Mining News: News Nuggets: Chandalar nears startup

Goldrich Mining Co. March 9 said Goldrich NyacAU Placer, a joint venture between Goldrich and NyacAU LLC will begin mining activities at the 23,000-acre Chandalar gold project later in the month. Work will begin with the resumption of stripping the overburden from gold-rich gravels. Goldrich reported that an initial pit has already been opened and a 1,800-foot haul road between the pit and the processing plant site is complete. Goldrich NyacAU Placer plans to use a winter haul road to transport seven 40-ton rock trucks to the northern Alaska placer gold mine in the next few weeks, increasing its fleet to 13. Mining of pay gravel is expected to start in May and initial gold processing is planned for late June. Weather permitting, the plant is expected to run through mid-September. Once at full capacity, the scalable recovery plant at Chandalar is expected to process roughly 600 bank cubic yards per hour and will be realized as additional gravel screens and gold recovery tables are added in stages through 2016. The drill delineated portion of the Little Squaw Creek deposit is estimated to contain 250,000 ounces of gold in 10.5 million cubic yards of alluvial gravels averaging 0.025 ounces of gold per cubic yard. The mineralized material at Chandalar is not a mineral reserve as defined by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.