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A Joint Venture
Manager
Golden Cycle Gold Corporation
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Mining – After all the permits have been approved and are in place, facilities are constructed and mining can begin.
The Cresson Mine’s operations incorporate typical modern surface mining methods. Mine engineers define the mine methods and operations based upon the site to be mined. To begin mining, any vegetation and the topsoil is removed. The topsoil is stockpiled in an area away from the mine to be used in reclamation of the mined area. When the site preparation is complete, the rock is drilled. The drill holes provide cuttings to be tested for ore content. The tests completed on the drill holes identify rock that contains gold in amounts that can be economically recovered, ore, and rock that is not mineralized, called overburden.
The drill holes are then loaded for blasting to break up the rock into size that can be moved. At the Cresson Mine, common ammonium nitrate and fuel mixture is used for blasting because the mixture is not explosive until detonated with a booster.
Rock is hauled at the Cresson Mine using 300-ton
capacity haul trucks. The trucks are loaded with hydraulic shovels. The
bucket of the largest shovel has a 40 cubic yard capacity. Overburden
is hauled to storage areas, ore is hauled to a two-stage crusher that
produces coarse gravel measuring less than three-quarters of an inch at a
rate of 3,000 tons per hour. Approximately 60,000,000 tons of material is
moved annually.
Overburden is placed in areas where no mining, or no more mining, is planned. The overburden storage areas are constructed considering geotechnical stability analyses, hydrologic designs for storm runoff, water quality assessments for infiltrating water, and the specific plans for grading and reclamation-revegetation. CC&V reclaims areas as soon as the activity has been completed. Some of the overburden storage areas have been the first areas to be reclaimed to achieve the post-mining land uses of livestock and wildlife grazing and habitat.
More information on equipment...
PO Box 191, Victor, CO 80860 719-689-4022 info@ccvgoldmining.com