Contrary to magazine report, Barrick not using pontoons

Reports from Arizona that American Barrick Resources (TSE) is about to incorporate dredging equipment and pontoons into its Goldstrike mine development plan are inaccurate, a spokesman for the company said recently.

While the Toronto company is pumping water from its Goldstrike open pit in Nevada at the rate of about 2,000 gallons per minute, Barrick staff can manage without resorting to dredges, says Isabel Mulligan, senior vice-president of investor relations.

The dredging rumor surfaced recently following a report by Arizona-based Pay Dirt Magazine, which said that Barrick was about to surprise the mining fraternity with innovative open pit mining practices.

Barrick is excavating the huge pit in a bid to increase its Goldstrike production rate to more than one million ounces annually from around 200,000 oz. in 1989.

“Word has it, the bottom of their (Barrick’s) pit in the Carlin area is about one drop cut from the water table, yet no dewatering is under way,” said an anonymous columnist of the article “Old Chug-A- Lug” in Pay Dirt’s December issue.

Published from Bisbee, Ariz., Pay Dirt is a monthly mining magazine with a circulation of about 10,000.

But Mulligan says if Pay Dirt reporters had consulted her, she would have told them that the floor of the open pit is currently 100 ft. below the water table and Barrick will be pumping at the rate of 4,000 gallons per minute in February.

“Using equipment that has been utilized successfully at other operations with much greater amounts of water to deal with, Barrick is operating six wells within the pit and getting good lateral coverage,” Mulligan told The Northern Miner.

“If reporters at Pay Dirt don’t believe us, they can come and see for themselves,” she said.