U.S. ROUNDUP — St. George completes Dean construction

Despite some startup delays, St. George Metals (VSE) recently began heap-leaching operations at its Dean underground gold mine in Nevada’s Battle Mountain district.

The company is operating under a pilot permit, and expects to file permanent processing permit applications later this month. A new 3-stage crushing system was recently added to the already completed facilities such as heap-leach pad, Merrill-Crowe unit and refinery.

“With the entire system now operating, we expect to process and recover the total 20,000 permitted tons of Dean ore by the end of the fourth quarter, Jan. 31, 1993, with an estimated yield in excess of US$3 million,” said Chairman Neal Wade.

The company is proposing construction of additional leaching pads as needed, and using the existing plant facilities. The pads and mining facilities are on a company-owned 640-acre mill site 10 miles from the Dean mine.