Mining News: News Nuggets: Chandalar startup set for 2015

Goldrich Mining Co. Jan. 7 reported that Goldrich NyacAu Placer LLC, a 50-50 joint-venture between Goldrich and NyacAU LLC, spent roughly US$3.6 million on development activities at the Chandalar placer gold project in northern Alaska during 2014. The work included relocation of the placer recovery plant to a lower and broader part of the valley, construction of new water ponds and expansion of the plant. The expanded facility includes a new grizzly feeder with an expected capacity of about 600 cubic yards per hour, which will be realized as gravel screens and gold recovery tables are added in stages through 2016. To meet this increased capacity, seven additional 40-ton rock trucks will be transported to the mine site this winter. The plant is scheduled to be ready for commercial production by June. Additionally, Goldrich said the results of a radiometric and magnetic survey flown in 2014 show a potassium-thorium anomaly that is associated with magnetic anomalies to form a circular kilometer-scale feature in the highlands above the Chandalar placer deposits that is consistent with an intrusive body at depth and is central to a trend of lode quartz-gold occurrences.

- Shane Lasley