GOLD: Output up at Atna’s Pinson mine

NEVADA – Atna Resources of Golden, CO, has added a second shift of miners at its Pinson gold mine near Winnemucca. The change, made in January, has pushed ore output up to 200 t/d with an average grade of 10.7 g/t Au. A total of 2,600 oz of gold were produced in the first two months of the year.

The added manpower comes as Atna is developing a new cost effective, longhole mining method for stopes in the Otto and Ogee zones. Part of the Ogee zone will continue to be mined by underhand cut-and-fill. The company reported that the initial bottom cut drift in the Otto zone produced ore that averaged 15.0 g/t Au.

Completion of a 43-metre high ventilation raise is the only part of the development plan supporting the 200-t/d mining rate that remains to be completed. The primary access ramp will be lengthened this year in preparation for the 2016 mining plan.

Water inflow into the mining areas has been eliminated with the addition of a third dewatering well. The three wells keep the water table below the lowest mine workings.

Under different ownership, the Pinson mine produced 985,000 oz of gold from 1980 through 1999 with open pit mining and heap leaching. Learn more at Atna.com.