NEWS-CONTINUED
(Latin America Regional News - from p. 24)
solution. Construction at the project cannot resume until Barrick has built a wastewater management system to the specifications of its permit.
The May 24 SMA announcement cited
five specific violations of environmental requirements at Pascua-Lama. The announcement also stated that Barrick had reported
some of its environmental failures but that
investigation by the agency's inspectors
found that Barrick's disclosures were not
entirely correct, truthful or verifiable.
Barrick acknowledged receipt of the
SMA resolution, reported that it was reviewing the resolution in detail, and said it was
fully committed to complying with all
aspects of the resolution and to operating
at the highest environmental standards.
McEwen Plans Expansion
at El Gallo 1
McEwen Mining announced in mid-May
that it plans to expand mine production at
its El Gallo 1 gold-silver mine in Sinaloa,
Mexico, from 3,000 to approximately
4,500 mt/d of ore. The expansion, along
with improvements in ore grade, is expected to increase the mine's production from
an estimated 27,300 gold equivalent oz in
2013 to approximately 37,500 oz in 2014
and 75,000 oz in 2015.
El Gallo 1 poured its first gold in
September 2012 and achieved commercial production on January 1, 2013.
During the first quarter of 2013, the mine
produced 6,673 oz of gold and 5,640 oz of
silver (6,781 gold equivalent oz).
Initial capital cost for the expansion to
4,500 mt/d is estimated at about $5 million, which McEwen can finance internally.
The primary driver of the El Gallo 1
expansion is the mine's recently discovered
Central Zone. Drill intercepts in the zone
have included 23 m of 5.7 g/mt gold and
21 m of 3.9 g/mt gold.
McEwen is also evaluating the potential
for shipping ore from the El Gallo 2
deposit, 5 km from El Gallo 1, to El Gallo
1 for processing. The company had previously contemplated building a stand-alone
processing operation at El Gallo 2 and
completed a feasibility study for such an
operation in September 2012. Capital cost
for a stand-alone El Gallo 2 plant was estimated at about $170 million.
The current evaluation will focus on silver recoveries and crushing/processing
costs. Early column processing tests have
indicated recoveries of 45% to 62% silver
from El Gallo 2 ore processed at El Gallo 1,
while agitated cyanide leaching tests performed during the El Gallo 2 feasibility
study showed recoveries greater than 80%.
The McEwen announcement of the El
Gallo 1 expansion stated, "There are significant risks and uncertainty associated
with expanding production without a feasibility or pre-feasibility study. The proposed
El Gallo 1 production expansion has not
been explored, developed or analyzed in
sufficient detail to complete an independent feasibility or pre-feasibility study and
may ultimately be determined to lack one
or more geological, engineering, legal,
operating, economic, social, environmental, or other relevant factors reasonably
required to serve as the basis for a final
decision to complete the development of
all or part of the El Gallo 1 expansion."
NEWS-CALENDAR OF EVENTS
JUNE 24–29, 2013: 49th Forum on the Geology of Industrial Minerals,
Kingston, Jamaica. Contact: Dr. Oral Rainford (orainford@mstem.gov.jm)
or Shanique K-A Graham (sgraham@mstem.gov.jm); Web: www.geologyofindustrialminerals.org/.
JULY 28–AUGUST 2, 2013: Mercury 2013, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Contact: Marcus Pattison; Tel: 44 (0) 1727 858840; Fax: 44 (0) 1727
840310; Email: info@mercury2013.com; Web: www.mercury2013.com.
JULY 30–AUGUST 1, 2013: 32nd International Conference on Ground
Control in Mining, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA. Contact:
West Virginia University, Department of Mining Engineering; Tel:
304-293-3901; Fax: 304-293-5708; Web: http://icgcm.conferenceacademy.com/custom/icgcm/Home.aspx.
AUGUST 11–15, 2013: 23rd World Mining Congress, Montreal, Canada.
Contact: Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum; Tel:
514-939-2710, ext. 1309; Email: wmc-secretariat@wmc-expo2013.org;
Web: www.cim.org.
AUGUST 20–23, 2013: AIMEX 2013 Asia-Pacific's International
Mining Exhibition, Sydney, Australia. Contact: Reed Exhibitions
Australia; Tel: 61 2 9211 7544; Email: aimex@reedexhibitions.com.au;
Web: www.aimex.com.au.
SEPTEMBER 4–6, 2013: China International Mining Expo 2013, Beijing,
China. Contact: Beijing Hiven Exhibition Co. Ltd.; Tel: 86-10-6863 8450;
Email: information_bj@163.com; Web: www.bjminexpo.com.
SEPTEMBER 11–12, 2013: EuroMining 2013, Tampere, Finland.
Contact: Tampere Trade Fairs/Mikael Wänskä; Tel: 358 207 701 230;
Email: mikael.wanska@tampereenmessut.fi; Web: www.euromining.fi.
SEPTEMBER 16–20, 2013: Extemin, Lima, Peru. Contact: El Instituto
de Ingenieros de Minas del Perú; Tel: (51 -1) 349 4262, ext 352; Email:
perumine@iimp.org; Web: www.iimp.org.pe.
48 E&MJ; • JUNE 2013
SEPTEMBER 16–20, 2013: XV International Congress for Mine
Surveying, Aachen, Germany. Contact: RWTH Aachen, Institute for
Mine Surveying; Tel: 49 241 80 95687; Fax: 49 241 80 92150; Web:
www.ism-germany-2013.de.
SEPTEMBER 23–26, 2013: Exposibram, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Contact: Kallman Worldwide Inc.; Tel: 201-251-2600 ext. 127 or
56 2 843 3300 ext.3303; Web: www.kallman.com.
SEPTEMBER 25–27, 2013: IX Colombia Minera-Feria Internacional
Minera 2013, Medellín, Colombia. Contact: Carmen Henríquez Brugés;
Asociación Nacional de Empresarios de Colombia–ANDI; Tel: 57 4
3265100 ext. 1154; Email: chenriquez@andi.com.co.
SEPTEMBER 29–OCTOBER 2, 2013: Solution Mining Research
Institute Fall Technical Conference, Avignon, France. Contact:
John Voigt;Tel: 570-585-8092; Email: smri@solutionmining.org;
Web: www.solutionmining.org.
OCTOBER 1–3, 2013: Minex Russia 2013, Moscow, Russia. Contact:
Irina Yukhtina; Tel: 44 (0)207 520 9341; Fax: 44 (0)207 520 9342;
Email: ira.y@minexforum.com; Web: www.minexrussia.com.
OCTOBER 31–NOVEMBER 2, 2013: Mining 2013 Myanmar, Yangon,
Myanmar. Contact: Shaun White, Allworld Exhibitions; Tel: 44 2078402130;
Email: swhite@oesallworld.com; Web: www.miningmyanmar.com.
NOVEMBER 27–29, 2013: IX International Heavy Minerals Conference 2013, Vishakapatanam, Andhra Pradesh, India. Contact:
Mining Engineer's Association of India; Tel: 08942-283755; Email:
heavymineralsconference@gmail.com; Web: www.meai.org.
AUGUST 2–8, 2014: 10th Mine Ventilation Congress, Sun City, South
Africa. Contact: IMVC 2014 Congress Secretariat; Tel: 27 (0)21 683
2934; Fax: 27 (0)21 683 0816; Email: info@imvc2014.org; Web:
www.imvc2014.org.
www.e-mj.com