Engineering & Mining Journal

AUG 2013

Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr

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REGIONAL NEWS - U.S. & CANADA 20,000 mt of copper in separate concentrates, plus precious metals and cobalt by-product credits. Veris and Newmont Announce Toll Mill Deal Veris Gold announced on July 24 entry into a toll milling agreement with Newmont Mining to process ore produced from Newmont mines at Veris' Jerritt Canyon mill complex in Elko County, Nevada. Under the terms of the agreement, which ends December 31, 2014, Newmont will deliver up to 45,000 st/month of ore to the Jerritt Canyon mill. The Newmont ore will be batch processed, and all doré produced from the ore will remain the property of Newmont throughout the process. Veris will treat the associated toll milling fee as a separate revenue stream, off-setting the processing costs. The toll milling fee will be adjusted on a quarterly basis to reflect any changes to input costs associated with processing the ore. Graham Dickson, COO and senior vice president of Veris, said, "Now that the Jerritt Canyon mill complex is running steadily at rates in excess of 4,000 st/d, this agreement will provide the company with a significant, stable, third-party source of ore that will significantly increase our cash flow from operations while utilizing some of our excess capacity. We are continuing to source additional toll milling opportunities with other companies and expect to have additional toll milling agreements in the future." In another development at Jerritt Canyon, Veris officially opened the Starvation Canyon mine on July 29. Situated in the southern part of the Jerritt Canyon property, Starvation Canyon is the first new gold mine to come into production at Jerritt Canyon since 2004. Initial underground development work, portal excavation and drift development started at Starvation Canyon in November 2012 and continued through to the start of production in early April 2013. Production has ramped-up to 600 st/d, and the mine is expected to contribute more than 25,000 oz/y of gold to Veris' production. Atna Suspends Operations at Pinson Atna Resources placed its Pinson mine in Humboldt County, Nevada, on care and maintenance in late June. The company said the decision was made in response to declining gold prices and to Veris Gold will process gold ore from Newmont Mining at its Jerritt Canyon mill complex. Shown here is the plant's roaster section. (Photo courtesy of Veris Gold) 10 E&MJ; • AUGUST 2013 Although Atna Resources has suspended mining at its Pinson site in Nevada, it will continue to mine gold ore at its Briggs mine (shown here) in California. (Photo courtesy of Atna Resources) cut costs while conserving developed reserves. Ore stockpiles at Pinson were being shipped to third-party processing facilities to support the cost of demobilization and the temporary shutdown of operations. A core team will remain at the Pinson mine site to maintain developed infrastructure and to consolidate technical data to use in preparing a revised operating plan. Recent work has demonstrated that improvements to future project economics can be achieved in several areas. Atna continues to produce gold at its Briggs mine in California. Waste stripping operations at Briggs in the first half of 2013 accessed planned ore supplies in the Goldtooth South pit. This higher ore production is increasing the rate of ore deliveries to the leach pad. Increased gold production and reduced unit costs are anticipated in the second half of 2013 due to this increased ore supply. Atna expects Briggs 2013 gold production to fall in the range of 35,000 to 43,000 oz. To conserve cash reserves and demonstrate confidence in the company, members of Atna's executive team have elected to defer a portion of their salaries for future payment, and Atna's board of directors has elected to take future compensation in restricted stock units rather than cash. www.e-mj.com

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