Nixon Fork Overview
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Fire River Gold Corp. is Alaska's newest gold producer,
with a projected annual production rate of 50,000 ounces per
year of gold to be produced on its wholly owned Nixon Fork Gold
Mine located in the resource rich Tintina Gold Belt.
Operations started in July 2011, with plans to ramp up to full
production by summer 2012. This year-round mining program
will be producing both gold-rich copper concentrate and doré
bars, with silver as a by-product. Fire River Gold will attempt
to replenish what is mined on an annual basis by further
drilling exploration targets on surface and underground thereby
extending the life of the operation.
Nixon
Fork Gold Mine is located in the Tintina Gold Belt
The Nixon Fork Mine History
The Nixon Fork Mine is a past producing mine with
a high grade production history that was sustained over a five year period of
operations.
Previously owned by Nevada Goldfields Inc. (1993 - 1999) and St. Andrew
Goldfields Ltd. (2003-2008), the Nixon Fork Gold Mine was purchased by Fire
River Gold Corp. from Pacific North West Capital August 13, 2009 for $3.1
million in cash and shares. The 11,000 acre property, its facilities and
infrastructure have an approximate replacement value of $150 million.
Underground
Exploration
From 2004 through 2008 the previous operators spent over US $50 million on
upgrades to the processing facilities, mine infrastructure, permitting and
bonding. During 2007-2008, a total of 9,381 m of definition drilling was
conducted but the results were never fully evaluated or released. Since 2009,
Fire River Gold has re-logged all historical drill core to better understand the
controls of gold mineralization as well as gaining confidence in the high
grades.
The Property
In addition to the
mine, the property has a ~200 tonnes per day processing plant, surface and
underground mobile equipment fleets, an 85 person fully equipped camp, 2 company
owned drills, a self-contained power plant, water and septic systems, and a 1280
meters long landing strip.
Fire River Gold owns the Nixon Fork Mine through a wholly owned subsidiary,
Mystery Creek Resources Inc. Mystery Creek has a renewable lease to explore and
mine the ore bodies at Nixon Fork.
The Tintina Gold Belt province is an arc-shaped 2,000-kilometer-long
metallogenic province that extends across mainland Alaska, into the Yukon and
Northern BC. The Tintina Gold Belt is host to world-class deposits such as:
Donlin Creek (29.3 M oz Au
Proven & Probable reserves)
-
Donlin Creek (29.3 M oz Au Proven & Probable reserves)
-
Fort Knox (3.8 M oz P & P)
• Pogo (3.6 M oz P & P)
-
Dublin Gulch (2.7 M oz Indicated resource)
Type of deposit
The deposit on Nixon
Fork Mine property is a skarn which is a carbonate - hosted deposit.
Economic skarn deposits can range from small tonnage / high grade to large
tonnage/ low grade.
Geochemical evidence
presented by Cutler (1994) suggests the Nixon Fork skarn is genetically similar
to the skarn ore bodies mined at Fortitude in Nevada. Wallis and Rennie (2005)
suggested the Nixon Fork had genetic similarities to the Nickel Plate mine in
British Columbia. At the Nickel Plate the underground tonnage mined was 3
million tonnes at 14 gpt gold while at Fortitude the high-grade zone contained
resources of 5.1 million tonnes at 10.5 gpt gold (Meinert, 1992). Other analogs
include the Buckhorn (Crown Jewel) gold skarn in Washington State.
A variety of skarn types are present at Nixon Fork. These include calcic-skarns,
after limestone host rocks, and magnesium skarn after dolomites. The percentage
of dolomitic host rocks are likely equal to that of limestone host rocks. In
addition, skarn types can be further divided into units useful in modeling that
are based on their mineralogical compositions: 1) garnet > pyroxene skarn, 2)
pyroxene > garnet skarn, 3) wollastonite skarn, 4) magnesian skarn (serpentine-phlogopite-talc-tremolite)
and 5) retrograde sulfide-rich skarn.
The majority of the recent underground gold-copper production from the Nixon
Fork mine area occurred in the Crystal Mine. The Crystal Mine includes five main
mineralized shoots that were accessed by a decline and mined during the period
1995 to 1998 and 2006-2007. The majority of the production came from the 3000
ore shoot in 1994-98. The mineralized skarn bodies in this part of the mine
range up to 6 meters in width with an average of 3 meters. The strike length of
the individual shoots varies from 10 to 30 meters but these pipe-like bodies
extend down dip for several hundred meters. Average grade of the mineralized
bodies varies from 9 gpt up to 45 gpt Au. In the Crystal zone, silver and copper
values average 27 gpt and 1.2 %, respectively. (NI 43-101 October 2010)
Program
Development
The Company has
drilled over 20,000 meters in its 2011 drill program. Fire River Gold plans on
increasing production to 50,000 ounces of gold per annum in spring/summer 2012.
Currently the mine life is approximately four years and Fire River Gold plans on
extending it considerably beyond that period by replenishing what is mined on an
annual basis. Resource update for 2010-2011 drilling in progress.
2011
Milestones
-
Start of mining
operations
-
Mill start up
(July 4, 2011)
-
First concentrate
shipments
-
First doré
shipments
2012 Activities
-
Completion/commissioning of CIL Circuit
-
Fully operational
plant1
-
Recover gold from
existing tailings2
-
$3 Million
exploration plan
-
Development of
the 3550 Zone
1) Ore recovery increases to 96%
2) CIL throughput increased to 250tpd Engineering Reports
Engineering
Reports
Snowden Mining
Consultants prepared a PEA evaluating the economic viability of underground
commercial production. The study presented a preliminary mine plan for the
project, including dilution and recovery analysis, stoping method selection,
production & development forecasts, capital and operating cost estimations,
revenue projection, and a financial model. (PEA
Feb 25, 2011)
A PEA was also
prepared in Oct 20, 2010 by George Rawsthorne and others assessing the viability of
re-processing the existing 140,000 tonnes of gold-rich tailings. (FINDINGS) (PEA
Oct 20, 2010)
Fire River Gold is currently updating its resource estimate and will be issuing
an updated NI 43-101 in early 2012, which will include the 2010 and 2011 drill
results.
Start Up Schedule
The mill was started on July 4th. Only the gravity and flotation circuits are
currently being run at capacity of 150 -- 190 tpd, which is achieving
approximately 60%-70% recovery of gold from freshly mined ore.
Upon completion of the cyanide-in-leach (CIL) circuit in early 2012, the third
process will bring total recovery to over 90%.
By late spring/summer of 2012, ore feed from the mine will be supplemented by
recovering an additional 100 tpd of tailings from the existing tailings pond,
which grades approximately 7.6 g.t (Giroux, 2010).
The Mill
There were several modifications made to the existing mill that were performed
concurrent with construction completion of the CIL plant:
At the crushing plant, the crush size was reduced from 2 inches to 1 inch
passing, which is a standard practice. This should reduce the grinding
requirement and could increase the capacity of the mill. For reasons such as
this, the company has not defined the precise capacity of the mill, instead
referring to it as approximately 200 tonnes per day.
Jaw Crusher in Operation
The feed to the centrifugal gravity
separator draws from the cyclone feed. This should increase gold
recovery and system operational reliability. Gravity gold is the
cheapest to process its resulting doré and has the highest
value, so this will have a strong economic benefit to
operations.
The mill has moderated the copper content in the concentrate,
which varied from 10 to 25% historically. Approximately 50% of
the recovered gold will be sold as doré and 50% will be
contained in the gold-rich copper concentrate. The operation
also has historic silver production, with the silver grade
running at more than half of the gold grade. The silver will
report to both the doré and the copper concentrate. The economic
benefit of both copper and silver were not declared in any
analysis, as historically assays were not performed for either
metal, so resources could not be declared other than for gold.
Gravity and Flotation
Circuits at the Mill
CIL Circuit under construction
The Filtered
Tailings Disposal Site (Dry Stack)
The original design of the dry stack was for water collection
beneath the sand in porous pipes, transferring to a percolation
pond. The company elected to line the dry stack and convert the
percolation pond to a lined collection pond to make this a zero
discharge facility. This is the only significant construction
activity that occurred outside of the mill building in 2011.
Mine Development
Current Mining Areas
I. 3000 X
II. 3300: 370 to 383 Level
III. 3300: 204 to 265 Level
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Future Mining
Areas
1. 3550 Zone
2. 3000 Zone
3. 3300 Zone
4. Mystery Mine
5. J5A Zone
6. Southern Cross
7. 3100 Zone
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Mine Equipment Purchases
(L to R: One Boom Jumbo, 4 yd³ Scooptram, LH Drill)
Stockpile
Management
Stockpiles of high grade material and medium grade material are
stored in front of the primary jaw crusher outside of the mill
building. In addition, low grade material has been stored on a
nearby laydown. This material is segregated into piles awaiting
grade determination by assay (note the identifying stakes for
each pile) before being added to one of the piles or disposed of
onto the waste dump.
High Grade Stockpile
(left) and Medium Grade
Stockpile (right) ahead of
Primary Crusher
Low Grade Stockpile (to
right) and Unclassified
Material Piles
Drilling
The main objective of recent drilling was ore definition in support of the
earliest mining in the upper Crystal Mine, approximating the first six months of
production. This work is complete and the drills are now being turned to
exploration targets underground, the most promising being a completely new zone
called the 3550. It appears to be a "triplet" to the very productive 3000 and
3300 zones. Surface drilling will continue in spring / summer of 2012. The most
important target for both is the zone between the Mystery and Crystal mines,
which houses three targets: the Southern Cross, J5A, and 3100 zones. These will
be more effectively drilled once platforms have been provided by the shallow
ramp connecting the Mystery and Crystal Mines.
The Company maintains that the property is fairly large and the ability to
replenish mining on an annual basis is a probable and appropriate approach to
extending the life of the operation.
Hagby
Drill Set Up Underground
Marketing Contracts
The doré produced from gravity separation and leaching is comprised of gold
(60%), silver (30%), and impurities (10%). This contract has been secured with
Johnson Matthey Inc. of Salt Lake City, Utah.
A three year contract has been secured with Glencore International Limited for
the sale of the copper concentrate produced at Nixon Fork Gold Mine. The gold
rich copper concentrate is to have moderate copper content which has varied from
10% to 25% historically.
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