The most significant technological factor affecting our production during the 1980s was size of equipment. Bigger is better, and cheaper. . . . We now use bigger trucks — 150 tons versus the 50- and 85-ton trucks used back in ’84 — bigger loaders including a Demag made in Germany that handles 23 cubic yards in a scoop rather than the 12 yards typical five years ago. . . What has the result been? We’re producing at better than a 400,000-oz.-per-year rate now. In the second quarter, our cash costs were US$190 per oz. with fuel consumption in the order of 17 gallons per oz. versus 29 gallons in 1984, although this is partially offset by increased power consumption. In the month of September, which I should point out was a 5-week month, we produced 60,000 oz. which is half of what Round Mountain produced for the entire year 1984.
Excerpted from Echo Bay Mines Chairman Robert Calman speaking about the Round Mountain heap leach gold mine in Nevada at a recent New York gold conference sponsored by Goldman Sachs. Round Mountain, owned equally by Echo Bay and Homestake Mining, is the largest heap leach gold operation in the world.
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