Mining Intelligence and News
United States

Lone Mountain Project

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Overview

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StagePreliminary Economic Assessment
Commodities
  • Zinc
  • Lead
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotNevada Zinc’s Lone Mountain property may contain economic deposits of zinc and other base metals and the Company may economically produce zinc oxide and zinc sulfate from the deposit.

Nevada Zinc is now actively assessing the potential to economically produce zinc oxide for industrial use as well as producing zinc sulfate, from the conversion of zinc oxide, for the US agricultural industry from its Lone Mountain high grade zinc carbonate-oxide deposit. This potentially represents to the Company a superior economic alternative to producing and selling zinc concentrate for the production of zinc metal.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Nevada Zinc Corp. 100 % Indirect
The Project property holdings are held by Lone Mountain Zinc Ltd., a Nevada corporation that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nevada Zinc.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Carbonate hosted
  • Vein / narrow vein
  • Replacement

Summary:

The zinc-lead mineralization of the Lone Mountain Property is constrained to the Devils Gate limestone/dolostone. There are two distinct types of mineralization found on the Property. The first type of mineralization is easily distinguishable from the grey host dolostone by its pink, red, yellow, orange to brown colour and produces both high and low grade assay results. This mineralization occurs in the brecciated dolostone of the Devils Gate Formation and is composed mainly of smithsonite and hemimorphite as fine grained aggregates or crystalline components filling voids. The breccia is often clast supported but the mineralization can be found within the colourful fine-grained matrix of the breccia or in dolostone clasts. Lesser amounts of lead occur with this type of mineralization however no significant lead minerals were detected in recent mineralogical work. The second type of mineralization is more difficult to define as there appears to be no significant colour or textural differences to distinguish the mineralization from the fine to medium grained host dolostone. The mineralization is grey to grey-white and produces both high grade and low-grade assay results. White crystalline and fine-grained barite and carbonate (mostly calcite) veins are ubiquitous across the Property.

The mineralization is predominately hemimorphite (Zn silicate-hydroxide), smithsonite (Zn carbonate) and Zn-bearing dolomite. Within the Extension Shaft area of the Lone Mountain Mine, the mineralization appears to be restricted entirely to the rocks within the footwall of a D2 structure.

White crystalline barite is associated with the base metal mineralization as veins up to 3 m, and in other locations as infilling around limestone or dolomite breccias. Near the Lone Mountain Mine, the barite is closely associated with the lead-zinc occurrences. In Aurogin’s drill hole 07- 1, near the Mine, zinc mineralization contains barite and the cuttings contain barite chips between zones of high-grade lead and zinc mineralization.

The zinc-rich mineralization at the Lone Mountain Property has similar characteristics to the other carbonate-hosted replacement deposit of the Eureka District. This mineralization style is consistent with the supergene-type non-sulphide zinc deposits reviewed by Hitzman et al. (2003). In their summary review paper Hitzman et al. (2003) describe these deposits as forming as a result of weathering of Mississippi Valley-type and high- temperature carbonate replacement- type zinc deposits.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Production

CommodityProductUnitsAvg. Annual
Zinc Concentrate kt 36
Zinc Metal in concentrate M lbs 35

Operational metrics

Metrics
Daily ore mining rate 800 t *
Daily milling rate 800 t *
Annual ore mining rate 277,400 t *
Annual milling capacity 277,400 t *
Stripping / waste ratio 8 *
* According to 2019 study.

Production Costs

CommodityUnitsAverage
Cash costs Zinc USD 0.41 / lb *  
Assumed price Zinc USD 2,500 / t *  
* According to 2019 study / presentation.

Operating Costs

Currency2019
OP mining costs ($/t milled) USD 19.5 *  
Processing costs ($/t milled) USD  ....  Subscribe
G&A ($/t milled) USD  ....  Subscribe
Total operating costs ($/t milled) USD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2019 study.

Project Costs

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
Pre-Production capital costs $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Sustaining CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Closure costs $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Total CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax NPV @ 8% $M USD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax NPV @ 8% $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscribe
After-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscribe
After-tax payback period, years  ......  Subscribe

Heavy Mobile Equipment

Fleet data has not been reported.

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNamePhoneEmailRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required ........... Subscription required ........... Subscription required Aug 23, 2023

Total WorkforceYear
...... Subscription required 2019

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