Mining of ore from the newly stripped Ready Bullion shear structures is under way at its wholly- owned Grant gold project in Alaska, Silverado Mines (VSE) reports. The project is located on Ester Dome, 10 miles west of Fairbanks.
A 300-ton-per-day concentrator situated on the property 2.5 miles northeast of the pit being mined will process the ore.
The Ready Bullion zone is near the headwaters of Ester Creek which is a former placer gold source. The zone was indicated by a large electromagnetic anomaly; initial surface trenching yielded some high grade values.
Recent trenching has exposed the zone for 500 ft, and at intervals along a further 2,500 ft. The company says the zone is open to extension in both directions and at depth.
Channel sampling at regular intervals along the 500 ft of exposed shear zone has averaged 0.16 oz gold per ton across an average width of 12.6 ft. Mining to a depth of 75 ft, yielding 50,000 tons of mill feed, is planned. A recovery rate of 92% is estimated.
The company is hoping to be able to delineate more than one million tons of surface reserves. When such reserves can be forecast, the company says it will increase the capacity of the concentrator to 700 tons per day at an estimated cost of $1.5 million.
Be the first to comment on "Silverado starts up Alaskan gold project"