Crescent Valley, Nevada. By minimizing the loss of ore depletion, Klondex Mining, which specializes in thin vein mining, achieved record gold production at its flagship mine, the FireCreek mine. FireCreek is the world's highest grade gold mine.
Klondex hauls only 300 tons of ore per day from the FireCreek mine in north-central Nevada, but the average gold ore grade is close to one ounce per ton. For the company, minimizing ore depletion is key to improving profitability. .
Klondex Mining
The medium-sized gold and silver miner Klondex Mining specializes in the production of underground thin vein vein gold and silver mines. The company is headquartered in Canada and operates the FireCreek mine in Nevada, the Midas mine and concentrator, and the TrueNorth mine and ore dressing in Manitoba, Canada. Klondex also owns the Hollister mine in Nevada and the Aurora mine and concentrator.
FireCreek Gold Mine
The FireCreek Mine is the world's highest quality gold mine, located in the north-central Nevada, 100 kilometers west of Elko. The mine's proven and probable reserves of up to 229,000 ounces (6.5 tons) of gold equivalent production (GEO). FireCreek The plot covers an area of approximately 17,000 acres. Klondex uses deep hole, filling and retention methods to mine high grade ore.
'In my 25-year mining career, FireCreek's ore grade was the most outstanding I have ever seen,' said General Manager Tolbert.
'The challenge of producing high-grade ore in thin veins is to control the depletion of ore. The miners here are doing very well. We use precise control of extremely narrow horizontal excavation and filling mining to ensure that the mined ore reaches the highest grade. We It is necessary to ensure that every ton of ore sent to the concentrator has value. '
FireCreek was originally thought to be an open pit mine with a large sampling permit at the end of 2013. Klondex put the mine into production. Four years later, its downhole operations produced 108,126 ounces (3.1 tons) of gold equivalent production (GEO), compared to 2016. Growth of 40%, accounting for more than half of the total output of 189,456 ounces (5.4 tons) of gold in 2017 Klondex Mining.
'The FireCreek deposit is amazing.' Tolbert said. 'We don't know its detailed reserves, but as we continue to explore and develop the mine, more and more minerals are available for mining. We are constantly in all directions. A high-grade vein structure that can be mined is found. '
Less than 5% of the world's known gold mines are rated at more than 10 grams per ton. FireCreek's average ore grade is higher than 25 grams per ton. The mine is located at an altitude of 1,500 meters to 1,750 meters above sea level, towering over the Crescent Valley Above the town. The width of the main veins Vonnie and Joyce ranges from only 1.8 to 1.5 meters. Klondex uses deep hole, filling and retention methods for mining.
This mining operation requires a variety of mobile mining equipment, including Sandvik trolleys for the opening of 5m by 5m waste rock passages, and 2m Sandvik thin veins for remote slag removal operations. Machines, etc., Tolbert called them the 'main force' of the mine.
'We use these equipment for mining and structural mining, and the ore depletion rate is within the established range, that is just over 3%.' He said.
The chief engineer of the mine, Rosco Hamilton, pointed out that due to the nature of the work, equipment reliability is of paramount importance.
'Our range of operations is very small, even if there is a small mistake, it will affect the output, we will suffer losses.' Hamilton said. 'Everything is precise, almost no mistakes. If the production requirements are not met in this stope , we will fall into a bad situation. '
To ensure the reliability of the equipment, Klondex worked with Sandvik to maintain the FireCreek mobile equipment.
'The advantage of this is that we have acquired Sandvik's parts acquisition capabilities. ' Tolbert said. 'We have warehouses here. We don't need to stock parts on site, which greatly reduces our maintenance costs. Provided by Sandvik for maintenance, they ensure the availability of the equipment, which allows FireCreek's mining operations to continue.
According to the Sandvik 365 Resident Expert Service Agreement, Sandvik's technicians also provide FireCreek with maintenance strategies and schedules, component planning and forecasting, and troubleshooting support.
'Sandvik's equipment maintenance work is excellent.' Tolbert said. 'I am very pleased to be able to work with Sandvik employees here. Thanks to partners like Sandvik, we benefit a lot.'
Hamilton added: 'Sandvik understands our daily needs very well, even though our needs have changed. If a scraper fails, and this is the only stop we have today to clean up, Sandvik The staff will put down the work in their hands to fix it. '
Neil Miller, mobile equipment maintenance manager at Klondex, points out that although FireCreek's fleet is aging, the operating costs of mobile equipment account for about 21% of total mining costs.
'If there is a truck failure, we may lose $250,000 a day. So it is important to keep trucks, scrapers, skimmers and so on. ' Miller said. 'FireCreek mine is the key to KlondexGold's profitability. This mine has a high grade and low production tonnage. We must ensure that all equipment is functioning properly. The downtime has a huge impact on us.
According to the agreement, Sandvik not only provides genuine spare parts, but also provides technical training for FireCreek maintenance personnel.
'The more technical training, the faster the reliability will be improved,' Miller said. 'Training is the key to ensuring equipment reliability, and reliability is the top priority. If equipment availability is high, but not reliable, When we need to use its scraper to slag or transport the slag out of the mine, it may not be able to complete the task.
The service agreement extends the mean time between failures and reduces downtime, allowing Klondex to focus on FireCreek's production and core business processes. In 2018, Klondex is committed to continuing mine expansion, developing major and second wellheads. Drilling shows the potential for expansion of mineral resources.
'The prospect of FireCreek is bright.' Tolbert said. 'We have now temporarily left the mine roadway and started to find more high-grade veins. This is a very exciting time. We finally put into production and have a stable output. We plan to In the near future, we will promote mining operations and achieve sustainable development in the next few decades.'
