hung in the offices at Cortez. “The message is take it one day at a time and you will make it to five years,” Lamadrid said. “Don’t worry about tomorrow, worry about today to make sure everything is alright.”

MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN, MINING QUARTERLY‌

Brian Skinner welds a 4100 bucket door May 10 at Barrick Nevada’s Goldstrike Mine.

Joining... Continued from 8

MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN, MINING QUARTERLY‌

Goldstrike Truck Shop General Supervisor Mark McCabe points to the work being done to repair a haul truck tire that was damaged by a rock. The tire was at its half-life, so repairing it will save the company money instead of buying a new one. McCabe said Goldstrike’s tire shop also repairs tires from Cortez and Turquoise Ridge.

is doing. It makes us better by allowing more ready information passing and more ready knowledge sharing between all those different people who need to all be successful in order to make gold.” Jeremy Johnson, open pit operations superintendent at Goldstrike, said the sites always shared before, but “had more politics to work through.” “We were one company

before but now we really feel like one company,” Valdez said. All of the leaders of the company make sure employees know their faces. MacNevin said he and the other leaders spend their time at both sites. “The people that make the gold, your operator, your fitter, your electrician, they’re the most important people in the business,” he said. “The leaders are there to support them to do their jobs well. You don’t do that from an office. So we spend our time on the properties.” See JOINING, 11

SUMMER 2017 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada • 11

Joining... Continued from 10

Sharing of Resources‌ Some of the resources that are more easily shared are people. Cortez needed maintenance help and Goldstrike was able to sent three maintenance technicians to the other site. “They’re doing a threemonth tour,” McCabe said with a smile. “We help each other and learn from each other.” Julius Stieger, open pit manager at Goldstrike, said Cortez being short staffed was “affecting their bottom line.” Sharing staff doesn’t just help the mine site, he said. The people look at the transfer as making them more marketable, Stieger said.

MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN, MINING QUARTERLY‌

Kavi Hundal, technical specialist for Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology, explains how the automated mucker works in the Cortez Underground. “We get more movement back and forth between the sites,” he said. “We share people and the ownership in the equipment.”

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The sites also have “less red tape” to get through to share equipment, said Johnson. When something works well at one site, such as changing the blast times, that efficiency is implemented at the other site. Johnson said blasting at the sites has been between 1:30 and 2:30 in the afternoon. Cortez changed blast times to be right at shift change and Goldstrike is still in the process of switching. The alteration in the schedule made it more efficient, Johnson said. “We’ll probably be able to move an extra 860,000 tons at Goldstrike over the course of a year,” Johnson said. The real advantage is that the surface blasting affects the underground mining. Sometimes portions of the underground at both sites have to be cleared out before a blast. “If we get that changed to

shift change, we don’t interrupt their mine schedule,” Johnson said. When a blast happens, all work in the area stops. Having the blast coincide with people leaving the area to go home will help with efficiency. Johnson said the change has been suggested for years, but “until you speak the language of dollars” nothing happens. He said if Goldstrike modifies its blasting schedule it could “potentially improve production by $10 million.”

Focus on the Future‌ The potential for the future of mining at the sites seems larger, Johnson said. Wilmot agreed and said “the time horizon is way out there” concerning the See JOINING, 13

SUMMER 2017 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada • 13

Joining... Continued from 11 potential of mine life. “Why is mine life important? It’s important because of us,” MacNevin said. “By growing the business we’re actually extending that (mine life).” Goldstrike turned 30 this year. The land Cortez sits on has been mined for more than 150 years. “What I always ask the guys is ‘guys, if we were mining the same way we were mining 30 years ago, would we still be in business?’ No, no because we’ve got to get better,” MacNevin said. “So we’ve got to find ways to do it smarter, better, more efficient. So that drive is not only so you survive but particularly at the moment it’s a cornerstone so we can actually support our own vision for

the future.” Growing the business takes several things and the main thing is to find more resources, he said. It helps that Goldstrike and Cortez are located “in the best gold belt in the world,” MacNevin said. While staff is focused on finding more gold, the employees also try to be “best in class.” “We’re just focusing on what we do, not so much just looking at the next year or next five years,” MacNevin said. “We’re focusing on the next 100 years. We want to be here for a long time to come.” Since they are look at the sites as a whole, the ore is blended for Barrick Nevada rather than the sites separately. “The different ore streams coming through can really impact the cost structure,” Goldstrike Process Manager Paul Wilmot said. “If we can blend them into

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the right chemistry, we can impact cost and throughput,” he said. Esplin said the joining of the sites means they don’t have conflicting targets. “It’s easier for use to optimize,” she said. “Each different ore source has something that the roaster needs to run efficiently. By being able to blend them we can maximize the efficiency of the plant.” Carly Stroker, senior metallurgist at Goldstrike, said the ore is still separated but now a choice can be made for “what’s best for the region rather than just one site or the other.” “It’s made it a lot easier for planning purposes as well,” she said. “We can request ore from Cortez that will make it easier for us to create a good blend in the roaster and increase ounces for the region. Sergei Smolonogov, geology manager for Barrick Nevada,

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Improvements on the sites happen through new technology and policies. To move the same amount of tons with fewer trucks, Goldstrike started using relief operators for equipment, which has been done in Australia for years. See JOINING, 14

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said the geologists who work for the company help extend the life of both properties. “We’ve got a big renaissance for Nevada with geology being elevated in importance,” he said. “We’ve got to figure out a way to be sustainable for 100 years.” Smolonogov said he has worked all over the world, and what Nevada considers lowgrade ore other countries would call high-grade. “We’ll still have resources available while other places will be running out,” he said.

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14 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017

Joining... Continued from 13 Employees used to say “you can’t make that work in North America,” Johnson said. “Any time someone says ‘can’t’ there is opportunity in that,” Johnson said. Instead of a truck being idle, a relief driver operates it while the main driver takes a break. Driving fewer trucks enabled Goldstrike to salvage the parked vehicles and use them for parts. Cortez will begin using relief drivers to gain more tons, Stieger said. Sharing resources also means the sites will integrate all of their technology, said Pete Haarala, tech services superintendent at Goldstrike. Both underground sites are testing automated equipment. Goldstrike is performing a trial

on an Atlas Copco automated jumbo drill, said Allen Moore, underground maintenance superintendent. An employee will be able to set up a drill and the machine can drill with no one around. The drill will be tested for six months. A competitors’ drill will be tested at Cortez at the same time. Working together allows the company to make better decisions, Moore said. Cortez also is testing an automated mucker. The driver sits in an office at Cortez while he or she operates the mucker underground, said Miguel Lamadrid, underground mine manager. The underground runs two shifts a day, but between shifts there was “dead time” because employees had to travel from the surface to where the mining is done, said John McCurry, underground operations superintendent. Now a mucker operator can get off the bus and go

directly to the remote seat and operate the mucker while the rest of his crew is traveling down to the mine. “What used to be dead time is now productive,” McCurry said. Both sites will move to digital systems through a partnership with Cisco, but Cortez is testing the equipment first, Kandawasvika said. Everything that is learned at Cortez will then be taken to Goldstrike and hopefully implemented more smoothly, he said. The digital system, which is still being tested, will help both sites work more competently and make the work safer by being able to track people and equipmentin “real time, Lamadrid said. “We’ll be able to look at performance to make the mine more efficient,” he said. Daniel Gackle, underground superintendent at Goldstrike, said being able to update

maintenance information through a digital system will improve the time it takes to maintain or repair a machine. “It will mean better data collection,” he said. Lamadrid said Barrick’s office in Elko also will be able to monitor the situation underground. The more efficient technology will also allow the underground to move from a 30-ton class of mucker to a 45-ton, McCurry said. MacNevin said how Goldstrike and Cortez have come together as Barrick Nevada can be summed up with the company’s vision. “We’re shaping Nevada’s mining future through talent development, digital transformation, innovation and partnerships to share our success into the next century.”

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MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN, ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS FILE

Large equipment was set up in 2016 for the Elko Mining Expo in front of the Elko Convention Center.

Elko Mining Expo begins today MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN mkobak@elkodaily.com‌

‌ELKO – Exhibit booths open to the public today for the annual Elko Mining Expo. This is the second year the Elko Convention and Visitors Authority will use the Elko Conference Center for the show and all the indoor spaces are full, said ECVA Events Coordinator Kandiss Fallowfield. The Expo has many returning vendors and the businesses come from all over the United States and other countries, including Australia, Germany, New Zealand and Canada. “The vendors are continually being creative with what they want to have in their booths,” Fallowfield said. “You know, different ways they can attract people to their spaces, so there’s going to be some fun things going on in people’s booths this year.” One of those vendors, a gold sponsor of the Expo, is Folsom and Associates, which will unveil the company’s rebranding to Folsom Industrial, said Jess Jones, the outside sales representative. The company is taking a “new

direction,” he said. “We are expanding and growing, taking leaps and bounds this year,” Jones said. Revealing the name change during the annual event was “a good opportunity” for the business, Jones said. “With everybody in town, we can make a statement,” he said. “I think that again is a great reflection on the Mining Expo as to how it’s evolved and grown that something like that can take place and be effective for a company,” Fallowfield said. Jones agreed that the Expo is “great” to be used as a stage for businesses. The Expo opens to the public 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday. Fallowfield reminds people that “Country Under the Stars” is Thursday. This is the third year the concert has coincided with the Expo. It is presented by the Boys and Girls Club of Elko and Sandvik Mining and Rock Technologies. Gates open at 5 p.m. and the show begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Elko County Fairgrounds. Tickets start at $34.

16 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017

COURTESY OF RYE PATCH GOLD‌

A blast is under way at the Jasperoid Pit at Rye Patch Gold Corp.’s Florida Canyon Mine just south of Interstate 80 at Imlay this spring.

Florida Canyon pouring gold ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly correspondent‌

DAVID CALVERT, COURTESY OF RYE PATCH GOLD‌

Loader operator Rochelle Smith stands with the piece of equipment she operates at Rye Patch Gold Corp.’s Florida Canyon Mine, which can be seen from Interstate 80 at Imlay.

‌Rye Patch Gold Corp. is in production and pouring gold from the Florida Canyon Mine that the company acquired last year in Pershing County. “We’re really excited,” said President and CEO William Howald. The first pour was on April 25 at the mine that first opened in 1986 along Interstate 80 between Winnemucca and Lovelock. The company reported 485 ounces of gold were poured from the new south leach pad. Rye Patch Gold also reported

602 ounces of gold poured at the end of April from residual leaching from Florida Canyon’s older operations and from the Standard Mine nearby that the company also owns. Rye Patch Gold acquired Florida Canyon and the nearby Standard Mine from ADM Gold Co. for roughly $23 million in late July 2016. The company has been upgrading facilities and the mining fleet and plans to reach commercial production in this quarter. “We started in September, and despite all the bad weather, we made it,” Howald said in a See CANYON, 18

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Canyon... Continued from 16 telephone interview. “The Florida Canyon team has done a phenomenal job on the restart of the mine, and we are excited to be Nevada’s newest gold producer,” he said in a news release after the first gold pours. Florida Canyon had 50 employees doing residual leaching and reclamation when Rye Patch Gold acquired the mine. Howald said in the interview he expected the number of employees to reach 186 in May. Some of the miners had worked at Florida Canyon in the past, but there are a number working at the mine for the first time, and Howald said the location right off I-80 makes it attractive to workers.

COURTESY OF RYE PATCH GOLD‌

Rye Patch Gold Corp. began pouring gold at its Florida Canyon Mine in Pershing County in late April. Gold came from the new leach pad and residual leaching. Crews started mining the Jasperoid Hill open pit on Nov. 1 of last year and started crushing and placing ore on the new leach pad on Dec. 24. Irrigation

of the pad began in March with cyanide added starting April 12, Howald said. There is no mining at Standard, but the company is looking at the “exploration upside between Florida Canyon and Standard,” he said. Howald said the company wanted to be sure it could operate Florida Canyon at a gold price of $1,000 an ounce before mining resumed, and the current plan is based on a gold price of $1,000 an ounce for the first two years and $1,150 an ounce in years three through eight. Gold has been in the $1,200 to $1,300 range. Rye Patch Gold’s goal is to produce 75,000 ounces a year at Florida Canyon. Work included construction of the new leach pad, upgrading and moving the crusher and upgrading the mining fleet. The company reported in

January it purchased a new Caterpillar loader to add to the two on site, and the fleet includes 11 150-ton haul trucks and five 100-ton haul trucks. Plans also include looking at the sulfide deposit beneath Florida Canyon, Howald said. There have already been about 250 drill holes, and the sulfide ore is higher grade than the oxide ore now being mined. Prior to becoming a gold producer, Vancouver-based Rye Patch Gold was an exploration company focused on the Oreana Trend in Pershing County. The company started in 2006 and went public the following year. “We control most of the land from Florida Canyon to Lovelock. We’re quite excited. We have more than 45,000 acres on the trend,” Howald said. “What’s unique about it is we See CANYON, 19

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SUMMER 2017 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada • 19

Canyon... Continued from 18 had a large package before we bought Florida Canyon.” Two of the exploration projects in the county, Lincoln Hill and Wilco, are the most advanced. Wilco has 1.6 million ounces of measured and indicated gold, and Lincoln Hill has 600,000 ounces of measured and indicated gold resources. Howald said a preliminary economic assessment has been completed on Lincoln Hill, and it is “modest but pretty economically robust.” Lincoln Hill is roughly 50-50 gold and silver while Wilco is “geologically similar to Florida Canyon,” with less silver, he said. Rye Patch is working with the

COURTESY OF RYE PATCH GOLD‌

A Caterpillar haul truck is ready to roll at the Florida Canyon Mine in Pershing County between Winnemucca and Lovelock. Rye Patch Gold Corp. refurbished the mine and has started gold production. U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s Winnemucca office on an environmental assessment that covers both Lincoln Hill and Wilco for infill drilling and bulk mineral testing. Driving See CANYON, 20

Au & Ag Deposits

T32N JTRs

Rye Patch Mine

Florida Canyon Mine

TRk JTRs

.000000

Rye Patch Deposit 4490000

TRc

Active Mine

T31N TRk

Standard Gold Mine

Deposit

TRc

TRc 4480000

.000000

JTRs

Unionville ! .

T30N

Land Status Rye Patch Gold Corp Coeur Mining

Tts

Pershing Gold Waterton

4470000

.000000

TRk

T29N

Infrastructure US Interstate: I-80 RailRoad

Spring Valley Deposit TRk

Dirt Road TRk

Gold Ridge Deposit Lincoln Hill Deposit

.000000

Rochester Mine

Colado Deposit

4460000

T28N

Paved Road

Text

HUMBOLDT

ELKO

WASHOE

TRk

PERSHING

Packard Deposit

EUREKA

LANDER

CHURCHILL WHITE PINE

Section Line Deposit

LYON

UG DO

TRk

LA S MINERAL

JTRs

NYE ESMERALDA LINCOLN

TRc

Relief Canyon Deposit

380000

.000000

390000

400000

.000000

4450000

R35E

R34E

R33E

R32E

! .

CLARK

.000000

TRc

T27N

410000

.000000

Oreana Trend Geology WBDY - Rye Patch Reservoir

Fault scarp

Qal - Alluvium, undifferentiated Qs - Sand dunes

Known fault

Queried fault

Qpl - Playa, lake bed, and flood plain deposits

Inferred fault

Qg - Glacial moraines Qb - Basalt flows

Inferred queried fault Concealed fault

QTls - Landslide deposits, colluvium, and talus (Holocene to Pliocene)

+ + +Known thrust fault

QTg - Older gravels (Pleistocene and Pliocene)

QToa - Older alluvium and alluvial fan deposits (Pleistocene and Pliocene)

QTb - Basalt flows (Holocene and Pliocene) Tba - Andesite and basalt flows (Miocene and Oligocene) Ts3 - Younger tuffaceous sedimentary rocks (Pliocene and Miocene)

Oreana Trend Land Status, Geology & Deposit Map Pershing County, Nevada

@ Concealed queried fault

QThs - Hot spring travertine, sinter, and tufa (Holocene to Pliocene)

Inferred thrust fault

@ Inferred queried thrust @ thrust fault + Queried

+ + Concealed thrust fault

Ta3 - Younger andesite and intermediate flows and breccias (Miocene) Tt3 - Younger silicic ash flow tuffs (Miocene) Tr3 - Younger rhyolitic flows and shallow intrusive rocks (Miocene) TJfi - Felsic phaneritic intrusive rocks (Miocene(?) to Jurassic(?) Kfi - Felsic phaneritic intrusive rocks (Cretaceous) Jgb - Gabbro complex, anorthosite, and albitite (Early Cretaceous to Middle Jurassic) TRfi - Felsic phaneritic intrusive rocks (Triassic) TRvm - Mafic flows and volcanic breccias (lower Upper Triassic to lower Middle Triassic) TRkv - Andesite, rhyolite, tuff, and volcaniclastic rocks (Middle and Lower Triassic) JTRs - Shale, siltstone, sandstone, and minor carbonate (Lower Jurassic to Upper Triassic) JTRs - Shale, siltstone, sandstone, and minor carbonate (Lower Jurassic to Upper Triassic) TRc - Limestone, dolomite, shale, sandstone, and conglomerate (middle Upper to upper Lower Triassic (Carnian to Spathian))

Digitized by:

Projection:

NAD 83, Zone 11

Tb3 - Basalt (Miocene)

1:60,000

WCH 1

Date:

File: Document Name: Oreana_LandStatus

Kilometers

3/3/17

Geology:

WCH Revision:

Date:

By:

20 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017

Canyon... Continued from 19 distance between the two sites is about 15 miles. Now, the capital needed to mine Lincoln Hill and Wilco should be lower because the carbon processing after ore is leached can be done at Florida Canyon, Howald said. The carbon would be trucked to Florida Canyon, eliminating the cost for carbon processing facilities at the sites. Lincoln Hill is about two miles from I-80 and there would be 17 miles to drive to Florida Canyon on the interstate. Mining Lincoln Hill and Wilco are down the road, however. “We’re really focused to get Florida Canyon up and running,” Howald said.

COURTESY OF RYE PATCH GOLD‌

Rye Patch Gold Corp. refurbished the processing plant at the company’s Florida Canyon gold mine in Pershing County, as well as doing other improvements and constructing a new leach pad. Along with the revenue from the mining at Florida Canyon and residual leaching at Florida Canyon and Standard, Rye Patch Gold also receives royalties from

Coeur Rochester Inc. as part of the settlement of a lawsuit in 2013 over mineral claims. “We make $4 million to $6 million per year from royalties,”

Howald said. Rye Patch also has other exploration sites on the Oreana Trend, including Gold Ridge, which has been drilled to the north and west of Lincoln Hill, and Panther Canyon, which is in a “very early stage,” Howald said. There also are the X Claims on the trend. Outside Pershing County, the company has the Garden Gate claims near Barrick Gold Corp.’s Goldrush exploration project. “We have done nothing on it for a year and half, but it’s still exciting. It is surrounded by Barrick,” Howald said. He said Rye Path Gold has invested more than $100 million in Pershing County over the years with exploration and now mining.

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For a full list of our current openings, please visit the Nevada Job Connect Office or email your resume and cover letter to: RNMC.Recruiting@kghm.com. Please indicate the position you are applying for. All applications/resumes will be reviewed by the respective department and only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted. If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact Human Resources (775) 289-7000 Fax (775) 289-7084 P.O. Box 382 Ruth, NV 89301.

22 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017 COMMENTARY

Women helped blaze the Nevada mining trail

evada’s mining history is ripe with stories of men making and losing fortunes on the Comstock and across the Silver State. We know, however, that women played a pivotal role in Nevada’s early mining industry. MICHAEL J. While historBROWN ical accounts of women are tougher to uncover, they are there and women played key roles in building Nevada and its original STEM industry. The contributions of these people started a great tradition of women growing and leading this industry that continues through to this day.

Women like Maggie E. Smith Johnson shaped Nevada’s early mining history in north-central Nevada. She was born into slavery in Louisiana in the mid-1800s and by 1910, she had moved to Nevada with her husband — the census named her the owner and operator of a small silver mine near Cortez. She initially made a name for herself by helping men in their conquest for silver and in 1957, the Nevada State Journal referred to her as the “Black Angel of Mill Canyon.” Jim Butler has long been celebrated as the founder of Tonopah, Nevada. It was his wife Isabella (Belle) McCormick Donohue Butler, who originally staked the claims that became the famous Mizpah Mine.

The Mizpah was one of the richest producing mines in Tonopah under the Butler claims. Jim Butler is credited with discovering the ore, but failed to demonstrate timely interest in staking a claim, so Belle took it upon herself to lead the expedition for locating claims. She struck ore a week later and staked Mizpah under her own name. Many still believe the discovery and success of the Mizpah Mine is largely due to the under-recognized efforts of “Mother of Nevada” Belle. Maym O’Connor Schweble was born in Missouri in 1874. In 1924, Schweble became one of four women elected to the Nevada Assembly, where she served one term. She and

her husband owned a small mine, which she operated, in Nye County. She listed her occupation as “prospector” and served on four Assembly committees, including Mines and Mining and Corporations and Railroads. These women and many like them helped lay the foundation for the 21st-century mining industry. Today, women are involved in all aspects of mining in Nevada, all the way up to our very own Dana Bennett, president of the Nevada Mining Association. Dr. Bennett is a trailblazer herself: a renown Nevada historian; a prominent lobbyist; and the first female president of our 104-year-old See BROWN, 25

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SUMMER 2017 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada • 23

They have a mine of their own The changing face of women in mining lies in education TONI R. MILANO tmilano@elkodaily.com‌

‌ELKO – Mining companies are looking to hire a few good women – and more. In an industry that used superstition and laws to keep women from working mining claims in the 19th and 20th centuries, the tide has turned in the new millennium and women are now sought to work in nearly every aspect of today’s multi-billion dollar corporations. “Companies are increasingly looking for women to fill jobs,” said Nevada Mining Association President Dana Bennett — a huge contrast to what women endured when they found themselves in the West during mining’s heyday over a century ago. While most know of the old, bearded prospector, some women began as a support system for miners providing “cooking, cleaning and all that stuff that allows men to go out and do other activities,” said Bennett, while others contributed in various ways, as hotel owners, mining financers and school organizers. However, in some states, including Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Washington, women were legally banned to work in a mine, said Bennett, with some men considering it bad luck for a woman to even go underground, a prevailing thought even into the 1980s. Slowly, progress was made,

according to Bennett, with other countries such as South Africa and the Philippines relaxing the laws as late as 2001. However, some women did not always follow legal and societal constraints, added Bennett. Notably, Belle Butler, founder of the Mizpah Mine that put Tonopah on the map; and Maggie E. Smith Johnson, who operated a less sizeable mine near Cortez; and Rose O’Connor, whose occupation as a miner was listed on her death certificate, were exceptions to the rule. As the 20th century progressed, women began drilling their own path in mining through a different vein — education. The former Mackay School of Mines at the University of Nevada Reno graduated two women in 1937. Renamed the Mackay School of Earth Sciences & Engineering, the college now boasts a student body that is one-third female and currently the captain of the Mackay Muckers mining team is a woman, according to Bennett. Women at Mackay have varied career options including geography, geological engineering, geophysics, hydrogeology, metallurgical engineering and mining engineering. However, there are women who are interested in the field and are willing to get their hands dirty. Great Basin College in Elko has 15 female students earning degrees or certificates in diesel, welding, electrical and millwright vocations, said Career and Technical Education Administrative Assistant Christine Marshall. See EDUCATION, 24

24 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017

Education... Continued from 23 Female students enter the technology programs for various reasons, said Marshall. Some feel at home in a shop thanks to brothers, fathers and grandfathers allowing them to work on an old truck or other mechanical projects. Others want the pay that comes with the work to make a living for them and their families. “The mines have been very supportive, and we currently have six females on scholarship with Barrick, Newmont and Round Mountain,” said Marshall, yet some of her students still feel the need to prove themselves. “I find the female students are very dedicated to succeeding – maybe to ‘show the boys’ she

TONI R. MILANO, MINING QUARTERLY‌

Throughout the 20th century, Ruth Averill, Mable Isbell and Gaylyn Spriggs had mining connections while holding office in the Nevada Legislature. can do it,” Marshall said. “I do think females have to work harder to be accepted into technical trades. One of the female electricians on internship said it took almost the entire school year to be trusted by her supervisor and co-workers to handle the job she was given. Now she is accepted as one of ‘them,’” Marshall added.

“I see an acceptance of women in the technical fields and an acceptance from society (and fellow students) that it is OK for them to be on this career path,” Marshall said. The shift into hands-on, technical work and away from clerical or administrative assistant jobs that women traditionally filled over the past century

is very apparent, and almost as dramatic as the entrance, and acceptance, of women in leadership positions a few years after Nevada voted to give women the right to vote in 1914. Entering the state legislature in the early 20th century, many women came from mining backgrounds or family connections and represented the industry as policymakers, explained Bennett. Today, the mining industry has dramatically changed, taking notice of women’s potential, added Bennett, noting that corporations see women as a benefit to their company in all areas of the industry, from haul truck drivers to geologists to corporate managers. Yet, some were hesitant to take that first step, notably when a woman who worked as an office manager for the See EDUCATION, 25

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Brown... Continued from 22 association. Prior to her role at NvMA, Bennett served as the Northern Nevada regional director for the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, published four books chronicling Nevada’s rich history, served as a research analyst for the Nevada Legislature, and owned a historical research firm.

Education... Continued from 24 NvMA was asked to become the association’s president in 1965. The woman declined it, saying that “no woman will ever be the

Today, Dr. Bennett’s research takes a different tone, as she has led our organization’s efforts to study ways to attract and retain female candidates to all levels of jobs in our companies. A recent survey of NvMA members shows that women comprise 14 percent of Nevada’s mining workforce – more than many people would expect, but numbers that we certainly hope to grow. As the historical image of mining jobs fade into the background, a new miner is being

born right in front of us: a hightech, data-driven industry built as much around computing power as it is heavy equipment. Regardless of where they might be in the process, mining jobs are excellent jobs – the pay and benefits an employee gets at a Nevada mine lead the state. These jobs are available to anybody who is willing to put in a hard day’s work. So as the industry continues to stay at the cutting edge of technology, we will also stay on the cutting edge of developing an even

stronger workforce. As the 2017 Chairman of the Nevada Mining Association Board of Directors, I am proud of the work Dana has done. As much as her knowledge of Nevada history and mining led her to the role of NvMA president, her understanding and excitement about mining’s potential and its further inclusion of women in key mining roles is critical to moving Nevada mining forward.

president of the Nevada Mining Association.” Almost 50 years later, Bennett was chosen in 2014 as the first woman president in the 104-history of the association. Women are far less hesitant to forge their own path in the mining industry today, much

of it due to the examples of first and second-generation mining families who planted the seeds of possibility in young minds, said Bennett. For young teens exploring career options, “they need to be introduced … to find out what they might like to do”

said Bennett. “There’s a lot to be said for seeing someone do a job” and the possibilities are endless for the next generation of women entering the mining industry.

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26 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017

Miners die working alone Safety board addresses recent fatalities ‌ ASHINGTON – In the W first three months of 2017, five miners died in accidents that occurred when they were working alone on mine properties. To raise awareness of the potential dangers in doing so, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration has launched an initiative to focus on the hazards miners may encounter when they work in areas away from others. MSHA announced the campaign April 25 during its quarterly training and stakeholder conference call which had more than 300 participants. The initiative calls upon

MSHA inspectors and training specialists to engage miners and mine operators in “walk and talks” during regular inspection visits. The talks will emphasize accounting for all workers at all times and providing operators with best practices for working alone. “Mine operators should have procedures in place so they can account for the whereabouts of every miner, at the beginning of the shift, while they are working and at the end of the shift,” said Patricia W. Silvey, deputy assistant secretary of labor for operations. “They should assess whether a particular task can be safely completed by a miner working alone, and always follow established communication practices.”

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28 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017

Taxing Nevada’s mines

‘Net proceeds’ not a steady revenue source for counties MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN mkobak@elkodaily.com‌

‌ELKO – Mines pay a special tax in Nevada called net proceeds of minerals, but it can take years before the state and local governments see a large increase from a new operation. Elko County’s newest mine is Newmont Mining Corp.’s Long Canyon near Oasis. Many in the community don’t understand how the tax law works,

NEVADA DEPT. OF TAXATION‌‌

so they are surprised that local governments are not receiving millions in tax dollars from the new operation. “I think people thought that

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SUMMER 2017 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada • 29

Tax... Continued from 28 net proceeds that come out of Eureka County, said Assistant Elko County Manager and CFO Cash Minor. “I think when Newmont did their economic analysis and they shared that information, I think people realized it wasn’t as big an operation as what they thought,” he said. “I think it’s a long-term operation, but they’re not going in on a large basis to mine everything at once.” The Department of Taxation determines net proceeds of minerals tax annually. The tax is based on the actual production of minerals from operating mines, oil and gas wells, and geothermal operations for the prior calendar year. The net proceeds are determined by subtracting certain deductions from the gross yield of the mine. The tax has 12 approved deductions, which include the actual cost of extracting the mineral, refining the mineral, maintenance and repairs on equipment or facilities, reclamation work and others. The tax rate applied to the net proceeds is a sliding scale between 2 and 5 percent and depends on the ratio of net proceeds to gross proceeds, according to the Department of Taxation. For example, if a company generates $1 million in net proceeds, out of a total of $2 million gross yield, then the ratio is 50 percent and the tax rate would be 5 percent. In 2015, the actual net proceeds tax paid by 119 operations totaled about $91.8 million. The counties where the mines are located received about $46 million and the state received about $45.7 million for state debt and the general fund. The counties that received the

Net proceeds received by counties in 2015-16 Churchill: $390,464 Clark: $276,467 Douglas: No active operations Elko: $2,433,791 Esmeralda: $344,196 Eureka: $8,265,574 Humboldt: $7,533,292 Lander: $19,415,077 Lincoln: $5,095 Lyon: $126,467 Mineral: $282,111 Nye: $4,360,661 Pershing: $1,361,450 Storey: $111,144 Washoe: $83,320 White Pine: $1,103,906 largest portions of net proceeds in 2015 are Lander at 32.85 percent, Eureka at 27.77 percent and Humboldt at 19.7 percent. Elko County received 5.58 percent. Elko County had 15 active operations for the 2015-16 fiscal year. Those operations paid about $5.14 million in net proceeds and royalties and the county received about $2.43 million, according to the Department of Taxation. These numbers do not include the royalties paid. Elko School District Superintendent Jeff Zander said school districts in the state are required to reserve net proceeds in the ending fund balance and appropriate them the next fiscal year. “The idea behind it, it’s a stabilization process,” he said. “Back in the day net proceeds were paid on estimates, people would appropriate in their budget based on estimates and then when the estimates didn’t show up, it caused problems. So the Legislature put a law in place that requires you to reserve that See TAX, 32

30 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017

Nevada gold production rises ADELLA HARDING Free Press Correspondent‌

‌Gold production in Nevada rose 2.4 percent in 2016 to nearly 5.47 million ounces, while silver production was down 6.4 percent to a nearly 8.89 million ounces, show new figures from the Nevada Division of Minerals. Total gold production in 2015 was nearly 5.34 million ounces, and 2015 silver production totaled a little less than 9.5 million ounces. “The value of production won’t be available until the Department of Taxation releases their Net Proceeds of Minerals bulletin,” however, said Michael Visher, deputy administrator for the minerals division, in an email in May. T h e t wo l a rge s t go l d

producers were Barrick Gold Corp. and Newmont Mining Corp. Barrick produced nearly 2.64 million ounces of the total gold production and 200,757 ounces of silver from operations on the Carlin Trend, the Cortez operations near Crescent Valley and Turquoise Ridge in Humboldt County. Newmont produced a little more than 1.63 million ounces of gold and a little more than 1.5 million ounces of silver from operations on the Carlin Trend, at Twin Creeks in Humboldt County, Long Canyon near Wells and the Lone Tree Complex. Copper production was down 9.8 percent at a little more than 160 million pounds, compared with 177.6 million pounds in 2015.

The Nevada Division of Minerals provided this chart that shows gold prices and gold production in the state. KGHM International produced a little more than 118.4 million pounds of copper at the Robinson Mine near Ely, along with 49,217 ounces of gold and 823,659 pounds of molybdenite in 2016. Newmont produced slightly

more than 41.8 million pounds of copper at its Phoenix Mine near Battle Mountain in 2016. The division’s data also provides the ounces of gold and silver produced for all the See GOLD, 31

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Gold... Continued from 30 operations in the state last year. Kinross Gold Corp. produced 500,766 ounces of gold in Nevada last year and 722,329 ounces of silver from its Bald Mountain and Round Mountain operations, and Silver Standard Resources produced 205,116 ounces of gold and 2,349 ounces of silver at Marigold. Jerritt Canyon Gold LLC produced 140,990 ounces of gold at its operations north of Elko, the figures show, down from 167,683 ounces of gold the prior year. Klondex Mines Ltd. produced 130,861 ounces of gold and 1.426 million ounces of silver last year from its Fire Creek and Midas underground operations, and the Coeur Rochester Mine near Lovelock produced 50,750 ounces of gold in 2016 and 4.56 million ounces of silver in 2016, compared with 52,588 ounces of gold and 4.63 ounces of silver in 2015. Also in 2016, Florida Canyon mining operations produced 10,873 ounces of gold and 21,898 ounces of silver, and GRP Pan produced 8,714 ounces of gold. Ruby Hill Mining produced 6,472 ounces of gold and 7,791 ounces of silver. Comstock Mining at Virginia City produced 4,086 ounces of gold and 75,657 ounces of silver in 2016, down from 2015. Comstock produced 15,451 ounces of gold and 221,723 ounces of silver in 2015, according to the division’s figures. Mineral Ridge Gold produced 36,879 ounces of gold and 16,950 ounces of silver. Rawhide Mining produced 17,972 ounces of gold and 105,413 ounces of silver. The new figures also include Sunrise Minerals producing 668 ounces of gold and 121 ounces of silver, Borealis Mining producing 618 ounces of gold and

1,511 ounces of silver and Sterling Gold Mining producing 350 ounces of gold. Dun Glen Mining produced 43 ounces of gold from placer mining, Geo-Nevada, 24 ounces of gold and 18 ounces of silver and A.U. Mines at Manhattan Gulch produced 21 ounces of gold and 8 ounces of silver. Bernell Lloyd produced 4 ounces of gold. A portion of the gold and silver is from residual leaching at mine sites that are not actively mining.

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Looking at other mineral production, barite production was way down, 55.4 percent, last year, with 230,114 tons shipped. Diatomite’s preliminary figure for 2016 production is up 5.9 percent to 240,654 tons, but dolomite production was down 2.8 percent to 323,483 tons. Lithium compounds fell 20.3 percent to a little more than 9.33 million pounds, according to the division’s preliminary figures for the state. Geothermal energy sold totaled a little more than 3.3 million megawatt hours, up 6.2 percent, while the amount of oil sold in 2016 was down 1.2 percent to 278,599 barrels. Mo lyb d e n i te p ro d u c tion dropped 9 percent to 823,659 pounds. The biggest drop in production in 2016 was in perlite, down 90.7 percent to 2,408 tons, while the largest increase in production was in shipped salt, 19,110 tons, up 64 percent. Other production figures include: gypsum, nearly 3.18 million tons, down 6.4 percent; limestone, a little more than 3.2 million tons, down 4.8 percent; magnesium compounds shipped, 110,000 tons, up 0.9 percent in 2016; silica sand shipped, 754,852 tons, down 3 percent; specialty clays, 100,447

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32 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017

Tax... Continued from 29 one year in advance before it can be appropriated.” By statute, the district receives 75 cents of every $100 of assessed valuation from net proceeds that goes into the general fund and 75 cents of every $100, which goes into the pay-as-you-go fund, Zander said. “Realistically, nowadays we probably see anywhere from about $500,000 to maybe $1 million in net proceeds annually in each one of those funds,” he said. “To properly put that in perspective our general fund this year is about $85 million.” The school district receives about 60 percent of the net proceeds sent to the county, Minor said. The balance of the funds is allocated to the different tax rates. The government funds

that receive a portion of net proceeds includes the County general fund, indigent fund, library, senior citizens services, Elko County Fair Board, the Elko Convention and Visitors Authority and the TV District and others. “Every fund that receives ad valorem tax, receives a piece of net proceeds,” Armuth said. “It’s technically still a property tax.” The cities in Elko county don’t normally receive much from net proceeds because the mines and other extractive industries are not located in their geographic areas. Historically the County put net proceeds into capital funds, because staff considers it a “volatile” tax. Many factors — from the price of gold to an incident at a mine — can affect the amount. “The problem with net proceeds is it can go up or down 10,000 percent in a year, you can’t rely on it,” Minor said. “It

can be here one year and gone the next.” For a few years, including the 2016-17 budget, the County used some net proceeds in the operating funds. Armuth said net proceeds were put in operating to increase the ending fund balance. The County is in the process of weaning its operating funds off net proceeds. For several years, during the Great Recession, mines prepaid net proceeds to the state and local governments. Legislation was passed in December 2008 to “accelerate the payment of net proceeds.” The rule of when mines paid net proceeds changed for the 2016-17 fiscal year, Armuth said. “In order to get back on track with actuals, we didn’t receive any payment for one year, for the ’16-17 year,” she said. “They had already prepaid, so they didn’t want us including

any revenue because those mines had theoretically prepaid that tax for ’16-17,” Armuth said. “Now there are a couple that are going to have to pay because they didn’t pay enough.” However, the Department of Taxation didn’t tell the County which mines still have to pay, and the County has not received any net proceeds this fiscal year. Minor and Armuth said it will be better for local governments to not receive prepayments. A couple years ago the County had to refund Newmont Mining Corp. about $1 million because the mine overpaid. Minor said the company was refunded after it sold the Midas Mine. Now, net proceeds are projected by the mining companies in February, but local governments won’t receive funds from that tax until June of the following year, Armuth said.

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34 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017

Mining, pizza lead to love, marriage CYNTHIA DELANEY cdelaney@elkodaily.com‌

‌ELKO – George Fennemore came to Elko chasing gold and stayed for love. Fennemore, who came to Elko as a dewatering specialist for Barrick Gold Corp’s Cortez Mine, is now manager of growth for Barrick Nevada. Since the early days in the ‘90s he has patronized the Stray Dog Pub and Café often. He is a frequent diner with a hankering for pizza. Fennemore does not eat just any pizza. Early on he came up with a combination of his favorite items and ordered it so often that other diners started requesting the specialty.

George and Melissa Fennemore share a Famous George pizza at the Stray Dog Pub and Cafe in Elko. CYNTHIA DELANEY,

See MARRIAGE, 35

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SUMMER 2017 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada • 35

Marriage... Continued from 34 “It’s a traditional guy pizza, just with pesto sauce,” said Fennemore, implying there is a lot of meat. The item became so popular that bar owners Mike and Colette Reynolds added it to their menu, calling it the “Famous George Pizza.” One night Fennemore was calmly sitting at the Stray Dog eating his favorite meal when fate and Cupid’s razor-sharp arrow struck. “I was sitting there when I saw the most beautiful woman in the world walk in,” Fennemore reminisced. Melissa Crowder, a Elko High School graduate, returned to town after going to school in Texas. On that momentous day she strolled into the Stray Dog to meet friends. She noticed Fennemore and thought she recognized him from a previous introduction years before. She asked the bartender if that was the “George” that the pizza on the menu was named after and he confirmed her suspicion. She walked up and said hello. “I was tongue-tied,” he said about his incoherently mumbled reply. Crowder thought that was odd but that he probably did not remember her from the brief encounter years before, so she moved on. After she left, Fennemore managed to get her name from the bartender and hoped he would see her again. “I swore that if she ever came in again I would do a better job of talking,” he said. The next time they met Fennemore was more composed. They got to know each

other, going on long walks together around Elko. The courtship grew but it took different paths for the two individuals. Fo r C rowd e r, a se n i o r accountant at Newmont Mining Corp’s North American Regional Office, the path to love took a slower course but after about a month and a half she realized George was the guy. For the longest time she thought they were just friends. At one point Crowder asked her beau, “How long have we been dating now?” Fennemore replied that it depended because he had been dating her a lot longer than she had been dating him. He was completely sure from day one. When quizzed about how long the two had been married, Fennemore, who has a PhD. in mathematics, replied, “Five years, 10 months, six days, and two hours.” The two agree that Elko is a major mining hub and that the combination of mining educational opportunities in the form of Great Basin College and local career options make for a perfect match. They enjoy meeting the sons and daughters of people they have worked with for years who have chosen to stay and continue the mining trend. The Stray Dog continues to be a frequent haunt and the Fennemores attribute their happiness to both the pizza and the productive mining environment in which they met. “We want to make this last,” said George. “We want to keep going with our careers in the mining industry.” “I appreciate the things now in Elko that I didn’t when I was 18,” said Melissa.

36 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017

Innovation at RheoMinerals Company used collaboration to grow business

JANET HOOK Mining Quarterly Correspondent‌

‌FERNLEY — When oil and gas drilling in North America nearly came to a halt, RheoMinerals Inc. took the opportunity to develop overseas partnerships to manufacture organophilic clay additives that improve oil and gas drilling fluids and to expand its customer base to include absorbent additives for animal feed and environmental applications. Nearly three years ago, Hectatone, then a wholly owned See INNOVATION, 37

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SUMMER 2017 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada • 37

Innovation... Continued from 36 subsidiary of Western Lithium USA Corp, held a ceremony to dedicate its clay processing plant in Fernley. The plan was to manufacture a full line of organophilic clay mineral products in a state-of-the-art facility using clay from the shallow hectorite clay deposit in northern Humboldt County. One of the featured products was to be specialty drilling fluid additives for the oil and gas industry. But just then the level of drilling fell off. “That was right when they stopped fracking,” said assistant plant manager, Josh Collins. “That slowed down business for us.” “While the downturn in the oilfield was untimely for a start-up company, the RMI team quickly adapted and in 2017 is benefiting from its efforts,” said RheoMinerals’ president and CEO, Frank B. Wright Jr. “RMI will continue to focus on growth through innovation, collaboration, and excellence.”

Hectatone transforms into RheoMinerals‌ In 2016, Hectatone’s parent company, Western Lithium USA Corp., merged with the Canadian company, Lithium Americas Corp. Its wholly owned subsidiaries also changed names. Western Lithium Corp. became Lithium Nevada Corp. and Hectatone Inc. re-launched its brand, changing its name to RheoMinerals Inc. “When I joined RMI in 2014, the company was in the commissioning phase of the Fernley plant,” Wright said. “The

COURTESY OF RHEOMINERALS INC.‌

Frank B. Wright Jr., president and CEO, and Jerry McNamara, vice president operations, are leading the RMI team into a new era of innovation, collaboration and excellence.

Growth initiatives based on collaboration‌

OXANA SYLVESTER, MINING QUARTERLY‌

RheoMinerals Inc. organophilic clay manufacturing plant is in Fernley. plant was built to manufacture products for drilling fluids using hectorite clay from Lithium Nevada’s Kings Valley deposit, located in northern Humboldt County. With the precipitous decline in drilling activity in North America, RMI began to introduce more traditional organophilic clay products to accelerate entry into a very competitive market.” RMI manufactures rheological additives for drilling fluids, industrial coatings applications, absorbent products for environmental uses and animal nutrition markets. The products are organically modified clay minerals, traditionally using bentonite and sepiolite

clays. Additionally, the company developed new products that enable greater efficiencies during the oil and gas drilling process. Schlumberger Oilfield Glossary describes the term rheology as the deformation and flow of matter, an extremely important property of drilling muds. Traditional drilling fluids tend to break down and lose efficiency in oil wells working in high pressure—high temperature conditions. “The new branding completes a successful business transition to a broader range of markets in the aftermath of challenging market conditions in the energy sector,” said Wright.

RMI and The Delmon Company of Saudi Arabia are collaborating in the design and construction of a manufacturing facility for specialty additives, initially organophilic bentonite and organophilic leonardite products used in oil based drilling fluids for the Middle East and North African markets. RheoMinerals and Delmon signed a technology KnowHow and Technical Assistance agreement in October 2016. The Delmon Group is a leading supplier of oilfield minerals to Aramco, the state-owned oil company of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Jerry McNamara, vice-president of operations for RheoMinerals, will act as the co-project manager for the project. Michael Foust, manager for business development, is a specialist in drilling fluids with experience in domestic and global drilling products. See INNOVATION, 38

38 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017

Innovation... Continued from 37

OXANA SYLVESTER, MINING QUARTERLY‌

Environmental Director Catherine Clark, left, and Assistant Plant Manager Josh Collins show the different products being manufactured from bentonite and sepiolite clays.

We drill rock.

Tom Powell is manager of clay operations with over 30 years in industrial minerals, specialty clays, and organophilic clays. “Our collaboration efforts with The Delmon Group should yield great long-term benefits to both of our organizations,” McNamara said. “We gain the ability to have our products sold in the MENA markets and The Delmon Group will gain full access to the technical capabilities of RMI.” RMI has also entered into a strategic partnership with TOLSA, a world leader in clay technologies. Under this partnership, TOLSA is manufacturing high purity hectorite products in Spain using hectorite from Lithium Nevada’s Kings

Valley project. RMI has successfully completed manufacturing trials for products using high purity clays from TOLSA. These products provide innovative and cost effective solutions that improve the function of drilling fluids in demanding drilling environments. “The alliance with TOLSA continues to unfold new opportunities by combining resources from each company and through joint collaboration with other industry leaders,” Wright said. “The TOLSA Group owns and operates a large bentonite mine in Argentina. This bentonite will be exported to The Delmon Group in Saudi Arabia for use in water based drilling fluids and as a raw material for manufacturing organophilic bentonites at the manufacturing facility that is a joint Delmon Group and See INNOVATION, 40

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Innovation... Continued from 38 RMI effort.”

The plant‌

Catherine Clark is the environmental director for Lithium Nevada Corp. and when requested, also supports RheoMinerals. “When looking for a facility for this plant, we researched everything between the mine site north of Winnemucca and Reno,” she said. “This facility actually had everything we needed: the existing buildings, access close to the highway and close to the rail. The main thing was electricity, natural gas, and water were already here.” The site is located on a fiveacre parcel just south of I-80 in Fernley. It used to be the lumber

yard for Kent’s Supply Center. “Most of these facilities were here and all we did was slightly alter that back end for our plant and everything else fits really well,” said Clark. “It’s very exciting right now,” Collins said. “We are about to be a 24/7 operation. Currently we employ about twenty people and we’re looking at hiring two more shifts of five people per shift.” As with any big project, once it gets up and running it is time to tweak the machinery and the processes. New machinery will be installed in the next six months to a year that will get existing as well as new products out more efficiently. “As we completed validation of our manufacturing processes and plant, it was apparent that we would need to make some changes to increase our overall capacities and capabilities. We

are lucky enough to have innovative employees that have plant start up experience and excel at determining root causes of the manufacturing issues we have had to date,” said McNamara. “We’ll be going to a new conveying system that can transport about twice what we can produce through other pieces of equipment. We are also upgrading to a new type of packer for filling our bags. So we are ramping up for more throughput— tons per hour,” Collins said. The additive for the animal feed is currently being exported worldwide. The drilling fluid additive products are sold within the US with a few exports. The hectorite clay is still in the picture for the future of the company. “This is the hectorite clay from northern Nevada,” Clark said referring to a stockpile outside the plant. “It has

been crushed to 90 percent one-quarter-inch. Hunewill Construction Company in Winnemucca mined it and crushed it for us, so keep it local.” “I feel so very fortunate to work with not only the team at Lithium Americas but to work with the team at RMI, especially the core group that have persisted from the beginning. They work hard. They are creative and they are innovative. This opportunity has been very demanding, but because I’m working with some really talented people, it’s been fun,” Wright said.

Organophilic clay‌

Organophilic clays can absorb oil and are well suited for use in oil based environments. Untreated, most clays absorb See INNOVATION, 41

SUMMER 2017 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada • 41

Innovation... Continued from 40 and retain water which is why they make good liners for facilities such as ponds. When the clay is treated with quaternary fatty-acid amine, the clay is transformed from a water-loving clay into an organic or oil-loving clay. Bentonite, hectorite, and sepiolite clays are well suited for treatment with amine and are used to manufacture a variety of drilling fluid additives, decontamination agents, and even materials to remove toxins from animal feed. “The surface chemistry of bentonite clay platelets, primarily sodium cations, enables the reaction with organic compounds such as quaternary ammonium chlorides,” Wright explained. “The reaction

transforms the hydrophilic bentonite into an organophilic bentonite. Once it is organophilic, the bentonite can be used as an additive in oil based drilling fluids where it functions to remove drill solids, lubricate the drilling bit, and maintain well bore stability.”

Animal feed, environmental applications, drilling fluids‌ RMI’s animal nutrition and environmental applications business was described by Wright as a collaborative effort with Bentonite Performance Minerals, a Halliburton company. BPM is a leading global supplier of bentonite products over a wide range of applications with bentonite mines located in Wyoming and Montana. “The collaboration with BPM

OXANA SYLVESTER, MINING QUARTERLY‌

Assistant Plant Manager Josh Collins talks about the future plans for the RheoMinerals plant. has resulted in a significant amount of business into the animal nutrition industry. The prospects for environmental applications are very encouraging,” Wright said. Geosynthetic organophilic clay liners are used for the impoundment of industrial waste water. If the impoundment is to be built in porous

soils, geosynthetic liners made of organophilic clays can be used to grab the organic molecules out of the water but let the clean water pass through into the soil. Organophilic clay products are also used in soil remediation with contaminated soils to stabilize the hydrocarbons to prevent leaching into nearby clean soil. The soil containing the stabilized hydrocarbons can be disposed in landfills. “While RMI has established itself as a reliable source for traditional organophilic bentonite products used in drilling fluids, the company has developed new low shear rheology products that will improve fluid management and increase the rate of drilling. These products are being introduced in the second quarter of 2017,” said Wright.

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Mining claims increasing in Nevada ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly Correspondent‌

‌Exploration in Nevada is seeing better days, according to the Nevada Division of Minerals and U.S. Bureau of Land Management numbers. “Compared to previous years, exploration expenditures are on the rise as more investment capital is flowing into Nevada to fund these activities,” said Richard Perry, administrator of the minerals division. He also said gold production rose 2.4 percent in 2016 to nearly 5.5 million ounces. A map and chart on the minerals division website shows that mining claims for the assessment year 2017 totaled 178,176, compared with 163,542 claims in Nevada in the 2016 See CLAIMS, 43

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Claims... Continued from 42

assessment year. The division receives fees assessed on claims. Exploration interest has nearly doubled in the BLM’s Battle Mountain district. Kyle Hendrix, the public affairs officer for the Battle Mountain office, said the district had 44 notice-level exploration projects from September to April of the 2015-2016 fiscal year, but 84 notice-level projects from September 2016 to April 2017. The BLM’s Ely district isn’t seeing as much of a change, however. “There are currently 48 notice-level or plan of operations authorized in the district. This number has remained steady,” said Stephanie Trujillo, assistant field manager for lands and minerals in the Bristlecone

Field Office. The Elko BLM office reported the number of exploration notices and plans for fiscal year 2016 up to May 1. “We have received two new plans of operations and 13 new notices for mineral exploration in that time,” said Greg Deimel, public affairs specialist for the Elko district. The Winnemucca BLM district currently has 20 exploration permits, according to Terah Malsom, public affairs specialist with the district. The Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology’s exploration survey for 2015-2016 that was released in early March also reported exploration spending was expected to increase this year. The Nevada Division of Minerals supported the survey. “Despite the downturn in the commodities sector, an encouraging 51 percent of Nevada

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exploration companies forecast they plan to spend more in 2017 on exploration and 37 percent expect to spend the same,” authors Michael Ressel and David Davis wrote. A minimum of $324.8 million went toward exploration in Nevada in 2016, down by 6.4 percent from the $347.5 million spent in 2015 and down more than half from 2011 when exploration spending reached $674.7 million, the survey states. Exploration expenditures fell 52 percent in the state between 2011 and 2016. The report states that during that time spending to explore for gold and geothermal resources were cut essentially in half, exploration for industrial minerals, including lithium, showed a steady rise. During those years, gold prices slipped from a London afternoon fixing price of $1,895 an ounce in September 2011 to the range of

roughly $1,200 to $1,350, with the highest 2017 price as of early May at $1,284.15 an ounce on April 13, according to Kitco data. The report states that gold exploration took about 86 percent of the exploration expenditures in 2016, with two primarily gold-producing companies contributing roughly 38 percent of the total. Gold explorers contributed 44 percent of expenditures, while a boom in lithium interest showed roughly 2.3 times the expenditures in 2016 than 2015. The survey also found that exploration employment was up in 2016, with surveyed companies directly employing 808 people last year, up 8 percent from the 746 employed in 2015. Still, that was considerably down from the 1,040 employees reported for 2011.

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44 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017

Mining companies explore in, near operations ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly correspondent‌

‌Mining companies with operations in Nevada are exploring for minerals on and near their operations to keep producing into the future, and they also are keeping an eye out for potential gold finds in the state. Mines kept operating as gold prices fell from a high of nearly $1,900 an ounce to lows in the $1,100 range to the current range of $1,200 to $1,300, but the lower prices froze exploration investments for junior exploration companies. “Newmont is very bullish on Nevada. It is very perspective for gold, and our budget reflects that,” said Wayne Trudel, group executive for North American exploration for Newmont

Mining Corp. “Our budget stayed consistent, but the junior markets got hit hard. Funding sources of juniors dried up.” Newmont has kept its exploration budget steady in Nevada in good and bad times because of its strong belief in the potential of the Great Basin, Trudel said. Newmont owns or controls between 2.8 million and 2.9 million acres in Nevada, including its ranches. Newmont holds mineral rights on the ranchland, too. Trudel said Newmont is exploring in and around all its mine sites in the state and looks for potential projects across Nevada. “Newmont is actively engaging with companies in the Great Basin for any opportunities,” he said.

The land around Newmont’s Long Canyon Mine near Wells in Elko County has sparked an exploration surge in recent years, and Newmont continues to explore in the mine’s vicinity. Long Canyon went into commercial production last November. “Eastern Nevada has received a lot of focus,” Trudel said. Newmont also explores on the Carlin Trend, at the Phoenix gold and copper mine near Battle Mountain and at Twin Creeks near Golconda, Trudel said. Exploration north of Carlin is both in and around underground and surface mines. An underground exploration project, called the Twin Creeks Underground, may soon become a mining operation at the Twin Creeks Mine in Humboldt

County. Newmont stated in its first-quarter earnings report that an investment decision will be made in the second half of this year, with production planned for 2018. “We don’t know the exact date to go into production. We’re exploring all options,” Trudel said. Newmont also is 25 percent owner of the Turquoise Ridge underground mine near Twin Creeks, and operator Barrick Gold Corp. is exploring there. Trudel said he was aware drilling companies are having problems filling crew slots since exploration is picking up in Nevada, but Newmont hasn’t had any difficulties because of its steady relationship with See EXPLORE, 46

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46 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017

Explore... Continued from 44 those types of businesses.

Silver Standard‌

At Silver Standard Resources Inc.’s Marigold Mine at Valmy, exploration in the first quarter of this year focused on conversion of mineral resources to reserves near existing open pits, and the mine’s general manager, Duane Peck, said Marigold is always actively exploring. “Marigold is a great mining camp. There are great opportunities here,” he said. Close to 4.5 million ounces of gold have been mined from Marigold over the years, and there are 2.8 million ounces in reserves, which Peck said provide eight to nine years of mine life.

Drilling has focused on the Mackay Pit, which is the site of current mining, and at the Valmy and Battle Cry targets. Battle Cry is on the Valmy property. Marigold acquired the Valmy property to the east of the mine from Newmont in 2013. Newmont mined three small pits on the Valmy property in the late 1990s and early 2000s. “The most recent exploration also looked at deeper, different styles of mineralization, as well as looking for oxide,” Peck said. “We’re looking below the oxide horizon. It could be refractory or carbonaceous. We just want to see if we can find a substantial high-grade deposit.” Marigold’s exploration budget is roughly $5 million this year, and Peck said that has been “pretty typical of the last seven or eight years.” The exploration continued at Marigold during the downturn,

when gold prices started dropping in 2013, he said, noting that the mine invested during the upswing in gold prices from 2010 to 2013 to help sustain operations and grow later. “We invested it wisely, and it enabled us to compete at these lower gold prices,” Peck said. “Of course, the price of gold makes a difference. Marigold is very low grade so we use economy of scale. We’re mining more tons at lower costs,” Peck said. Marigold also is seeing that one of the signs of increased exploration in Nevada is the problem drilling companies are not providing enough people for the drill shifts, said James Carver, chief geologist for Marigold. “They need to rebuild their workforce,” he said.

Barrick Gold‌

Barrick Gold Corp. has

increased exploration in the underground at its Goldstrike property. The company has six drill rigs underground, said Chuck Pollard, operations superintendent. He has been at the site for 22 years and he has never seen the corporation put this large of an exploration program together for the mine. “I think that’s due to, I think, our workforce and our team that has proven to our company that we will deliver on what we say we will do,” he said. Cortez Underground continues to expand and the company is working on twin declines with a conveyor belt to reach the deeper ore body. The first decline is projected to finish in the first quarter of 2018, said Theo Kandawasvika, underground technical services superintendent. See EXPLORE, 47

SUMMER 2017 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada • 47

Explore... Continued from 46 Barrick also continues exploration, with the Goldrush Project near the Cortez Mine potentially becoming a mining operation by 2021. The company wrote in an exploration update earlier this year that plans call for 450,000 ounces of gold production per year the first five years as an underground mine. The company also is continuing exploration in its Red Hill zone and plans to start the permitting process next year. Goldrush now has 9.6 million ounces of measured and indicated gold resources and 1.9 million ounces of inferred gold resources. At the Cortez operations in Lander County, exploration is planned to expand underground

mining into the Deep South area at Cortez Hills. Barrick reported earlier this year that the project is on track to contribute more than 300,000 ounces of gold per year between the years 2022 and 2026. The permitting process is under way, and Barrick estimates the U.S. Bureau of Land Management will provide a record of decision in 2019 or 2020. Barrick also is looking at constructing a third shaft at the Turquoise Ridge underground operations in Humboldt County. The company wrote that with development of a third production shaft, the mine has the potential to increase production to an average of 500,000 ounces of gold a year from existing reserves. The mine produced 355,000 ounces of gold last year. Barrick wrote that at the end

of last year Turquoise Ridge had 4 million ounces of gold reserves for the company’s 75 percent ownership, at high grades, and the deposit remains open to the northeast with major potential through exploration drilling. Newmont Mining Corp. owns the other 25 percent of Turquoise Ridge.

Klondex Mines‌

Klondex Mines Ltd. is exploring at its producing Fire Creek and Midas underground mines and at the Hollister property that the company acquired last fall. “I am certainly very optimistic and bullish on our properties. They are very target-rich, and we have had some spectacular drilling results from Fire Creek,” said Brian Morris, senior vice president of exploration. “Fire Creek is one of the highest-grade gold mines in

production in the world now.” The average gold equivalent grade is 1.226 ounces per ton for the 294,000 ounces of reserves at Fire Creek in Lander County. Gold equivalent includes silver. At Midas, there is surface drilling to the east and drilling in the Trinity Zone to the south of the mine. Ore from Midas and Fire Creek is processed at the Midas mill, which Morris said is at full capacity. At Hollister, mining had stopped after previous owners mined roughly 425,000 ounces of high-grade ore so Klondex is focusing on rehabilitating and developing the underground mine while also doing infill drilling at the Gloria Zone, he said. “We will ramp up for production over this year,” Morris said. The company also plans See EXPLORE, 48

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48 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017

Explore... Continued from 47 more surface drilling this year at Hollister. Waterton Global Mining Co. laid off 182 people at Hollister and the Aurora mill in November 2013 after Great Basin Gold went bankrupt. Klondex acquired the properties from Waterton. At the Aurora property in Esmeralda County, work has been at the mill, and no exploration is planned this year. However, Morris said the site “is target rich, so we look forward to some drilling.” Morris said Klondex struggled when the gold price dropped, but the company is self-funded and supports its own exploration with cash flow. “Our budget very much hinged on the price of gold,”

he said, adding that as the gold price rises, more can be diverted to exploration. Morris said Klondex hasn’t suffered from a shortage of drilling crews because it has had a continuous working relationship with American Drilling.

Premier Gold‌

Premier Gold Mines Ltd., a 40 percent partner in the South Arturo Mine operated by Barrick Gold on the Carlin Trend, has three active exploration projects in Nevada, including at South Arturo. Charlie Ronkos, executive vice president of project development for the Americas for Premier, said the other two projects are Goldbanks, south of Winnemucca, and McCoy Cove, south of Battle Mountain. “We’re very bullish on the potential for Nevada,” Ronkos said.

At Goldbanks, Premier is the operator of the exploration project and earning into the project in a 50-50 joint venture with Kinross Gold Corp. “We plan to start drilling there any day,” Ronkos said. He said Goldbanks is a project that has had substantial drilling over the years and has an openpit resource. “Recently, Kinross did deeper holes and hit high grades,” Ronkos said. Premier is 100 percent owner of McCoy Cove, which was an operating surface and underground mine. Brent Kristoff, senior vice president of operations for Premier, said Premier has a substantial budget for both drilling and updating a preliminary economic analysis for a potential underground mine at McCoy Cove. Kristoff said that Premier

acquired the project from Victoria Gold Corp. in 2012 and consolidated the land package from Newmont in 2013. Premier expects to complete the analysis by the fourth quarter, and if it is positive, the company will start underground development work. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s environmental assessment allows test mining, “so we will be doing that in the last half of 2018 and early 2019,” Kristoff said. Ronkos said there are 1.55 million ounces of underground gold resources, and the underground mine would go under the Cove Pit and head north. According to Ontario-based Premier’s first-quarter earnings report, the joint venture with Barrick at South Arturo is continuing advancement of three See EXPLORE, 49

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Explore... Continued from 48 additional mining opportunities. These are the El Nino underground project and two potential surface mining projects. A plan of operations for a ramp at El Nino has been submitted to regulatory authorities, reported Premier, which acquired its share of the South Arturo site from Goldcorp Inc. in 2014.

Kinross Gold‌

Kinross Gold Corp. is “proud to operate in a world-class mining jurisdiction” with its Bald Mountain and Round Mountain mines, and the company has exploration projects at both mines, said Louie Diaz, director of corporate communications. “A priority for 2017 is to further realize the potential for Bald Mountain. We plan to spend approximately $9 million in exploration this year at Bald Mountain with the goal of upgrading resources in the North and South areas of the property,” he said. Diaz said Kinross sees development of Bald Mountain in White Pine County unfolding in four steps, with the first beginning with acquisition of the mine from Barrick in January 2016. “We accomplished that objective ahead of schedule, adding one million ounces of reserves at year-end 2016, doubling the reserve estimates. We also added resources to keep our pipeline full,” he said. The second step was doubling production from 2016, and Diaz said Kinross is on track to reach roughly 260,000 ounces of gold equivalent ounces of production this year. The third step will be adding new production from the South area to be similar to that from the North area, and Diaz said this will include advancing the

Vantage Complex development project. Major construction work is expected to begin in the first half of next year. “The fourth step will be about pursuing additional targets at Bald Mountain’s under-explored and very large” land package of 231.7 square miles, Diaz said. At Round Mountain in Nye County, the company’s priority is completing a feasibility study for Phase W in the third quarter and make a development decision. “The scope of the Phase W expansion project involves changes to site infrastructure and processing facilities, and a substantial pre-stripping campaign to access a deeper extension of the mineralized zone,” Diaz said.

Coeur Mining‌

Coeur Mining Inc. mines for silver and gold at the Rochester Mine near Lovelock, and the company reported it is looking at greenfield projects in Nevada, as well as potential exploration targets near the mine. Greenfield describes new targets that aren’t at active mines. Renaissance Gold Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Ronald Parratt said the company has a deal with Coeur for greenfield exploration anywhere in the state. He also said Renaissance recently drilled the Arabia Project for Coeur. That project is roughly 25 miles from the Rochester Mine. Rochester, meanwhile, is constructing its stage IV leach pad and expects to complete that in the third quarter, according to Coeur’s first-quarter earnings report. Coeur, headquartered in Chicago since 2013, also operates the Kensington Mine in Alaska, the Wharf Mine in South Dakota and San Bartolome in Bolivia.

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50 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017

More exploring for precious metals ADELLA HARDING Mining Quarterly correspondent‌

‌Gold and silver exploration is on the upswing in Nevada after a slow spell, and that is good news for exploration and drilling companies. “Exploration is up. There is a mood of optimism,” said Roger Steininger, chief geoscience officer for NuLegacy Gold Corp., which is focused on the Cortez Trend. He said interest in exploration and the amount of money NuLegacy and others are attracting from investors started improving last fall and is continuing into this year. “This is strictly my view. We’ve reached a stable price of gold and people are comfortable

with it,” Steininger said. “The last five or six years have been difficult. When the economy is down, and the price of gold is down, people aren’t interested in investing. Since about

2011-2012 has been a pretty bare time,” he said. “We raised about $16 million last year,” after the money started to flow again, Steininger said. “We’re spending the money

very carefully.” Ronald Parratt, president and chief executive officer of Renaissance Gold Inc. in Reno, agreed the “last five years have been pretty dry. Junior companies had trouble raising money. This year it has improved.” He said “it seems as though more money is being raised. My guess is we are ahead of last year.” David Shaddrick, president of the Nevada Minerals Exploration Coalition, agreed the past few years “have been very difficult for explorers in Nevada and worldwide,” but there is improvement. “There is a slow increase in available funding, and we are all hopeful that 2017 will, in fact, See METALS, 52

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Metals... Continued from 50 be a turn-around year,’’ he said. “ A critical feature of the exploration industry is that it depends in large measure on venture capital, which in turn depends in large part on the worldwide perception of Nevada as a venue for investment.” Shaddrick said the venture capital is raised in international capital markets, but it is spent in Nevada, mostly in rural communities. Steininger said drilling companies currently are very busy, and their biggest challenge is getting competent drilling crews. Larry Pisto, vice president of North American operations for Major Drilling, agreed hiring and training crews is a challenge because a lot of those laid off in the downturn have found other

work or are no longer interested in drilling. “We have to train from scratch in some cases,” he said, adding that it costs Major $4,000 to $6,000 per person to fly them to Salt Lake City for five days of classroom training and then pay the new person while he doubles up with an experienced driller until ready to be on his own. “The mining industry and exploration pays extremely well, and you don’t need a college degree,” Pisto said. During the downturn, Major went from about 40 rigs operating in the United States to about a dozen, for about a two-thirds drop, and revenue also dropped by two-thirds. New Brunswick, Canada-based Major Drilling Group International Inc. has a philosophy of remaining debt-free, which helped in the slow times, Pisto said. “ N o w, e v e r y b o d y i s

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recovering. We’re bouncing back up,” he said. “I am a shortterm pessimist and a longterm optimist.” Major Drilling has eight or nine drilling rigs operating in Nevada at operating mines and exploration projects, he said. Boart Longyear is forecasting a growing demand for drilling equipment and services. Boart Longyear President and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Olsen reported exploration worldwide is off to a strong start this year for “many exploration companies in select commodity markets, and that is boding well for suppliers of drilling equipment and ancillary services for the global mining exploration industry. “We continue to see positive signs in the market, including elevated prices for gold, copper and other key commodities. Equity raisings for junior mining companies improved notably in

the second half of 2016 and all of this is contributing to increasing levels of drilling,” Olsen said. Boart Longyear stated in a May report that hot commodities this year include base metals zinc, copper and nickel, in line with the continued strong gold price. The gold price is up more than 10 percent this year despite a high U.S. dollar and the talk of rate increases by the Federal Reserve, Boart Longyear wrote. If the recovery in commodity prices continues, the impact on exploration budgets could be profound and should produce an immediate effect for suppliers of drilling equipment and services, according to the Salt Lakebased company.

Projects‌

Renaissance has three earn-in agreements with Kinross Gold Corp. and a deal with Coeur See METALS, 54

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54 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017

Metals... Continued from 52 Mining “for us to do generative work. We just completed drilling in another deal with Coeur, and there is another we are confident we will drill,” Parratt said. He said Renaissance will probably drill five properties this year. “We’re feeling OK, but not over the top enthusiastic, but it’s better than the past five years,” Parratt said. The deal with Coeur is for greenfield exploration anywhere in the state, but the property Renaissance recently drilled for Coeur was roughly 25 miles from the Coeur Rochester silver and gold mine in Pershing County, called the Arabia Project. The Arabia Project, which is in early stages, is near old gold and silver mining north of Lovelock. Another project is Buffalo

Canyon in Nye County. Renaissance also acquired two sites in Elko County earlier this year, Spruce East and Diamond Point. “So it is shaping up to be a good, active year for us,” said Parratt. Renaissance spun off from AuEx Ventures in 2010 when Fronteer acquired AuEx for the Long Canyon exploration project near Wells. Newmont Mining Corp. later acquired Fronteer and is now mining at Long Canyon. NuLegacy’s Red Hill exploration site near Barrick Gold Corp.’s Goldrush discovery near Barrick’s Cortez mining operations includes the Iceberg and Avocado projects that will be drilled this season. “We’re still drilling to see how big Iceberg is,” Steininger said. He said there were four holes drilled at Avocado last year, but that wasn’t enough to tell how much gold might be found. A drilling rig is now on site, and

there will be more drilling on Iceberg this year. “We’re very bullish” on the projects with near-surface oxidized gold found at Iceberg, Steininger said, but he said exploration of the sites is taking longer than expected because of the slowdown in exploration funding that started in about 2011. NuLegacy, which has an operations office in Reno and administrative office in Vancouver, has a 55-square-mile land position of mining claims, and the company’s two biggest shareholders are Barrick and OceanaGold Corp., Steininger said. “We have a very good working relationship with Barrick,” he said. West Kirkland Mining Inc. is “on the brink to make a decision” whether to mine the Hasbrouck gold project at Tonopah, said Sandy McVey, chief operations officer. “With the green light, we

could pour gold within a year.” The company already has the necessary permits for mining the first pit and is in the processing of obtaining permits for the second open pit at Hasbrouck, which is the site of older mining and was explored by Allied Nevada before West Kirkland acquired the project. “We’re not waiting on permits but on whether shareholders want to have a mine or hold the deposit,” McVey said. Once West Kirkland has a decision on mining, the company plans more aggressive exploration on the property, which is made up of both public and private land, he said. “We’re not drilling right now but might do some more later this year,” McVey said. West Kirkland out of Vancouver has a 75 percent interest in the Hasbrouck gold project and See METALS, 55

SUMMER 2017 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada • 55

Metals... Continued from 54 is permitting for surface mining at the Three Hills open pit and the larger Hasbrouck pit. The remaining 25 percent is owned by Clover Nevada LLC, a subsidiary of Waterton Precious Metals Fund. West Kirkland reported on May 9 it had reached an agreement with Newmont Mining Corp. to exchange West Kirkland’s interests in the TUG exploration property near Newmont’s Long Canyon operations for a 1.1 percent smelter royalty from Newmont’s 2.4 percent royalty in the Hasbrouck Project. The agreement also calls for West Kirkland to receive $1.194 million in payments due when there is commercial production at Hasbrouck or Three Hills. Kyle Hendrix at the BLM’s Battle Mountain office provided at list of ongoing exploration projects in the district. These included three listed as Barrick projects, including the Horse Canyon/Cortez Unified Exploration Project, the West Pine Valley site and the Hilltop Exploration Project. NuLegacy’s Avocado Project is on the list, as well as US Gold’s Keystone Exploration Project, Klondex’s Gold and Silver’s Malpais site and Premier Gold’s McCoy Cove Exploration Project. Susan Elliott, minerals program manager for the U.S. Forest Service’s Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, said there is renewed interest in barite used for drilling, and the Forest Service is working with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management on permitting the Ann Barite Mine for Halliburton north of Tonopah. Forest Service geologist David Risley, who is on the Carson-Bridgeport Ranger District,

reported several exploration companies recently submitted plans for gold exploration, including Radius Gold Inc., which has the Spring Peak Project in Mineral County. He also said Lincoln Gold Resources has partnered with Goldcliff Resources Corp. for the Pine Grove site, and B2Gold is exploring on its Rockland site in the Pine Grove Hills just south of Yerington. Also, GeoExplor Corp. will be exploring the old historic Chedic graphite mine just outside of Carson City, according to Risley. Gold Standard Ventures Corp. reports on its Web site that its Railroad-Pinion Gold Project near Newmont Mining Corp.’s Emigrant and Rain mining properties on the Carlin Trend is the exploration’s company’s flagship project. The company also has a new project, Dark Star, in Elko County and its Bald Mountain gold and copper target. The Geological Society of Nevada’s May newsletter listed more than a dozen mineral exploration projects in the state, including Logan Resources Ltd.’s Angel Wing property it acquired from Pilot Gold Inc. This article looked at representative exploration and drilling companies, but there are many more projects in the state. For instance, the Winnemucca BLM listed exploration plans for projects in the district. The project list doesn’t list the companies, however. The list includes Trenton Canyon, Converse, Buffalo Valley, Goldbanks, Rye, Crown Adelaide, Snowstorm, Chimney Creek, Pinson Exploration, Lithium Nevada, Kings Valley Uranium, South Sleeper, Sandman, Sleeper Exploration, Turquoise Ridge Exploration, Spring Valley, Lincoln Hill, Wilco, Relief Canyon and Echo Canyon.

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56 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017

Barrick earns $679M

‌TORONTO – Barrick Gold Corp. reported net earnings of $679 million for its first quarter. These earnings compared with a net loss of $83 million in the first quarter of last year. Gold production in the first quarter was 1.31 million ounces, at a cost of sales applicable to gold of $833 per ounce, and all-in sustaining costs of $772 per ounce. Full-year gold production is expected to be 5.3-5.6 million ounces, down from the previous range of 5.6-5.9 million ounces. “Approximately two-thirds of this reduction is attributable to the anticipated sale of 50 percent of Veladero (in Argentina),” Barrick stated. The company stated the improvements in net earnings were due to “approximately $1.125 billion of net impairment

reversals” and “lower currency translation losses” mostly from Australian entities. “Reflecting our focus on operational excellence and Best-inClass performance, the integration of our Cortez and Goldstrike mines in Nevada is on track, with stronger-than-anticipated first quarter results and the accelerated rollout of digital mining solutions,” the company stated. Barrick Nevada produced 2.18 million to 2.26 million ounces of gold at an all-in sustaining cost between $630 to $680 an ounce.

In early April, the company announced the sale of 50 percent of the Veladero mine to Shandong Gold for $960 million, the majority of which will be allocated to debt reduction. “At the end of the first quarter, Barrick had a consolidated cash balance of approximately $2.3 billion. The company now has less than $100 million in debt due before 2019. About $5 billion, or 64 percent of our outstanding total debt of $7.8 billion, does not mature until after 2032,” Barrick stated.

Debt Reduction‌‌

Operating Highlights and Outlook‌‌

Barrick intends to reduce its total debt from $7.9 billion at the start of 2017 to $5 billion by the end of 2018. In the first quarter, total debt was reduced by $178 million.

ounce. This compares to 1.28 million ounces at a cost of sales of $810 per ounce in the prior-year period. All-in sustaining costs in the first quarter were $772 per ounce, compared to $706 per ounce in the first quarter of 2016. Approximately 90 percent of this increase, or roughly $58 per ounce, is a result of higher sustaining capital expenditures compared to the prior-year period, Barrick stated. Significant items in the first quarter included planned capitalized stripping at Barrick Nevada, increased expenditures at Veladero relating to phases of the leach pad, and other equipment purchases.

Barrick produced 1.31 million ounces of gold in the first quarter at a cost of sales of $833 per

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Warehouse supplies Newmont mines efficiently MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN mkobak@elkodaily.com‌

‌E LKO – Everything from toilet paper to oil filters finds its way to various mines across Nevada thanks to Newmont Mining Corp’s central warehouse, and the operation has plans to make the process even more efficient. New m o n t’s wa re h o u se opened in June 2008 and has been about efficiency from the beginning, said Steven Young, the warehouse supervisor. The original purpose was to consolidate parts and to cut costs on the amount of inventory the region holds, said Warehouse Manager Bilbo Bessert. “So instead of having a certain part at every warehouse

MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN, MINING QUARTERLY‌

Warehouse Manager Bilbo Bessert talks about the system used to organize items in Newmont’s central warehouse and in the yard outside the building.

across the state, we could consolidate those, reduce that number and have less inventory value on hand,” he said. The central warehouse also eliminated some safety concerns since it limited the number of

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suppliers going on the mine site, Bessert said. “It’s a lot more efficient from a logistics point of view,” Supply Chain Director Simon Blamires said. “You’ve got everything delivered to the center and then

we’re delivering out to the mine sites, rather than having to have all those individual deliveries.” When the warehouse began operations it was run by Cat Logistics, Bessert said. Caterpillar sold the logistics portion of its business to Neovia in 2012. Newmont discussed operating the warehouse with its own employees and took over the facility Nov. 17, 2014. Young began working in the warehouse in May 2008 and continued through all the different operating companies. Bessert said when Newmont took over the operation the headcount was reduced from 63 to 58. “There were some folks who left on their own and then we See WAREHOUSE, 60

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MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN, MINING QUARTERLY‌

Newmont employees put packages together in the outbound area of the central warehouse.

MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN, MINING QUARTERLY‌

Newmont Supply Chain Director Simon Blamires stands in a portion of the warehouse yard that contains items that can’t be put on shelves. The yard is 60,000 square feet.

MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN, MINING QUARTERLY‌

Newmont Mining Corp. also uses its central warehouse for permanent storage. These boxes are filled with the company’s records.

MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN, MINING QUARTERLY‌

Newmont Warehouse Planner Barbara Vega explains how the computer system helps track orders for parts and supplies for the mine sites.

60 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017

Optimizing the warehouse‌ The facility has 180,000 square feet under the roof and another 60,000 square feet in the yard. “In terms of Newmont, this is probably the biggest single warehouse that we’ve got anywhere in the world,” Blamires said.

See WAREHOUSE, 62

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CHOICE NK

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interviewed everybody else and kept the ones who were qualified,” he said. Young said there are 11 delivery locations that receive totes from the warehouse. The delivery locations put an order in with the warehouse when they need supplies or parts, Bessert said. “We’ll prioritize it, and get it on the schedule for the outbound crew,” he said. Blamires started at the warehouse in June 2016. He has worked in mining procurement all his working life. He worked for Newmont in Africa for 10 years in a similar position. He left Newmont for about a year and was persuaded to come back and work in Elko. “It’s been fun,” he said. “The

Because of the size of the facility, Newmont put a priority on moving items efficiently. “One of the biggest things that we started when we first took over, and it’s a continuous improvement thing, is actually getting the fast moving items closer to the outbound areas,” Bessert said. “In the past some of the outfits that were running the place had fast moving parts strung out over 180,000 square feet of building.” Inventory control helped identify the parts that moved quickly on a routine basis. The warehouse staff relocated those items and reconfigured everything inside the building and in the yard so fast-moving items would be closer to the outbound areas, Bessert said. The fast moving parts ranged from ballpoint pens to the filter kits for heavy equipment.

O D & DRI

Continued from 58

shipped out, Bessert said. Outbound supervisor Amy Mitropoulos said the items are packed based on shape and final destination. “Leeville can’t take large totes because it has to go down the shaft,” she said. The warehouse has five crews and four of those work a rotating shift. The fifth crew is a straight day shift. The crews consist of 40 warehouse technicians, five supervisors and two warehouse planners.

Warehouse...

focus, not just within supply chain but within the business, is to try and get costs down. Obviously we have a role to play in that.” Just like Newmont’s mines, the warehouse runs 365 days a year and 24 hours a day. The orders are tracked through a computer program and the warehouse has planners, Bessert said. “That planner’s responsibility is to take the orders as they come in, and print what we call the ‘pick tickets,’” he said. “The goal is to send parts out to the sites three days in advance of what the end users tell us the required by date is.” The planner puts the packets together and hands that to the outbound supervisor and the outbound team picks the parts off the shelves. Another person validates the parts are correct and then they are loaded in the totes and put on trucks to be

2013

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62 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017

Warehouse... Continued from 60 The next step in improving the facility will include radio frequency identification or RFI to automate the system. RFI is similar to a barcode used in retail. “We’ll become more like Walmart than we are a traditional mining warehouse,” Blamires said. He said the target date for radio frequency identification is the fourth quarter of this year. “It speeds up the process and eliminates errors,” Bessert said. “The margin of human error goes way down,” Young said. Bessert said the process to follow a part from the time it arrives at the warehouse until it reaches the end user is complicated.

MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN, MINING QUARTERLY‌

Newmont Warehouse Supervisor Steven Young shows one of many of the items that are found in the company’s central warehouse. “Currently there’s a lot of manual keystroke entries to make that happen,” he said. The RFI will take away a lot of mistakes that can be made. “It’s a bit more than a

barcode, because you can actually use it to determine the location of the particular part,” Blamires said. The new system won’t decrease the amount of people in the warehouse, but rather streamline the work being done in the facility. Bessert said it will bring the warehouse up to speed with technology. On any given day the warehouse receives items from 40 different vendors, Young said. UPS on average brings 100 to 150 parcels a day, and UPS freight brings about 15 bins, he said. “Joe, our UPS freight driver, I think a lot of people think he’s a Newmont employee because he is here every day,” Young said. Not all the items in the warehouse are brought from a great distance since Newmont shares the building with Cashman Equipment. Young said 33 percent of the inbound

volume is Cashman materials, so transportation costs are very minimal. “We just have a big door they bring items through,” Young said. Another cost saving measure was built into the building — the warehouse has motion sensors connected to the lights. This allows the lights to turn on only when a person is moving in the area and then turn off once the individual has left. Bessert said Newmont is looking at switching to LED lights for more energy savings. However, many of those lights stay on all day because the crews are always moving and working to put packages together to be taken to the mines. “We’re trying to get everything on the trucks safely and on time,” Mitropoulos said.

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What good is training if you can’t get the right people in the room?

ccording to a 2015 report published by Training Magazine, including payroll and the cost of services, U.S. businesses spend over $70 billion a year on training and development. While training is a vital part of ensuring the success of your THOMAS employees, it can E. ‘TED’ be over used as a BOYCE, means of remePH.D. diating poor performance and may become seen as punitive as a result. You see, knowing how to do something does not necessarily ensure that someone will do it. I have personally seen the challenges of simply getting the right people in the right room for the right training for

the right amount of time. The run of Rs in the sentence above is no accident. Just like reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic, I have come-up with the three Rs you should keep in mind for your training. They are relevant, recent, and realistic. I will explain each in turn. For training to be seen as valuable by trainees, it must first be personally relevant to them. Job-specific task training typically fits this bill. However, financial training might also be seen as relevant by the mechanic or equipment operator as long as you provide a rationale for the information being trained. Rationale comes from answering the question “why?” Specifically, why is it important that we provide this training to this person (these people) and what result do

we want from it? Providing a rationale can be make just about any training relevant. Answering the question “why” may help you to rethink training that may be unnecessary. Employees are likely to tune-out training they have had before. This used to be a problem with a majority of the annual refresher training offered by mine operators. Really, how many times can one watch the same video or see the same photograph of employees using the shovel of a bulldozer to gain more height with their ladder? (My favorite is the one of the man in the pink shirt and white shorts standing next to four guys in hazmat suits… NOT!) Also, if you continue to “rip-off and duplicate” the same tired training materials or methods used

by others, please stop. Even the “game show” methods some mine sites have adopted to train their employees can get old. If you’ve used such a format for two years in a row, try something different. To be effective, training needs to be or at least feel “recent.” Technology changes, standards change, policies, procedures, rules and regulations change and your training should reflect this. Professors of psychology at UNR, were required to use textbooks that were no more than two years old for any undergraduate courses that we taught. It is convention in academia that any source of material older than two years did not properly convey the current state of the See TRAINING, 66

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Training... Continued from 64 subject being taught. The same can be true of much of the technical and safety training you provide at your mine sites. And, this is certainly true of MIS training. Moreover, even if the “field” has not changed, at a minimum, you should make sure the training you provide feels new and “fresh” to your employees. While relevancy and recency are big parts of the training equation, training should also be “realistic.” That is, trainees must leave the training with practical ideas, skills, or tools they can put to immediate use as part of their workdays. If the training does not have practical application, it is not likely necessary for the audience intended. And, while a

ion reciat p p A In ing r Min of ou unity Comm

rationale may go a long way in accomplishing this, in the end, trainees will assign more value to training if they can identify the “deliverables” they take with them. For this reason, it is important to clearly outline the objectives of your training in terms of the core competencies you want to build as a result of the training. If you cannot identify these competencies by completing the following sentence for each competency… “by the end of this training you will be able to…”, the training may not provide a return on your investment. I was recently asked to update and manage a client’s training and professional development program. Indeed, we are being sensitive to the 3 Rs. In fact, I also use the 3 Rs to organize the training I offer directly through my own group. As you can see below in the matrix of workshops and

seminars I currently offer, we have identified which programs are essential, recommended, or special circumstances for various levels of an organization. It is noteworthy that we substitute the term “essential” for the term “required.” Essential is the springboard to relevancy because now your content needs to deliver on that promise of being “essential.” In the end, both the trainers’ and the trainees’ experiences will be better if you can get the right people in the room. When you can achieve this, the training will be relevant to the trainees and conversations will be more on topic. Additionally, more experienced employees become mentors to less experienced employees. And, the entire of the dynamic of the room changes for the better. Trainees are engaged, talkative, on topic, and excited to share. Doesn’t this sound like a good

situation? You see, getting the right people in the right room for the right training for the right amount of time does not just mean they are physically present, it means they are mentally present as well. Anything short of this may be a dis-service to your employees and employer.

Thomas E. “Ted” Boyce, Ph.D. is a professional speaker, educator, author, and business coach. He is currently president and senior consultant with the Center for Behavioral Safety, LLC. He has been providing cost-effective safety and culture change training to the U.S. mining, manufacturing, and construction industries for over 20 years. Contact Dr. Boyce directly at ted.boyce@cbsafety.com. He also is on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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Newmont reports $69 million in net income ‌DENVER – Newmont Mining Corp. reported $69 million net income in the first quarter from continuing operations. “We generated strong financial results this quarter and approved plans to invest in profitable growth in Ghana and a prospective gold district in the Yukon,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Goldberg. “We increased free cash flow by more than $320 million and adjusted EBITDA by 20 percent to $566 million compared to the prior year quarter.” The company reported its adjusted net income of $133 million was up 4 percent from the prior quarter as higher gold production and favorable pricing were partially offset by higher costs applicable to sales. The company reported costs applicable to sales is $687 per

ounce of gold and all-in sustaining costs are $900 per ounce for the first quarter. Newmont produced 1.23 million ounces of gold, up 9 percent from the prior year quarter. New production from Merian in Suriname and Long Canyon in Nevada more than offset geotechnical issues at Carlin. “Our teams in Australia and South America overcame significant weather events safely and efficiently and we remain well on track to meet our 2017 outlook,” Goldberg said. “Permits, funding and resources are in place to build the Subika Underground mine – which will produce 1.8 million ounces of gold over an 11-year mine life, and access ore grades that are three times higher than our surface mines – and the Ahafo Mill Expansion. Our cost and capital

discipline, combined with our industry-leading balance sheet, gives us the means to continue self-funding projects, growing margins and improving the quality and life of our Reserves, with a goal to deliver sustainable value for our shareholders.” The company’s capital expenditures decreased 36 percent from the prior year quarter to $180 million as growth projects including Merian and Long Canyon moved into commercial production.

North America‌‌ Twin Underground, near Golconda, is a portal mine beneath Twin Creek’s Vista surface mine with similar mineralization. An investment decision is expected in the second half of 2017 with first production in 2018. The expansion would add about

30,000 ounces per year for the first five years. Capital costs for the project are estimated between $10 and $20 million. North America guidance is unchanged. Production guidance remains between 2.0 and 2.2 million ounces in 2017 with a full year of operation at Long Canyon offsetting the impact of higher planned stripping at Twin Creeks. Guidance is unchanged between 1.9 and 2.1 million ounces in 2018 and between 1.8 and 2.0 million ounces in 2019 due to planned stripping at Carlin and continued stripping at Twin Creeks. Both sites are expected to return to higher production levels in 2020.

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SUMMER 2017 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada • 71 COMMENTARY

A post script and more

et’s start with a post script to our last column in which we speculated about what the new administration in Washington may hold for the mining industry. One prospect we offered was that the new president had campaigned on JOHN L. DOBRA, eliminating regPH.D. ulations and that using the Congressional Review Act (CRA) would be the means of doing it. For those who missed the article, the CRA is a relatively obscure act passed in 1996 that gives Congress 60 days to review regulations promulgated

by federal agencies such as the Department of Interior and Environmental Protection Agency and reject them with a simple majority vote after they were “reported” to Congress. The key point in assessing the administration’s prospects for regulatory reform was that the Obama administration was extremely lax about “reporting” new regulations to Congress to start the 60-day clock ticking. That means that the Trump cabinet can take their time going through Obama administration regulations and “report” them to Congress to start the clock after consulting with stakeholders. As it turns out, in the Trump administration’s first 100 days,

the president signed 28 pieces of legislation, and of these, 12 were CRA authorized bills eliminating regulations. These bills were not what the press would call “landmark” legislation but it is chipping away at the regulatory state and, as we noted in the last article, that’s called a “win.” And, thanks to the lax “reporting” of the Obama administration, there is more in the pipeline. It should also be noted that the new administration has been very active in eliminating Obama administration executive orders – it seems like almost daily. The press likes to compare any president’s first 100 days with FDR in the 1930s, but this is not really a fair comparison.

FDR did sign a lot of legislation in his first three months but he had overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate and much of his agenda was struck down by the Supreme Court.

Lithium

The “more” in the title is a brief discussion of the budding lithium industry in Nevada. As you are probably aware, lithium is a metal widely used in batteries most commonly in cell phones but in much greater quantity in hybrid and electric cars. According to Bloomberg, Lithium is: “The lightest metal on the periodic table of the elements See DOBRA, 73

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SUMMER 2017 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada • 73

Dobra... Continued from 71 and a superb conductor, it’s what gives the lithium ion batteries in our cellphones, laptops, newer Priuses, and Teslas the ability to recharge more times, last longer, and provide more energy per weight or volume than other battery chemistries. And it’s cost-effective: The lithium in a Tesla costs around $500, less than a roof rack. It’s also what makes devices explode if their battery-management systems aren’t working properly, as seems to be the case in many so-called hoverboards, or there’s a manufacturer defect, as with Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7.” As a result of its physical properties and potential

economic uses, the search for lithium is the new “gold rush” as the Bloomberg article seems to promote. There is, indeed, a lot of activity in this space and Nevada is ground zero in North America. Numerous sources and companies are exploring in Nevada: 25 companies have staked more than 13,000 claims with most of the activity in Esmeralda County near Albemarle’s operations near Silver Peak (Originally operated and probably better known as Foote Minerals). There are other prospects in Mineral and Humboldt Counties. Besides Albemarle, some of the better known companies are Lithium – X, Dajin Resources, and Pure Energy Minerals. Interest in the metal is driven by the fact that potential uses and demand for lithium seem almost limitless. Besides phones, computers and cars,

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coupling lithium-ion batteries with solar and wind energy offers the possibility, not lost on Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk, for storing energy for household and commercial use – a potentially huge market. In addition, lithium-ion batteries only account for about a third of all battery sales – another large market. Tesla’s “Gigafactory” near Reno to manufacture batteries is a big bet on the future of the lithium market, although it isn’t clear whether the factory was located in Nevada because of lithium supplies or tax incentives. Having given a nod to lithium promoters we should note that the industry faces some headwinds. First, the price of energy – oil, natural gas, coal, and distillates – are at decades long lows thanks to the shale oil revolution, fracking,

horizontal drilling, etc. This lowers demand for electric cars and retrofitting our entire energy infrastructure. And, energy prices do not look like they are going up anytime soon. OPEC’s aspiration of cutting oil production isn’t happening. The Saudi’s may be cutting production but other members need the money and aren’t. Russian production is hitting record levels (for the same reason) and the U.S. is on the verge of becoming the world’s largest producer. Recent discoveries in Texas and Alaska of two of the largest oil resources ever suggest that the situation is not going to change anytime soon (and as an owner of a truck and motorhome that gets 9 MPG I’m happy about that). Second, lithium-ion See DOBRA, 76

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74 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017

Partners in technology GBC, Cisco team up with Barrick USA MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN mkobak@elkodaily.com‌

‌ELKO — Barrick Gold Corp., Cisco Systems Inc., and Great Basin College formed a partnership in April to help educate Barrick employees, their families, and veterans in area mining communities stretching from Elko to Winnemucca. By May, more than 110 people enrolled to participate in online information technology skills development courses at GBC. T h e p a r t n e rs h i p i s a $400,000 investment to help participants pursue job skills needed in the digital age. Barrick USA President Michael Brown talked about a study from Gov. Brian Sandoval’s office that stated one of the key areas Nevada needed to address was workforce training for the 21st century. “This program, I think, the mining sector helps fulfill that one key objective with a partnership with Great Basin and Cisco,” Brown said. Barrick USA Executive Director Nigel Bain said he was excited about the project. “In 2015, Barrick had set the goal of becoming a technologically leading company in the mining industry,” he said. “Something that really were two ends of the spectrum. Our Executive Chairman John Thornton saw that in order to take some of the early giant steps on this path, a key would be to partner with one of the giants in data, data systems, hardware, software and the analytics and that was Cisco.” Barrick and Cisco partnered to move the mining company

into digital communication on the surface and underground. Barrick wanted to train its employees and its future workforce in computer technologies to help them on the job. The Cisco Networking Academy was the answer to training the employees, and adding GBC to the partnership would allow the companies to use the expertise the college provided in distance learning. “As a mine engineer, the talk of efficiency, talk of productivity and innovation, that’s music to me,” Bain said. The academy has been around for 20 years and serves 170 countries, said John Bjerke, Cisco Networking Academy program manager for Western U.S. “Students gain hands-on learning and career skills for jobs through our program,” Bjerke said. The classes will make students ready for entry-level jobs, prepare them to take an industry certification exam, and “create a pathway to higher education,” such as bachelor’s degrees. The courses span from introducing students to social networking to making businesses more efficient through digital connections to learning about cybersecurity. Mark Curtis, who was GBC president in April, said this is another wonderful partnership between the college and Barrick, which has spanned 26 years. “All of this that you’re seeing, culminating with this signing of the agreement, and all that goes in it, all happened within about two months,” Curtis said. “You don’t see that in a lot of other organizations. The nimble

MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN, ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS

Great Basin College President Mark Curtis, left, signs, in April, a partnership agreement between the college, Cisco Networking Academy and Barrick Gold Corp. He is watched by John Bjerke, Cisco Networking Academy program manager for Western U.S., middle, and Barrick USA Executive Director Nigel Bain.

MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN, ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS

GBC student Kyle Bell speaks about the opportunity the Cisco Networking Academy will bring to him and other students. nature of community colleges, and Great Basin College in particular, was perfectly poised to help out in this situation. We’re just overjoyed with this idea of a Cisco Networking Academy.” Kyle Bell, a GBC student who will be involved in the program, said he has been interested in the technology field of work for quite a long time, but he was unsure about spending years at a university. He asked one of his

teachers, Laura Pike, about the program because she would be one of the Cisco instructors. “Once I started realizing that I didn’t maybe need to go to a university and spend a fortune and a large chunk of my life in school, I started to get much more relaxed and happier in general just knowing that was a possibility,” Bell said. “I can get the same quality degree that I would get at the university for half the price and half the time.” Barrick will support the facilitation of setting up the Cisco classes, provide support for purchasing the hardware and software, and will help GBC financially with the instructors, Bain said. The mining company will also pay the tuition for Barrick employees, their spouse and children; area veterans, and Western Shoshone who take the classes. Veterans must live in Elko, Spring Creek, Carlin, Crescent Valley, Eureka, Battle Mountain or Winnemucca areas. Cisco provides the course materials in 19 languages, online simulations, virtual tools See PARTNERS, 76

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Dobra...

Partners...

Continued from 73

Continued from 74

technology is relatively new. The battery was only developed in the 1990s (remember cell phones the size of a Kleenex box vs. what you have today?). A consequence of the recent development of the technology is that we really don’t have a good estimate of available lithium resources because we have only been exploring for them fairly recently. That means that even if demand increases substantially, as it appears it could, supply could increase as fast or faster leaving the price where it is or possibly lower. A good parallel is the rare earths market that supports technologies like touch screens and flat screen TVs. Rare earths were only “rare” because we didn’t know what to do with them so there was very little exploration. Once we figured out what to do with them new discoveries followed and the rare earth rush fizzled.

for students and a help desk with online support. GBC provides the classroom space and the instructors. Students need a computer and an internet connection. The courses led by instructors will begin in the fall. People can sign up for self-led classes now. “People outside of the mining industry still associate the field with the scuffed boots, sturdy pickaxes and dirty hard hats,” said Tim Buchanan, director of corporate social responsibility of Barrick USA. “Barrick’s $400,000 investment to bring free digital learning opportunities to our communities underscores the significance of our digital transformation. We hope many more people will take advantage of this opportunity to strengthen this vital part of the Nevada workforce.”

John L. Dobra, Ph.D. is Director, Natural Resource Industry Institute and Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Nevada and a Senior Fellow at Fraser Institute

Registration is open for the Networking Academy which covers exploratory courses aimed at those who are curious about technology fields, foundational courses for those ready to acquire skills and certification and advanced networking and programming courses for those ready for advancement in a technology career. The courses initially offered are non-credit courses for those interested in exploring career opportunities in technology or creating a technology-related business. Students may register at www.campusce.net/ gbcnv/category/category.aspx. The additional 3-4 credit courses to be offered beginning in September can lead to industry-recognized certification. Students may register at www.gbcnv.edu/admissions. Anyone with questions should call GBC Continuing Education at 753-2231.

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SUMMER 2017 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada • 77 COMMENTARY

Bottoms Up!

ottoms are in for oil, gold, copper, silver and mining jobs – it’s steady to up from here! Few things are certain in markets. They’re like Northern Nevada weather; hard to predict snow or shine — especially in the spring. There RICHARD is, however, one BAKER reliable barometer for the price of metals and the oil that makes things go: if I pack my truck for an early road trip in May, you can bet all hell will break loose. Staring at the Smoky Valley through my windshield instead

of a computer screen filled with numbers is guaranteed to shave $40 off the price of gold and shove the red metal down the shaft. That expensive gas in Tonopah won’t reflect the new low-low bid for West Texas crude that has traders headed for the exits. I remain oblivious to such drama until the last travel gear is unpacked and the laptop awakes to Bill Gates music. Why ruin a good road trip with a sell-off?

“What the..?”

The shock at the end of a long happy trip is watching gold head for the low side of $1,200 per ounce on May 4th. Before checking on copper, I dash a

quick e-mail to commodity maven Janet Mirasola at Sucden Futures Inc., New York. “Do you have a new ‘oh-oh’ level for Cu?” With characteristic British wit she replies, “All the bully bulls from $6,200 are saying ‘oh-oh’ here at $5,500.” Out West, $5,500 per tonne is $2.49 per pound. My screen reports Comex July futures are indeed at “oh-oh”…falling 11 percent from that lofty $6,200 ($2.81) mid-February bluff. Funny, that bull I passed at Hay Ranch didn’t seem too bothered. A second email reads “Crude Oil Breaks Key Support.” An oil expert warns that if West Texas Intermediate falls below $47 per barrel it will be a bad day for more bulls. My screen says, $44 per barrel. The road trip barometer proved right again—commodity storm underway. Get

those bulls to safe pasture!

Spring storms pass quickly, recovery takes longer Maybe you’ll be chatting with me at the upcoming 2017 Elko Mining Expo. Hopefully, I’m explaining that the May dust-up was just that, an overreaction to China’s slowing manufacturing sector and a persistent oversupply of such industrial metals as copper. Heck, China has been in the slow lane for a long time compared to those heady days when the dragon’s hunger boosted the red metal above $4.50 per pound and packed oil into $100-plus barrels. Folks then were saying $2,000 gold was just north of Lone Mountain. Mirasola summarized the See BAKER, 78

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78 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017

BAKER... Continued from 77 recent challenge, “The Black, the Red and the Shiny Ones… are not faring so well as they all suffer the recent sell off in the commodity sector reflecting a high level of inventory coupled with a low level of demand, a lethal combination for Oil and Copper.” A review of where we’ve come from lends perspective to these recent price fluctuations. The first chart shows the percent price change for oil and the some key Nevada metals from Jan. 1, 2011 to the present. That’s an important date for comparison since many mining company stocks were at record prices then – times couldn’t be better at the start of 2011. That optimism quickly faded. 2011 proved a very volatile year

COURTESY OF RICHARD BAKER‌

Oil, gold, copper and silver price change from Jan. 1, 2011. of extreme price highs and lows as the markets worked through a stalling Chinese economy, Arab Spring and the U.S. debt crisis. Gold alternated from commodity to safe haven with numerous market scares, record prices and a bad sell-off in 2013. Silver had its “madman” dash to

$50 in 2011 but for the most part obediently followed its yellow metal companion lower. Copper fell and fell as traders tried to gauge real demand and as price supportive U.S. Federal Reserve accommodation diminished. By the end of 2014, oil began its descent to new lows given the

U.S. fracking revolution and defensive response from major producers like Saudi Arabia and Russia. Against this backdrop, there is some good news. As shown in the chart, oil, gold, copper and silver prices appear to have bottomed in late-2015 and early-2016. Even the broader Bloomberg Commodity Index1, which includes everything from crude oil to live cattle futures, scored a low in mid-January of last year. What’s up? April’s IMF World Economic Outlook 2017 provides a clue: “Global economic activity is picking up with a long-awaited cyclical recovery in investment, manufacturing, and trade… World growth is expected to rise from 3.1 percent in 2016 to 3.5 percent in 2017 and 3.6 percent in 2018. Stronger activity, See BAKER, 79

SUMMER 2017 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada • 79

BAKER... Continued from 78 expectations of more robust global demand, reduced deflationary pressures, and optimistic financial markets are all upside developments.” China, the world’s largest commodity consumer, is still important but recovering economies elsewhere coupled with anticipated infrastructure spending in the U.S. will create new sources of demand. The stability of the Chinese currency further suggests their economy is coming slowly into balance and not heading off a cliff. I’ll conclude my conversation with you at the Expo with a beer bet – even with recent sell-offs, the commodity bottoms are in! COURTESY OF RICHARD BAKER‌

See BAKER, 80 U.S. mining employment recovery

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BAKER... Continued from 79

Mining employment steady to up from here‌ The day after the May 4th sell-off, the U.S. Labor Department reported some welcome news – mining jobs are coming back. Their “Mining” category tracks all the U.S. jobs associated with extracting wealth from the earth. The second chart spans the same period as the first and shows all mining jobs less those associated with the oil & gas industry. August 2008, one month before the fateful Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, U.S. mining employment peaked at 228,000. With the help of exploding Chinese demand,

mining jobs recovered quickly from the financial crisis entering 2011 just below 210,000. They continued to rise until the market sell-off that fall, topping at 224,000 for October 2011. After that, employment followed price declines and a shrinking Chinese economy plumbing a bottom last summer at 177,900 – six months after the commodity low and more than 20% down form the 2011 top. U.S mining employment has since risen for eight consecutive months including the most recent report for April at 186,200. I live part time in Eureka, Nevada and drillers are starting to return, the local Pan Mine has restarted under the new ownership of GRP Minerals, LLC, and McEwen Mining Inc. plans to reopen the Gold Bar mine north of town later this year – all positive signs after a long dry spell. In April, I checked with

Nigel Bain, Executive Director for Barrick U.S.A., and with Cindy Adams, Director of Talent Acquisition for Newmont North America, to get their take on large mining operations in Nevada: Question: Has your employment followed national trends? Barrick: The national trend does not reflect the case for our operations in Nevada, our workforce has remained basically the same although a minor redistribution of roles have taken place over that period. Newmont: Our employment trends have been reasonably consistent during the recent past including our typical slowdown during the holiday season. Question: What is your employment outlook? Barrick: We don’t foresee any significant changes in headcount. In the nature of the jobs: the short to mid-term, no major changes; in the longer terms,

roles will become more technical in nature, hence the strong drive for training for our staff. Newmont: We anticipate that our employment outlook will remain steady for the foreseeable future now that we’ve brought our Long Canyon mine into operation. Encouraging words indeed given the challenges of the last few years. Bottoms Up!

Richard P. Baker is the author and editor of The Eureka Miner’s Market Report at eurekaminer.blogspot. com. He owns shares of the SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD), iShares Silver Trust ETF (SLV), PowerShares DB US Dollar Bullish ETF (UUP) and miners Newmont Mining (NEM) and Freeport-McMoRan (FCX). Please do your own research; markets can turn on you faster than a feral cat.

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82 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017

Ontario wants Nevada businesses to expand MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN mkobak@elkodaily.com‌

‌E LKO – Ontario officials toured mining country in Nevada in April in hopes of enticing businesses to expand into the Canadian province. Officials from Sudbury, Timmins, Thunder Bay and North Bay had the opportunity to speak with Elko businesses and tour Great Basin College, and saw some of the city during the excursion. The tour was organized by Sheldon Mudd, mining industry specialist for the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, with the help of Northeastern Nevada Regional Development Authority and the Nevada Mining Association. “From a Nevada side the main purpose is to give opportunities to our local businesses to consider opportunity and expansion in a foreign market,” Mudd said. The officials from Ontario are looking to recruit businesses to the area to help fill in some of the gaps in the supply chain. Trade and Investment Specialist for the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines Paul Bradette and Sudbury Director of Economic Development Ian Wood talked about the mining industry in Ontario. Bradette contacted Mudd about 18 months ago to connect Ontario’s mining industry with Nevada’s. “He said, ‘hey, I understand you guys have had a little bit of an increase in your underground operations in Nevada and we happen to be on the cusp of opening some open pit mining up here,” Mudd said. “Ultimately what it boiled down to is we’re probably going to need

MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN, ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS

Great Basin College President Mark Curtis gives a tour of the campus to visitors from Ontario, Canada on Tuesday. Governor’s Office of Economic Development Mining Industry Specialist Sheldon Mudd, far left, coordinated the visit. From left are Mudd, Curtis, Stephane Gallant, Paul Bradette, John Mason, Paul Reid, Vladimir Shehovtsov, and Ian Wood. some expertise from the folks in Northern Ontario and they’re going to need some good services and expertise from the folks here in Northern Nevada.” So the two areas organized tours. Mudd visited Ontario to encourage Canadian companies to expand into Nevada. “We have several companies that are gauging the market down here to see if there is enough of a customer base to make money to justify an expansion and outside of that there are a couple who have actually incorporated in Nevada because they saw the benefit to being here,” Mudd said. In May, Mudd said SCR mining Group from Northern Ontario recently incorporated in Nevada as SCR Mining and Tunneling USA. “SCR provides some very unique services in the underground environment that should enhance operators capabilities and production going forward,”

MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN, ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS‌

Sudbury Director of Economic Development Ian Wood talks about the mining industry in Ontario. Mudd said. Several of the representatives from Elko businesses stayed after the presentations to talk with the Ontario officials. “We would call that a success,” Mudd said. “This is

exactly what we’re looking for. This is exactly what we hoped would happen. It’s not going to work out for everybody, but if we get one or two people that get that golden opportunity and make something work, then it is all worthwhile for both sides.” Val Sawyer, principal consultant and practice leader for SRK Consulting in Elko said her business has an office in Ontario, but she wanted to see what other services the area needs. “There appears to be a lot of opportunity for business up there,” she said. Aaron Martinez of A.M. Engineering said he attended the event to look for ways to expand his business. The tour began in Elko and continued to Winnemucca and Reno. The tour in Nevada began with Elko and continued to Winnemucca and Reno.

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86 • MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SUMMER 2017

Gold Bar: McEwen plans mine on Cortez Trend MARIANNE KOBAK MCKOWN mkobak@elkodaily.com‌

‌EUREKA – McEwen Mining Inc.’s Gold Bar project in Eureka County would be the company’s first mine in the United States if it is approved by the Bureau of Land Management. The Canadian company and the BLM were in the Eureka Opera House on March 22 to answer the public’s questions about the proposed gold mine that would be about 30 miles northwest of the city of Eureka. Simon Quick, vice president of projects for McEwen Mining, said the company has two operations – a heap leach mine in Mexico and an underground operation in Argentina – but Gold Bar would be its first U.S. mine. If approved, it will be a surface, heap leach mine. T h e c o m p a ny ex p e c ts the mine will employ about 100 people. The proposed mine is quite close to the old Gold Bar mine that was owned by Atlas. “We are activating some of the previous pits, but no process facilities or the principal pit,” Quick said. “We do not control this land and will not disturb it. “Towards the end of the mine life under Atlas prior to going bankrupt, they began mining up on the hill (Gold Pick, Gold Ridge) pits. We will be re-activating those areas and hauling material downhill to a centrally located heap leach facility.” The mine won’t have any dewatering issues since the pits are situated at about 8,000 feet elevation. None of the final benches intercept the water table, Quick said. The company has an agreement with a local ranch for water.

MCEWEN MINING INC.

This map shows the proposed Gold Bar Mine in relation to other mines along the Cortez Trend. Quick said the county, BLM and other agencies have been “excellent” to work with. “It’s been a great area,” he said. “The county has been very helpful with us and it’s a seasoned workforce.” Jeff Snyder, general manager for Gold Bar, said he started with McEwen in May 2016. “I think the BLM has done a really good job of doing the base line work and engaging the stakeholders early,” he said. “I’m pretty excited now that the draft is out for public comment that there’s a lot of support for the project.” The BLM released the draft environmental impact statement March 3. Clint Garrett of the Nevada Department of Wildlife said he came to the meeting to find out about the project. He was assigned to the area about six months before the meeting. “I’m coming in the middle of all of this, so I’m trying to inform myself as well,” he said. Maurice Frank-Churchill and

Warren Graham, both of Duckwater, also came to the meeting for information. Frank-Churchill said their main interests are the cultural resources and how the mine will affect the plants and animals in the area. The mine will have to mitigate for wild horses and sage grouse. Shawna Richardson, BLM wild horse and burro specialist, said the wild horse herd around the project is a concern. She said the herd is over the management level and has been in the area at least 20 years. “We know we’re going to have horses in this area so we want to make sure there’s going to be some mitigation,” she said. It is one of the few areas the horses can move east and west. The BLM is concerned the horses be able to move safely through the area. The mitigation will include fences and educating the miners about the horses. McEwen also is working on sage grouse issues near the mine because there are leks in

the area. “One of the things we really tried to do is build the plan so we minimized any kind of impacts to or around the leks,” said Ron Espell, McEwen environmental director North America. The company has committed to busing employees to the mine site to minimize the number of vehicles on the road. “We’ve agreed to travel restrictions during the leking season so that we don’t have cars on the road when the sage grouse are out there strutting, or anything like that,” Espell said. The company is using existing roads and lessening noise impacts. It plans to have generators on the site with high-efficiency noise cancelation devices. Joseph Moskiewicz Jr., BLM assistant field manager, said the company was able to get the decibel levels below 10. The public commenting period closed in April.

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