Northern Vertex Mining Corp reports progress on construction and commissioning activities at its 100% owned Moss gold mine project located near Bullhead City, Arizona. Kenneth Berry, President and CEO, stated: “Continuing construction progress throughout this holiday season is a testament to the dedication and commitment of our team. The transition from construction to commissioning is underway, with the first gold pour at the Moss mine scheduled for Q1, 2018. Our recent non-dilutive $11 million working capital financing provides a clear path to commercial production and positive cash flow. We are excited to be the next producing open pit gold mine in the USA.”
The crushing plant is mechanically complete. The remaining electrical work is also nearing completion. All of the grounding grids have been completed and tested, and all motors have been terminated. All of the cable trays, conduits and high voltage wiring are complete. Wire terminations in the Motor Control Center (MCC) 95% complete, while the Programable Logic Control (PLC) low voltage wiring is roughly 90% complete. Vendor commissioning will be undertaken upon completion of the PLC programming and testing. The plant punchlist items are expected in early January followed by full plant handover from construction to operations in mid-January 2018.
The onsite power station is well advanced with the final installation of eight Caterpillar generators supplied by Empire Power. All of the transformers have been placed. Rebel Oil of Kingman, AZ have supplied three 10,000 gallon fuel tanks complete with fuel delivery pumps and Great Basin Industrial have installed the fuel delivery and Diesel Exhaust Fluid additive lines.
Western Line Builders have now completed all of the overhead power distribution lines, transformers and electrical connections to the MCC’s. The remaining work prior to commissioning of the power station is installation and programming of the generator control panel. Caterpillar is expected to be onsite in early January to do the generator load testing, programming and commissioning of the power station.
The Phase 2A portion of the leach pad comprising roughly 4,000,000 square feet of geomembrane liners is now complete. The last task is the placement of the remaining 50,000 t of overliner drainrock in the West Pad area. The leach pad is ready to receive ore upon the commencement of crushing and agglomeration operations. The three process ponds have been lined and the liners have been terminated. NA Degerstrom are now focussing on punchlist items such as final dressing of slopes, final grading and completion of the stormwater protection works. Superstition Crushing of Mesa, Arizona completed their contract to produce 170,000 t of overliner drainrock and have now demobilised from the project site.
All of the mechanical and electrical components for agglomerated ore transport and stacking are onsite and have been assembled. This includes 800 lineal feet of overland conveyor, 17 grasshopper conveyors, and an extendable radial stacker. Valley Splicing of Norco, CA have completed the installation of the conveyor belts on the stacker, grasshoppers and overland conveyor. The radial stacker and grasshoppers have been positioned ready to commence ore stacking.
Mechanical close out for the Merrill Crowe and Refinery is scheduled next week. The electrical work is progressing well with all of the cable tray installed, all of the motors have been set and torqued, and wire terminations are roughly 80% complete. Work has commenced with wiring in the PLC and programming is anticipated for mid-January. Vendor commissioning is scheduled for the latter half of January and plant turnover is anticipated in late January. The first reagent fills have been scheduled for January. The first cyanide deliveries are scheduled for January 10, 2018, and other reagents will be on site by January 15.
The raw water supply system consisting of four producing ground water wells has been completed and the system has consistently been delivering 150 gpm of construction water for the past several months. The system is designed to deliver a peak of 250 gpm of make-up water for leaching operations. Ten 10,000 gallon polypropylene tanks have been set for raw/process water storage and the tanks have been connected to a common header feeding the raw water pumps. The pumps include a 1,500 gpm fire water pump, and two smaller pumps to provide water to the dust suppression spray bars on the crusher. All of the raw water distribution lines have been installed including fire water and process water for the plant facilities. The system includes a 180,000 gallon fire water tank.
