Allied Nevada Gold Corp. ANV is pleased to announce that it has achieved its metal
production and sales expectations in the third quarter of 2013. The
Hycroft mine ("Hycroft") produced a record 52,198 ounces of gold and
184,070 ounces of silver in the third quarter of 2013 and we sold a
record 52,713 ounces of gold and 184,082 ounces of silver. We believe
that we are on track to achieve full year production and sales
guidance of 175,000 - 200,000 ounces of gold and 0.9 million - 1.1
million ounces of silver in 2013.
"I am very pleased with the progress being made at site by the new
operating team. While I fully expected them to turn the operation
around, I am impressed with the speed and efficiency with which they
have been able to improve production," commented Randy Buffington,
President and CEO of Allied Nevada. "This is a first-rate team with
the systems, discipline and determination that give us the confidence
that we can continue to move forward with building a world-class
operation."
Processing operations at Hycroft have improved significantly in the
third quarter. Pumping capacity and fresh water availability have
increased to meet processing requirements and total solution flows to
the leach pads are now averaging 22,000 gallons per minute ("gpm"),
an increase of 36% from the beginning of the third quarter. The new
21,500 gpm Merrill-Crowe plant began commissioning at the end of the
third quarter. Initially, about 7,000 gpm will be processed through
the plant with staged increases planned each week until the plant is
fully commissioned and capable of processing 21,500 gpm, which is
expected by the end of October. Once fully commissioned, we will
discontinue use of the old Merrill-Crowe plant and carbon columns.
The silver sales ratio is expected to increase with the exclusive use
of the new Merrill-Crowe plant from current levels of approximately
3.5 ounces of silver for each ounce of gold produced to in excess of
6:1.
Lewis leach pad remediation is ongoing with all permits in place to
begin introducing solution into wells drilled into dry areas of the
pad. Testing has begun which will determine the rate and speed of
recovery and solution penetration to better predict the timing of
metal production from the pad. No production from these areas is
factored into our 2013 or 2014 projections.
Loading of the North leach pad began on May 7, 2013, with the first
solution being introduced to the pad ahead of schedule on May 15,
2013. In the five months of operation, the North leach pad has
performed as predicted based on our recovery curves. Construction of
the gyratory crusher has progressed well and we expect the crusher to
be commissioned in the fourth quarter, as planned.
Positive initial results from the ongoing oxidation test program of
Hycroft sulfide concentrate were announced in August 2013. These
results indicate that viable solutions exist for oxidizing and
processing concentrate onsite. We have begun the second phase of
testing, led by M3 Engineering and Technology ("M3"), based in
Tucson, Arizona, who were selected based on their past successes and
familiarity with our milling flow sheet and the oxidation techniques
being assessed. We believe that M3 will complete a prefeasibility
study for the oxidation circuit by the end of 2013. The plan is for
M3 to then immediately move into completing a feasibility study
incorporating the oxidation work with all engineering completed to
date on the milling circuit. The feasibility is expected to be
completed by the end of the third quarter of 2014.
We expect to provide third quarter financial results during the week
of November 4, 2013. A conference call and Q&A session will follow
the release, details and timing of which will be announced shortly.
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