The approximately 61.4k-acre (patented/unpatented claims) Hycroft mine, 54 miles west of Winnemucca, runs 24/7 open-pitting the ore that was primarily responsible for securing on-track status for ANV’s full year production guidance of 175k to 200k ounces Au and 0.9M to 1.1M oz Ag. The company has pulled a record 52,198 ounces of gold and another 184,070 ounces of silver out of the Hycroft this quarter (over 52.7k oz Au and 184k oz Ag sold) and they will likely even blow through their guidance targets on such strong production numbers.
President and CEO of ANV, Randy Buffington, hailed the efforts of the new operating team at Hycroft and while he had naturally expected them to turn the project around, these production results are truly first-rate, deserving of the reputation of the team. Buffington made it clear that these guys have the determination, discipline, and the necessary hardware to keep Hycroft on the fast track to ANV’s aspiration of the mine’s becoming a world-class operation. Hycroft is now well on its way to becoming one of North America’s largest heap leach and milling operations by 2015, precisely as the company has envisioned it, with recent throughput expansion efforts paying off mightily this quarter.
The new operations team brought total solution flow volume to the leach pads up a full 36% to 22k gpm from the quarter’s start and the company’s new 21.5k gpm Merrill-Crowe facility just went into the commissioning phase as the quarter drew to a close, putting ANV on a truly bullish production trajectory. The company is targeting late October to get the new Merrill-Crowe plant stepped up to maximum capacity (they’ll be starting with 7k gpm processing runs) and they plan to decommission the old plant and carbon columns subsequent thereto. This new facility is going to jack up the silver sales ratio handsomely as well, from the current ratio of around 3.5:1 ounces of silver to gold, to well over 6:1.
Remediation of the Lewis leach pad is going swimmingly and the company has permits in hand for initial pad prep activities. Solution testing has already begun in order to get a handle on the rate of recovery and solution penetration as per the potential overall production of metal from the pad, and ANV has not yet factored in any production from these areas to their 2013-2014 projections. Solution went in on the North leach pad a full eight days ahead of schedule back on May 7 and performance has met with or exceeded the company’s projected recovery curves in the five months of operation since.
ANV also reported that the gyratory crusher’s construction is going nicely with a Q4 completion date essentially assured, right on schedule. The ongoing oxidation test program brought back good results in August, with the second phase of testing to be led by M3 Engineering and Technology out of Tucson, who is readily familiar with ANV’s milling flow sheet and the oxidation techniques being looked at, having delivered many successes in the past. ANV is confident that M3 will help bring in a prefeasibility study on the oxidation circuit here before the year is out and the company is eager to have them then immediately switch to a feasibility study, including the oxidation circuit and all extant engineering on the milling circuit (tentative target date for this feasibility study is Q3 2014).
The company should be offering markets some financials coming up here soon during the week of November 4 and they have planned a conference call shortly thereafter, with intentions to announce details of that call some time very soon. Exceptionally low-risk potential with optimum logistics on a portfolio that is all Nevada acreage and record quarterly gold production out of their flagship spells win.
More info on Allied Nevada Gold Corp. is available at www.AlliedNevada.com
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