Fire River Gold Announces Update on Tailings Preliminary Economic Assessment, Nixon Fork Gold Mine, Alaska
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA–(Marketwire – June 14, 2010) – Fire River Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE:FAU) (OTCQX:FVGCF) (FRANKFURT:FWR) (“FAU” or the “Company”) would like to provide this update regarding the progress of work on the Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for the tailings re-processing option at the Nixon Fork Mine.
The previous operator of the mine designed and partially installed a 250 tpd CIL circuit for the purpose of recovering gold from the impounded tails and increasing gold recovery from ongoing mining operations (refer to news release dated April 6, 2010 for an overview of the tailings reprocessing program). The Company’s original plan was to complete construction according to the last operator’s design with only minor modifications and enhancements as required. This Base Case has no provision for recycling cyanide in the circuit – all leaching solution is passed to a cyanide destruct circuit at the end of the process. It has become obvious through the course of work on the PEA that economics of the Base Case will be significantly enhanced by recycling the cyanide solution, reducing reagent consumption and the associated purchase and transportation costs.
Three alternatives are being evaluated: 1) use an existing thickener after the CIL process to recycle cyanide solution and thereby decreasing the cyanide destruct circuit operating cost, 2) installation of a new filter to further increase cyanide recycle and reduce cyanide destruction requirements and associated costs, and 3) assess the benefits of installing a Merrill Crowe system for gold recovery with shipment of gold bars rather than loaded carbon off site.
To properly assess these enhancements additional test work is required, which is being performed at the PRA Metallurgical Lab in Richmond, BC. G.R. Rawsthorne and Associates is overseeing this work on behalf of the company. The company is now projecting completion and release of the preliminary economic assessment on the tailings program by late July.
High Grade Tailings
Due to a previous production average of 42 g/t (1.4 oz/t) and a recovery rate of 83%, Fire River Gold is in the process of completing a resource estimate on Nixon Fork Gold Mine’s high grade tailings pond. In 2009 the company began a $1.25M evaluation of the project to confirm the status of the geological work, confirm both the gold grade from the tailings pond, and further metallurgical assessment through test work. The evaluation program is continuing into 2010, with key milestones including a determination of a go, no-go decision for completing the CIL circuit to process tailings by Fall 2010; defining exploration targets for underground and surface drilling commencing in Summer 2010; the preparation of a new resource estimate for the property by Fall 2010, and the determination of a go, no-go decision for the resumption of underground mining by the end of the year.
About Fire River Gold Corp.
Fire River Gold Corp. is a near term production company with a superior technical team focused on bringing its flagship project: the Nixon Fork Gold Mine, back into production within the next 12 months. The Nixon Fork Gold Mine is a fully permitted and bonded gold mine with past production values averaging 1.4 opt (42 gpt). Nixon Fork is located within Alaska’s Tintina Gold Belt, which hosts numerous world class deposits. Fire River Gold is a member of the International Metals Group (www.internationalmetalsgroup.com).
