Apex application approved by state

There was good news to end 2017 at the Barrick Golden Sunlight Mine in Whitehall.

At the Community Transition Advisory Committee last week, Mine Environmental Superintendent Chuck Buus said the state has accepted their application for the proposed Apex Project, and the next step would be for Tetra Tech of Missoula to complete an Environmental Assessment. Buus said that should take around eight months. Buus added it was good news to hear about the application and all of the hard work and diligence is behind them.

Mine General Manager Dan Banghart said the project could extend mine life 2 1/2 years, and once they start working it would take about four to six months to get to ore. He discussed possibly getting to the ore by the middle of 2019. and working underground in the area in 2020 and 2021.

The Apex area is north of the Mineral Hill Pit at the site.

Banghart also reported that December was one of the better months of production in 2017 at the site with 3,898 ounces, which was above the target.

Banghart said for the year the production was 40,524 ounces, 10 percent down from what they had budgeted. Banghart said this was due to the grade of the ore earlier in the year. The budget for 2018 is 48,000 ounces.

There are currently 52 Barrick employees at the site and 88 contractors.

There was no third party ore reported in December. Banghart said it should be several months before they get going again with the third party ore.