Pit optimization assumed processing of Florida Mountain and DeLamar oxide and transition resources as heap leach, and unoxidized Florida Mountain resources as milled using floatation followed by cyanidation of the concentrates on site. Leach material would be processed at 27,000 tonnes per day and mill material would be processed at 2,000 tonnes per day.
Processing of the DeLamar material will
require crushing and agglomeration prior to heap leaching.
The resulting pit optimizations were used as the basis for pit designs. The designs used an inner-ramp slope of 45°. DeLamar pit designs utilized five pit phases to establish a mining sequence and Florida Mountain pit designs were completed using three pit phases.
Production scheduling was completed with leaching starting with Florida Mountain material and DeLamar leach material being processed starting in year 5 at the same rate as Florida Mountain leach material. Florida Mountain unoxidized material will be stockpiled until the flotation mill is constructed.
The start of the 2,000 tonne per day mill will be in year 3 and it will operate at a rate of 720,000 tonnes per year until unoxidized material is exhausted.
The total project mining rate is given a reasonable ramp-up that starts at 2,000 tonnes per day and increases to a life-of-mine maximum of 90,000 tonnes per day in later years.
Mining anticipates 136-tonne capacity haul trucks loaded by hydraulic shovels. Per ........